CFB51 College Football Fan Community
The Power Five => Big Ten => Topic started by: Kris60 on March 27, 2023, 12:39:21 PM
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I found it really interesting that Beta has basically sworn off watching Purdue sports since the loss last year to St. Peter’s. I actually admire the willpower.
I had a similar moment when WVU blew a golden opportunity to go to the BCS Championship in 2007 with a regular season finale loss to 28 point underdog Pitt. I made up mind I was done wasting time, money, and mental energy on a program that kept letting me down again and again. I even told my wife that the days of planning my Saturdays in the fall around WVU were over. If she wanted to go somewhere or do something I’d do it. No more checking game schedules and making plans around it.
The problem was I didn’t stick to it. A month later WVU pounded Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl and sucked me right back in. The irony of that is they have been on a downward trajectory ever since that win solidifying why I should have stuck to my guns.
Since I’ve had my kids I’m still a big fan but not the “come hell or high water I’m watching the game” guy I used to be. The last couple of years I’ve probably recorded as many games to watch later as I’ve gotten to watch live.
I’m just curious if anyone else has had those line in the sand moments with your team, even if you didn’t necessarily follow through like me.
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nope, no line in the sand moment
just a gradual decline from fanaticism over time, time with under performing program
starting with Bill Callahan - 2004
19 years w/o a legit shot at the national title
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I bandwagoned a bit through the later 80s and early 90s, but I had kids, and other things afoot. The Dawgs have had some crushing losses over the past 20 years.
The "Tip 6" at Auburn for some reason sticks. Mostly I try and keep in mind that it's entertainment.
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It isn't so much performance related as life related for me.
You mentioned having kids, that us the biggest part of it for me.
The other thing that has changed is the ability to easily price-check and get tickets on the secondary market online.
Years ago there were two ways to get season tickets for Ohio State football:
- Be an alum from prior to about 1975*, buy your one game per year for a few years, then you'd get the ability to buy season tickets and you would maintain that so long as you kept buying them, or
- Write a check for about a grand to tOSU and that would get you eligible to buy season tickets for that year.
We lucked into a situation where a friend of my dad was too old to go to the games but he got the season tickets and just sold them to my dad for about 20 years.
At first I was in school at Ohio State and my brother (HS at the time) and dad would come down for the games.
Then I graduated and soon after that my brother started at Ohio State so my dad and I would go down for the games.
After my brother graduated we had two tickets for the three of us. Plus my brother and I each got two tickets to one game through the Alumni Association.
By that time my dad was old enough to not really want to go to cold-weather games so my brother and I alternated going to early season games with my dad, then my brother and I would go to the October/November games.
Long story short, I probably went to about three-quarters of Ohio State's home games from 1993-2017 or so. Plus dad, brother, and I traveled to all the B1G stadiums to watch them and I went to some bowl games as well.
My oldest turns four tomorrow and he has two younger sisters. Between having kids, my dad having alzheimers, then passing away, and the pandemic, I haven't been to an Ohio State game in years. I think my last one was THE GAME in 2018.
I still watch, but it isn't nearly as much of a plan EVERYTHING around it deal. Part of that is time, part of it is the CFP. In the old days a loss was a HUMONGOUS deal because it pretty much eliminated any NC hopes. This past year Ohio State lost to Michigan and while that still sucks, their very next game was a NC Semi-final. The Game used to BE the NC Semi-final.
Basketball:
As an Ohio State fan, this is a better comparison for me. I'm not done with the team, but until they make the necessary change at HC there is no reason to expect any notable accomplishments. I've accepted that.
*The season tickets thing:
I know alums from the 60's. They all get season tickets without writing big checks. They bought their one game a year for a few years (meaning <5) then got upgraded to season tickets.
I know alums from the late 1970's who have bought their tickets to one game per year for almost 50 years and they STILL don't get season tickets.
What is funny is that I've heard more than a few of them tell their kids NOT to let tOSU know when they die and I know two attorneys in town who have kept estates open to keep getting the tickets, LoL.
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My line in the sand moment was more about actually attending games rather than watching at home.
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I think it was 2015, when my oldest son got me hockey tickets. There was a blizzard that day which made it impossible to get to Madison. So I called the ticket office to explain that I had a long drive and would not be able to make it.
I asked for seats to another game - hockey at that point in time was not selling out (still isn't) - not even close to it. The guy on the phone said there was nothing he could do for me. I told him look me up in the Badger Fund directory and the number of points (still in the top 10 percent, even today) I had. Still, nothing.
So, I penned an email letter to the assistant AD in charge of tickets and told him the story, and also told him I was DONE as a donor to Wisconsin Athletics.
