Sterns78 Posted March 20, 2006 Share Posted March 20, 2006 Just wondering whether many Arkansas fans left the arena after their loss. Seemed there were some empty seats down front. Could have used all the fans we could get. Wish I could have been there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUTerry Posted March 20, 2006 Share Posted March 20, 2006 Some of the Arkansas fans left, but a lot stayed after the loss to Bucknell. They pretty much sat on their hands, as did the Bucknell fans - except when we had our run in the middle of the first half. Frankly, they also did not cheer very loud (or at least consistently) in the Arkansas-Bucknell game. I think they were in shock about being behind to Bucknell.... and how poorly they were playing. Arkansas was not very impressive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EasyTELGuy Posted March 20, 2006 Share Posted March 20, 2006 Some of the Arkansas fans left, but a lot stayed after the loss to Bucknell. They pretty much sat on their hands, as did the Bucknell fans - except when we had our run in the middle of the first half. Frankly, they also did not cheer very loud (or at least consistently) in the Arkansas-Bucknell game. I think they were in shock about being behind to Bucknell.... and how poorly they were playing. Arkansas was not very impressive. They looked very average much of the game. If we were playing in that game...I think we would have trounced them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeyO Posted March 20, 2006 Share Posted March 20, 2006 Some of the Arkansas fans left, but a lot stayed after the loss to Bucknell. They pretty much sat on their hands, as did the Bucknell fans - except when we had our run in the middle of the first half. Frankly, they also did not cheer very loud (or at least consistently) in the Arkansas-Bucknell game. I think they were in shock about being behind to Bucknell.... and how poorly they were playing. Arkansas was not very impressive. I have to say that the bolded section above could describe ORU fans as well. I went to Sunday's games and sat in the Bucknell section next to some of the most excited fans. All I saw as I looked down on the ORU section Friday were seated fans. I know there were spurts of excitement but overall it was pretty dead. Not only that but the Maniacs were up in the nosebleed sections. Can anyone tell me why we put the excited, loud fans in the worst section of the arena and put the quiet spectators in the bottom section? I understand that some fans in the bottom section stood at times and cheered in spurts but you can't tell me that their collective excitement is anywhere near the Maniacs. After such a great showing at the Mid Con, I was extremely disappointed to see the Maniacs given the seats they were. Is someone afraid they would embarrass the University on national television? If that is the case, why are they used on almost every marketing piece sent out from the school? I would love to hear any explanation if someone has one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUTerry Posted March 20, 2006 Share Posted March 20, 2006 There were people in the lower section who I would characterize as casual ORU fans.... I assume that some of that is a result of trying to reward donors/contributors. Other people were there to take in the experience. The rest of us were there to cheer on the team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oruvoice Posted March 20, 2006 Share Posted March 20, 2006 Good question MabeeJ. I agree with you, but you and I both know the answer. The 'money' people don't want to sit in the rafters either. They want the best seats and they pay the most money. Pretty simple. I mean, I payed $275 for two lower level seats for friday (off the street). I payed DOUBLE to avoid sitting in the upper deck. Nobody WANTS to sit up there, but if you aren't a HIGH ROLLER, like me, you are in the rafters. And yes...Bucknell fans put us to shame. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeyO Posted March 20, 2006 Share Posted March 20, 2006 Good question MabeeJ. I agree with you, but you and I both know the answer. The 'money' people don't want to sit in the rafters either. They want the best seats and they pay the most money. Pretty simple. I do know the answer and it pisses me off. We talk about how much this experience would help our national exposure. If I were watching that game and looked at our fans, I don't think the exposure would help my perception of ORU at all. In fact, if I saw fans who were watching a team that had not been in the tournament in 22 years and were STILL sitting on their a&^es, I would think less of that school. Why is it so hard for our fans to get excited? Why is it so hard for those who are excited (Maniacs) to be rewarded for their dedication? I know that the high donors deserve preferential treatment but there has to be a compromise here. Not everyone who sat in that section is a high donor. I honestly believe that someone(s) were afraid of what the Maniacs would do if they were in the lower levels. (Not wear a shirt, paint their face, oh my!) I can not substantiate this but I would be willing to bet on it. Shady, shady, shady. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManiacAlum Posted March 20, 2006 Share Posted March 20, 2006 I do know the answer and it pisses me off. We talk about how much this experience would help our national exposure. If I were watching that game and looked at our fans, I don't think the exposure would help my perception of ORU at all. In fact, if I saw fans who were watching a team that had not been in the tournament in 22 years and were STILL sitting on their a&^es, I would think less of that school. Why is it so hard for our fans to get excited? Why is it so hard for those who are excited (Maniacs) to be rewarded for their dedication? I know that the high donors deserve preferential treatment but there has to be a compromise here. Not everyone who sat in that section is a high donor. I honestly believe that someone(s) were afraid of what the Maniacs would do if they were in the lower levels. (Not wear a shirt, paint their face, oh my!) I can not substantiate this but I would be willing to bet on it. Shady, shady, shady. Its so very shady. I caught a small glimpse of where the Maniacs were on the CBS broadcast and thought the same thing. This seems to be typical treatment of the maniacs. Some of these 'someones' havent exactly bent over backwards to help out. Nobody can deny that the Maniacs have helped to make the Mabee Center the most intimidating home court in the Mid-Con. But lately when there is a positive change in the program, this is how the Maniacs are rewarded...usually the last on the list. Its a shame. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Blevins Posted March 21, 2006 Share Posted March 21, 2006 The Maniacs were fortunate to get any seats at all, demand being what it was. The NCAA makes no provisions for tickets for student support groups. They never have and probably never will. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mount Baldy Posted March 21, 2006 Share Posted March 21, 2006 Gotta say I agree with Blevins. No doubt that the Maniacs are the loudest group in the house but you can't ask Athletics to put big money folks in the rafters, either. As far as JoeyO talking about viewers around the world wondering why our fans were sitting and not cheering, come on! You maybe saw our fans during two or three cutaways during the whole game and I know viewer aren't going, "Hmmm. What bad crowd support ORU has!" Putting the Maniacs down low would not have increased exposure for ORU. Taking care of those who support the program financially was the right call even though the Maniacs' enthusiam was sorely missed. As for the Maniacs on all the marketing pieces, what pieces? I've never seen the Maniacs on a game program or poster. Also, I heard the school only had 550 tickets and had over 800 requests. I also heard many faculty and even season ticket holders were denied tickets so the Maniacs could have tickets. Bad seats or not, at least they got tickets! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeyO Posted March 21, 2006 Share Posted March 21, 2006 Time to check your facts Baldy. The people who sat in the lower sections were not all big money donors. There has to be a balance there. You need to appease those who give money to the school and you need to make sure that you have an excited crowd. For that reason, there could have been adjustments to place Maniacs in the lower section and place some others in the top (myself included). Maybe I am a big donor! I have $50 to the GEC this year and got a lower level seat. (I guess I am a hypocrite for not giving my seats up to two Maniacs). The point is that the 500 or so sitting in the lower level were not all big donors -- my guess was that there were 100-200 big donors. Point taken about the crowd shots and how that wouldn't have enough effect on a national viewing audience. The basis of that argument was that our crowd sat the whole game minus a couple minutes of cheering. I guarantee you the other 15,000 fans at the game saw how dead our section was and took note. The point is that we were the worst of the four crowds there (including Bucknell, who had a lot farther trip than us.) Now to the marketing pieces... I could go through 10 or so different marketing campaigns that the University has used featuring the Maniacs. Most of them include President Roberts with the Maniacs. I take extra special note of these marketing efforts because of how closely I am associated with the Maniacs. Again, please check your facts before you question my post. The Maniacs are becoming the face of ORU. The school loves the benefit of having them but in this case could have done more to thank them for their efforts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maniac prez Posted March 22, 2006 Share Posted March 22, 2006 Mount Baldy As for the Maniacs on all the marketing pieces, what pieces? I've never seen the Maniacs on a game program or poster. As far as that goes, I know that I, personally, am on several things that the university sends out to prospective students (my brother got them the last 2 years?), as well as several of my buddies. In fact, my freshmen year, I was on a 30 second video for college weekend that was (and still is at college wkend time) played on ORU's station to promote college weekend. The reason I was selected was because I am a Maniac and they wanted me to dress up and do some silly things on the video. And if