2007 Football preview and offseason fan talk

[rhineaux]

_ We do not have enough parking at Cajun Field for people who simply want to get there a little while before the game starts. It is an absolute insult to a good fan who wants to attend a game and has to park at Blackham and hike almost a mile to the stadium while there are hundreds of parking spots taken up by people who have no tickets to the game, but like a good party.

The last thing a coach needs to be doing on game day is PR work, I would not want to be the coach who was glad handing people after any loss.

We should demand up until about 1.5 hours before the game that when you drive up you have a ticket for each person in your vehicle in order to enter.
Same thing for RV, if you do not have an RV permit you don't get in, period, drive to Blackham. For the whinny B it chy groups, there are multiple ticket outlets that they can access if getting in is important to them. _

After talking to someone in the Athletic department, the idea of not allowing patrons onto the grounds without tickets had already been discussed with regards to continuing to meet the attendance regulations for the ncaa, but there were too many drawbacks to it, primarily with perception. I think they would be worried about some folks who never go to games much, and/or new cajun fans, and make an attempt to be a part of it, and then we turn them away, even if they only tailgate. the fact is that, MOST people who consistently go to Cajun Field on Saturdays will start going into the game. There are some that will stay out, but, can't really control what people do. Like they say, win and they will come.

Secondly, by doing that, you turn away ALL of your walkup crowd becasue the only place for them to buy tickets is within the grounds of the athletic complex. If they can't get in without a ticket, they'll surely never be able to by the ticket they wanted to buy.

[Cajun Express]

_ After talking to someone in the Athletic department, the idea of not allowing patrons onto the grounds without tickets had already been discussed with regards to continuing to meet the attendance regulations for the ncaa, but there were too many drawbacks to it, primarily with perception. I think they would be worried about some folks who never go to games much, and/or new cajun fans, and make an attempt to be a part of it, and then we turn them away, even if they only tailgate. the fact is that, MOST people who consistently go to Cajun Field on Saturdays will start going into the game. There are some that will stay out, but, can't really control what people do. Like they say, win and they will come.

Secondly, by doing that, you turn away ALL of your walkup crowd becasue the only place for them to buy tickets is within the grounds of the athletic complex. If they can't get in without a ticket, they'll surely never be able to by the ticket they wanted to buy. _

I will answer your second concern first. They can buy tickets at other locations unless they no longer have ticket master at the old Maison Blanc for example. I also did not keep people out that want to buy tickets at the last moment because my gate check would end about 1.5 hours before kickoff.

Your first argument is nutz regardless of who said it. No stadium should allow non fans in before all the football fans have a spot. For too long UL has walked on egg shells about not offending anybody. Heck they offend hundreds of ticket buying fans who see themselves walking so far while the grasshoppers party.

I think until you take your child by the neck he will always want his way. The sooner you do it the better. As a no nonsense parent I suffered short term pain only to gain long term respect by my children. Along with that respect I also had happier children who knew exactly the bounds, and we all enjoyed our live so much better. There are several members of this board I know who also practice no nonsense from their kids and they to have happier more contented children. Take firm and decisive action, and we will lose some forever. But if we really had a chance then they will not be lost forever.

I have been in closed door meetings and never ever heard the first argument as to a way to curb those who only want to party.

As for win and they will come, that does not create one new parking spot. In fact some of the most vocal fans against those who take up parking only to tailgate happen at Refineryville U. Surely they win enough to get um inside.

[CrazyCajun]

_ We do not have enough parking at Cajun Field for people who simply want to get there a little while before the game starts. It is an absolute insult to a good fan who wants to attend a game and has to park at Blackham and hike almost a mile to the stadium while there are hundreds of parking spots taken up by people who have no tickets to the game, but like a good party.

The last thing a coach needs to be doing on game day is PR work, I would not want to be the coach who was glad handing people after any loss.

We should demand up until about 1.5 hours before the game that when you drive up you have a ticket for each person in your vehicle in order to enter.
Same thing for RV, if you do not have an RV permit you don't get in, period, drive to Blackham. For the whinny B it chy groups, there are multiple ticket outlets that they can access if getting in is important to them. _

read the post! It says PRESEASON not pregame tailgate. The point is to have a big PRESEASON tailgating party with bands and the players and coaches trying to sell season tickets. to get people in the community involved. have things for the kids to do and it would be like a small festival a few weekends BEFORE the season. I think it could work. It would basically be like a pep rally but on a much larger scale

[Cajun Express]

_ read the post! It says PRESEASON not pregame tailgate. The point is to have a big PRESEASON tailgating party with bands and the players and coaches trying to sell season tickets. to get people in the community involved. have things for the kids to do and it would be like a small festival a few weekends BEFORE the season. I think it could work. It would basically be like a pep rally but on a much larger scale _

My bad. Actually it is a darned good idea. A giant cook-off with a great prize perhaps a pair of road tickets, travel, and hotel accomodations.

