Curious to know

by Billy Gomila on Mar 16, 2010 9:40 AM CDT Comment 23 comments

And I'd love to hear some why's or why-not's in the comments.

Poll

Will you be going to LSU's Spring Football Game?

Yes

37 votes

No

92 votes

129 votes | Poll has closed

0 recs | Comment 23 comments |

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Comments

compartmentalization

football in the fall; baseball in the spring. I kid of course, but honestly, I haven’t made it to a spring game since I was in school. My wife is an Ole Miss grad, and since I’ve got to bargain for weekends in BR, those weekends will be in the fall.

by haveagreatday on Mar 16, 2010 10:17 AM CDT reply actions

Ease the withdrawal symptoms

Looking foward to seeing how Claiborn at corner and Jai at FS is working out as well ass getting a good look at Michael Ford. Want to see if our gameplan looks any different now that Billy G is passing coordinator. Hoping to see line improvement, but it’s hard to tell in the spring since this is a zero sum game.

by Big McLargeHuge on Mar 16, 2010 10:27 AM CDT reply actions

Not this year

In the past, it was usually around late april, perfect timing for me and the crew. I’d gat some baseball tickets and make a weekend of it. This year it’s during my busy season so i’ll just have to catch it on ESPN2.

I wonder if it being on Natl TV will actually hurt attendance instead of helping it?

Managing Editor/Chief Lackey-And The Valley Shook

by PodKATT on Mar 16, 2010 10:28 AM CDT reply actions

If this poll is any indicator

Attendance will be so minute this will probably be the only year it gets televised.

by Billy Gomila on Mar 16, 2010 2:25 PM CDT up reply actions

The poll is certainly an indicator, but you also probably have a disproportionate number of people who aren’t making it because they live out of state.

Tracy Porter's gonna score! TRACY PORTER'S GONNA SCORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (HT Takimoto)

by AllSaintsDay on Mar 16, 2010 5:27 PM CDT up reply actions

Planning to be there

I tend to take whatever football fixes I can get. As far as what to watch, I think last year’s game showed that its more important to kind of scout the players as individuals, because there’s only so much you can tell schematically.

Last year’s spring game offense looked dramatically different from what we saw in the fall. So you have to just try and take what you can.

by Billy Gomila on Mar 16, 2010 10:48 AM CDT reply actions

Agree with the withdrawal reason 100%

Plus its fun to be able to get into Tiger Stadium and out without it taking an hour.

by TheOtherAndrew on Mar 16, 2010 12:27 PM CDT reply actions

This is the same reason I get into the NFL Draft lol.

by Billy Gomila on Mar 16, 2010 12:31 PM CDT up reply actions

Live out of state.

I’m lucky if I get to one regular season game each year.

by janepriceestrada on Mar 16, 2010 2:21 PM CDT reply actions

live in oregon :(

but if I were anywhere within 300 miles I would absolutely be there. I miss football too much. The spring game is my methadone and I will absolutely dvr it.

by ORtigerfan on Mar 16, 2010 4:48 PM CDT reply actions

Heck yeah!!

I’ve been there the last couple years and really had a good time. I’m really excited to see how the O-line and D-line look. Also, Would like to see how the younger guys do such as Micheal Ford, Morris Claiborne, Craig Loston, and Chris Davenport!! I enjoy any chance I get to go to Baton Rouge and sit in Tiger Stadium!!!!

by tkemz939 on Mar 16, 2010 5:53 PM CDT reply actions

So I posted this on TD.com

I’m going to the spring game regardless…and I live out of state, but…

Why doesn’t the athletic department try to turn this into an “event” rather than leaving it as a “scrimmage”?

I refuse to believe that Alabama’s sell out spring games in 2007 and 2008 had zero effect on their two following excellent recruiting classes. Now can you expect to sell out your stadium every year for a scrimmage? No, but our 25k or so the last few years is no where near the football starved fans of Nebraska, Bama, and heck even Auburn last year.

If LSU organized an alumni association crawfish boil on the parade grounds and set up a stage with some live music headlined by Cowboy Mouth or Better Than Ezra and charged 25 or 30 bucks for all you can eat crawfish, coke and jambalaya and included a spring game ticket I bet we’d pack a lot more than 25k into the stadium. And the university would probably make more money than it does now.

