The mob and student section

[EasyEdBrown]

I might be drunk right now. Or at the very least, unsober.

[The Dude]

With all due respect to Blue Man, Kilt Man was an original and will go down in URI lore. Wonder where he is? Things started to go the wrong way when they grounded Blue Man. thorr should have fought that and I told him that.

You'll all be happy to know that Kilt Man is doing just fine. We were at a wedding of a mutual friend a year or two ago as Groomsmen.

[SGreenwell]

Thorr forwarded me to woman in charge of RC, said it was their call. She said it was for the safety of the crowd. I told her I never felt unsafe and didn't want her to think she needed to protect me from Blue Man.

Not to sound like a Negative Nancy, but I was always semi-shocked that he hadn't had a collision with someone else on his run around the arena, although more from the perspective that someone wouldn't be paying attention and step into his path, as opposed to Kilt Man being careless. (Disclaimer: I believe I met Kilt Man two or three times, very casually at parties, because he was on the track team with one of my buddies. I could be mis-remembering this, but he seemed like a good guy to me.)

However, in my mind there was an easy solution to that - Why not just let him run on the actual border of the court? Kilt Man got a better response most of the time than Rhody the Ram, you might as well let him go out on the court and actually sanction his act.

[Blue Man]

With all due respect to Blue Man, Kilt Man was an original and will go down in URI lore. Wonder where he is? Things started to go the wrong way when they grounded Blue Man. thorr should have fought that and I told him that.

So, who was responsible for stopping Blue Man?

Without naming names, Twisted seems to be on to something. A lot of people like me in the athletic department, certain people don't.

No offense taken; Kilt Man was a God amongst fans. Dude ran up and down every single set of stairs and every single section. I know how hard it was to sprint laps around the court...I can't even imagine how hard it was to sprint all the stairs in the arena. Guy started the whole thing, I got to watch him when I was in high school...I just tried to carry the torch.

As for how I never hit anyone? I have no idea. Whatever reflexes I had in college have gone away. I never thought I was putting anyone in danger though...that seems a bit silly.

[Sweep The Leg]

Going to URI from 1991-1995, we played most our home games at Keaney Gym, which was great. It maybe filled 3,400+ when it was SRO and we always had great student turnout. The tickets were always free and we had the entire area behind the basket. It was the band, and then us in aluminum benches, do you know how loud those things got when slammed full force by rowdy students. We were never given a hard time by any URI rep in our time there, and we were pretty vocal (at times profane) because the older establishment weren't in front or behind us to complain. We actually made Brunson openly weep after he missed a game winning layup as time expired when we beat Temple. There is no better feeing than Arron McKey and Eddie Jones telling us as fans were messed (clean version) up... But, we also played some highly ranked in conference teams on a constant basis (UMass, Temple, West Virginia, Rutgers) in Keaney. All the other big OCC games (Texas, Wake Forest, MN) were at the shithole now called the Dunk and it felt like we lost that edge in a bigger building and it was a travel burden for some students even though buses were provided.

Solutions to Problems:

1) Move the Mob behind the opponents bench: Phil Martelli will love it. And some behind the basket to distract foul shooting.

2) Attempt to get higher profile teams to come to the Ryan Center: We know George Mason and Loyala are good programs, but causal fans don't. We just need a high profile name even if the aren't great from different BSC conferences like a Penn St., Rutgers, Clemson....

3) Better Marketing, Pepsi used to have the Pepsi Shootout where 3 contestants (had to be students) per conference game would compete against each other during halftime for a chance to be a finalist in the last shootout at the final regular season game for a $1,500 scholarship. That would get students to the game, and it's profitable when you win, trust me. But, even if it's Patriot tickets (like offered in the first game) or $500 gift card to Amazon.com, something of value and make it known using facebook, Twitter, 94HJY (Stevie, Shorts, pimp us out more...), $10 credit to the Rams' Den for attending the game, a shuttle to and from the game on those cold nights.....

4) Better Planning by Rhody Officials: It doesn't look good on national TV that our arena is 2/3 empty. Rhody officials should have noticed that and moved all people in the 200s and 300s down to the 100 sections to make it seem at capacity.

[Rhodymob05]

I was in the mob for a season and it was a lot of fun sitting behind the away bench/next to the away team fans and talking trash and what not. Good seats too. But now I just get student tickets. The Mob isnt advertised enough on campus. I forget how I even found it but you only hear about it at the games. About the student section, Behind the basket is good and bad, creating a disctraction to foul shots by opposing teams is always fun but the vision of the game isnt. I like Floridas student section which is located on one side on the bottom, it gives students a chance to see the game and better to cheer on the home team. Thats just my oponion. Also, nose bleed seats for students is a bad idea.

