Gameday Experience

[TweederGMU]

Hi - current student and longtime lurker here! This is in response to the discussion about the student section in this thread + the UMass thread.

I've been super frustrated with the other students in the student section these past 2 months. The past 2-3 home games, especially, the student section has been HORRIBLE. There are so many issues causing this: like some idiots sitting in the 5th-6th row yelling at those of us standing up and cheering to sit down. Attendance has been solid compared to the past couple of years, but the students showing up are just coming with their friends and talking about their day, not even watching the game.

The main issue has been leadership. The best games have been the ones where a solid group of students (usually the RA's) have led the chants, and everyone joins in. This made the Fordham game really fun and loud (from my point of view, at least). After the Fordham game, the marketing team reached out to several students to form a "G Force Leadership team" but never had the first meeting they promised.

I would like to start doing something about this and I'm open to any suggestions you all have. I think a good start would be to make the "chant sheets" and put them on seats/pass them out before games. Of course, I'd need your help with chant suggestions whether they're traditional or new ones. I'll reach out to the marketing team to get something going for the homecoming game and then we can take it from there for the future.

I'd also be interested in the By George street team if you guys are doing something similar. I just really don't want to waste our team finally getting good and want to do something about the garbage support at home games.

God bless you Young Jedi.

This sounds like a job for the one and only Fro. Someone kidnap him from the hipster family life in Chitown and get him back to the place the good lord intended him to be. Leading our young in to correct Mason cheering fandom.

 

[GMUgemini]

I've always thought that having a European soccer vibe to the student section would be unique. Let the greek orgs wave their flags (recruiting plus for them), other students could wave Mason flags, students could hang banners over the rails. Putting gold scarves on the chairs before games would solve any sizing issues and students could hold them up during our free throws or wave them around during opponents. People would probably be more prone to chant too.

Idk maybe I'm way wrong and it would be a fail, but anything is better than what's going on in the student section now.

I've said this, too, although I was thinking of aping La Barra Brava South American style from D.C. United/Boca Juniors (minus the persistent drums and smoke bombs, obviously).

Oh, and supporters groups have a symbiotic relationship with the clubs they support, they are not run by, nor are officially affiliated with them...completely fan driven.

Some tributes to D.C. United legends from La Barra Brava:

 

[Jack Strop]

All-rightie-then... Here's a cheer guide. Copy and
distribute it at will. PM me if you'd like a PDF.

--------------- ENJOY!

 

[Jack Strop]

Reverse page is below... there's room for additions,
but I urge you to keep it simple, stupid.

 

[sleeperpick]

Reverse page is below... there's room for additions,
but I urge you to keep it simple, stupid.

this is perfect other than the left right foul out chant might be the worst in all sports especially when the Green Machine screams it as our player is shooting a free throw (they have been better lately about stopping but OOC was brutal)

 

[By George.]

All-rightie-then... Here's a cheer guide. Copy and
distribute it at will. PM me if you'd like a PDF.

--------------- ENJOY!

Kinda want to print these out and hand them out to the student section. Can you add, MUST REMAIN STANDING during the game?

Email: Bygeorgemason@gmail.com

 

[TweederGMU]

All-rightie-then... Here's a cheer guide. Copy and
distribute it at will. PM me if you'd like a PDF.

--------------- ENJOY!

This is great and all. Love the effort as this is way overdue.

But I think we are missing a key point here and thats to disrupt the other team and make it very hard for them to hear, communicate, and ultimately score in our house.

There needs to be instructions to when to get cheers going against and to disrupt the other team at the foul line and when they coming back from timeout. The Defense chant is easy to get going and can get the students involved easily that way. Hell the cheerleaders hardly ever know when to chant this so its getting them on the same page too.

When the other team is shooting foul shots students sit on there hands. They need to at least wave their hands or think of other creative ideas (faces, posters, spiral pinwheels, etc.).

Need a section for these items to cheer against the other team and when.

 

[Jack Strop]

This is great and all. Love the effort as this is way overdue.

But I think we are missing a key point here and thats to disrupt the other team and make it very hard for them to hear, communicate, and ultimately score in our house.

There needs to be instructions to when to get cheers going against and to disrupt the other team at the foul line and when they coming back from timeout. The Defense chant is easy to get going and can get the students involved easily that way. Hell the cheerleaders hardly ever know when to chant this so its getting them on the same page too.

