Student Section Rules

[sgm405]

I wanted to move a discussion from another thread to here so that this topic gets the attention it deserves. The discussion is about the student section and what proper attire should be...here are the remarks made so far by various members of our forum:ROWDYZIP SAID:I'd like to vent here over some idiocy over what is now apparently a completely student-run group. I had a good friend of mine get booted from the student section because he wasnt wearing THIS YEARS Ak-Rowdies shirt. That's right, a 5 year engineering student and now grad student and AK-Rowdy who didnt have time to pick up his shirt prior to the game (full time work and full time school make it kind of hard) was removed from the section by the student "president." Now maybe it's just me, but shouldnt we be making sure the section is at least full before booting people? It sure was nice to see those 30+ empty seats down low while my friend was sitting at home, angry at the entire athletics department because of one little big-headed "fan."I SAID:Just to piggy back on what RowdyZip was saying, I think we need to focus on getting Akron fans down low to fill up the lower section. Either have more of the shirts on hand and ready to give to people or let it slide...the only requirement to sit down low should be to be cheering loud and proud for the Zips, especially when there are empty seats. One Zips fan kicking out another Zips fan out of the student section is simply inexcusable. I am confident that the leadership of the group will step up and fix this problem.ZIPPYRIFLE SAID: yeah, when you get the shirts you have to sign a contract saying that you have to wear them, always stand and be loud, and that you will be classy fans. i find it a bit ridiculous because there are so many other things i am required to wear that sometimes i don't go home between class, practice, then a game. on top of that, it has to be THIS YEAR'S shirt, so you can't even get by with last years. by signing the contract, it also means that there aren't going to be seeing any of the half-naked, fully-painted fans down below. i dunno...i signed the paper with the understanding that i won't get to stand down below for a majority of the games.SKHORBOTLY SAID:I understand all the frustration of all of you guys and i am not in the board of the rowdies and i am not here to defend them either.All what i want to say is that it makes total sense to me that a uniform should be required, don't you think ?If we go back to last year, everybody was wearing the right shirt in the first game, few people were not in the 5th game and by the time we got to the end of the season, almost half the rowdies were not wearing their shirts and the section looked awful.If you look at any organized and decent student section, rule number one in the book is to wear the same shirt... so let's cut the rowdies board some slack.When i'm running out of time and i do not have my rowdies shirt, i will happily sacrifice sitting in the upper section rather than sacrificing the organization of the whole student section.ZIPTRUMPET87 SAID:Another suggestion might be to have the offending person move to the edge of the section so as not to detract from the uniform look? I understand the dress code thing, but even some of the Rowdies were wearing things over their shirts.Let's keep this discussion going...I think it's a very important one to discuss.

[sgm405]

I understand all the frustration of all of you guys and i am not in the board of the rowdies and i am not here to defend them either.All what i want to say is that it makes total sense to me that a uniform should be required, don't you think ?If we go back to last year, everybody was wearing the right shirt in the first game, few people were not in the 5th game and by the time we got to the end of the season, almost half the rowdies were not wearing their shirts and the section looked awful.If you look at any organized and decent student section, rule number one in the book is to wear the same shirt... so let's cut the rowdies board some slack.When i'm running out of time and i do not have my rowdies shirt, i will happily sacrifice sitting in the upper section rather than sacrificing the organization of the whole student section.

And I'll continue the response lolI simply have to disagree here. Two main points...1) It's not true at all that all student sections wear the exact same shirt. A few do, but most simply wear something of the school or the school color...that should be the requirement. Wearing an Akron shirt of some kind, or blue and gold? You're in. Take a look at the following pictures:Duke - http://www.mrkamoji.com/b_images/crazies.jpgWisconsin - http://badgerherald.com/news/2005/02/01/BBALLfans_DM_416.jpgValparaiso - http://www.valpo.edu/student/pepband/pics/...t%20Section.jpgIt is NOT, I repeat NOT common for the students to all wear the same exact shirt. I have no idea where anybody got this idea from. It IS common for the students to be asked to wear some sort of shirt from the team, or at least the school colors. 2) What looks worse, 3/4 of a section wearing one shirt or a FULL student section all wearing Zips gear/colors?GO ZIPS!