I get a phone call about an hour or so later. He's offering me seats in his skybox, drinks, dinner, the whole nine yards.
He said "We don't want to lose you."
I said, "You already did."
"So, there is nothing we can do?"
I said, "You can start with your cocky ticket staff, so this doesn't happen to someone else."
"Let me know when you'd like to come back. We will take care of you."
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Haven't been to a game since.
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I've been scalpin tickets successfully since 1981
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No line in the sand for me.
I've been a season ticket holder since 1993 (This will be my 30th year)
Close to a line maybe? My wife and I disagreed on how to spend our extra funds for a couple years, I kept buying the stupid expensive football tickets, and she thought it was a waste of money.
When I got a Day-of-Game job for the Columbus Crew, I started making enough "sports" cash to pay for the OSU football tickets and we haven't argued over season tickets in 4 years now.
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No line in the sand for me.
I've been a season ticket holder since 1993 (This will be my 30th year)
I think this may be different for people like you who live locally than it is for people like me or like @847badgerfan (https://www.cfb51.com/index.php?action=profile;u=5) used to be where we live 2+ hours away.
I might spend the $ on season tickets if I lived in Columbus or a Columbus suburb.
Living two hours away makes going to a game into a full day activity:
- Noon game: Get up early, leave early, game, early dinner on the way home, home in the evening.
- 330 game: Leave a little later but still not a lot of time to get anything done, game, dinner in Columbus, home late evening.
- Night game: You can get things done on GameDay at home but Sunday is a mess because you get home at 4am.
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We did the early up/home late thing for about ten years. Then we decided that we would go up on Fridays.
If it was an 11AM game we'd go home (3 hours on the road, at least, due to traffic). Any later we'd stay a second night.
This was an expensive habit. Ain't no deals on hotels for football weekends.
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overpriced hotels suck!
football saturdays have always been all about football, so spending the entire day is fine
or even Friday through Sunday afternoon
but, it is expensive
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so, i kinda have 2, but for completely opposite reasons.
first was the kick-6. my wife, who watches games with me most times but ultimately doesn't care or understand the game, said as soon as it was over and we were still in shock, "so does that mean we don't go to the title game?". i kinda blew up on her. not terribly, but waaaay more than i should have (which is none). took me about 5 seconds to realize what i'd done. and at that moment, i decided i wasn't going to let the result of a game determine how the rest of my day/weekend went. being disappointed is fine, but not to the point it prevents you from having a good rest of day. and certainly not enough to make me be pissy towards anyone else, especially my wife. proud to say, i've generally done that.
the rest, and this might piss some of you off some because of the gall and privilege, but i have basically come to the same conclusion as you have @Kris60 (https://www.cfb51.com/index.php?action=profile;u=79) when it comes to planning days around games. but for complete opposite reason. over the last decade+, i have seen and experienced my team do virtually everything good possible. awards, titles, complete dominance, thrilling victories, become the villain, being the hero, things fans of most other teams would spend a lifetime waiting for 1 to happen. seen it live, in bars with tons of stranger-friends, comfort of my on home, friends house parties. i honestly can't think of anything else to accomplish. don't get me wrong, i still cheer as much as ever, and still enjoy and much as i ever have, but i'm no longer planning vacations, projects, and events around games. at least not all the games, or even most. certain ones each season might get special considerations, but it wasn't long ago that aug-dec saturdays were blocked off calendar. now, it might be 1-2/year.
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Like others, it was more about life, than anything else, for me. With a family and kids, I just don't have the time to devote to being a fan, that I did in my 20s and early 30s.
And with maturity and increased breadth of perspective, it also just matters less and becomes a lower priority for emotional output. Why would I let sports give me gray hair, when worrying about my teenaged kids is already doing a bang-up job!
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This ties in to what @rolltidefan (https://www.cfb51.com/index.php?action=profile;u=12) said. As an Ohio State fan I haven't had it quite as good as he has but really, I can't complain. I've seen two NC seasons and both were played when I was going to LOTS of games so I saw most of the home games in both of those seasons in person plus an away game in each, the 02 NC Game against Miami, and The '14 Semi-final against his team.
That changes perspectives. When I was growing up all through after I graduated from college the Buckeyes' 1968 title team was REVERED in Ohio State fandom.
Understand why:
That NC happened seven years before I was born and it was STILL Ohio State's most recent title when I was in my mid 20's in the early 2000's.
I think Bama has a lot of titles that are almost forgotten already because there have been more recent ones. That didn't happen with Ohio State 1968 because it was THE title that all of us tOSU fans looked back at for 34 years.
