Difference between IU and UC

[adrock]

I'm not singling you out vielhaber, but I find the following to be a very good example of the illogical mindset of fans (myself included), and wanted to comment.

If you want to talk success vs. fans attending games, look no further than Cleveland as to a town that actually has sports as a priority. I cannot stand a fair-weather fan. I'm from Cleveland and I love my sports teams. We haven't won a championship since 1964! It's been 47 years but people of the city show more support for their teams than they do in Cincinnati.

Loyalty, nay blind loyalty, is considered one of the greatest virtues of the sports fanatic. Why? In nearly every other aspect of our lives this kind of loyalty would be absolutely retarded (pardon the expression). Examples:

• You drive from your house in Wilder, KY to work in Sharonville, OH every day via I-275 around the east side. The trip is 36 miles long and takes you 41 minutes. Somebody that both lives and works near you tells you after 10 years of doing this that driving up I-75 will save you 28 miles and 18 minutes per day on your commute. You boldly proclaim that you are loyal to your current route, and that you are not willing to change the way you go to work every day just because it's better in every way. You ridicule him for changing his route and call him a "fair-weather commuter."
• You use a certain brand of toilet paper in your house. That's what your parents used, that's what your friends have always used; that's just the way it is. You make a new friend and start talking about toilet paper (It's just an example!). He tells you that the brand he uses is cheaper, available in more stores, and has been proven to perform better than your brand. You refuse to change toilet paper for fear of being seen as a "fair-weather consumer."

No doubt everyone here is more than just a sports fan. We have lives outside of cheering on our chosen team.[/list]

I could think of more examples but even less people would read that wall of text, and I think the point is made. As I said, I am guilty of this too, but why do we use logic in determining nearly every other decision in our life except our team fandom?

This is not rhetorical. If anybody has an answer I'm eager to hear it.

Side note: Religion and political party affiliation (for some people) may also be areas where this dogmatic loyalty is seen as a virtue, but this is neither the time nor place to discuss either of those topics.

 

[bearcat jeff]

I'm not singling you out vielhaber, but I find the following to be a very good example of the illogical mindset of fans (myself included), and wanted to comment.



Loyalty, nay blind loyalty, is considered one of the greatest virtues of the sports fanatic. Why? In nearly every other aspect of our lives this kind of loyalty would be absolutely retarded (pardon the expression). Examples:

• You drive from your house in Wilder, KY to work in Sharonville, OH every day via I-275 around the east side. The trip is 36 miles long and takes you 41 minutes. Somebody that both lives and works near you tells you after 10 years of doing this that driving up I-75 will save you 28 miles and 18 minutes per day on your commute. You boldly proclaim that you are loyal to your current route, and that you are not willing to change the way you go to work every day just because it's better in every way. You ridicule him for changing his route and call him a "fair-weather commuter."
• You use a certain brand of toilet paper in your house. That's what your parents used, that's what your friends have always used; that's just the way it is. You make a new friend and start talking about toilet paper (It's just an example!). He tells you that the brand he uses is cheaper, available in more stores, and has been proven to perform better than your brand. You refuse to change toilet paper for fear of being seen as a "fair-weather consumer."

No doubt everyone here is more than just a sports fan. We have lives outside of cheering on our chosen team.[/list]

I could think of more examples but even less people would read that wall of text, and I think the point is made. As I said, I am guilty of this too, but why do we use logic in determining nearly every other decision in our life except our team fandom?

This is not rhetorical. If anybody has an answer I'm eager to hear it.

Side note: Religion and political party affiliation (for some people) may also be areas where this dogmatic loyalty is seen as a virtue, but this is neither the time nor place to discuss either of those topics.

I like that illustration and don't believe in blind loyalty. There is nothing wrong with questioning a coach and the play of a team. Fans have every right, and should, set expectations for a program they financially support. When they fail to live up to those expectations fans can voice their displeasure by not attending games. No problem with that whatsoever. It is a free country and they can even choose to not attend even the team is playing well.

What I don't "understand" is fans that don't support the program when it is winning and battling for a spot in the national championship tournament. Even if they simply don't like a coach, or are displeased the old coach is gone and how it went down. None of that has anything to do with the young men that are representing the Cpaw and working hard and dedicating their time to bring said program back to prominence. Fans do make a difference. They energize a team and help recruiting by creating an atmosphere players like to play in. To me, if you say you love the program you should do what you can to help it rise again.

 

[ME80]

What I don't "understand" is fans that don't support the program when it is winning and battling for a spot in the national championship tournament. Even if they simply don't like a coach, or are displeased the old coach is gone and how it went down. None of that has anything to do with the young men that are representing the Cpaw and working hard and dedicating their time to bring said program back to prominence. Fans do make a difference. They energize a team and help recruiting by creating an atmosphere players like to play in. To me, if you say you love the program you should do what you can to help it rise again.

And that is the sense I have had over the last couple years. Some people are more worried about proving that Mick can't do the job rather than rooting for their team. I still think Mick has a lot to prove and in a lot of ways has to improve. But they are on the verge of getting to the tournament and that is exciting. If they don't it will be a major disappointment now that they are close.

The other think I do not understand is taking the position of "we only won because the other team didn't do ....... right" rather than acknowledging that their own team did things right. That's what fans are supposed to do when talking about other teams or rivals, not their own team.

Does the team and the coach deserve some of the criticism? They sure do, but I do not feel that it is balanced or rational at times.

 

[dp3113]

as an IU alum I feel as though I have some good hands perspective on the matter. I am however, as most of you can tell, and always have been a UC basketball fan and not IU. anyways here are my 2 cents on the differences:

1) bloomington has nothing outside of IU basketball. nothing competes with it, and the whole year revolves around it. basketball in indiana is like football in texas or ohio. it is in everyones blood, and it is all they care about. here fans can look forward to and invest in bengals games, reds games, xavier games, or even cyclones games if they'd like. theres no competitor at IU.

2) like someone else said- its the flagship university of the state- ala what ohio state is to ohio. the same way OSU would draw 102 K every game even if OSU had a few bad years in football is the same way IU still draws 17K a game.

3) UC is a commuter school whereas at IU everyone lives at or near campus. You dont commute from home to IU like you do a big city school like UC. a lot can be said for the bond you form with a school and campus when you live on campus and really experience it. there is nothing wrong with commuting, but for some people (not all- as im sure some people here commute and still are very connected to the university) it forms a disconnect between them and the school.----this, over a span of many years, forms a big gap in fan loyalty between the two schools in my opinion.

the fan support at IU is incredible, and something i really wish UC had. unfortunately, it is comparing apples to oranges. they have the largest ratio of students/total fans in attendance annually. they put 7-8 thousand students at each game in a 17K arena. just to get student tickets, you had to buy season tickets- all games- and had to pay $14 per ticket when i was there several years ago. students would pay $200+ to go to the games. this is what is sad in my head- is that the tickets are free for UC games, and they still cannot get students to go.

anyways, just my 2 cents on the difference.

 

[vielhaber]

I agree wholeheartedly with what everyone said above me. I think what mainly frustrates me is that I am a student at UC, and I see no reason why we can't get students to come to games. The tickets are free for Christ's sake. That's the part that really annoys me. I realize that everybody has reasons to not come to games and that to call them out for not being a true fan would not only be illogical, but just wrong in general.

I guess what it boils down to is that I wish students cared, because without a packed arena of energized fans (and the energy has to come from the students) it makes winning games that much more difficult.