[Jayfromua]

I agree with some of your points sgm405. One thing I do know is that the group that are in place right now are extrememly decent human beings who care alot about this university's sports teams. I know some people are not receiving there emails and I know from helping out last year that many people simply do not put a correct email address down because they think they are going to get spam and mass emails. I overheard a board member at the game say that they are calling all of those people to correct the problem. As for the shirt thing; I understand your complaint. I know the president and board members have been keeping office hours and have been making special arrangements to get people their shirts if they contact a board member. Maybe pass that on to your buddy and the problem can be resolved. I think the reason they are doing this is to prevent what happened last year. The finals numbers were approximately 820 members. Of those 820, roughly 350 actually came to pick up their shirt (given three months to do so), and roughly 175 came to atleast one game. Since the AK-ROWDIES are a student organization, I assume they are managing their own funds and have taken this into effect when asking students to come pick up their stuff at certain times and places. Well Ihope everything gets resolved because two things are for certain, we have the biggest game in recent Zips history coming up (Nevada at home) and we all just wanna root on the Zips! Take it easy sgm405!

[FearTheRoo]

This is a difficult one. I can't speak for the Rowdies, but I see the point of trying to create traditions and be prescence in the arena. One way of doing that is having a sea of <insert color here>. Also, the first meeting for the Rowdies specifically mentioned what the uni would be. (Read the meeting notes here). They also said they would have extra on hand for those that occassionaly forget, so I don't know what happened. A great point was made above about how the beginning of the year last year looked great and by the end it was an individual fashion show. The reality is, the Rowdies board is trying to ramp up as fast as possible and will have some bumps and bruises along the way. Make suggestions and not accusation and both the fans and the board can grow and learn together. I think both parties are wrong here. The board should reexamine how they enforce their rules and the fan should plan a bit ahead if he knows he will attend the game and bring hsi shirt. No one's wrong. No one's right IMO.

[RowdyZip]

Also, the first meeting for the Rowdies specifically mentioned what the uni would be.

Yup. That same meeting mentioned that if all the seats at both ends werent filled 20 MINUTES before tip-off that students attending and sitting topside would be invited to take those seats. My friend was removed 18 minutes before tip-off. And we ended up with 30+ empty seats and a few pissed off members. And yes, someone is wrong. Once that demand is there, I wholly support removing those who arent participating (i.e. game vs. Can't last year that had several ladies that were apparently waiting outside some 3 hours to go to their one game of the season and promptly planted their behinds in seats for the entire game). BUT WHEN YOU CAN'T FILL THE WHOLE SECTION IN THE FIRST PLACE, WE SHOULDN'T BE REMOVING PEOPLE. Give me a break...maybe some one could've at least had a full roster, if not extra t-shirts. It was the first "real" game of the year and he simply got a "get out now."

[KNCLZip]

This year's shirts are harder to color-match than navy blue ones; there are lots of different shades of gold that you can get a t-shirt in. I have several Zips t-shirts in gold that I've bought at the JAR team shop and they wouldn't match this year's Rowdies shirt. It definitely would look better to have everyone in the same color than in seven shades of gold. Navy blue might be easier to pull off but I don't think that asking that people wear the particular shirt is too big an imposition. When we're playing conference games, everyone will know what to do and we'll have no problem filling up the floor seats.It will only take a couple times with the rule being enforced strictly for people to fall into line. It's a lot easier to be strict starting off and possibly loosen up later on than to try to become more strict as the season progresses.I wish RowdyZip's friend would have stayed at the game; Section 5 is there for overflow and for AK-Rowdies who don't have their t-shirt on. It's too bad that he turned around and left. Maybe he did not know about that since I assume he wasn't at the initial meeting (where this was discussed) since he didn't have a t-shirt.I'm pretty sure that the AK-Rowdies leadership cares about the Zips and wants nothing more than for students to support the Zips. I'm sure they appreciate constructive feedback; the key is to create light, not heat.

