Question: How was the crowd?

[chris]

It sounded loud on the telecast.

Amen! Patrick & Blackledge were having to shout to be heard at times!!

 

[RTR13]

First drive or two, it was extremely loud. After that, it was back to normal, really. I didn't get too loud ... too busy trying to get remotely warm.

 

[Luvubama]

Several posters have mentioned the frat/student section and the tickets they are allocated. They university is more on top of this than you may know. My son had to work one of the games and forgot to donate his ticket online; he called me in a panic to do this for him. He said that students only get one or two (can't remember exactly) no shows or they can't order tickets the following year.

 

[uaintn]

I was there last night. I agree that the crowd was into the game and about as rowdy as you can expect on a cold night against a team like State.

A lot of people stayed and suffered in the cold. It was really chilly and the wind seemed to swirl from a lot of different directions but blew all night. After a pretty hard five minute downpour that the weather folks failed to predict, a lot of people were soaked to the skin, but many many of them stuck it out till the bitter end, at least till it was no longer in doubt. If you weren't sitting there soaking wet, in the cold wind, don't be so quick to judge them.

Last thing is that I agree the block seating has outlived its usefulness (if it ever had any). The student section around the band and over to the frat block seating is always packed and rowdy (I've been to four games this year). The block seating has not been full at any game I've attended. I wouldn't be surprised to see open seats there at the Barn game. It is a shame when there are students of the university paying more than face value for tix to get in and not sit with their classmates, and others sitting in the dorm rooms and apartments because they couldn't get tickets, for there to be entire rows still showing aluminum. And don't tell me those seats go open before kick off, all of us who attended UA know better. I expect there to be significant pressure to change the "block" seating with the new expansion. You want to sit together, show up together two hours early like the rest of the students who want to sit with their friends instead of hazing your pledges by sending them out there to sit in the sun or cold for two hours waiting for you when you aren't even planning to show up.

Sorry, mods. This has been an issue since the 80s that I know about, so send me nasty PM if you need to.

 

[Tidewater]

a buddy of mine at the game told me that people starting leaving early in the 4th. I don't know how many, but that's disappointing.

Because it was cold as a witch's thorax.
I was there until the last play, but it was more than a bit chilly.

 

[RammerJammer14]

i know..... I have been to a couple of games including homecoming and it wasnt full at all .they say that bama has the largest student section in college football. No disrespect but they need to shorten and open some of the south endzone and allow some of use that are on the 6 to 8 year season ticket list the option to purchase .. Just a thought hopefully with the new expansion to come the list will shorten????????

Yeah, the school should only issue 1,000 student tickets for the "true" fans that attend the university. The rest of the student section should be sold to alumni. Because, you know, you should only be allowed to go to the games after you graduate. The university has to please its boosters!

The only students that left (or didn't show up) were the greeks. And alot left at halftime. They have to go to their parties or whatever during the game, so they leave their reserved seating empty. The university needs to abolish this stupid block seating for the greeks. They are students just like everybody else.

 

[TIDE-HSV]

Sorry, mods. This has been an issue since the 80s that I know about, so send me nasty PM if you need to.

Not sure why you'd think this is a prohibited subject. You're entitled to your opinion and to state it. However, I'll repeat what's been said before - a lot of those greeks' parents are the ones who consistently pledge the funds for a lot of improvements. Also, almost all of the BOT have kids who are, or were, greeks. Fact of life. I pledged a frat when I was a freshman, got married, divorced, and drifted away from that world. When I was in law school, I ran for SGA president as an independent, and lost 2-1 to Don Siegelman. I resolved never to enter another race I didn't have fixed in advance, and I've stayed true to that. However, I do have a pretty good view from both sides of the fence...

 

[MDB98]

I was there last night. I agree that the crowd was into the game and about as rowdy as you can expect on a cold night against a team like State.

