Ak-Rowdies??

[AwesomeDude]

Ok, Been going through the other topics and i have seen a lot of negative feedback about the rowdies so far. Whats the honest opinion on how we have done this year so far since a couple people have hinted at the fact that we suck, for lack of a better term?

[lovezips]

One they are not loud. You cant hear them what so ever. Heres another thought, instead of having 10 guys on each side of the bucket how about everyone sits together. Then at halftime switch sides so you can go on the hoop where we are playing defense. And GET MORE PEOPLE...MAKE IT FREE...HANG UP BANNERS ON CAMPUS.

[Captain Kangaroo]

The Rowdies that show up are great. But there are a couple hundred too few.What was done to get students to the game? Promotions? Give-aways? Emails? Campus posters? There are several thousand students withing 1/4 mile of the JAR. To have such a lot turnout for a marquee opponent like Temple is pretty pathetic. And - the general public's attendance was equally pathetic too.Until someone at the University is disgusted with attendance, nothing will change. Disgust is the catalyst for change...you look in the mirror and you're 60lbs overweight and you say "I'm disgusted, I'm cutting out the potato chips and getting my fat a$$ off the couch and exercising"...that is when things change. Until someone...someone that can do something about it (that is key) gets disgusted with attendance, nothing will change.If you want to do something, you find a solution. If you don't want to do something, you find an excuse. Excuses abound at UA. And you get paid to repeat them for decades. Not a bad gig?I went to the Cavs / Celtics game last night. When I walked in the door, immediately to my right was a table for my son to get his face painted and get a Cavs tattoo. Cost: virtually nothing. Next to that was a "hair painting" station. They sprayed his head with metallic stripes of wine, blue and gold. Cost: Virtually nothing. Then some Cavs girls gave him a pass to go court side and watch warm-ups. They gave him a $3.00 disposable camera and a $3.00 Cavs t-shirt. The kid had the time of his life! And at almost no cost to the Cavs. The Zips could do something VERY similar even on their budget. Anyone love that 17k .gif of a brick they show on the Zips "big screen" when an opponent is shooting a free throw? Does it look more like a piece of cheese or a graham cracker? My son says "graham cracker."At least they changed that car dealer commercial from "Another punch in the gut loss for the Zips..." to "Zips fans hate to lose..." Your welcome for the suggestion, UA. I can't believe it took internet postings to change something as glaringly wrong as that...but I'm glad it was changed none-the-less.Time to focus on Wyoming. I'll predict 2,500 in attendance. 2,502 if you count the two people that will work @ the concession stand at half time.

[ZipBox]

1. You need to be louder.2. You need MORE ROWDIES. 3. You need cheers for the starters players. My 3 year old daughter STILL chants "RO-ME-O" and does the arm movements. I think I heard 1 J-Wood chant on Saturday.4. You don't need to use the word "suck" in every cheer. Of the few cheers I did hear, I heard that a few times. Be a little creative.5. Make signs. Last year you posted "3" signs every time a 3 pointer was made. What about some free throw signs? They need all the encouragement they can get there! :)6. Know our opponents. My 6 year old can't wait until he can chant Boo & "Bubba scored 1 point" again. 7. Work with the cheerleaders. Go on the floor with them to get the Z-I-P-S cheers going.8. Remember that you represent UA. Be crazy. Be creative. Paint your face. Paint your hair. There are a lot of children watching you and following your lead. The cheers and the chants definitely increased the excitement and school spirit in the JAR last year.

[Captain Kangaroo]

4. You don't need to use the word "suck" in every cheer. Of the few cheers I did hear, I heard that a few times. Be a little creative.6. Know our opponents. How Temple had an player named "Christmas" and no Rowdies busted out any carols during his free throws is beyond me!

[Dr Z]

AK-Oldies on one side of the hoop vs AK-Rowdies on the other side. A little friendly competition to spice things up. The competition would create the attendance.Maybe just try it one game early in the season.