[rhineaux]

_ I will answer your second concern first. They can buy tickets at other locations unless they no longer have ticket master at the old Maison Blanc for example. I also did not keep people out that want to buy tickets at the last moment because my gate check would end about 1.5 hours before kickoff.

Your first argument is nutz regardless of who said it. No stadium should allow non fans in before all the football fans have a spot. For too long UL has walked on egg shells about not offending anybody. Heck they offend hundreds of ticket buying fans who see themselves walking so far while the grasshoppers party.

I think until you take your child by the neck he will always want his way. The sooner you do it the better. As a no nonsense parent I suffered short term pain only to gain long term respect by my children. Along with that respect I also had happier children who knew exactly the bounds, and we all enjoyed our live so much better. There are several members of this board I know who also practice no nonsense from their kids and they to have happier more contented children. Take firm and decisive action, and we will lose some forever. But if we really had a chance then they will not be lost forever.

I have been in closed door meetings and never ever heard the first argument as to a way to curb those who only want to party.

As for win and they will come, that does not create one new parking spot. In fact some of the most vocal fans against those who take up parking only to tailgate happen at Refineryville U. Surely they win enough to get um inside. _

I've noticed that you and I often disagree on certain things, or at least tend to offer each other counter points on many opinions. We should get together at one of the first games or something, and you can give me a couple beers and chat, it is seldom that i find someone who always argues the opposite of everything. at least that is how you come off sometimes, not sure if that is your M.O., but its another reason why I'd like to meet you. Plus i ahven't met a whole lot of guys around the board, and i guess i can start with that this season. kinda like the anonimity, not that i ahve anything to hide, but the grass probably is greener.

to the points, I wasn't aware that you could still go to ticketmaster and get tickets. I thought everything was done in house. but then again, i don't think there are a whole lot of people who are gonna go through that stuff anyway. i understand your ideas, but i don't know that i think they're the best. we need more fans, and in the group of people we are trying to recruit, there are some folks who already feel that they are above the school, or some that feel that if they will be a fan that we should cater to them like they are doing us some sort of favor. Perception among people i talk to or hear from is that everything is f'd up at UL, from bad football to administration. So, if they decide to give it a shot one saturday to hang out at their buddies tent to tailgate, but are turned away, then that is just another stupid reason they can't support the school and they are gone for good, and report their distaste to all their buddies. personally, they can take their happy asses and never come back to a game again, if they don't like it. but, their money is green just like yours and mine, and it serves me and you much better if it's in UL's pocket instead of theirs.

Secondly, Just because somebody drives up and has a ticket, doesn't do anything for getting them in the game. they can still sit out in the parking lot. I generally have a 6 hour rule, in which i get to the field at elast six hours before the game, just in case something comes up on a saturday. but generally i get there at around 7 or 8 am no matter the game time. Therefore i don't know much about the parking woes of fans who get there late. At the same time, your initial idea is right, parking is limited. That being said, I think that if you were to turn away cars that don't have tickets, you still aren't going to be left with an empty parking lot for tons of people. I wasn't aware, though, that they were parking all the way at Blackham. I always kinda thought that a good idea would be to shut down Cajundome BLVD. from Congress to Johnston or Souvenir Gate to Johnston, and allow for tailgating there. the main problem is that getting out after the game would be harder with that main thoroughfare blocked, but, they could open the inner lanes, and have the outside lanes blocked with police barricades, so post game tailgating could still occur with some minor exiting. probably wouldn't work, but just a thought. Better yet, screw it, I was in BR for a wedding last year, and went out at a bar near tiger Stadium, and left after a game, and with was a total cluster F. so i think we could manage with closing down Cajundome. Let them empty out onto congress and Bertrand, and they can figure it out from there. Also, I remember several years ago, they opened up the field across congress for parking for a game. What is wrong with that area again. It shouldn't be a problem if there are officers there to allow pedestrians to cross. Also, there is tons of room for parking in the lot across bertrand next to drug emporium. i think that we could definitely do something for parking other than blackham, but we just have to do it.