[4Diffs]

I was the game on Wednesday with my nephew and my two kids. Let me tell you why no one sat in section 208. They were not allowed to. My nephew bought the tickets and since they were up in section 300 we decided to sit in section 208 behind the basket. We were at the game early and were sitting in the second row about 15-20 minutes before game time. There were four students in the row in front of us and other than that, the section was empty. A Ryan center employee came down to us and the students and said we could not sit there as the entire section was sold to a group that had rented out the section. There was a big function going on in the room off the concourse right above this section (I believe it was an engineering group) and he told us that they had purchased the entire section. Had no problem with this except for not one person from that function ever came down to sit in this section. As we all know, this section is featured prominently on TV when free throws are being shot on the other side of the court. I was at the game and did not see it on TV, but this had to look really bad on TV and I was perplexed as to why not a single person from that large gathering would come down to their seats. Obviously, none of this group were really basketball fans and would rather stay up in the function area where they could eat and drink rather than take their seats.

We found other seats but what bothered me was even when it was obvious that these seats were not going to be used (8:45 or so) , the same Ryan Center staff employee was still not letting people sit there. We saw the same students who were asked to move the first time go back to this section and once again they were asked to move. When this happened, there were probably five minutes left in the first half and the entire section was empty. They moved over to 207. This happened a couple of other times and even in to the second half.

Now I know the employee was only doing his job but at some point in time, common sense should have kicked in and he (or his supervisor) should have realized that these seats were not going to be used and should not have been moving people who were trying to sit there. Also, the people in that function should be embarrassed how little interest they had in the game itself. I could understand some or even a majority of the group staying in the function area, but everybody?? But I guess the tickets were paid for (even though I have doubts whether all 270 seats in that section were sold) but it looked terrible not to have anyone sitting behind one of the baskets.

[Blue Man]

Diffs, that is a horribly depressing story. They really just don't get how to run an arena from a fan perspective. You wonder why no one wants to go there? because of things like that.

If the product on the floor isn't performing, you damn well better have an environment that people want to be in.

[ATPTourFan]

Also, the Tummy Time guy (whose name I think was Jay) played against us in intramural softball one year, and I generally pitched. I remember facing him 4 times.

1. He crushed a ball to deep center that still hasn't landed.
2. He crushed a ball to deep center that passed the first ball.
3. He hit a ball right back through he box, that if not for a clever piece of agility by me would have ended our family name.
4. He a ball right back at me that if I didn't toss my glove up at the last second would have easily made me look just like Bryce Florie.

Big fat kid, with a big fat ability to scare the hell out of me in intramural softball.

Made me laugh! Great story. I sure miss him! He'd stand up on the armrests in the sea of cheering students. Those were the days. Tummy Time graphic on the video board.

[twisted3829]

i remember tummy time, he has some talent rolling that gut

[adam914]

Tummy time was fantastic, never seemed to get old really.

[Rhodymob05]

Watching the OSU Michigan game. Is there anyway to convince thorb to move the student sections to behind the benches? It's so much better.

[twisted3829]

no for this year, the following years maybe. Especially with the reseating of season ticket holders after this season

[EasyEdBrown]

I asked someone in Athletics and they said they were going to explore it next year before season ticket holders are seated.

The impression I got was everything is on the table, which is refreshing.

[twisted3829]

give the students the 100 (except the side opposite benches and the section behind the team) and 201 and 209.

I believe that is how it was when the Ryan Center first opened.

I've complained and mentioned this to the athletic department for 5 years as a student and got no where...

1 additional point: I know students have complained earlier this season and Hurley agreed, It's probably what Hurley wants Hurley gets

[urirx]

students were promised 100 level seats on three sides of the court in exchange for approval of the raise in student fees to pay off the bond for the then call convocation center. This was documented in the Cigar, and student senate meeting minutes. I would very much like to see the cigar do a 10 year retrospective on the construction of the Ryan center the run up to the building of the RC, and how much of what was promised at the time has occurred in the years since.

[Obadiah]

The problem with this is the configuration of the Ryan Center. Students who sit close to the action at other schools, do not sit behind the benches of both teams. At Duke, for example, the students sit behind both baskets and along the side facing the team benches. This is the accepted practice to allow long standing fans of both teams to sit behind the team benches. There would have to be some re-construction of Ryan to accomplish this.

[twisted3829]

no, give URI fans section 106, give the visitors 103 or just the 50 seats that are required and put students behind them (like the mob used to be a few years ago). That gives students 101, 102, some of 103, 104, 105, 107, 108, 109, 201, 209, and the band gets 114. That's not impractical, and Ohio State doesn't have that problem (watched the game today)

[section(105)]

Section 106 currently seems to also have seats of the team family members, other athletic dept held seats as give-aways, special visitors, etc, ya know that kinda thing. Of course, not often filled. Of all those sections listed above, I doubt the students would ever fill those, even with "some". Placing students behind the guest bench, I like that.

[Rhodymob05]

im just asking because I beleive the seats would be filled easier, plus its more fun to sit behind the bench like i did in the mob 3 years ago.

[RF1]

If the students were reseated this season, there would just be more empty seats in prime areas seen on tv. It would therefore have an adverse effect if done now. This is a lost season on and off the court. Reseating students or new marketing campaigns for this year are a waste of time. Save the energy and money for another year when it might actually have an impact.

[Rhodymob05]

See the thread on the ESPN piece on Home Court Advantage in College Hoop:
http://keaneyblue.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=785