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Post by bonabum06 on Jan 29, 2009 7:23:25 GMT -5
i've been out for three years. I still follow this team religiously. Claim every game is going to be a victory. Every single one of my friends looks at me like I'm a moron.
"Why do you get your hopes up? Bonas sucks! They've always sucked! You're and idiot!"
I keep my mouth shut you know why? Because they went to schools with no tradition. They don't have "alumni boards". They couldn't tell you who their team played last night. They don't trek back 350 miles for a night of beer drinking and basketball watching.
And don't give me the "All we know is losing! What do you expect." I got there 2002 when we were on national tv only to be crushed a few months later by that dbag vbk and the gutless wick.
There are always going to be bad apples who have that "who cares we suck attitude". Don't get sucked into that. Misery loves company. . .don't fall into it.
My buddies went to big east schools, huge winning program schools. And none of them have the passion a true bona fan has.
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Post by triple302 on Jan 29, 2009 7:37:58 GMT -5
Well said Bonabum. I couldn't agree more. I will admit that I was there from 98-02 when we had some good years. But my freshman year we had 15 wins(I think). The place was still jammed every night with students. I couldn't even tell you if ther was anyone in the reds or not. No one cared about the reds and how much or little they were cheering. The opposing team was frustrated from the minute they came out for warmups. That needs to come back. Players come to Bonas for this reason. What do you think it looks like when Schmidt tells a recruit how great it is to play in the RC, how dangerous it is for the opposing team and then the reruit takes a visit and he sees 1 small section of students, barely cheering or getting loud. Is he going to pick a low level big east school, or is he going to pick us? Yes the players have to perform, and the students there now haven't had much to cheer about, but the srudents can have a role in the Bona resurgence too. Make that place a total nightmare again. Please tell me what can be more fun on a wednesday night in the winter than throwing back a bunch of drinks, and then screaming your face off for your team. That is how the love for the team and tradition begins. That is what you will remember and post on this board for years and years to come. The wins will come. The players will come. Coach will make mistakes, but he will also pull off some great coached games. Show him that we desparately want him to win. That every kid at the school bleeds brown and white, no matter what.
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Post by longislandbonnie on Jan 29, 2009 9:40:05 GMT -5
Sitting across from the student section last night, (snuck down to the 'blues' behind the visitors' bench midway thru the first half) I would estimate their numbers at 300 - 350, at best. Very poor turnout, from what, 2,000+ enrolled ?
And most seemed more interested in their cell phones than the game. Wonder what the over-under was for text messages sent during the game last night ?
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Post by spils84 on Jan 29, 2009 10:26:58 GMT -5
Let me preface this by saying my entire family thinks I am nuts for following this team so closely. And I know there have been improvements to campus in the last 25 years, and the new coffee house is simply grand, but I can't imagine anything better to do at Bonas on a winter evening than attending a conference basketball game. I obviously don't have accurate figures on this, but I would be very surprised if fewer than 85% of the student population attended the games in the early 1980s. As an aside, we had a friend who opted to skip out on Bonas beating Rutgers in OT in February, 1983 to watch the final MASH episode, and we still treat him like a leper because of it.
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heemeehead
Freshman Member
Don't Forget Scumbag!
Posts: 96
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Post by heemeehead on Jan 29, 2009 10:28:19 GMT -5
Even if the student section was horrible, what is the excuse for all of the empty red seats? And I don't think snow should be an excuse! The lack of enthusiasm is directly correllated to the lack of drunk students showing up to games. Try and get lit before, during (if you're lucky enough to sneak some booze in or fast enough to run back to the dorm for a beer shotgun), and certainly after the game. Put someone on your shoulders and get loud. Be Aisle Idiiot--get whacked and sit in the aisle so you can yell with booze breathe, at the opposition. Bring those stupid pool noodles and shake them with drunk enthusiasm when some ice jerk is trying to make a free throw. Also, YELL at the refs and if they are dumb enough to hand out cookies again, throw them in no particular direction. Rush the court the next time we win jerks.
