(2009) I'm the casual fan that has not been to Cajun Field in years

[Turbine]

And so, while I want the casual fan back, my main concern right now is HOW to get them back and implementing it, not wooing them back when we do not have the means to do so. And we DO need them. Well, actually, we need their money, and I'll do everything I can on my end to get it.

Just my two cents. _

At the current exchange rate your two cents are worth a dollar.

[CajunMarine81]

I believe every one of you has a valid point and everyone is passionate people about UL. The road that we are all sure of taking, to get our sports program to success, will all be different routes. That is the bottom line.

I AM a "DIE HARD" fan! I never miss a game! But when I have heard several of you say, "yes, we need you in the seat, but we need your $$$$$$$", is disgusting to me.

I used to be the "Casual fan". I fell into the "if your born in Louisiana, support LSU", early in my life. I grew out of that and supported my university and their athletics from Acadiana. I did not go to college. I went to the military. I have never stepped foot in a college class. However, I am a "DIE HARD" UL fan! My money, yes, it goes to the university. I paid for my wife’s education there, I go to every game, and I give donations to the school. I love UL. Because I'm not alum, does that make me less supportive of the university and its athletics?

All I am saying is, yes, we have lost some fans because of several things that have happened in the last few decades, not years. After we lost to McNeese, I swore I'd never step foot in Cajun Field until changes were made. I didn't live up to that, I kept going. BUT GUESS WHAT GUYS, OTHER PEOPLE TOOK THAT TO HEART!

I say to chop, c'mon man, get your ass into the stadium and watch our Cajuns! But I will not be-little you for your feelings. Acadiana is looking for someone to root for in their own community!

[MissingMandy]

_ I believe every one of you has a valid point and everyone is passionate people about UL. The road that we are all sure of taking, to get our sports program to success, will all be different routes. That is the bottom line.

I AM a "DIE HARD" fan! I never miss a game! But when I have heard several of you say, "yes, we need you in the seat, but we need your $$$$$$$", is disgusting to me.

I used to be the "Casual fan". I fell into the "if your born in Louisiana, support LSU", early in my life. I grew out of that and supported my university and their athletics from Acadiana. I did not go to college. I went to the military. I have never stepped foot in a college class. However, I am a "DIE HARD" UL fan! My money, yes, it goes to the university. I paid for my wife’s education there, I go to every game, and I give donations to the school. I love UL. Because I'm not alum, does that make me less supportive of the university and its athletics?

All I am saying is, yes, we have lost some fans because of several things that have happened in the last few decades, not years. After we lost to McNeese, I swore I'd never step foot in Cajun Field until changes were made. I didn't live up to that, I kept going. BUT GUESS WHAT GUYS, OTHER PEOPLE TOOK THAT TO HEART!

I say to chop, c'mon man, get your ass into the stadium and watch our Cajuns! But I will not be-little you for your feelings. Acadiana is looking for someone to root for in their own community! _

Great post....thank you for supporting our athletes!

[Hammer58]

_ I believe every one of you has a valid point and everyone is passionate people about UL. The road that we are all sure of taking, to get our sports program to success, will all be different routes. That is the bottom line.

I AM a "DIE HARD" fan! I never miss a game! But when I have heard several of you say, "yes, we need you in the seat, but we need your $$$$$$$", is disgusting to me.

I used to be the "Casual fan". I fell into the "if your born in Louisiana, support LSU", early in my life. I grew out of that and supported my university and their athletics from Acadiana. I did not go to college. I went to the military. I have never stepped foot in a college class. However, I am a "DIE HARD" UL fan! My money, yes, it goes to the university. I paid for my wife’s education there, I go to every game, and I give donations to the school. I love UL. Because I'm not alum, does that make me less supportive of the university and its athletics?

All I am saying is, yes, we have lost some fans because of several things that have happened in the last few decades, not years. After we lost to McNeese, I swore I'd never step foot in Cajun Field until changes were made. I didn't live up to that, I kept going. BUT GUESS WHAT GUYS, OTHER PEOPLE TOOK THAT TO HEART!