you want proof for yourself, other than my word, go to orugoldeneagles.com and look at the banner at the top of the page. There is your proof, baldy. I understand that the "big money folks" deserve the seats they got, I do, I completely understand that. The thing is, we were mislead... It was our understanding that we would be with the ORU fans, which as it turned out, we weren't, we weren't even close! I could literally touch the ceiling w/my seats... I just wish we would have known so that we could have bought walk up tickets cheaper (I had buddies buy em for $15 for better seats!) instead of me getting 30 college students to give $50 for a terrible ticket. But, it worked out ok, we traded stubs w/Arkansas fans and about half of us sat together, and the other half sat randomly around the arena. But even the half of us together were at the top of the 100's and we were yelling and jumping up and down and such all game, but we were having no impact, we were just having fun and enjoying the game! Our crowd was extremely weak except for the minute that we took the lead, and the only reason our crowd was better then was because Arkansas and Becknell were rallying behind us... And as far as not being able to see the crowd except for a few cutaways, the crowd (especially the ORU crowd) was extremely visible all game because the camera was facing that direction. I went back and watched the game and was even more disappointed with our crowd than when I was at the game. JoeyO I honestly believe that someone(s) were afraid of what the Maniacs would do if they were in the lower levels. (Not wear a shirt, paint their face, oh my!) This my friend, is all too true. JoeyO came by the Maniac pre-game party before the MidCon Champ game and witnessed around 150 students getting geared up for the game. Something blatantly obvious was the fact that we were painting our bodies and faces, but we were all wearing shirts over the paint. For whatever reason, our administration (because that is who told us to wear shirts) is afraid that people are going to get the wrong idea about our school, or something like that. I actually have no idea why we weren't allowed to go shirtless, it was never explained to me, I was simply told not to (and we didn?t' go ask either, they just said no on their own merit). Here is the thing that really gets me, there were students not in our section (they were in the student section right next to us), who painted their bodies blue, but there was absolutely nothing said to them. What is the difference between the Maniacs going shirtless and those guys? I watched the broadcast on TV, and I think those guys were shown like 3 times. Honestly, the Maniacs weren't shown (close up) too many times more than that, they were showing tons of different students all game, but the reason we got on more and the painted guys got on more was because we were unique looking. So I don't understand why if one of my guys took his shirt off, I got called about it and was told to fix it, but those guys didn't have anything done to them at all. OK, well, I think I'm done with my novel for now... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maniacs '06 Posted March 22, 2006 Share Posted March 22, 2006 Ok here is the deal... I work in admissions... and just so everyone knows, The Oral Roberts Undergraduate Admissions Department used a promotion for the school called "Be a Maniac for a Day." The invite was sent out to prospective students in the Tulsa area. That promotion brought in 30+ kids who all seemed very interested in the school after they had such a good time cheering on our Golden Eagles. Now I dont know about you guys, but i think 30 x $28,000 is a big deal. The school has been using us as a recruitment tool all year. I completely understand giving big donors good seating... thats expected, but what about kids that take time out of their schedule and even go out of their way to get work off just to go to a game to cheer their team on, and most of the time dont have a voice for the next two days? Thats dedication. Mid-Con showed how much we care about our team. I know kids that went out of their way to re-take oral comm tests just so they could be at the Valpo game (including myself). Ok all that aside ill touch on the NCAA game. Now I was excited beyond belief to be there to cheer our guys on, and then I found myself feeling like I was back at home in the Rocky Mountains when we got to our seats. We felt completely cut-off from the game. Yes, we luckily found some arkansas fans that were willing to give us their old seats, but we were all spread out. It was great watching our guys but we felt like we could have no impact on the game. I was with maniac prez and we were yelling... alot, but it just wasnt the same as being with everyone else. I cant understand why we couldnt have just gotten 2 or 3 rows (there was only about 30 of us) near the front to scream our lungs out for our team. I understand that not all students cheer, but I know most of us paid around $70 or $80 for that trip. That may not seem like alot to most of you, but for a college kid thats a big hit in the account. We dont want to shame the university and we never would. You would never have to worry about us doing that. We just wanted an opportunity to cheer on our team