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ZachTheZip

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41 minutes ago, Blue & Gold said:

Chrissie should write a tune about Akron's comeback!

 

To which most millennials would respond:  :zzz:

 

I'm not saying that to be counter-productive to what this thread is intending to be/do.  I like the conversation about coming up with something that would be uniquely Akron.  I like where the conversation was headed with the Black Keys...classical, Independent vibe that most people can cling to.  

 

The difficulty with coming up with a tune though, is that you've got to find a balance between something the alumni/older generation would cling to and enjoy, that would also attract the younger (and even younger/future) student body into buying into.  The reason sweet caroline works, is that it was a mainstream song that most people heard on the radio, have heard at somepoint in their lives, and could sing along with the refrain (and beats...bah, bah, baaaaahhhhh) very easily.  Picking songs or musicians that most people would not know/heard of would be a wasted effort.

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2 hours ago, Blue & Gold said:

Yeah, graciously, Chrissie Hynde didn't explicitly name Akron in the song.  But the song's about Akron.

 

Chrissie should write a tune about Akron's comeback!

You folks are obviously not big Pretenders fans since they actually have a song named Downtown (Akron).

 

Lyrics might not be appropriate for what we're looking for but its still a cool song.

 

 

 

Edited by MDZip
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36 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

I agree with Balsy these songs aren't mainstream enough. Even if people knew the "My City is Gone" why would you want your song to be about everything you like about Akron leaving?

Maybe it's time the wife and I work on installment 6 of Akron songs but not make it specific to a team. ?

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Fellas, I was only joking about the Chrissie Hynde thing.

 

I like the Pretenders (yeah, largely because Chrissie's from Akron), but The Black Keys is where it's at right now.

 

(Truth be told, I'm not a huge Black Keys fan either.  But I also like them largely because they're from Akron.)

 

 

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1 hour ago, Blue & Gold said:

Fellas, I was only joking about the Chrissie Hynde thing.

 

I like the Pretenders (yeah, largely because Chrissie's from Akron), but The Black Keys is where it's at right now.

 

(Truth be told, I'm not a huge Black Keys fan either.  But I also like them largely because they're from Akron.)

 

 

Ditto to both...the point of posting it was to say we have songs about Akron, but not necessarily positive.

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2 hours ago, zipsoutsider said:

Ditto to both...the point of posting it was to say we have songs about Akron, but not necessarily positive.

 

That;s what I was thinking too.  And I think any song from a local artist might suffice.  Why would anyone think that it matters whether the song are positive, whether people would sing them or not, etc. 

 

I think there's a sense of pride in our local artists, and I think people would enjoy hearing them occasionally at breaks in the action, since we're all already at an event where we're displaying our local pride in our athletic teams.  

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Both STVM & Hoban have great student cheer sections (especially Hoban - wow!).  Wonder if we could tap the UA students who went to STVM & Hoban & simply ask them to start to take leadership w/ the Zips' student section?  It might be a step toward changing the apathetic student culture. Jackson & Hudson also have great student sections.  And there are plenty of others.  Could we intentionally target these students from around the Akron area and explicitly ask for their help/leadership?

 

Just by looking at the InfoCision seating chart & doing the math, it looks like the student section would seat around 750-ish.  What if each player was allowed 3 "Special Student Guests" where they invite 3 friends.  These friends get a special ticket that says, "Thank You for Supporting Me" & a pizza/pasta dinner in the Student Center before the game.  An administrator talks to the students and thanks them for supporting their friend - it means a lot to them - after putting in hours upon hours of hard work & then playing a violent sport - to see friends in the stands.  Take this time together to teach them a new cheer once in a while.  Teach the words to the alma mater & fight song.  Teach them the history of UA football & show them the weekly hype-video.  Then march them all to the Info (before the pregame band show & before the Zips take the field), sit them together in their assigned seats, where t-shits are waiting for them - maybe the t-shirt has the player's # on the back?  During the game have a special vendor for the "Special Student Friends" section occasionally come around & pass out free popcorn, hotdogs & coke.  Do this for every home game. Idk.  If every player asks 3 friends to come (we'd have to figure out a way not to duplicate friends) that's over 300.  

Edited by Blue & Gold
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Blue and Gold.  I think it's always great when people are generating thoughts about how we can get more people involved.  