[sgm405]

This year's shirts are harder to color-match than navy blue ones; there are lots of different shades of gold that you can get a t-shirt in.  I have several Zips t-shirts in gold that I've bought at the JAR team shop and they wouldn't match this year's Rowdies shirt.  It definitely would look better to have everyone in the same color than in seven shades of gold.  Navy blue might be easier to pull off but I don't think that asking that people wear the particular shirt is too big an imposition.  When we're playing conference games, everyone will know what to do and we'll have no problem filling up the floor seats.It will only take a couple times with the rule being enforced strictly for people to fall into line.  It's a lot easier to be strict starting off and possibly loosen up later on than to try to become more strict as the season progresses.I wish RowdyZip's friend would have stayed at the game; Section 5 is there for overflow and for AK-Rowdies who don't have their t-shirt on.  It's too bad that he turned around and left.  Maybe he did not know about that since I assume he wasn't at the initial meeting (where this was discussed) since he didn't have a t-shirt.I'm pretty sure that the AK-Rowdies leadership cares about the Zips and wants nothing more than for students to support the Zips.  I'm sure they appreciate constructive feedback; the key is to create light, not heat.

I still hold to my belief that unless you have shirts ready to give out for at least the first 3-4 games, you simply ask people to cheer like crazy and to wear Zips gear or blue and gold. Look at the Cameron Crazies picture posted in my previous comments...they have all different shades and they look just fine. I don't know where this whole "We have to look exactly like" thing came from...I just don't see the big deal. The biggest problem stems from the initial meeting. It was put together last minute, people were given one day's notice, and the meeting itself was very poorly run. I know 5-10 people that I talked to on Saturday afternoon alone that, A) Had no idea there was a meeting, B.) Had no idea there were shirts, and C) That they were mandatory to wear. That was the first problem.The second problem is the response. I know that the leaders of the group care about the students...and that they're doing their best...and that they have the best intentions. But by telling the student that had been sitting in the student section for years that he had to leave his seat - that sends the wrong message. A much, much better response would have been to get him a shirt, or to let him stay and ask him to pick one up before the next home game. If they have office hours to give out shirts, couldn't they have just gone and gotten him one? Wouldn't the shirts be stored there? I would've done the exact same thing RowdyZip's friend did. Why couldn't they have worked something out with him instead of letting him sit with the people he came with, the section he has been sitting in for years (and probably has been sitting in since before the leaders of this group knew what a Zip was)? Why was the message simply to move? Hearing this kind of thing scares me...with actions like this, it could be a very, very disappointing year for the AK-Rowdies...and that would be a true shame.

[Akalltheway]

I was sitting in the section near some of the officers and I heard them talking about the policy. Apparently, if you did not have your shirt on that night they were going to inform you of the policy and let you sit down below if you agreed to pick up your shirt and were cooperative. Your friend didn't say anything negative to them did he? I know my buddy came in another shirt and had the same conversation with an officer. By the end of the conversation they established a time and place to pick up the shirt and, despite the minor setback, it went well. I can see how both sides were upset, but I don't see a reason to drag this on or continue to ruffle anymore feathers about the subject. At the end of the day we all want one thing, to cheer on the Zips. Let's try to work together to create some positive morale for the upcoming HUGE Nevada game and stop dwelling on this topic.

[Akalltheway]

One other thing, comparing the Cameron Crazies to the AK-ROWDIES is like comparing apples to oranges. You are comparing the biggest and most prolific fan group in college basketball to a small group from a very small conference in it's second year of existance. The Cameron Crazies can get away with wearing different colors because:1) There are over 1,000 of them2) There seatinc capacity is much greaterI can see why they would want to have a universal color to show some unity and make a small group look big. I hope that someday we can compare ourselves to the Cameron Crazies but right now that is unfair to the fans, members, athletics staff, and board members to hold them to such lofty standards. I think sometimes we all forget that this is only year 2. The fact that we can all sit here today and talk about the organization on an organized web blog is a sign that we have come a long way. Let's try to work together to resolve these problems by communicating to one another. By posting on here, I'm not sure your friend is exactly going to solve the problem. Just my suggestion guys, please don't take offense. Like you, I want to make this work and believe it will.

[RowdyZip]

Student: "I have last years shirt on, I work full time in Canton, live in Akron and am a full-time grad student. I didnt get an e-mail about a meeting and assumed that the shirts were the same this year. Can I pick my shirt up now?"President (after calling "officer" on cell phone and telling my friend to leave from across the gym): "No, sorry, you'll need to leave. We can set up a time to pick up your shirt next week and you can sit down here for the St Francis game."Me: Don't you want to want the section to be full? He's been watching Zips basketball games from these seats since his first year of undergrad 6 years ago."Pres: No, sorry. You have to have the right shirt on and we dont have any right now.and yes I will ruffle feathers. I like the idea for this to be a student run group (it is students after all), but this is a Divsion I college team, not a high school. Give me a break, and if they were "trying their hardest" they wouldve been at least reasonable.