The point is that when I was watching NC contenders pre-2002 one reason I didn't want to miss ANYTHING was that there was a very real possibility that I might only get one chance in a lifetime. Even after 2002, at that 34 year rate Ohio State's next would have been when I was in my 60's. Now, I've seen two. I'd love to see a bunch more in a run like what Alabama had but if I miss a game in a future NC season, well I saw them all in '02 and '14.
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This ties in to what @rolltidefan (https://www.cfb51.com/index.php?action=profile;u=12) said. As an Ohio State fan I haven't had it quite as good as he has but really, I can't complain. I've seen two NC seasons and both were played when I was going to LOTS of games so I saw most of the home games in both of those seasons in person plus an away game in each, the 02 NC Game against Miami, and The '14 Semi-final against his team.
That changes perspectives. When I was growing up all through after I graduated from college the Buckeyes' 1968 title team was REVERED in Ohio State fandom.
Understand why:
That NC happened seven years before I was born and it was STILL Ohio State's most recent title when I was in my mid 20's in the early 2000's.
I think Bama has a lot of titles that are almost forgotten already because there have been more recent ones. That didn't happen with Ohio State 1968 because it was THE title that all of us tOSU fans looked back at for 34 years.
The point is that when I was watching NC contenders pre-2002 one reason I didn't want to miss ANYTHING was that there was a very real possibility that I might only get one chance in a lifetime. Even after 2002, at that 34 year rate Ohio State's next would have been when I was in my 60's. Now, I've seen two. I'd love to see a bunch more in a run like what Alabama had but if I miss a game in a future NC season, well I saw them all in '02 and '14.
The 1968 season I was 8 years old and it was the first that I really followed Ohio State Football and knew what was going on. Was glued to 610 radio every Saturday because most games were not televised live. But would watch the game replays on channel 34 every Sunday. So I started on top and spent a long time thinking we would only be close but never win it again. It is worst being a Browns fan, I was 4 the last time they won a championship and I have no memory of it. I still rarely miss a game of either team but rarely live since I live so far away from both teams.
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Once Solich was canned, I stopped sending any $. I've only contributed modestly to the college radio station I used to work at as PBP, DJ etc. I've been back to games three times since then, all part of larger events/reasons. Ilong moved on to visiting other stadia and events.
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I miss getting up early and tailgating outside the Swamp. My friend and I started small and gradually grew it to a respectable effort. We even ran an extension cord and plugged into the law school for some power. Burgers & dogs turned into steaks, wings, stew....he even started making his own BBQ sauce.
Noon games were meh, because we'd be out there at 7am setting up - making it all nice for the lady friends to arrive later and be comfy.
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Living across the country, I tend to watch every game live. I turn down invitations to normal things I do often, but if it's unique or important to a friend, I have no problem watching the game later. I kind of enjoy it, speeding through the commercials and what-not.
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The Zook years weren't great, but that's when I had front-row season tickets with the wig and face paint. Since UM left, none of the HCs have panned out, but they've literally all had a 10-win and/or East title, so it hasn't been all bad. None of them seem able to sustain success.
I doubt I'll ever draw that line, though. Even if we stink or are almost certainly going to lose, I want to see HOW it happens. Was it close and got away? Was it turnovers? How was the effort? The Vanderbilt game was what all Gators fans worry about - that lethargic noon Vandy road game. This team wasn't good enough to go through the motions like many a past team was. So it was a loss. It was gross. And even though EVERYONE in Gator Nation knows to be wary, it still bit us in the ass.
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Not fun stuff, but there's always the next game...
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Hmmm, not sure I've ever invested so fully as to have that.
I've lived away from Madison since college. I had a job with a lot of weekend work, so I've not been to a UW game since then.
As the years have gone on, I've mellowed ... to a degree. Football has less ability to ruin my day. And usually only once a season. I've become more accepting of the losses to good teams. Better at turning off games if I sense it's gonna suck. Lotta ways to catch up. I started up attending games with local alums when I can, which has been nice to a degree.
Basketball has been more of a struggle. The games get me more antsy. I think this year was irksome in a way, but even at the start of the year, I thought they'd be fringy. This year was special in ways they eff it up, then come back just enough.
At some point, a long time ago, I made peace with the idea that winning anything enormous would be more found money than something coming to them. So I try to cherish the wins, hope for the best. I had trouble feeling the same as Brad did, say about his football team. My team is gonna fight, have some good years, etc. Basketball is more up and down, but they've only had five seeds higher than 4, that's produced two great runs, two flameouts that you could see coming (the first was when I was much younger and just drained me) and one mid-level run that felt bad in the moment, but looks fine in retrospect.