like we always do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mount Baldy Posted March 22, 2006 Share Posted March 22, 2006 Time to check your facts Baldy. The people who sat in the lower sections were not all big money donors. Now to the marketing pieces... I could go through 10 or so different marketing campaigns that the University has used featuring the Maniacs. Again, please check your facts before you question my post. The Maniacs are becoming the face of ORU. The school loves the benefit of having them but in this case could have done more to thank them for their efforts. Mr. O, check out other schools. OSU or even TU students couldn't get a sniff of an NCAA ticket. Fact is since our fan base is smaller, students (Maniacs) could get tickets although some faculty members and staff couldn't. The Maniacs just weren't in the prime seats. I do agree that some folks were in the lower section who maybe shouldn't have been. I'm only saying that anyone (including you and your $50) who donates to the school deserves first crack at the best seats. Who knows? Your $50 may turn into $50,000 some day. The U. looks at this as business! As for the marketing pieces, I'm referring to pieces I've seen from Athletics, not the University. Face of the university? Slow down! Face of the student fan base at men's basketball games? Sure! All in all, I understand that Athletics has done plenty to support the Maniacs and appreciates them very much but sometimes tough choices have to be made as in the NCAA Tournament. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Cornelius Posted March 22, 2006 Share Posted March 22, 2006 Is everyone is aware that we?re a small Christian college in the Midwest that just went to the dance after a 20+ year drought? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bballmangc Posted March 22, 2006 Share Posted March 22, 2006 As for the Maniacs on all the marketing pieces, what pieces? I've never seen the Maniacs on a game program or poster. Mount Baldy wrote: As for the marketing pieces, I'm referring to pieces I've seen from Athletics, not the University. These are just a few images are on the main page of www.orugoldeneagles.com which turns out to be ORU's athletic page. And if you look around there are more pictures around the page as well. Also I dont' know if youve seen the pics with the maniacs in them on the pillars at the bottom of the escalators in the mabee center, or the pics by the locker rooms with tons of maniacs in the pictures as well as players and such (including ones of us all painted blue for last years midcon) Or maybe the alumni card sent out to the alumni this year announcing ORU's homecoming game Seems like athletics uses us pretty well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akaManiac Posted March 22, 2006 Share Posted March 22, 2006 The fact that the Maniacs got tickets at all is a huge blessing, considering many other people requested them. If it was a sincere effort to try to help the Maniacs, then the Athletics deserves a huge thank you from a particular student group...That or athletics knew of a small section of crappy tickets they needed to dump off on somebody willing to pay $50 for them, and of course never tell this group how bad the tickets really were...No conspiracy theory, just a thought. Also, Memphis is a considerably larger school than ORU (boasting an enrollment of 20,000 plus) and many of their students, who were allowed to dress up as crazy as they wanted, all got good tickets together in lower level sections...interesting... As far as dressing up crazy, the Maniacs were told specifically not to dress up crazy, not to paint their bodies, and not to be crazy during the game I.E. standing up during the game, which of course is completely uncalled for at an NCAA Tourney basketball game that our school hasn't been to in the students lifetime. The only message I can convey from that is that "we appreciate everything you do during the season, but now people might look at us and the university in a poor manner if we allow you to show any more emotion than we deem necessary, so it would be better if you just sat during the game, and didn't go all out." The reason given to the students was that since we weren't going to be on camera, there was no point. But the whole point in going crazy during games and dressing up like college students do who care about their team is not to get camera time. Its to feel in even a small amount like we are helping our team by being loud for them, to have a good time, and getting themselves psyched up to do so by covering their bodies in mostly ridiculous clothing or paint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ItsChon Posted March 22, 2006 Share Posted March 22, 2006 I was recently reading an article in Scientific Fact Magazine. Interestingly enough, it said that people who don't realize that the administration is absolutely milking the Maniacs to improve their image is all but entirely ignorant. Why else would Richard and Lindsey triumphantly unite with the Maniacs during the highest-packed gamenight of the year? Open your eyes, Baldy. What else does the school have going for it? Sidenote: Hey brother. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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