[sgm405]

I was sitting in the section near some of the officers and I heard them talking about the policy. Apparently, if you did not have your shirt on that night they were going to inform you of the policy and let you sit down below if you agreed to pick up your shirt and were cooperative. Your friend didn't say anything negative to them did he? I know my buddy came in another shirt and had the same conversation with an officer. By the end of the conversation they established a time and place to pick up the shirt and, despite the minor setback, it went well. I can see how both sides were upset, but I don't see a reason to drag this on or continue to ruffle anymore feathers about the subject. At the end of the day we all want one thing, to cheer on the Zips. Let's try to work together to create some positive morale for the upcoming HUGE Nevada game and stop dwelling on this topic.

See, it's that kind of thinking that is going to hurt in the long run. There was a problem at the game...RowdyZip's friend obviously left upset, and I know a few others that aren't happy that something they had no idea about was mandatory. Many of these people are veterans of the student section. So let's just sweep it under the rug and ignore it? That is the solution when problems arise? I'm really not trying to start a shitstorm here...but when you have confusion (people not knowing about meetings, not getting emails), lack of organization (lack of notice on the meeting, people being told different things), and veteran section members getting booted, that is a problem worth talking about.Again, I'm not trying to bash the leaders...I am sure they're trying their hardest, and they will naturally hit some bumps in the road. But the absolute worst possible thing we can do with this information that is coming out from various members of the group is to ignore it. Why not look into what happened, admit mistakes made, and work together to find a solution?I agree we all need to be on the same page before the Nevada game...unfortunately, if we look to avoid "dragging this on" and "ruffling any feathers" instead of fixing what has gone wrong so far, I'm afraid that we'll again have 3/4 of the student section filled with yellow shirts, and double that number of Rowdies sitting in Section 5, wondering when this meeting was and why they never recieved an email...

[sgm405]

One other thing, comparing the Cameron Crazies to the AK-ROWDIES is like comparing apples to oranges. You are comparing the biggest and most prolific fan group in college basketball to a small group from a very small conference in it's second year of existance. The Cameron Crazies can get away with wearing different colors because:1) There are over 1,000 of them2) There seatinc capacity is much greaterI can see why they would want to have a universal color to show some unity and make a small group look big. I hope that someday we can compare ourselves to the Cameron Crazies but right now that is unfair to the fans, members, athletics staff, and board members to hold them to such lofty standards. I think sometimes we all forget that this is only year 2. The fact that we can all sit here today and talk about the organization on an organized web blog is a sign that we have come a long way. Let's try to work together to resolve these problems by communicating to one another. By posting on here, I'm not sure your friend is exactly going to solve the problem. Just my suggestion guys, please don't take offense. Like you, I want to make this work and believe it will.

You missed the point completely. When in my post did I compare the AK-Rowdies as a student section to the Cameron Crazies, or say that I expected us to be as good as them? That's a ridiculous thought. My point in bringing them up was in showing that the greatest student section in college basketball has no dress code other than wearing Duke gear. I'm also not sure that wearing the same color shirts will make us look bigger. The section will have an effect on games by being loud and crazy...the worst possible thing you can do is send people up top and leave 20 open seats down low, which was done.

[Akalltheway]

I understand your frustration guys. I too have been a little frustrated over a few things. My suggestion would be to contact one of the board members and work it out and let them know how you feel. I'm not sure if they post on here, but I think one of them is bound to read this and take care of the problem soon.

[zipsbandman]

I like what the leadership is doing this year. However, I would put some loopholes in the rule. If you get some rowdy students already registered who show up all painted and drunk as heck, there is no way I'd keep those guys off the floor shirt or no shirt. This is especially true if the JAR is half empty anyway. I say we only reject students if there are enough Rowdies there to completely fill the floor seats. We can enforce these rules a lot better for like the Can't game where Rowdies are waiting outside for hours to get in. Then you buckle down and get the worthiest students below.But I do like that we are building a real student section with organization. I think with a little tweaking here and there we can make this a formidable section in the conference. There will be some growing pains here and there. We need to find something that works and develop tradition from there.