[ziptrumpet87]

1. You need to be louder.2. You need MORE ROWDIES. 3. You need cheers for the starters players. My 3 year old daughter STILL chants "RO-ME-O" and does the arm movements. I think I heard 1 J-Wood chant on Saturday.4. You don't need to use the word "suck" in every cheer. Of the few cheers I did hear, I heard that a few times. Be a little creative.5. Make signs. Last year you posted "3" signs every time a 3 pointer was made. What about some free throw signs? They need all the encouragement they can get there! :)6. Know our opponents. My 6 year old can't wait until he can chant Boo & "Bubba scored 1 point" again. 7. Work with the cheerleaders. Go on the floor with them to get the Z-I-P-S cheers going.8. Remember that you represent UA. Be crazy. Be creative. Paint your face. Paint your hair. There are a lot of children watching you and following your lead. The cheers and the chants definitely increased the excitement and school spirit in the JAR last year.

2. - AMEN! Bring ALL your friends, fraternity, sorority, etc! And sit down on the floor unless it's full!4. - Personally, I'd rather not hear "so-and-so sucks" at all. I'm not that old, but I don't consider it appropriate for children to hear and use any more than other swear words.5. - Signs last year were GREAT! What happened this year?7. - What's with having to instruct us how to spell? Just start the ^&*( cheer and we'll follow - that's why they are called cheerLEADERS!

[Zip Watcher]

7. - What's with having to instruct us how to spell? Just start the ^&*( cheer and we'll follow - that's why they are called cheerLEADERS!

No kidding! What he said.

[ZachTheZip]

1. You need to be louder.2. You need MORE ROWDIES. 3. You need cheers for the starters players. My 3 year old daughter STILL chants "RO-ME-O" and does the arm movements. I think I heard 1 J-Wood chant on Saturday.4. You don't need to use the word "suck" in every cheer. Of the few cheers I did hear, I heard that a few times. Be a little creative.5. Make signs. Last year you posted "3" signs every time a 3 pointer was made. What about some free throw signs? They need all the encouragement they can get there! :)6. Know our opponents. My 6 year old can't wait until he can chant Boo & "Bubba scored 1 point" again. 7. Work with the cheerleaders. Go on the floor with them to get the Z-I-P-S cheers going.8. Remember that you represent UA. Be crazy. Be creative. Paint your face. Paint your hair. There are a lot of children watching you and following your lead. The cheers and the chants definitely increased the excitement and school spirit in the JAR last year.

1 & 2 tie in together. The Rowdies that are at the games are the same group of about 20 students that go to all the football and soccer games as well. They are loud, but remember that 90% of the Rowdies are freshmen this year and they still haven't learned the chants or what is expected of them as members of the student organization.3.) We have cheers for Wood, Dials, Middleton, McNees (involves profanity, so it must be used sparingly), Linhart, and Goddard. Cheers for the rest will come with time as we see what they are capable of and how they react to the cheers. Most of last year's chants seemed to be spontaneous and just seemed to catch on.4.) I try not to do that, personally. Many of the people who insert "you suck" into every other cheer are freshmen or fraternity members, it seems. The freshmen just came from high school where the cheers are a bit more immature than what should be done in college. Immaturity wears off with time and experience. We'll have to deal with this until it wears off.5.) The signs come with the cheers, and most of the signs from last year survived and are being re-used. Occasionally you'll see some signs brought out for "special occasions" and against certain teams. The AK-Rowdies have certain rules that have to be followed as an official student group that limits what signs we can use for heckling the opponents. I'm working on a few and you should see them in a few games.6.) We have "The Rowdie", which has lots of juicy info obtained from the player's myspace and facebook profiles during important games, and we routinely use rosters to get inside the opponents heads and to know who we are facing. You can't hear it most of the time because we don't need to yell since the opponents bench is right next to us, plus a lot of times the stuff we say is not stuff you want to be yelling with kids in the building.7.) We try to work with the cheerleaders as often as possible when they do chants. But we are NOT allowed on the floor under ANY circumstances or we will be kicked out, so going out and helping them is a no-go.8.)We're doing the best with what we currently have. More attendance is the key to more crazyness.

[RowdyZip]

Ok, Been going through the other topics and i have seen a lot of negative feedback about the rowdies so far. Whats the honest opinion on how we have done this year so far since a couple people have hinted at the fact that we suck, for lack of a better term?

I'd like to chalk this whole issue to Bleacher Bum and I graduating and buying upper reserve season tickets. Maybe it's different from our perspective up there, but things seem pretty tame from up top. I believe one the most effective things the rowdies can do from so close is the simple jumping and "OHHHHHHHHH." As a past player (yeah, just high school) this is easily one of the most distracting things. Moreso, at least, than spoken chants. We noticed that this was used just ONCE the entire second half when Temple was shooting at the band-end of the arena. It's early, I have faith things will be in order by the time the MAC season starts.