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Post by bonamaniac on Jan 29, 2009 11:02:30 GMT -5
Unfortunately, this is something that is likely to happen slowly and gradually over time as Bonas has moved from a national powerhouse in the 60's and 70's, to a mediocre "mid-major" in the 80's and then plain bad for the 90's and 00's (other than the strong Baron years). I was there doing the DeCarli and Chapman years; the student section was chaos, but largely due to the reputation of the school from prior years. Passion has slowly eroded over the last couple of decades.
Just like Obama said we need to rebuild America, Bona hoops needs to be rebuilt. I think Schmidt is on the right track, but getting the passion back from CURRENT students, not alum, will take time.
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Post by mikebossy22 on Jan 29, 2009 11:07:52 GMT -5
I can sympathize with 211 and 09. Trust me, we're not critisizing kids that actually care about the team and support them. However, I also think you've made a lot of stupid points 211, I came here the same year you did (fall '04) so as Ham said don't use the "haven't seen a winner" excuse. I think Tom and I would be happy to bring our "posse" down to the student section, if every single one of us didn't have bull's eyes on our backs from all the security gaurds. Bull's eyes we recieved mostly from acting like the majority of students used to act like back in the day. I sat in the student section for one season at Bonas because I couldn't stand that the majority of the kids there didn't care if the Bonnies won or lost or even played well. That, and the fact that I hate most of the kids in the classes of '07, '08 and '09.
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Post by mikenice on Jan 29, 2009 11:27:18 GMT -5
Come on "believer".
You are given the opportunity to stand a few feet away from some of the bigger names in college basketball between the players and coaches. Next time you see Phil Martelli, Sean Miller of Fran Dunphy on TV remember you squandered your opportunity to get under their skin and create a lasting memory for yourself.
The Bonnies sucked during my tenure (02-06), but that didn't stop us from getting lit and heckling the hell out of John Chaney, Mardy Collins, Jameer Nelson and the like. Some of the best memories from college are ones in the student section. Whether it was hearing a fellow student hurl a hilarious barb at an opposing player or coach during a silent moment in the RC, or frustrating a certain conference opponent so much he flicked the lot of us of behind his back during a free throw.
Boohoo, we're not North Carolina.
Ask not what your college basketball team can do for you, ask what you can do for your college basketball team.
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2004
New Member
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Post by 2004 on Jan 29, 2009 11:45:58 GMT -5
I think the thing that upsets me the most about people ripping on the students is, that you have to imagine how many students that attend this campus that don't go to games. There are passionate fans that always show up, but people continually rip on them for not being loud. How are they suppose to get people to go to games unless the team is good? Everyone always talks about that in the "glory days" that getting into the gym was impossible. If we had that many people in the gym I imagine we could make it pretty loud, but until then give the students that constantly show up a break. I am a fan of the team, and am just trying to stick up for the students that support the team. I think that post is exactly what the problem is. It's just that there are so many kids who do not care and will only come if it's what everyone else is doing or something like that. It's embarrassing for some of us who care a ton to get called a disgrace just because we can't get people who we don't even know to go to the games. I've been to all but one game this year including when I was in Buffalo over break. Just give it some time for us to put together some home wins this or in the next couple years and students just looking to have fun will start piling in, and the kids who are there now and don't care that much will start getting into the game more. The students are liable, but like it was noted, if the team was even as close to as good as they were in the late 90's etc. (not ripping on the team there) then I'm sure it would be loud.
