On student sections.
by John M (The Crimson Quarry) on Feb 4, 2010 11:57 AM EST
17 comments
Boiled Sports has some fun with the first game notes publication of the "Crimson Guard." I would jump to the defense of the IU students, but...well, my curmudgeonliness on this issue is pretty well documented. I want students to show up, wear crimson, and make lots of noise, and that’s it. I don’t like the Cameron Crazies and I especially don’t like the half-baked imitations of the Cameron Crazies that now are considered mandatory at all schools.
Amazingly enough, I do have some points of agreement with BS. Including:
- "Purdont" is lame. "Purdouchebags" has a bit more bite.
- It’s silly to have to teach students how to cheer. Again, IU managed to develop a nice homecourt advantage for 40 years without this crap. Still, this is a matter of the pot calling the kettle black. From the Paint Crew website:
-When the Boilers are shooting free throws, make your arm form the "L" shape as if you were about to do the "Boiler Up" motion. When we hit the free throw, yell "whoosh, boiler up" and actually do the "boiler up" motion, then clap four times.
When the Boilers win the tip, it has been a tradition for a few years for one of our members to start a "Lets go Boilers" *clap, *clap, *clap *clap *clap chant. If we lose the tip, just get as loud as possible.
When DJ Byrd does something cool, flap your arms like in Angels in the Outfield, but do not hit those people next to you.
When a player on the opposing team fouls out, be sure to walk them off the court, yelling "left" and "right" for every step made by the left and right feet.
...
-When Mark Wohlford does something, howl like a wolf.
Again, silly, but it’s par for the course for these contrived, named student sections. It's interesting that the "IU sucks" chant, which seems to crop up in Mackey regardless of the opponent, isn't an official Paint Crew cheer.
As for other issued raised by BS and in the comments:
- Purdue’s "national championship": It would have been more precise for the Crimson Guard to say that Purdue has won "no NCAA championships." Purdue does indeed consider itself the 1932 national champions based on a mythical national championship awarded by an organization called the Helms Foundation. "Mythical" championships decided the college football title for decades, and some would say the BCS still is a mythical, rather than true, championship. The problem with Purdue’s claim is that the Helms Foundation didn’t exist until the late 1930s. At that point, with the help of historians, the Helms Foundation awarded "retroactive" national championships for the past. If Purdue wants to claim that as a national title, hey, it’s a free country. Still, it’s indisputably true that Purdue has never won a national championship that it knew it was playing for. There was no Keith Smart-type deciding moment, no trophy, no newspaper headlines from 1932 celebrating Purdue’s win. Just the decision of a bunch of historians years later. However dusty IU’s banners are (and, I might add, two of IU’s title banners are less dusty than Purdue’s 1980 Final Four trophy), every IU championship team came through when it knew the title was on the line.
- The size of IU’s student section: for years, IU has allocated 7800 seats for students. I think many people who aren’t familiar with Assembly Hall think that IU students are limited to the bleachers on the floor. That’s not true. The student section includes the south end bleachers on the floor, about one third of the east main level, and the vast majority of both balconies. IU students have long complained about the lack of a contiguous student section, but IU always has been generous in its allocation of student tickets. For reference, Mackey Arena seats 14,400, which means that IU’s student ticket allotment would take up over half of the entire capacity of Mackey. Unfortunately, the downturn of the program has led to a decline in student ticket demand. Still compared to other schools, IU’s student support remains strong. For the worst team in school history last season, IU sold over 4,000 student tickets. According to this Purdue Exponent article from 2001 (I don’t know if it’s changed since then), Purdue’s student ticket alottment is about 3,000. It’s fun to kick IU’s program while it is down–I know this because I did plenty of kicking of Purdue in the last decade--but IU’s fan support compared to the performance on the court has been very good.
- "Being an original idiot makes you sound like a southern Indiana hillrat. Oh, wait...." I'll give Boiled Sports credit for persistence on this front. Through comments like this over the years, they have tried to cultivate (heh) the impression that the Tippecanoe County Insititute of Bovine Husbandry and Book Lernin' somehow is more urbane than the school that is best known for business and the liberal and fine arts. I don't concede that there's anything wrong with being a "southern Indiana hillrat." It's a much more beautiful part of the state than the space occupied by John Deere U. All that said, IU's student body is comprised of students from all over the state, nation, and world, much like Purdue's. The main difference is that no one at IU gets academic credit for castrating a hog. But yeah, IU's the hick school.
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3000 sounds about right.