[Captain Kangaroo]

I'd like to chalk this whole issue to Bleacher Bum and I graduating and buying upper reserve season tickets. Maybe it's different from our perspective up there, but things seem pretty tame from up top.

It'll be interesting to hear, after a few games from your new seats, if you have any thoughts regarding injecting some life into the Oldies up top.

[AwesomeDude]

LoveZips, We are not able to switch sides like that because the admin says flat out no. Also being the person that checked in the rowdies on monday i was suprised we had that many people honestly. Oh and the JARs facility staff came up and told me that the band side was full and to only hand out the north side until the game starts. WE CANNOT MAKE IT FREE TO JOIN THE ROWDIES. You pay 10 dollars for a shirt and a membership. What this member ship gets you.......1. Good behind the buckets seats at games2. T shirt3. Free food4. Couple away game trips (free)Sounds like 10 bucks come back to you real freaking quick.ZIPBOX1. You say we need more rowdies. Ok. The Rowdies this year have a sign up list of over 900 people in the organiztion. Granted there werent 900 people there but also take into account that it was rainging like cats and dogs outside and seems these days that our fans only come out when they wont get wet or its warm enough. (im sorry thats dumb) 2.We need cheers for the starting 5, ced is taken care of (C-note), Dials (DUH), J wood (got that one), Quade (EARTHQUADE), Nate (NVP). those guys were taken care of last year, we are working on getting cheers for bardo, jimmy, and goddard.3. We do not use the word suck in every cheer because all our cheers are for our team why would we tell them they suck.4. We know our opponents trust me on this one.5. Not able to go one the floor with the cheerleaders we will get booted. Thats an Admin rule as well so talk to them bout that one.I am the guy who makes the signs for basketball and i have been working as fast as i can to get these new guys some signs and what not. It's hard to come up with ideas when some of these players only get to see maybe 5 min a game. They are coming and they are going to be better than ever so cut me some slack it is only the begining of the year.We are trying our hardest right now to make this years rowdies be the cream of the crop in student sections this year. The Basketball team is building a chemistry right now and its working for them, let the rowdies build their chemistry and i promise by the begining of MAC play we wont be haveing this conversation again.Also Make sure everyone shows up for the MAC home opener against MIAMI, the rowdies a have a little suprise for them that night and you wouldnt want to miss it.

[ziptrumpet87]

Sorry, the "cold and rainy" excuse doesn't cut it for me when I see blue-hairs with walkers that can make it to the game. Cut through a few buildings if you need to - I used to do it all the time!

[AwesomeDude]

Oh i was not using that as an excuse because its the truth. I was at the game i walked from wheeler street in the rain so i dont care about weather i was stating that most people arent hardcore about it yet and they saw rain and thought to themselves "NO!"

[skip-zip]

Let me add this....When I was a student in the early to mid 80s, I would have gladly paid $10 for a chance to sit at courtside for the entire season. Our student section was always in the bleachers. I just don't understand how those two end sections are not full of students every game.

[hoopla]

1. all i hear from the 'rowdies' is excuses here. there is not 1 good reason on here why there is not more rowdies at the games. cause its raining? haha. joke. its basketball, there is a roor over our head. 2. you have the same cheers for the starting 5 + some bench players. do you not understand the word of creative?right now the rowdies have been more than disappointing... but even more disappointing than them is admin. that doesnt do more to attract pp. to the stands. the team is doing their part.

[BirdZip]

From what I see, you asked for feedback and then went into denial and made excuses for the feedback you got.

We have cheers for ... McNees (involves profanity, so it must be used sparingly)

If you can't cheer them loud, throw them out and make up new ones.

Cheers for the rest will come with time as we see what they are capable of and how they react to the cheers.

