Forgot one snowflake: The Crowd
Kudos to all the fans last night. They brought it loud and proud. Section 18 didn't sit down the whole game and it appeared it was that way throughout most of the stadium. With seats in row 1 I can tell it was loud. So proud our fans picked up the gauntlet thrown down by a PSU coach. Everyone has three weeks to get your voices back so we can take it up another notch when PSU visits. Wish I would have gotten a picture of the big screen when they up the following message: Wisconsin would like everyone to please be quiet. Fans please respond!
October 14th, 2018 at 12:09 PM ^
I thought it was odd that Fowler was doing his damn best to assert that it was anything but a great atmosphere on the call. It was weird because he didn’t seem biased in his play by play at all, but seemed to want to drive home that something was lacking in the atmosphere when it really didn’t look or feel like it at all.
October 14th, 2018 at 12:18 PM ^
It's a pretty well known fact that our home game crowd leans more toward "sit down in front!" That and the bowl structure, it's not the most intimidating atmosphere. Whenever I go to games, I'm "that guy" standing and screaming the whole game. It's a shame that is frowned upon. But yea Fowler did point it out more than was necessary.
October 14th, 2018 at 12:24 PM ^
My section never stands. We sit almost the whole game and I've been asked to sit in the biggest games in key moments. I don't get it. It's not like those benches are comfortable. One of the reasons I prefer to stand is because I'm kind of tall and it gets extremely difficult to sit for most of the game. What's worse is the constant sit-stand-sit.
Honestly I've considered just standing anyway. I don't even know what would happen though. Would the ushers ask you to leave?
October 14th, 2018 at 1:00 PM ^
You should just try standing. You have a ticket, there's no rule about needing to sit. Maybe try standing for the important defensive plays and ramp it up from there.
October 14th, 2018 at 1:01 PM ^
Wow... so glad that's not my surroundings!!
Sec. 6, row 22. Never told once to sit down.... (knocks on wood three times). Now do I get a look once in a while for my whistling? Yes.... but I'm working on that. Honest.
Have thought about trying to get season tickets closer to the 50 yard line.... but I think I'll just stay right where I'm at! A bunch of cool season ticket holders/alum around me.
October 14th, 2018 at 2:33 PM ^
I paid good money for my seat and I'll be damned if I'm not going to use it.
AND GET OFF MY LAWN!
October 14th, 2018 at 3:16 PM ^
If you stand and you’re the only one doing so, yes, the ushers will do something about it. And they should. Because read the room. I get it, you want to stand. But that doesn’t mean you have the right to ignore everyone around you.
Unpopular opinion around here, I know, but I don’t get why it’s so controversial to be considerate.
October 14th, 2018 at 3:23 PM ^
If you stood in front of me in Section 1, and did it for an entire game, I would ask you nicely to please sit down. (Let's be clear, the entire Stadium crowd stands for a great many exciting plays; just not the whole game.)
If you didn't sit down, I would get out my cellphone and make a video of me asking you -- again, nicely -- to please sit down. After that, I'd make a video of me telling you that if you didn't sit down, I would go to the ushers and ask them to call the police. If you persisted, I would do just that, and I would show the ushers and the police the video of me repeatedly asking you nicely, and the video of me telling you that I would go to the ushers, with you ignoring me. (Or worse? It depends on you.)
The important thing is that you'd be a standout (stand-alone?) where I sit. Again, big plays; big games; everybody stands and the ushers would laugh at a complaint about that. I would never think of making a complaint about that. What I am describing is if you were noticeable, and mostly alone in standing, and annoying to me.
And again I suggest in all seriousness to the "Up in back!" crowd; get yourself your own sections as "standing" sections. Organize yourselves. Figure out what sorts of PSD's you will need to pay, in order for the Athletic Department to relocate a few thousand season ticket holders who don't want to be in an ex-student/student-wannabee section. Get a group; get commitments for season tickets, and PSD's and make a serious proposal to Warde Manuel. Figure out the ushering, organizational and insurance problems it might pose for the athletic department.
