On 3/10/96, "greenie" wrote:
>
>"Who's got the most loyal, die-hard fans?"
>
>I'm very curious as to people's opinions; I'm not interested in just who's
>the loudest, or who does the road trips, I want to whole basket o' monkeys
>on this one. Additionally, I'm interested in who's got the die-hards
>overall; as much as I can say the BU fans of 1989-1992 were the best, those
>were banner years. Oddly enough, the fans are less enthusiastic now that
>the team won a championship.
>
I couldn't possibly answer the questionnaire that was attached; however,
how many other schools have the hockey season ticket line like
RPI/Rensselaer does?  Depending on many factors (team record the year
before, weather, etc.) a line forms around the student union weeks in
advance of season tickets going on sale.  There are rules for line
standing, but it basically boils down to one person needing to be on line
24 hours a day for every 8 season tickets being bought. This includes
overnight, regardless of temperature. If a group fails to man their spot,
they are moved to the end of the line (there is obviously a good incentive
for turning people in).   Naturally, the line is a series of mattresses
next to each other.  If I'm not mistaken, tickets normally go on sale at
the end of October, so the "line" is formed on average 6-8 weeks before
tickets go on sale.  Usually, it forms overnight as one group decides to
get first in line and instantaneously another 30 or 40 groups join in to
assure good seats.  Based on where I've had season tickets the last couple
of years (purchased after the line gets their tickets), I would guess that
there are a minimum of 800 student season tickets sold this way in a bad
year.
 
Tradition is that the President of the Institute serves coffee and donuts
to the line on the morning tickets go on sale.
 
Note that the year after RPI won the National Championship, the line formed
the day after the final game and was kept going throughout the summer and
into the following fall (7+ months) by one loyal group of fans.  I believe
there were probably 2500+ student season tickets sold that year based on my
tickets in the grandstand.
 
Not bad for a school that takes too many knocks for not being rowdy enough
at games.
 
Maybe some current Rensselaer students could add to this.
 
-Ken Johnson, RPI '87
 
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