I’m sure they could sell a bunch more in years like these, but they are far too stingy with the size of the student section.
Don’t even get me started on the fact that the student section should be given at least half, if not all of the lower bowl. Grr.
If we expand the student section...
where would the 90 year olds sit?
Hammer and Rails
The only Purdue blog at that web address.
You guys are losing some capacity with the renovation, right? Have the decided if the student allotment will change?
The Crimson Quarry, SB Nation's Indiana Hoosiers blog
by John M (The Crimson Quarry) on Feb 4, 2010 12:47 PM EST up reply actions
There will be no loss in seating in the expansion
And I believe the students is 5,000
by PurdueEnginerd on Feb 4, 2010 1:55 PM EST up reply actions
Ya, You’re right. I just looked it up. I misread the statement.
- A decrease in seating from 14,123 seats to about 13,300.
- About 690 premium seats that will have more space and padded seats.
That kind of sucks.
by PurdueEnginerd on Feb 4, 2010 3:37 PM EST up reply actions
I’m pretty sure it’s 5000. The university sells 5000 VIP cards and these guarantee you student basketball tickets. The general admission (paint crew) seats are limited to 1779 however.
That's the other thing that bugs me.
The whole student section should be together. Spreading those that don’t get general admission tickets only pisses off those students, and old people that have to sit near students that actually care about the game.
"the IU sucks chant, which seems to crop up in Mackey regardless of the opponent"
Love it!
Ever Grateful. Ever True.
I suppose...
…That’s better than the “Ball State’s Better” chant when we play IU
by PurdueEnginerd on Feb 4, 2010 2:47 PM EST up reply actions
The championship banner
nobody makes fun of UNC for counting theirs in with their NCAA titles
by Delaware Boiler on Feb 4, 2010 10:28 PM EST reply actions
purdue
why are there so many boilers commenting on this thread and why are they even on this board? one of the last things i would want to do is waste my life over on whatever blog they have.
anyway, i get in arguments with those turd boiler fans all the time. “oh yea, well you haven’t won a title since 87, it doesn’t mean you will ever be good again…” no, we haven’t, but you can’t throw stones about not winning one when you yourself have NEVER won a title. also, while i agree that winning 5 titles doesn’t mean you will get back, it sure doesn’t hurt either. if purdue can build a national title contender then there is really no doubt that iu can too, even with the sampson debacle.
a purdue friend of mine brought me an article about how iu is “a bunch of hillbilly’s down south” and iu is “racist for firing mike davis”… WHAT!!! purdue has two frat’s full of farmers, they are an agricultural school, and where do you think boiler up came from (cowboy up, for you slackjawed boilers reading this)??? i have plenty of hillbilly friends (i am from la porte) and almost all of them are purdue fans. it would be like tiger woulds calling phil mickelson a cheater. if you want to be a doctor you go to iu, if you want to plow fields and raise livestock you go to purdue.
finally, the “iu sucks” chant. i fully attribute this to purdue fans having the little man syndrome. granted, i can’t stand purdue, but the last thing on my mind when iu is playing ohio state is the boilermakers. my sister-in-law called me from the purdue/wisconsin game and they were chanting iu sucks. it’s comical that your team is in a battle with one of the top teams in the big ten and you are so insecure about your pitiful self that you have to start chanting about your rival school. throw in the fact that we are one year removed from the total demolition of our program, and i think it is just pointless. it wasn’t fun beating the bejesus out of purdue a few years ago (ok, maybe a little) because they sucked. however, i will not forget all of the phone calls/text messages i keep getting from those purdue fans that were nowhere to be found then. in two years when your dream team has graduated and iu is finally back i will let them have it, just not when we are beating the daylights out of illinois.
in the end i guess my message is, enjoy this season purdue fans. you truly have a special team. hummel is outstanding, moore can light up anyone, johnson is a threat, and kramer is one of the best defenders i have ever seen. the truth is that there is room for indiana, purdue, and the rest of the big ten at the top. as much as i hate purdue, i hate the duke/unc/acc bias even more. i do believe that a top tier purdue team can help build a top tier iu team through recruiting, exposure, and just pushing each other to the top of the college basketball world. so good luck on your trip to indianapolis this march barlow, we will see who is choking then.
"When my time on earth is gone, and my activities here are passed, I want they bury me upside down, and my critics can kiss my ass!" --Coach Knight
"Mental toughness is to physical as four is to one." --Coach Knight
"Where else would you rather be then right here, right now" --Marv Levy
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