And that is the difference in this debate. I am hopeful that you boyze can find a way to make all the noise you want, and stand as much as you want, and have fun at the games. I'd like it, if you had so much fun that unlike the Students, you'd show up on time and stay to the end of games. In short; enjoy Michigan football the way you'd like to enjoy Michigan football.
I don't think that the Up In Back crowd feels the same toward me. You want me to stand the entire game even if I don't want to. You mostly want to stand, to force me to stand. Maybe, you'd like to drive me out of my season tickets. I have seen all of those sentiments at one time or another, and in one form or another, on the MGoBoard.
October 14th, 2018 at 12:34 PM ^
It's a force of habit for broadcasters. Bob Griese (bless his heart) seemed to bring it up a lot over the years. Pre-luxury boxes, he always felt the need to explain to the viewers that there was nothing to trap the crowd noise in so it goes straight up.
I've watched plenty of non-Michigan games where the home crowd is so loud, you can't help but be impressed. Watching last night's game felt like that. I don't know what it was like in person but the crowd sounded amazing on TV.
October 14th, 2018 at 1:03 PM ^
I was there and it *seemed* loud, but it's tough to judge how loud everyone else is when you're screaming every play yourself. It seemed like the noise affected Wisconsin's offense a few times. They were dreadful on third downs when the crowd got really loud.
October 14th, 2018 at 12:36 PM ^
If I’m being completely honest, I think some stadiums where it is constantly implored to “get loud” and it is imperative for the entire crowd to be making waves of hysteria the entire game is kind of tacky. Like, as cool as Haapy Valley looks at kick off, I think it gets a little much after a while. I like the atmosphere at Michigan stadium for the most part.
October 14th, 2018 at 12:47 PM ^
Agree. I don't think Michigan Stadium needs to be everyone else. Most of the attempts to make it that way under Brandon failed mightily. Don Canham was an innovator and tinkerer in that regard, and I'm not saying that good ideas shouldn't be tried. But--as I guy who has three generations of M grads in his family--I love the idea that these midwesterners all go to the Washtenaw dairy and get donuts. And I don't think for a minute that the fact that they're not rabid discounts them as fans--I mean, really? Michigan used to kick everyone's behind with a lot less noise than the stadium produces now.
Now, my thing would be to find a way to quietly amp up the noise people do make, because 115,000 people is a lot of people.
October 14th, 2018 at 2:07 PM ^
In five home games we've outscored our opponents 230-67. Nebraska and Wisconsin played by far their worst games of the season here, and Maryland was down there as well (with their Temple game). Do we really need to change anything?
October 14th, 2018 at 12:36 PM ^
Hey, were you wearing a Labatt's hat last night? Now, we are not a family of shrinking violets (we're yelling, jumping up and down, pounding on the metal wall behind us), but the guy in a Labatt's hat a few rows in front of us really was bringing it last night. I suspect he may have enjoyed some Labatt's before the game.
They did really work hard to keep the crowd hyped up through all the media time outs, so kudos to the DJ, band and cheerleaders.
October 14th, 2018 at 2:00 PM ^
It's a pretty well known fact that our home game crowd leans more toward "sit down in front!"
This is true of most college football stadiums. Students and young alums make most of the noise.
It's fashionable for whatever reason to bag on our homefield advantage but look at our won-loss record and point differential at home vs. on the road if you don't believe it's real...
October 14th, 2018 at 6:52 PM ^
Unfortunately I had one of those "down in front" curmudgeons behind me in sect 19. There was -nothing- going on, two of us are standing there knowing that when the commercial is over everyone will be standing again, and we get tapped and motioned to sit down so the person behind us can see an empty field. Made no sense then, makes no sense now.
October 14th, 2018 at 5:12 PM ^
I was at the game so I didn't hear what Fowler said, what was it that he said about the crowd? I thought it was very loud in there
October 14th, 2018 at 5:41 PM ^
Fowler said it was not that loud, and "the crowd was reactive and not proactive".