A lot of people stayed and suffered in the cold. It was really chilly and the wind seemed to swirl from a lot of different directions but blew all night. After a pretty hard five minute downpour that the weather folks failed to predict, a lot of people were soaked to the skin, but many many of them stuck it out till the bitter end, at least till it was no longer in doubt. If you weren't sitting there soaking wet, in the cold wind, don't be so quick to judge them.

Last thing is that I agree the block seating has outlived its usefulness (if it ever had any). The student section around the band and over to the frat block seating is always packed and rowdy (I've been to four games this year). The block seating has not been full at any game I've attended. I wouldn't be surprised to see open seats there at the Barn game. It is a shame when there are students of the university paying more than face value for tix to get in and not sit with their classmates, and others sitting in the dorm rooms and apartments because they couldn't get tickets, for there to be entire rows still showing aluminum. And don't tell me those seats go open before kick off, all of us who attended UA know better. I expect there to be significant pressure to change the "block" seating with the new expansion. You want to sit together, show up together two hours early like the rest of the students who want to sit with their friends instead of hazing your pledges by sending them out there to sit in the sun or cold for two hours waiting for you when you aren't even planning to show up.

Sorry, mods. This has been an issue since the 80s that I know about, so send me nasty PM if you need to.

I agree. I graduated in 1998 and the greek section was always the issue at BDS. I was in the band and they (greeks) used to be on our right. If they showed up and i mean IF it was after the game started. Do you remember the cup incident in the 1994 GA game? That was the Frat boys. I remember them throwing a bottle at Eric Zier. I was always and continue to be embarassed by the greeks. I say do away with their block seating and allow a larger cross section of the student population to attend games. Let the greeks sit at their houses, drink and watch the game on TV.

 

[Tidewater]

they say that bama has the largest student section in college football. No disrespect but they need to shorten and open some of the south endzone and allow some of use that are on the 6 to 8 year season ticket list the option to purchase .. Just a thought hopefully with the new expansion to come the list will shorten????????

I'm not sure who "they" are, but "they" are wrong.
University of Florida grads tell me that every student at UF gets an opportunity to buy a ticket. UF has 36,000 undergrads and 15,000 grad students. Almost half the Swamp is filled with students. Even if only the undergrads count, then their 36,000 is larger than the Alabama student section.

631 Alabama students got to but tickets to the SECCG. 631 out of 27,000. 73% of Alabama's SECCG tickets went to Tide Pride members.

Don't get me wrong, Tide Pride members are generous to the University, but the Alabama student section is not over-sized.


And to address the question of the thread, the stadium was pretty loud. Not LSU-last-year-after-Arenas'-TD loud, but loud.

 

[BamaKJ]

We were there last night and the crowd was definitely into the game where we were!!! It was COLD! And because we actually believed the weather forecast on TV, we did not take our rain gear with us--so we were COLD and WET!!! But, we were not quiet! And we were seated for all of about five minutes during the game!!! It was worth every frozen finger and toe!!! RTR!!!!

 

[MDB98]

We were there last night and the crowd was definitely into the game where we were!!! It was COLD! And because we actually believed the weather forecast on TV, we did not take our rain gear with us--so we were COLD and WET!!! But, we were not quiet! And we were seated for all of about five minutes during the game!!! It was worth every frozen finger and toe!!! RTR!!!!

I hear you KJ...I took my gloves and i needed them. Coldest game in a while but i kept warm by doing what my coach told me to do. My section was loud the whole game. Can't wait to greet the Barners!

 

[Tidewater]

Not sure why you'd think this is a prohibited subject. You're entitled to your opinion and to state it. However, I'll repeat what's been said before - a lot of those greeks' parents are the ones who consistently pledge the funds for a lot of improvements. Also, almost all of the BOT have kids who are, or were, greeks. Fact of life. I pledged a frat when I was a freshman, got married, divorced, and drifted away from that world. When I was in law school, I ran for SGA president as an independent, and lost 2-1 to Don Siegelman. I resolved never to enter another race I didn't have fixed in advance, and I've stayed true to that. However, I do have a pretty good view from both sides of the fence...