When the other team is shooting foul shots students sit on there hands. They need to at least wave their hands or think of other creative ideas (faces, posters, spiral pinwheels, etc.).

Need a section for these items to cheer against the other team and when.

Patience, grasshopper... baby steps... baaaaaby steps...

You gotta keep in mind, most of what we're dealing with here are post-Millennial college students who were not smart enough to matriculate to Duke.

Let's begin with the simple stuff first.
Baby steps => walk => run => sprint => fly.

 

[masonjoe]

The fact that we have to tell our students how to cheer/heckle in a basketball game lol

 

[GMUgemini]

The fact that we have to tell our students how to cheer/heckle in a basketball game lol

It's about coordination. You think Cameron Indoor happens organically? What about Utah State's HURD? ASU's curtain? You go to any soccer match and the supporters sections have leaders whose job it is to not watch the game, but to orchestrate the chanting and songs during the match. I mean, yeah, yell out whatever you want, but it's more effective when you can get 500 students saying it all at the same time.

I know you like to be Mr. Contrarian on the boards, but this just makes you look like Mr. Ignorant.

 

[Jack Strop]

The fact that we have to tell our students how to cheer/heckle in a basketball game lol

Uh... [gahh]... now THIS is one of the major problems! Scoffing at building a fan culture. If building and maintaining a fan culture hasn't proved highly effective for Duke, Kansas, and vcyoooo then why do they do it? Why should proud Mason fans do it?

At the UMass game last week, I sat next to two young brothers, probably 10 and 8. During the first half they sat there with their Pa, well behaved. As I became more animated, shouting, and beating on the seats, these two kids began to mimic my enthusiasm (their Pa was ambivalent). By game's end, these two evolved from choir boys into ravenous Pikapppatri8s! Following Mason's victory I bestowed my pleasure and gratitude upon the duo by giving each boy a fist-bump. They were pleased too!

The moral is: Monkey see, monkey do. One's gotta learn somehow!

 

[masonjoe]

It's about coordination. You think Cameron Indoor happens organically? What about Utah State's HURD? ASU's curtain? You go to any soccer match and the supporters sections have leaders whose job it is to not watch the game, but to orchestrate the chanting and songs during the match. I mean, yeah, yell out whatever you want, but it's more effective when you can get 500 students saying it all at the same time.

I know you like to be Mr. Contrarian on the boards, but this just makes you look like Mr. Ignorant.

We used have guys like Fro in the stands and others that would lead these chants. Not some bozos who don't attend games sending PDFs on a message forum no student reads.

 

[GMUgemini]

We used have guys like Fro in the stands and others that would lead these chants. Not some bozos who don't attend games sending PDFs on a message forum no student reads.

Are you sure no students read these message boards, because the student who posted in this forum talking about creating a chant sheet and finding a way to start a better fan culture within the student section is one. Nothing wrong with us old alumni helping a student out to get started.

 

[GMUSig03]

We used have guys like Fro in the stands and others that would lead these chants. Not some bozos who don't attend games sending PDFs on a message forum no student reads.

I would wager Jack Strop has attended games in more states other than Virginia than you do at home per season. Just a guess.

 

[masonjoe]

I would wager Jack Strop has attended games in more states other than Virginia than you do at home per season. Just a guess.

So? who cares

 

[Jack Strop]

We used have guys like Fro in the stands and others that would lead these chants. Not some bozos who don't attend games sending PDFs on a message forum no student reads.

Excuse me?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!!!!! I haven't missed a home game in 15 years, MasonJoey-SCROTUM-BREATH! Maybe, maybe, five in the last 20 years.

Hey, Joey-SCROTUM-BREATH, what have you done lately to support your team aside from acosting a fellow fan on a team forum? You sound more like an ODU douche or vcyooo prick than a Mason fan!

 

[Jack Strop]

They are starving.

They are young and socially awkward.

They are cold, perhaps frightened.

And, sadly, they desperately need your help.

They are the 3,327+ Geo. Mason University students who attend home men's basketball, but don't have the heart, the brains, nor the sense... to cheer.

Yet... there is hope—guiding, luminous, uplifting HOPE.

That “HOPE” is you.