I say to chop, c'mon man, get your ass into the stadium and watch our Cajuns! But I will not be-little you for your feelings. Acadiana is looking for someone to root for in their own community! _

I won't belittle his complaints about the admin or the feeling of a lack of commitment to athletics. But I get an underlying vibe in his complaints about the fans that makes me suspicious of his posts. As someone else pointed out he stated he has not been to a game in 10 years and then comments on basketball under jesse. That doesn't jibe. Also he talks about getting the cold shoulder from fans tailgating at Cajun Field 10 years ago (assume its 10 years since he states that is how long since he attended a game) I think it was about 10 years ago that we started tailgating under the Eauxk and I have to tell you tailgating was a pretty lonely experience back then. Remember that would be in depths of the Baldwin years. So the more I think about it the more many elements of the story don't add up.

And no, you don't have to be an alum to support UL. Next season stop by the Eauxk and introduce yourself. Semper Fi, Devilpup.

[duggie85]

I remember the last game I tried to go to, it was a home game against LATECH. I showed up at 6:45. They had one girl in the whole stadium taking tickets. By the time it got to my turn in line it was almost halftime and the Cajuns were already down 3 TDS, yet they still wanted to charge full price for there incompetence. The next Monday I called Jay Walker about the situation and he blasted me for not showing up at 5PM. Hey DUDE!!!! I think they only had 16K people at that game!!! Why should I have to show up 2 hrs before a game when the stadium is only half full? I can go to a Saints game with 70K people 15 mins before start time and still make the opening KO. The problem is not me, it’s the 1 girl at the ticket window.

It was live on tv on channelsurfing.net but I cant find a replay. I was at the game but would like to see the video version

The second post was refering to the Southern game FYI

[CajunZ1]

I AM a "DIE HARD" fan! I never miss a game! But when I have heard several of you say, "yes, we need you in the seat, but we need your $$$$$$$", is disgusting to me.

This year has proven that "die-hards" number somewhere in the range of 8k-15k. That will not be enough to get UL respectable, even within the Sun Belt.

I feel the original guy had a point (emphasis on a point). We need the casual fan. More importantly we need their money.

Although from reading more of his posts, maybe we could do without "Chop"'s $100.

[Damon]

I think chop is writing this post "in character." He has some good points and some things that the fans on this board and the administration need to examine deeply.

Assuming that he's writing in character as an anonymous casual anyfan. If he's writing this as him/herself, then I agree with rhineaux.

[jazzpop]

_ I’m the guy you love to hate, but at the same time I’m the type of person you have to have for a successful program.

You can either cuss me, or listen to what I have to say and maybe just maybe you will win us back again one day. Although I am just one person, there are at least 20K people in the Lafayette are just like me.

I am not one of the 8K people that will go to the game just because they are playing.
Like I said, I have not been to Cajun Field or the Cajun Dome in 10 years.

I don’t expect a National title contender, but I do expect the university to care more then me.

I have been a member of this forum for a while. I can’t say that I spend a ton of time here lurking, but I do spend enough time here to realize that the administration is not the only ones that has a problem.

I hate the attitude of some of the fans. Some of you act like your **** don’t stink because you go to the game to watch an inferior product, and when the people like me go after a 2 game winning streak you pretty much show the cold shoulder. You guys want people at the games, but when they show up you act like its some kind of privileged for us to be there like we are not worthy.

I remember the last game I tried to go to, it was a home game against LATECH. I showed up at 6:45. They had one girl in the whole stadium taking tickets. By the time it got to my turn in line it was almost halftime and the Cajuns were already down 3 TDS, yet they still wanted to charge full price for there incompetence. The next Monday I called Jay Walker about the situation and he blasted me for not showing up at 5PM. Hey DUDE!!!! I think they only had 16K people at that game!!! Why should I have to show up 2 hrs before a game when the stadium is only half full? I can go to a Saints game with 70K people 15 mins before start time and still make the opening KO. The problem is not me, it’s the 1 girl at the ticket window.