Raffle off some signed LSU gear during the event and call it a Saturday. Make this happen!

by LSU Jonno on Mar 17, 2010 8:05 AM CDT reply actions

Playing Devil's Advocate

Why would the Athletic Department think people would come to an event like this when people don’t come to a free game already?

Personally, I like the idea. But given the general apathy towards the game in general (and its not like the spring game’s ever been THAT well-attended), I don’t think the Athletic Department would get behind it unless they were sure it’d definitely draw a crowd.

by Billy Gomila on Mar 17, 2010 10:30 AM CDT up reply actions

I live on campus.

So why the hell not?

by Nearl on Mar 17, 2010 10:00 AM CDT reply actions

i just figured it out

I was going over in my head the last few spring games i went to and i dawned on me. No one goes to the spring game for the same reason we all really hate day games in the fall. (last year’s rain withstanding) It’s too effing hot to sit on concrete for a few hours. Move the spring game to the evening.

Managing Editor/Chief Lackey-And The Valley Shook

by PodKATT on Mar 17, 2010 11:21 AM CDT reply actions

Now that's an idea I'd get behind

by Billy Gomila on Mar 17, 2010 11:32 AM CDT up reply actions

Well yeah,

You’d have to move the spring game to the evening so that you’d have time to eat crawfish and jambalya and listen to music all day on the parade grounds.

Add the band in, and now you’ve really got something.

And yeah, Billy I get your Devil’s Advocate point of view, but I’d have to think it’s worth a shot to try. The benefit(s) probably out weigh the risk on this one. There is all kinds of stuff they could do to promote the event.

Remember two years ago when Florida televised a competition to race a football player before their spring game?

What if LSU set up some events that mimiced what the players just had to do at the combine for fans to participate in. Post the top 3 LSU numbers and then post the top fan results. Hell invite recruits and let them compete in the events.

Surely if I can think this up in 45 seconds the atheletic department can think up better ideas over the course of a year. But instead all we’re going to get is a “scrimmage”.

by LSU Jonno on Mar 17, 2010 12:34 PM CDT up reply actions

I definitely agree that the game can be better marketed

But I think the general apathy works both ways between the fans and the athletic department. Hell I know some coaches (for sure a certain former LSU coach) only resist calling off spring games in general because they’re so customary at this point.

by Billy Gomila on Mar 17, 2010 1:54 PM CDT up reply actions

.

I guess it just comes down to the fact that it’s easier to sit in your cubicle all day and let the status quo rule the day rather than trying to be inovative and bring something new and fresh to the table.

Apathy doesn’t start with the fans. Apathy happens with the Fans as a resultant. Fans want to be excited. If the athletic department gave fans a reason to be excited, fans would be excited. That’s why we’re called fans.

by LSU Jonno on Mar 17, 2010 2:24 PM CDT up reply actions

See, and I think that's a chicken or egg argument

Attendance to Spring Games at the places where they are huge events — such as Bama, Florida, Nebraska (where you actually have to PAY for tickets) has been high for decades. People were itching to go, so the athletic departments made them bigger events. LSU fans have been apathetic to the spring football game for as long as I can remember.

I actually remember when the Athletic Department tried to package the spring game with baseball tickets as a combo — and people STILL didn’t want to go to the Spring game. I think the biggest crowd LSU’s ever had was in the 30,000’s, and that was in the early enthusiasm of the DiNardo Era. People didn’t even go after the 03 championship year.

by Billy Gomila on Mar 17, 2010 3:11 PM CDT up reply actions

When I lived in Baton Rouge I went to the spring games. I don’t go to them now b/c I am too far out, but what would get me more geared up is first and foremost…make it a game, not a scrimmage. Second, try and get an deal with ESPN worked out to televise or make it a bigger deal that way. Third, move it to the early evening. As for the band and food and what not…I don’t think that is going to get many people there. At least not the huge numbers we want. Now, it certainly can’t hurt. They could also make it free for a few years until they get the numbers up.

by Bob Barker on Mar 18, 2010 5:58 PM CDT up reply actions