[zippyrifle32]

i think that letting fans be creative in their way of expressing school spirit (how crazy they come decked out to the game) is important and looks a lot better than everyone just wearing the same shirt. i see where the idea is coming from...it's just that personally i'd rather see a whole section with people wearing homemade roo heads and body paint. still, if someone shows up with a suckeye shirt on tell him to get the F*** out. no excuses. also, if it is mandatory to wear the shirts to make us look uniform, then why are people allowed to wear things over their shirts?...such as blazers. what then would stop me from putting something else over my shirt in the section, like an akron sweatshirt? i'm not saying that the people that wear the blazers should be forced to remove them (because that's become like their trademark), but to say we want uniform...then it should be uniform. as long as people are in the section cheering loud and wearing akron gear, i think the rules should be flexible. the idea of having all of the same shirt is a good one, but a little unrealistic. if there were special shirts for a certian game (like the can't one last year) then hand out those shirts at the game. everyone would be wearing them, you'd get the desired effect, and you'd still leave some flexibility for the rules for other games. that's just my suggestion and nothing more.

[KNCLZip]

One thing that I think needs to be definitely done is to revive the web site. The AK_Rowdies link on the gozips.com home page leads to a page about spirit groups that doesn't even mention the AK-Rowdies and only mentions the Rubber Bowl, blowing off the JAR. (How many months now and gozips.com is still not "done" yet?!?!? That's inexcusable!) Typing in www.ak-rowdies.com (which used to work and directed you to a page on the gozips.cstv.com) now sends you to a generic CSTV error page. If information about t-shirts, etc. could be posted on the web with links to the AK-Rowdies leaders' email addresses and stuff, with whatever address the stuff is at linked from www.ak-rowdies.com, then life would be a whole lot easier!! I'll even volunteer space on my departmental web site to redirect to if that will help.According to last night's Rowdy, they're planning a meeting on the 18th. Hopefully all this can get straightened out then and folks like RowdyZip's friend will give the leaders a break and rejoin the excitement on the 19th. The AK-Rowdies members and RowdyZip's friend want the same thing when you get down to it; it's unfortunate that details got in the way but hopefully he'll get his t-shirt and be back for the doubleheader.

[RowdyZip]

i think that letting fans be creative in their way of expressing school spirit (how crazy they come decked out to the game) is important and looks a lot better than everyone just wearing the same shirt. i see where the idea is coming from...it's just that personally i'd rather see a whole section with people wearing homemade roo heads and body paint. still, if someone shows up with a suckeye shirt on tell him to get the F*** out. no excuses. also, if it is mandatory to wear the shirts to make us look uniform, then why are people allowed to wear things over their shirts?...such as blazers. what then would stop me from putting something else over my shirt in the section, like an akron sweatshirt? i'm not saying that the people that wear the blazers should be forced to remove them (because that's become like their trademark), but to say we want uniform...then it should be uniform. as long as people are in the section cheering loud and wearing akron gear, i think the rules should be flexible. the idea of having all of the same shirt is a good one, but a little unrealistic. if there were special shirts for a certian game (like the can't one last year) then hand out those shirts at the game. everyone would be wearing them, you'd get the desired effect, and you'd still leave some flexibility for the rules for other games. that's just my suggestion and nothing more.

What zippyrifle said.

[sgm405]

i think that letting fans be creative in their way of expressing school spirit (how crazy they come decked out to the game) is important and looks a lot better than everyone just wearing the same shirt. i see where the idea is coming from...it's just that personally i'd rather see a whole section with people wearing homemade roo heads and body paint. still, if someone shows up with a suckeye shirt on tell him to get the F*** out. no excuses. also, if it is mandatory to wear the shirts to make us look uniform, then why are people allowed to wear things over their shirts?...such as blazers. what then would stop me from putting something else over my shirt in the section, like an akron sweatshirt? i'm not saying that the people that wear the blazers should be forced to remove them (because that's become like their trademark), but to say we want uniform...then it should be uniform. as long as people are in the section cheering loud and wearing akron gear, i think the rules should be flexible. the idea of having all of the same shirt is a good one, but a little unrealistic. if there were special shirts for a certian game (like the can't one last year) then hand out those shirts at the game. everyone would be wearing them, you'd get the desired effect, and you'd still leave some flexibility for the rules for other games. that's just my suggestion and nothing more.