The tailgate thread was a joke. I have been tailgating a few times in the last 10 years, and if they ever kick me out once the game starts I promise you, me and thousands of others will never step foot inside the stadium even if they go 13-0.

During the Mitchell and Jake years I was at every game, I have the potential to go to every game again. But until the University and the fans start treating the casual fans with a little respect, I’m afraid you are going to have to live with 8K for football and 800 for basketball.

Robert Lee not getting canned is an insult.

I use to love going to the Cajun dome and watching Marty ball, but for some reason the cajunnecks down here never accepted him and ran him off.

Then Jessie came along, he was not perfect, but at least he brought some level of success to the program, once again the Cajun necks never accepted him and he left for a better job.

Its time to quit blaming LSU for all the problems. Do you know how childish that sounds?

LSU has zero to do with ULs success or failure.

Its time to quit blaming the SUNBELT conference for all of ULs problems. Why don’t you start dominating the SUNBELT first, then maybe just maybe you can make the case that you are ready to move onto bigger and better things.

The problem right now is the administrations no care attitude, and the Alumni and fans ____ poor attitude.


You can like me or hate me, the bottom line is you will never see 25K at Cajun Field or 10K at the Cajun dome without me sitting in one of the seats. _

An "inconvenient truth" that many will not want to hear, but true none the less. Kudos foe speaking it anyway.

[Hammer58]

_ An "inconvenient truth" that many will not want to hear, but true none the less. Kudos foe speaking it anyway. _

True? I think not. The more you read this fairy tale the more holes you can poke in the story. Chop has about as much credibility here as you.

[Ragin Roar]

You really aren't a fan if you haven't been to Cajun Field in 10 yrs. Stop kidding yourself.

[zephyr]

_ Yes, I happen to be in the lost age group of 30 to 40.
I still must have a little bit of care left in me, otherwise I would not have signed up for this site and started this thread.

But the attitude of the 1st 2 posters after my 1st post is a perfect example of the kind of people that I was talking about.

You guys are going to have to get over it.
Sometimes I feel like you want your 6K fans in the stands. You wear it like a badge of or something.

Time to quit thinking that your something that your not.
There are a lot of people in this town that would support this program with just a few changes.

It is a very fine line being a winner, and not being a winner.
I dont think the changes need to be wholesale.
I would support the team if they had Troys success in football or WKUs success in basketball. Im not asking for much. _

Then what exactly are we as fans? I'm not getting your posts. It's very easy to sit back and to feel that you have a "pulse" on 20k potential fans out there with all of the solutions in the world. What's funny is that we've led the SBC for the past 3 years in attendance and while we all agree we haven't taken the next step, this program has at least had moderate success.

You are different from just about everybody here as we consider ourselves die hard fans. We will, as painful as it may be at times, support this school and its athletic programs relentlessly because of our unfading love for it. You obviously have the laissez faire attitude and while I won't bash you for it, its hard for me to find any credibility in what you say because you obviously have no loyalty to any one school. Why is it that a program must win before you support it? Certainy you don't find any fault in that ideology but yet I find it as ludicrous as your views on our blind faith.

Most here do not blame LSU for our lack of success. Although, there are certain points that can be made about the impact of state politics and namely, prominent LSU supporting politicians who have made taxation without representation popular in years past. Just go to the name change debate over the years to find certain reasons why many here have a dislike for the school. I think, if you patrol this site long enough, you would notice that many here are not exactly satisfied or content with the way the administration has guided this athletic program over the years. You will find no harder critics than right here.

However to be offended by responses by some here is pretty rediculous when you have barely a whisper of interest in this program to begin with and tell its fans how they should act or respond. It's kind of like me coming to your business and telling you how to run it.

[Turbine]

It's kind of like me coming to your business and telling you how to run it. _

. . .and your not even a customer . . .