I would not be opposed to penalizing students that have a ticket but do not show up.
Donating a ticket nowadays is easy. Over the internet, from your home. There is no excuse for a student not going and eating his ticket.

If a student is a no-show for two games (to allow a warning after the first missed game), I'd be in favor of giving that student a zero-balance in semester hours for seniority purposes the next season.

Too many students want tickets to tolerate no-shows of those who are holding tickets.

 

[ontopp]

Well I can hardly talk today and I have never sat in the SE corner before in front of the cheerleaders It sounded pretty good where I was. Not constant like it was at the Fla game when prothro got hurt, gloves don't make as much noise, I thought it sounded best when we blocked the punt. ROLL TIDE :BigA:

 

[Probius]

Each frat has their own section and they guard them fiercely, even if they can't fill them all. That is the problem and Mal Moore should adress this.

 

[BoroBama]

Just got home from the game last night and I thought the atmosphere was really good. It seemed that the band played more during the tv timeouts and the cheerleaders did more to keep spirits up during the tv timeouts also. There did not seem to be as many lulls in the game as in other tv games. I think tv timeouts can really kill crowd intensity if you do not do something to keep it pumped up. I think I also noticed more music over the sound system than in past games. As far as the greek section looking empty, it appeared that many of the students that would normally sit toward the top were crammed into the bottom section near the field. At first I thought they just did not show up, but noticed that at the bottom of their section you could not see anything but people, no rows, seats, aisles, just people.

 

[BamaKJ]

As far as the greek section looking empty, it appeared that many of the students that would normally sit toward the top were crammed into the bottom section near the field. At first I thought they just did not show up, but noticed that at the bottom of their section you could not see anything but people, no rows, seats, aisles, just people.

I think you are on to something--that plus the new way of dividing up tickets for students. Half the students gets tickets for the FIRST half of the season, then the other half of the students receive tickets for the SECOND half of the season. (Hope that makes sense!)

 

[edwd58]

The crowd and atmosphere was great last night. It was really cold and the wind only made it worse. My feet didn't get warm until we had walked almost almost all the way back to the parking deck.

For those of us that stayed until the very end, the tribute from Coach to the fans, before he went into the tunnel, was a nice touch and received another big cheer. I think he truly appreciated everyone that hung in there last night.

 

[RTR13]

i know..... I have been to a couple of games including homecoming and it wasnt full at all .they say that bama has the largest student section in college football. No disrespect but they need to shorten and open some of the south endzone and allow some of use that are on the 6 to 8 year season ticket list the option to purchase .. Just a thought hopefully with the new expansion to come the list will shorten????????

According to an issue of ESPN Magazine from several months ago...

Florida's student section is 24% of 88,548 (approx. 21,251 -- my math may be off)
Alabama's student section is 16% of 92,138 (approx 14,742)

Largest student section in NCAA: Texas A&M (29,736) (or 36% of 82,600)

 

[syxxgunn]

The noise level was much, much better........

However, it should "not" take the head coach to admonish the crowd to get them to give love to thier team, should it?

Now that we know that we can make a "big" difference in the our team's play, please, please show your enthusiasm by clapping, yelling, whistling or whatever will make noise so that the other team gets confused and often will get rattled and get a penalty for movement or even a delay of game penalty, etc...................
!:BigA:

This has been something that's pi$$ed me off numerous times. On TV other stadiums made so much noise it's pitiful. I was listening to the Ark State on the radio and heard "polite" applause when a good play was made. It amazed me when I read on other boards that some of you had been asked to sit down by the blue haired attendee's. Did anyone say anything back to them ? C'mon people, we're 11-0, this is SEC football...and as Brett Favre once said " This aint a tennis match " I heard the noise last night and it did effect Miss State. Let's be that way for every game. Whether it be The Citadel or Holy Cross or William and Mary....MAKE SOME NOISE !!! That is all...rant is over.

 

[J4Bama]

I wasn't happy with the people in my section for not being loud enough. You would think that being ranked #1 in the nation would pack the house and have that place roaring, but it seems that people would rather use the weather as an excuse.