My foundation will provide one Mason Fan Cheer Guide placed on the seat for each and every student who attends the 2019 GMU Homecoming men's basketball game. With this one sheet of paper, printed on both sides, it will nurture a student fan—guide him or her to grow, learn, and persevere over the rigors and high responsibility of becoming a true, dedicated, and raucus Patriots' fan.

And you, yes you my brothers and sisters (if there is a sister out there), will be most beneficial to these students' enlightenment and education. For a mere $5 from only 20 of you, the Jack Strop GMU Fandom Foundation will have the financial resources to provide this critical instrument of mercy to help transform George Mason University students into rabid Patriots.

Your donation will support production of the Mason Fan Cheer Guide and the sponsorship of a currently extremely pathetic and apathetic student/fan. Upon your donation, I personally will send you a photo of one wretched child—the child that you'll sponsor—along with his or her hand-written note offering you adulation and gratitude that is bound to put a smile on your face and a warm glow in your good heart.

No joke. We need 1,000 fliers at a cost of $.11 each. For only $5 or $.0137 a day over the course of a year—the daily cost of less than 2 gumballs from the lobby of Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre—and you could save your sponsored student from immaculate embarrassment, shame, and ridicule... for the entirety of his or her life!

My foundation needs ONLY 20 donations to pay 95% of the cost. Won't you be a Mason Fan Hero?

Seriously, no joke. I am unemployed and cannot afford nor justify the cost of $111 for reproduction of the Mason Fan Cheer Guide. If you have a PayPal account (and if you don't, get one!!) then send your $5 to:

Jack.Strop@oldtowntoastmasters.org ...

... TODAY!

You will be loved.

 

[Leesburg Chankenstank III]

They are starving.

They are young and socially awkward.

They are cold, perhaps frightened.

And, sadly, they desperately need your help.

They are the 3,327+ Geo. Mason University students who attend home men's basketball, but don't have the heart, the brains, nor the sense... to cheer.

Yet... there is hope—guiding, luminous, uplifting HOPE.

That “HOPE” is you.

My foundation will provide one Mason Fan Cheer Guide placed on the seat for each and every student who attends the 2019 GMU Homecoming men's basketball game. With this one sheet of paper, printed on both sides, it will nurture a student fan—guide him or her to grow, learn, and persevere over the rigors and high responsibility of becoming a true, dedicated, and raucus Patriots' fan.

And you, yes you my brothers and sisters (if there is a sister out there), will be most beneficial to these students' enlightenment and education. For a mere $5 from only 20 of you, the Jack Strop GMU Fandom Foundation will have the financial resources to provide this critical instrument of mercy to help transform George Mason University students into rabid Patriots.

Your donation will support production of the Mason Fan Cheer Guide and the sponsorship of a currently extremely pathetic and apathetic student/fan. Upon your donation, I personally will send you a photo of one wretched child—the child that you'll sponsor—along with his or her hand-written note offering you adulation and gratitude that is bound to put a smile on your face and a warm glow in your good heart.

No joke. We need 1,000 fliers at a cost of $.11 each. For only $5 or $.0137 a day over the course of a year—the daily cost of less than 2 gumballs from the lobby of Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre—and you could save your sponsored student from immaculate embarrassment, shame, and ridicule... for the his or her life!

My foundation needs ONLY 20 donations to pay 95% of the cost. Won't you be a Mason Fan Hero?

Seriously, no joke. I am unemployed and cannot afford nor justify the cost of $111 for reproduction of the Mason Fan Cheer Guide. If you have a PayPal account (and if you don't, get one!!) then send your $5 to:

Jack.Strop@oldtowntoastmasters.org ...

... TODAY!

You won't be disappointed. You will be loved.

All you need is $111??. Shiiiiiit. DM me. I got you.

 

[Falco]

Dont allow freshman who live on campus to have cars and then maybe they will decide to attend a basketball game.
I know JMU doesn’t allow freshman to bring cars.

 

[Falco]

I think the Administration needs to do a better job of keeping the students on campus. If they are on campus, they will be more engaged and attend sporting events, They will feel connected to the university and perhaps they will be more likely to donate once they have some money.

How to accomplish this.
1. Take away freshman cars
2. Greek row on campus
3. adequate dinning facilities/hours
4. The police/RAs need to lighten up

I think Fairfax would appreciate this as well. Most adults don’t want to live next to a Frat house.