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I remember as a kid looking at the sports section of the Sunday paper, they'd have B&W photos of the key plays in a game. There was a special sports section just for college football, it was lengthy. The reason? Nearly every game was only on radio. Maybe 1-2 times a year my team would be on TV, which was a 20" or so "color" TV where I could never get the grass color right. This has changed massively over the years of course, and now I can sit home and watch in HD with my own sofa and drinks and whatevers. And after market tickets to any significant game is $200-800 for nose bleed seats.
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If I never attended another game, it wouldn't hurt me at all.
I might go if they played in Tampa or Miami. Maybe even Nashville because I like the place.
Or New Orleans because other than some work I did after Katrina I've not been there for any fun. It was all work.
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I'm just not interested in spending $300+ for bad seats any more or going to see them pound "Sanford".
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I still really enjoy Lincoln NE on Gameday
Buying a ticket and going in the stadium is enjoyable but not so much that I will spend too much. one or two games a season is enough now, instead of trying to get to 5 or 6
Spending 4 hours on the game instead of the entire day or more is ok when the weather is beautiful and the golf course is open
I will record a game once in a while now and watch later
(gotta figure out that function on youtube TV)
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Obviously my line in the sand is well known.
That said, I will state that I may have confounding factors that are different from some of you (and the same as others).
After my time at Purdue, I moved 2,000 miles west. As a result, I was basically shut off from any in-person interaction with the program. I saw one game in the mid 2000s during the 2-year stretch I lived in Atlanta and came up to see college buddies. I ended up seeing an away BBall game @Northwestern one time when I came back on a business trip. I took my wife to the Foster Farms bowl when Purdue came out west, and took her to a Purdue home football game in 2019 when we scheduled a vacation to Chicago.
Those are literally the only four in-person Purdue athletic events I've attended since 2000.
So what does that mean? Well, I described that a Purdue win for me became a relief, while a Purdue loss was a disappointment. Hence, I *never* got the upside of the equation. The few things I could really point to were the Purdue wins vs OSU in 2009 and 2018, and the Foster Farms Bowl which was a win I attended in person.
Had I truly been somewhere that I felt the community of other Purdue fans, I might have enjoyed wins more, and it might have made the disappointments more tolerable. But seeing Purdue win a meaningless conference game against the Illini from my living room that kicked off at 9:00 AM here on the West Coast, well, it didn't excite me much. But seeing Purdue lose that game? It pissed me off.
There are a lot of reasons to disengage. Cost of attending games is one (if you're local). Priorities of other things (family, kids, etc) is another.
But usually those things in fandom presume that you are balancing the thrill of victory with the agony of defeat. If you're disconnected from the community already, it means you're balancing the malaise of victory with the agony defeat, and that's not a healthy balance.
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I will say that being down here for 3 years has changed my fandom a bit. I'm not as die hard as I was. Weekends are my only time to do fun things, and there are a whole lot more fun things to do here than up North in the winter. Especially for hoops.
The time zone doesn't help either. I'm not staying up late for a 9PM eastern tip. 8PM would be fine, but at 10PM I'm in bed.
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old man
like me
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If I never attended another game, it wouldn't hurt me at all.
I might go if they played in Tampa or Miami. Maybe even Nashville because I like the place.
Or New Orleans because other than some work I did after Katrina I've not been there for any fun. It was all work.
If they played reasonably close, I would potentially try to go if the team was good.
I could’ve gone to the pandemic bowl somewhat easily, but that team didn’t spark joy.
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I will say that being down here for 3 years has changed my fandom a bit. I'm not as die hard as I was. Weekends are my only time to do fun things, and there are a whole lot more fun things to do here than up North in the winter. Especially for hoops.
The time zone doesn't help either. I'm not staying up late for a 9PM eastern tip. 8PM would be fine, but at 10PM I'm in bed.
There’s a joke to be made about retiring to Florida and not being able to do fun things on weekdays.
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I'm not retired. Oh well.
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I'm not retired. Oh well.
Was the plan to retire? Or do I have your timing mixed up?
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Company needs me to still work. I had long planned for 55, but that happened a little more than a year ago. Hopefully sooner than later.
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they might get along better than you both expect
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Wut?
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your company and the folks there might get along better than they and you think if you were to just walk away
not to say you're not important
not to say they wouldn't miss you
not to say they would struggle a bit for a while
just sayin, .................the company might get along OK or better than y'all expect
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(https://c.tenor.com/nR6qtqHkxRgAAAAC/godfather-the-godfather.gif)
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Boy, I tell ya. That one time when OSU only won ten games instead of twelve. Woo wee! I was about to throw in the towel.
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Heh, I've remarked before about how I left and my boss found the budget to replace me with two people, at my level (one got promoted). My boss was trying to build an empire so HE could get promoted. Last I heard he is still there pedalling away.
And I did maybe 30 minutes of "work" in a week.