(You can just skip to my last paragraph if you want to, the first 2 aren’t that important)
I was pondering how we all wanted to move a majority of the upper deck maize rage down to the lower bowl recently, and I used to be 100% sure that I wanted that, but after seeing the home games after Michigan State, the upper deck section of the Maize Rage was almost empty. Would we really risk having a ton of empty seats in the lower bowl? Should we only move them down for big games where we know they’ll show up? I quickly refuted that since we already have a ton of empty seats from the old folks who rarely show up and if they do, don’t add to the home court advantage, and my opinion remains the same that Hackett should definitely expand lower.
Also, was it just me or did the Maize Rage seem really disjointed this year? It definitely seemed like there was no leader and unlike previous years where there’s been pretty organized cheers for specific situations, now it’s random noise. Free throws for example! Most schools, including us in the past, have several chants for free throws, or something unique (NC State’s giant face cutouts and long noodle things come to mind) but we just sorta yell.
In all, my point in posting this, since the season is possibly over now, is to ask whether you guys think the Maize Rage needs to step it’s game up in terms of creativity and effect!
Simple answer, UM is a football school and that will always be the case. When we have an elite basketball team, the fans will show up and the crowd will be more lively. Other than that, we will get good crowds for big games and that’s about it. People flock to the Big House whether the team is shitty or great, but we even had attendance issues with that this year to a small degree. Basketball just isn’t a priority at UM the way it is at UK, Duke, Iowa State, etc and that isn’t going to change
Yeah I agree Matt, but what do you think about the specific question I had? Does it seem like they were less creative/unique than past years? I get that it’s worse in terms of impact due to our down year though.
As a junior who is in the bleachers nearly every game, I can tell you that nothing has changed from last year as far as organization wise. There were just a lot less students at the games, and the ones that were there were on average less excited than last year (losing kind of sucks).
For offensive chants, Maize Rage corps people hold out cards that alert everyone in the student section what to chant. All of which are just generic phrases.
As far as free throws go, all we’ve ever had is yelling, “you will miss”, or something occasionally player specific (like “punch a table” for Dawson).
But yeah, nothing changed structure wise. The scope and passion of the students was just a lot worse.
As a junior who is in the bleachers nearly every game, I can tell you that nothing has changed from last year as far as organization wise. There were just a lot less students at the games, and the ones that were there were on average less excited than last year (losing kind of sucks).
For offensive chants, Maize Rage corps people hold out cards that alert everyone in the student section what to chant. All of which are just generic phrases.
As far as free throws go, all we’ve ever had is yelling, “you will miss”, or something occasionally player specific (like “punch a table” for Dawson).
But yeah, nothing changed structure wise. The scope and passion of the students was just a lot worse.
That makes the most sense. The diehards show up every game, regardless of the circumstances. When you have a full Maize Rage or a sell out, the majority of those people aren’t of the diehard variety.
The people that make the stands full are the more fairweather fans. Its just reality. They show up when things are going good, but quick to find a reason not to make it when things are a struggle.
I think fans and the students moreso needed something to hang their hat on this year after the Hoke debacle.
They will all be back, its just reality that they aren’t going to go do the “dirty work” like the diehards will.