You don't need to see what they're capable of before you do a chant or a sign! Did you have to see how good Cedrick could shoot before making up C-Note? Was the Ro-Me-O chant dependent on his post move? Does Peanut-Butter-Goddard-Time have anything at all to do with Goddard? No! Look at their name and do something with it! Every time McNees makes a free throw (assuming he makes one), do the "duh-duh-duh-duh-dum" from McDonalds and yell "I'm Lovin' it". (Sorry, I'm just quite proud of that sign.) There are tons of options for Wood. Hopefully we'll have our new Wood sign done for Saturday.Any student section that sits behind or near the basket should be filled with skinny white balloons that get shaken like crazy when the opposing team is shooting free throws. A crooked arrow doesn't distract.Here's one for a living Wall Sign. Something on the order of 6 feet wide by 10 feet tall. I'm not an artist, but you'll get the idea--it conveys the Zips dominance at home:Bring the opponent's mascot picture to the game, and after the final seconds tick off and you finish the "I Believe" chant, slap the logo in the jar with the others. That jar will be full to the rim by the time the season is over, and it will let the opponents see just how dominant Akron is at home.

[ziptrumpet87]

I like it!

[sgm405]

Well, the last time I commented on "Rowdies" stuff I created a big stir...but what the heck, I think constructive criticism can really help. Let me start by offering my two reasons why the student section has gone sour over the past year. I believe two events led to this. First of all, the beginning of last season when students without "the shirt" weren't allowed in the lower section, it didn't go over well with many students. A good portion of them had no idea about signups, and were told they couldn't sign up at the game...these were students who had sat in the lower level for years being told by other Zips fans that they couldn't sit in the seats, all because of an email they never received. Second, and more killer, the Nevada game. It was against a ranked team...the students that stayed on campus were pumped...both lower sections could've easily been filled. What did the Athletic Director do? Sell off those seats to the average fan, sending a message to the students that a few extra bucks was more important than them. Many students who had to sit in the upper level grew disgusted as they watched Akron, who fed off of the one-side of Akron fans (and could've even more with another side) lose a heartbreaker on national TV with 7-10 people filling in 50 seats on the one end. Both of these instances drove away faithful UA fans, who now choose to sit up top instead of being a part of the student section.Now, here's a few suggestions on how to fix the damages done...1) As one person pointed out, make the students feel valued. Free stuff every game. Shirts for everyone who sits (stands) down low. Coupons for free/discounted good going to those sitting in the lower seats.2) Get rid of the $10 and membership requirements. How can you try to make the group exclusive when you can't even get a full house down low? It'd be one thing if people were fighting for the seats...do a sign-up, charge the fee. But as is, they can't get people to sit there. And until it's filled up, not allowing ANY Akron student/alumnus that wants to sit down low do so is downright silly. Get the seats filled, no matter what shirt they have on, no matter if they are signed up or not, no matter what - just get the seats filled with Akron faithful. After a few years when the seats are more sought after, charge fees/do membership if you wish. 3) Back to the basics. Defense chants. Jumping and doing the "ohhhh" that RowdyZip mentioned. "Let's Go Zips"...many of the cheers don't make sense to anyone not on the floor (which is the majority of the crowd). Keep it simple and loud!

[ZachTheZip]

Now, here's a few suggestions on how to fix the damages done...1) As one person pointed out, make the students feel valued. Free stuff every game. Shirts for everyone who sits (stands) down low. Coupons for free/discounted good going to those sitting in the lower seats.2) Get rid of the $10 and membership requirements. How can you try to make the group exclusive when you can't even get a full house down low? It'd be one thing if people were fighting for the seats...do a sign-up, charge the fee. But as is, they can't get people to sit there. And until it's filled up, not allowing ANY Akron student/alumnus that wants to sit down low do so is downright silly. Get the seats filled, no matter what shirt they have on, no matter if they are signed up or not, no matter what - just get the seats filled with Akron faithful. After a few years when the seats are more sought after, charge fees/do membership if you wish. 3) Back to the basics. Defense chants. Jumping and doing the "ohhhh" that RowdyZip mentioned. "Let's Go Zips"...many of the cheers don't make sense to anyone not on the floor (which is the majority of the crowd). Keep it simple and loud!