October 14th, 2018 at 6:55 PM ^
He was totally wrong on that part. You could also tell that up in their booth the sound is muffled as whenever the mics were open you could hear the noise. The place truly was rocking last night.
October 14th, 2018 at 12:09 PM ^
Also forgot the special teams
October 14th, 2018 at 12:20 PM ^
Oh yeah...
Now that the offense is playing much better WTF with the field goal attempts. Hint to coach: go for it on 4th.
October 14th, 2018 at 12:11 PM ^
Good crowd!
October 14th, 2018 at 12:33 PM ^
I’m a shouter on basically every play on defense during a competitive game and even I was surprised how deep in the 4th quarter the fans got really loud on 3rd down. Thought the fans showed well
And don’t tell me the atmosphere isn’t daunting when we’ve been rolling teams at home lately
October 14th, 2018 at 12:37 PM ^
Humble- "row 1" -brag
Jkjk Good shit, jedd.
October 14th, 2018 at 7:30 PM ^
IIRC, row 1 is actually row 3--there's a row A and B.
October 14th, 2018 at 12:48 PM ^
Crowd was great last night. Section 5 stood for pretty much every play, and that is not typical for our section.
October 14th, 2018 at 12:50 PM ^
The student section was a fucking disgrace. Good thing it was dark up top and hard to see on TV.
October 14th, 2018 at 1:06 PM ^
Pretty sure it was fall break so they have a good excuse
October 14th, 2018 at 1:08 PM ^
Not at all, they all showed up!
They all just mash down forward to get as close to the field as possible. No real seat numbers... same way when I was a student.
October 14th, 2018 at 1:46 PM ^
I 100% agree, what a shitty showing by our students. Don’t get me wrong the ones that showed up were awesome but the top was empty, and everything above the entrance was empty until the end of the 1st.
October 14th, 2018 at 3:47 PM ^
It did not come across on TV. It looked like there was a shit ton of people there.
October 14th, 2018 at 1:54 PM ^
It was empty up top to start but filled in eventually. Just not as maize on top as on bottom.
October 14th, 2018 at 3:16 PM ^
Student section was pretty packed and was very high energy all night. Thought the whole crowd was great last night! How it should be every game with the team playing at such a high level. We need to cheer this team all the way to a playoff berth.
October 14th, 2018 at 6:57 PM ^
At kickoff the top was empty but later in the game I looked over and you could tell that while the upper couple rows weren't dense, the rest of the section was filled in.
October 14th, 2018 at 12:58 PM ^
The stadium was indeed rocking last night. My knees are killing me today, but I stood for much of that time and as someone else mentioned, it looked like it was the same story throughout the stadium. Well done to all.
October 14th, 2018 at 1:12 PM ^
My dad and I have no voices left. That was the loudest I’ve seen that stadium in person. It was awesome.
Section 16!!
October 14th, 2018 at 1:24 PM ^
Fellow section 18er here here. Yeah we yelled our asses off & rarely sat..
October 14th, 2018 at 1:31 PM ^
More of this, please.
October 14th, 2018 at 1:44 PM ^
I was in section 34 and it was rocking. And the guys behind us somehow get enough beer into the stadium to provide for us in the area. We never sat and people were yelling the whole time. And the student section filled up to the top by sometime in the second quarter. Also the crowd seemed to be younger than normal. But section 34 seems to be younger anyways.
October 14th, 2018 at 1:48 PM ^
Section 20. Mostly over 40 crowd; we stood most of the game and we were loud and boisterous and didn't have too many early departures. We're always pretty rowdy--I expect to stand unless it's a blow out.
October 15th, 2018 at 3:47 AM ^
It gets louder at the big house when the lights go on, like maybe everywhere else. When it reaches the point where you can’t hear your own yelling, you know it’s rocking. That encourages everyone to yell because a lot of people lose their self-consciousness in the energy.