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2004
New Member
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Post by 2004 on Jan 29, 2009 11:47:18 GMT -5
Its sad we have nothing better to talk about then the fans. We should take a look at who it is we just lose to, thats where the real joke is at
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Post by bonaman2013 on Jan 29, 2009 12:20:58 GMT -5
As the team continues to get better, I believe the student section will get better and better
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Post by fjs64 on Jan 29, 2009 12:29:09 GMT -5
This is a theory, so let's see if it is valid. When I went to Bona's there were about 1400 students, 90% male. Who are the loudest, the men. There was no social life on campus, hardly anyone dated the coeds......so basketball was the only night out, and in the dark ages, the student's were allowed off campus for games during the week.....otherwise not allowed (if you followed the rules). I would expect in today's game, guys bring dates, so it becomes a social thing, not a rooting on your team thing. Yes during the game of today, distractions like "texting" your buddies, impacts the rooting. Just the start of a theory, maybe wrong but maybe partially right. Is it worth a discussion.
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Post by commie21 on Jan 29, 2009 12:34:46 GMT -5
I'm overwhelmed by the stupidity of each class of incoming freshman. This one in particular. At the beginning of the year when the team had hope for the first time since I've been a student, 04 - current, the team has had some legitimate hope. Two solid big men and a budding A10 standout in Nicholson, Chris developing his game into a solid A10 guard, and a coach who can actually recruit.
Everyone of these kids got swept up in the hope and thinks that this team is on par with the Xavier's and the St. Joe's of the A10 and that is jut not the case yet. We lose one game and the students, not to mention the lot of the people on this board, start going nuts. Especially on a rebuilding team there will be ups and downs. Should we have lost last night? No. Should we have closed out the Richmond game on an 11-2 run to steal a win on the road? No, probably not. These kids just need to realize that every team in college basketball loses games they shouldn't and wins games that they shouldn't and that's the life. To be honest, I'd rather have these kids that can turn on the team in a heartbeat stay home and I'll go back to the 2-24 season when a rabid, not filled, student section outshined this lifeless "full" student section that trods to the games now.
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Post by kconlon85 on Jan 29, 2009 13:07:31 GMT -5
It's probably hard for current students to imagine what the RC was like even when the team was winning only half its games.
I love telling people about games at the RC ... having a couple of cocktails, then sitting with floormates (4th Shay always sat behind the other team's bench) wearing matching "floor shirts," screeming your head off, convinced you could will the Bonnies to a win.
I stopped on the walkway at the base of the "Reds" once to check if the game had started. This was the only chance I had to experience the power of the students from outside the crowd. The cheerleaders were directing the fans. They slowly raised their hands and the screaming from the students grew to a roar. The cheerleaders signaled and the yells halted at once. The echoes reverberated for a moment. Then there was silence. As the cheerleaders used their arms and legs to spell out BONAS, the students screamed out each letter. From the walkway above the student section, I could feel the soundwaves. I've never been more literally and figuratively moved at a game. As the students yelled out each letter of BONAS, my hair moved and it felt like a hand was hitting me in the chest.
I remember the fans yelling early in one game to rattle our opponent. The other team's coach calling a time out to regroup. The fans grew louder and the coach lead his playersto the jump circle so they could hear him. Seeing this, the crowd got even louder. The coach was screaming to his players, who were only inches away. After a few seconds, he just gave up and the team walked back to its bench with no directions from the coach. The students seemed to get even louder.
I apologize for the rambling. I don't want to insult current students. I just hope they can fully experience the excitement and commeradery that we shared at Bonnies game. It was like we alumni went to a great party and we want to welcome them to it.
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Post by ikesta22 on Jan 29, 2009 17:09:17 GMT -5
You old people are so annoying. Sure, not everyone has the same passion as you did maybe when the Bonnies were the best team in the world. If people don't wanna go to the games, then they don't have to go to the games. I for one stand in the front row everygame and scream my face off, but I understand why other students have no passion. Growing up they saw nothing about St. Bona, most students probably never even had heard of them until they were looking for schools to go to. The students will come when there is excitement in the building, and Fordham and the other fans didn't really provide that. But other than that, who the hell cares. Sorry we lost the game for you guys.
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