[CrazyCajun]

not allowing people into tailgate areas without tickets would never work. i know in our group we invite people to tailgate all the time that don't have tickets but buy them when they get there. A lot of people say they will come just to tailgate and after a few beers they decide to go to the game b/c we all do. It starts with the people who throw the tailgates. When its game time we put everyhting away, the ice chests we turn off the radio and stop the party so people really have no choice but to either go to the game or go home. Most choose to go to the game. Alot of these tailgates keep the music rolling and the beer and food out allowing people to stay and party while they go to the game. I stop by alot of tailgates on the way to the stadium and people ask each other if they are going in or not, its not a question at ours if you don't go to the game your an idiot. You have to make it the thing to do is go to the game, that is the whole reason we are out there. There are alot more people tailgating now than i can remember in recent years. It may be a slow process but as long as people are tailgating you have them right where you want them. Eventually more and more people will go to the game. I think the 6:00 starts will help alot this year. With the 4:00 starts alot of people don't get there until 2:00 and are not ready to stop partying at 3:30 to go into the game. 6:00 starts give people plenty of time to get buzzed and have their fun before going to the game. Look how many people were at middle tenn. last year, if we win that game we would have had more people at the next home game than we have had in a long time. As for the people who get there late and have to walk, all i can say is get there earlier. Thats a good problem to have. Why in the world would you want to be able to drive up right before game time and get a front row parking spot? Thats not good b/c that means nobody is there. I hope one day soon that if you get to a game late that you have to call a cab to bring you to the stadium. The more people the better no matter where they are. Win a sunbelt title and a bowl game and the stadium will have 30,000 every game.

[DaddyCajun]

Here is something from Paul Bear Bryant........that I hope the Cajuns and Bustle can put into play this season on........

Geaux Cajuns, Geaux UL, Geaux Louisiana!

6 Minutes. 50 Years.

Bear Bryant’s speech to his Alabama football team before a 1974 game. Enjoy!

"Most of you will live another fifty years or more. I hope it's seventy, but if it's fifty that's still a good life, and what happens today you'll have to live with the rest of the way. You can't get it back if you don't win. It's sixty minutes and over. The losers are the ones who say, 'Oh I wish I could play it again.' You can't play it again.

Well, you're not really going to have to play sixty minutes. None of you. The longest play in a game is six and a half seconds. The shortest play is less than two seconds. That's barely a wink of the eye. You'll average five seconds a play. Five seconds of total effort, going all out, giving a hundred percent. You ought to be able to hold your hand in a fire that long.

If you're lucky enough to play seventy plays, that amounts to about six minutes. Six minutes of your time. Out of fifty years, six minutes doesn't seem like much. But a loser will regret it the rest of his life.

You've worked a long time for this. You've been playing since you were in the seventh grade. You go out there in front of all those people and don't give a hundred percent every play then you're cheating yourself, and your recruiters, and your parents, and your high school coach, and everybody whoever helped you. This is what you have been working toward. ...

In any big game there are five or six or seven key plays that will decide the outcome. If you put out for five seconds on every play, you'll get your share of those key plays. You never know when they'll come, so you have to go all out every time.

If you're reckless, and give that extra effort, and every play try a little harder, you'll see in the films on Monday that it was you who made those five or six plays that win. Play 'em jaw to jaw, and you'll win in the fourth quarter."

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DaddyCajun

[RCAJUN90]

Which row does the chair back seats start under the overhang? I recall row 38 or something like that. Getting my tickets for the Ohio game. Those are the best seats in my opinion.

[Cajun Express]

_ Which row does the chair back seats start under the overhang? I recall row 38 or something like that. Getting my tickets for the Ohio game. Those are the best seats in my opinion. _

The top row is not 38, but thirty five, and the overhang extends about six rows down. Protection from the Sun goes a lot further down for a late afternoon game, and an added advantage of the overhang is protection from rainfall that might come. That and with it a nice breeze shooting into the stadium. I am pretty sure you will need to buy under the overhang in other than a chairback section. Those are pretty much taken by supporters. You might get some action around the twenty yard line, but not between the 40's.

[RCAJUN90]

Those are pretty much taken by supporters. You might get some action around the twenty yard line, but not between the 40's.

You always got to take a shot don't you. I believe you have OCD. I'm going to the game and bringing seven other people with me. The area under the overhang is the best. Saved me from getting soaked for a UAB game.