1.) That would be a great idea. The problem is that the U doesn't seem to care, despite KD wanting more students down there and more students wanting to actually be down there, the U would just as soon sell the whole section off for a quick buck and put the students in the rafters. At least that's the vibe I get from them.2.) The membership requirement to sit down low is gone. I can not stress this enough: ANY STUDENT CAN SIT BEHIND THE BASKETS. You don't need a shirt, but with the Rowdies tripling in size over last year, most of them do have the shirts and those that go wear them. The membership fees go towards other stuff like organising road trips, not the right to sit in the lower section of the JAR. The students that still choose to sit in the upper area do so of their own accord. Maybe they don't feel like standing for the whole game or don't feel the need to cheer on their team next to the court. Maybe they are there simply because they have nothing better to do, not because they support Zips athletics. But they won't come down, and to be honest, if they are like that, I don't want them down there.3.) Back to the basics is a good thing. Many Rowdies simply heckle the opponent's bench warmers and are more interested in jawing with some 7' lurch than with cheering on the team and creating that loud home-court advantage. The entirety of the Rowdies leaders are on the band side. A few need to be on the other side so we can have coordinated efforts. Being out of synch was a problem last year as well.

[AwesomeDude]

The membership requirment is NOT gone. I do not know where you heard that from but it is still in effect. To remedy the situation about people not knowing about the sign ups and blah blah blah is simply put this way, the board members sat in the student union for two entire weeks in the begining of school signing people up, and we HAVE NOT CLOSED SIGN UPS LIKE THEY HAD LAST YEAR. For any game there is the chance for students to sign up. Since the rowdie entrance and the student entrance are now the same door in the JAR there are sign up sheets an hour before every home game. I worked the door the game against temple and there were students coming in just to be students and not be akrowdies so thats on them. Seriously if you have a problem paying $10 for a tshirt, good seats at games, free away trips, and many more things that will get thrown our way then fine no sweat off out backs.

[Valpo Zip]

I have seen a lot of students who wanted to be just students and not rowdies. The $10 had nothing to do with that.Some people simply feel that they get better view of the game being behind the sidelines rather than behind the baskets. Some students also don't like standing up for almost an entire 2 hours.

[ZachTheZip]

The membership requirment is NOT gone. I do not know where you heard that from but it is still in effect. To remedy the situation about people not knowing about the sign ups and blah blah blah is simply put this way, the board members sat in the student union for two entire weeks in the begining of school signing people up, and we HAVE NOT CLOSED SIGN UPS LIKE THEY HAD LAST YEAR. For any game there is the chance for students to sign up. Since the rowdie entrance and the student entrance are now the same door in the JAR there are sign up sheets an hour before every home game. I worked the door the game against temple and there were students coming in just to be students and not be akrowdies so thats on them. Seriously if you have a problem paying $10 for a tshirt, good seats at games, free away trips, and many more things that will get thrown our way then fine no sweat off out backs.

Are you sure about the membership thing still being in effect? How was it that about 1/3 of them just looked like plain old students, who sat down and simply watched the game? Or maybe they are taking kids from the upper seats and putting them down there to fill in like last year. That may be what I was seeing. Either way, $10 is ridiculously cheap for all the benefits of being a member of the organization.

[sgm405]

The membership requirment is NOT gone. I do not know where you heard that from but it is still in effect. To remedy the situation about people not knowing about the sign ups and blah blah blah is simply put this way, the board members sat in the student union for two entire weeks in the begining of school signing people up, and we HAVE NOT CLOSED SIGN UPS LIKE THEY HAD LAST YEAR. For any game there is the chance for students to sign up. Since the rowdie entrance and the student entrance are now the same door in the JAR there are sign up sheets an hour before every home game. I worked the door the game against temple and there were students coming in just to be students and not be akrowdies so thats on them. Seriously if you have a problem paying $10 for a tshirt, good seats at games, free away trips, and many more things that will get thrown our way then fine no sweat off out backs.

Are you sure about the membership thing still being in effect? How was it that about 1/3 of them just looked like plain old students, who sat down and simply watched the game? Or maybe they are taking kids from the upper seats and putting them down there to fill in like last year. That may be what I was seeing. Either way, $10 is ridiculously cheap for all the benefits of being a member of the organization.

It is cheap, but that's not the point. If you have trouble selling the product to the people when it's free, how can you expect to sell it to them AND charge?

[zipboy]

3.) Back to the basics is a good thing. Many Rowdies simply heckle the opponent's bench warmers and are more interested in jawing with some 7' lurch than with cheering on the team and creating that loud home-court advantage. The entirety of the Rowdies leaders are on the band side. A few need to be on the other side so we can have coordinated efforts. Being out of synch was a problem last year as well.Put some leaders on both sides. The north end needs someone to get the rest of them in synch.