My son and his friend and I also went to our first game of the season
(Sat.UMO vs Lowell). The game was great and I thought the team showed
some streaks of true brilliance.
 
It was clear that having a student section in the balcony  with the
band was a great idea and was very effective noise-wise.  I'm sure
that it will also have the effect of attracting more students to the
games.
 
Now to the issues of crowd participation and ticket availability:
 
I ordered ahead by phone and got tickets in the back row of sec. FFF.
We couldn't see the UMass goal so we moved down to some empty season
ticket seats in EEE.  The seats were great but it was a very quiet and
even non-excited group. Hardly anyone cheered (except for the three of
us) during the whole game. The man if front of me didn't even stand up
when Maine scored. The 2 people next to me came in part way through
the first period and missed the whole third period and made very
little noise while they were there. It was more like the audience at
the circus or a school play.
 
I can understand, I guess, why Season Ticket Holders (STH's) can
become complacent and after years of game after game begin to act more
like they are watching TV.  (Although my son and I make more noise
watching Maine on TV than most of the STH's did at the game!)
 
Now, the points I want to make are these:
 
   1. DON'T decrease the number of reserved student  seats too greatly
or too quickly since the desire for these seats will increase as the
season progresses, especially if the team continues to win.
 
   2. DON'T increase the number of STH seats if noise is a desired
attribute. After all, there are already about 4,000 and most of the
arena is pretty quiet.
 
   3. DO increase general public seats AND set aside a section for
those who want to be noisy. Some of us like to be noisy and like to
sit with other noisy people. I believe the University has a
responsibility to make the athletic facilities available to alums and
the general public and 4,000 STH's is already too many.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Now, while I deplore bad obnoxious behavior and bad language
especially when there are little kids present,
 
 
 
-
 
 
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