 

Let me make a comment about your observation that the big high schools in the area have great student involvement.  You're saying that we should contact these people and ask for their "leadership".   But, are many of these people leaders, or just followers?  You might be able to tap them for ideas, but I would contend that almost all of them simply latched on to something that was already well underway.  

 

That's what we need to do here.  We have to create something that makes them WANT to participate.  That wave of students that participated in the Soccer Student Section for about a 5 year period did so because something was created that interested them.  It's obviously not an easy thing to do here.  

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I went to a Stark county school where high school football is a pretty big deal (apparently we take it a bit too serious as we are in the process of getting booted out of a conference we started because the other schools say we're too good and they don't want to compete with us) and can confirm what Skip-Zip said. There was nothing unique the student body did that made people show up. It was viewed as the "cool thing to do" on a Friday night because that's what everyone did for generations.

 

Students that aren't even football fans will go to OSU games because it is something that is perceived as a cool thing to do and they can send snapchats, post crap on facebook, and instagram with captions like #gobucks and will receive dozen of likes. 

Edited by kreed5120
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3 hours ago, Blue & Gold said:

 

Just by looking at the InfoCision seating chart & doing the math, it looks like the student section would seat around 750-ish.  What if each player was allowed 3 "Special Student Guests" where they invite 3 friends.  These friends get a special ticket that says, "Thank You for Supporting Me" & a pizza/pasta dinner in the Student Center before the game.  An administrator talks to the students and thanks them for supporting their friend - it means a lot to them - after putting in hours upon hours of hard work & then playing a violent sport - to see friends in the stands.  Take this time together to teach them a new cheer once in a while.  Teach the words to the alma mater & fight song.  Teach them the history of UA football & show them the weekly hype-video.  Then march them all to the Info (before the pregame band show & before the Zips take the field), sit them together in their assigned seats, where t-shits are waiting for them - maybe the t-shirt has the player's # on the back?  During the game have a special vendor for the "Special Student Friends" section occasionally come around & pass out free popcorn, hotdogs & coke.  Do this for every home game. Idk.  If every player asks 3 friends to come (we'd have to figure out a way not to duplicate friends) that's over 300.  

You know, this isn't a bad idea. Those invited could then come back to the same event during the following home game and invite 3 of their friends and the players could incite 3 more. Maybe you could local businesses to give away door prizes and the University could give away lunch with the President or TB.

 

Another thought would be that instead of doing the very short Root walk, the team gets dropped off down by Lot 9 near the Hessian statue and walks through Lot 9, towards the East end of the stadium, to the field house. Move the marching band down there, too. If people won't go to the team, bring the team to the people.

 

Actually liked the Zi-ps cheer across the field from game 1, but you gave to do it more than 1x and it would be great to see the students start it instead of waiting for the announcer.

 

I was in a college marching band and we had our an cheers that were a tradition. I haven't really seen anything like that from the UA band.

 

I think it does go worth noting that the larger band and sound from a larger band gas also enhanced game say at UA.

 

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I just bought my season tickets for basketball online. They are general admission seating and I must say it was a much more difficult process than it needed to be. I had to click the section I wanted (very reasonable) then had to zoom in and find an "empty seat" to select (it's GA really). I tried clicking repeatedly at 1st and nothing would take. I almost gave up before realizing I had to zoom in.

 

I get the pick the seat feature and it is definitely nice to have particularly for premium seating, but they should also have a generic pick your section and how many seats you want.

 

Edit: I would have caught on quicker had I realized I needed to zoom in 1st.

Edited by kreed5120
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1 hour ago, AyYo said:

I heard from a reliable source in the athletic department that student attendance has been increasing (year to year comparison) for every sport for the last few years straight. And this is with shrinking enrollment. So, I wouldn't complain too much.

 

Is this increase in football, specifically?

 

Also, a slight increase in a small amount isn't much to celebrate. The reason a lot of the discussion about marketing is focused on students is because it's infinitely easier to get them to show up to games compared to non-students.

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17 minutes ago, ZachTheZip said:

 

Is this increase in football, specifically?

 

Also, a slight increase in a small amount isn't much to celebrate. The reason a lot of the discussion about marketing is focused on students is because it's infinitely easier to get them to show up to games compared to non-students.

Yes, all sports, including football.

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