Rack it folks...excellent post

[sgm405]

KNCLZip,Good thoughts on the website...I know me and a few others started a myspace awhile back and would be more than willing to post stuff on there.

[zipsbandman]

EVERYBODY should have Akron gear on down there. I think that is a reasonable expectation but still encourage people to wear the shirts because that's our identity. I remember when we let people wearing the most random stuff down there and it sucked. But if someone comes with anything Buckeye or any other school even if it's a hat or something we tell them to hit the road.

[KNCLZip]

KNCLZip,Good thoughts on the website...I know me and a few others started a myspace awhile back and would be more than willing to post stuff on there.

The Myspace profile and Facebook groups are also good places to put info. One problem right now is that the email list is so incomplete that lots of people aren't hearing about stuff. The lack of a web site, considering that there was one last year, is really sad. If UA hadn't changed web providers for gozips.com this year, the web site would still be up. How something like that can happen is beyond me, but there's lots of problems with the new gozips.com and this is just one of them.

[sgm405]

EVERYBODY should have Akron gear on down there. I think that is a reasonable expectation but still encourage people to wear the shirts because that's our identity. I remember when we let people wearing the most random stuff down there and it sucked. But if someone comes with anything Buckeye or any other school even if it's a hat or something we tell them to hit the road.

You had me until the hat part...personally, as long as it is blue or gold, I think any hat is fine.

[Jayfromua]

God you said it boys. Nothing grinds my gears more than when you see people on campus or at games with Can't, Ohio State, or OU stuff on. GRRRRRRR.....

[Fear this America]

Dear Members:Hello My Name is Eric Baker I am the vice president of the AK-ROWDIES. I would like to address a few issues so that we as a board can better serve you. First I would like to thank you all for your feed back. It is a very important part of this group and Iam very glad you are using this message board to do so. That is a main reason why this board was made to keep everone one the same page. I am very very thankfull for your feedback. Yes there is and has been some problems out of the gate.Yes it was the first men's basketball game, the first ever official meeting of the AK-ROWDIES and a lot of first time events for this group. No we have not been perfect by any means, in fact Ill be the fist to admit that we have not done everything right. With that said show me a student group who has hit everything right the first time and that group is worth millions. I can not change what has happened in the past but I can work to make this a brighter stronger student group for all of us. I will promise you this, If there is a problemswe will work to try to fix them. I was at the game the other day, but I was running around getting things set up for the rest of the game. I heard what happen but i did not see what happened. Itwould be unfair to you or my board to say who was right who was wrong. When there is problems with this group we are all right and we all all wrong. We don't need to point fingers at each other because that gets us no where. We all need to take responsiblity for this group. It sadness me that we only had around 100 people at this last game, We are a 632 member strong groups and we are only pulling around a 100 people. I dont know if any one was at the games last year but the showing for a team who could be one of the best teams in the nation has been super weak. Who's fault is it.... I don't know and dont care. I feel this is our school and we need to take control of it. We all need to work to get people in the stands. Iam not trying to doge the buttlet of the issues but I feel so very strongly on that. If any one has anyinformation on the person who got booted such as name and email address can you please send it to me. Also if you know anyone who has not been getting the emails could you please email me thouse. I am sorry for the downfalls to this point but we need to move past thesethingsand work together to make this the best student section in the nation. We have weekly meetings in tommy evens lounge on wednesday'sat 5:00 pm if anyone would like to come address any promblems you may have. If any one has any thing thing you would like to address Please email me and I will do my best to get back to you as soon as possible. I will try to keep you guys updated on some of the things we are working on and after the break all members will get the meeting notes. My email is feartherooamerica@yahoo.com or erb16@uakron.edu. Feel free to email me at any point and time durring the season. Good luck on your tests and have a happy holiday season.Go ZIPS,Eric Baker AK-ROWDIES Vice President

[zippyrifle32]

hey...keep up the good work. of course there are going to be a few wrinkles that are going to be ironed out, but i sure hope you don't take the suggestions out here in a negative way (mine at least) and i don't think that you are. we do need more people there and personally i am at a loss at how to get them there. i go to every game i can and bring as many people as possible. i think that's all i can really do.