student section

purplepride13 wrote:There isn't that atmosphere around Pilot Basketball YET. It's easy to tell that by just seeing how many students participate on this site. I know there are a few, and probably a few more who read but don't contribute, but the fact of the matter is that that passion is still growing in a lot of students and it takes time and continued success. If it were easy to build a student section, it would already be done.

True to an extent, but at the same time... when we got Purple Pride rolling when we were students, we were still in the midst of not having had a winning season in 10 years or so. At some point, you have to just make it happen. And we did, to huge success.

I agree that it helps if the program is winning to sustain excitement on campus and all that, but at this point 3/4 of the students have never known a team that wasn't a winner. At some point, there just aren't excuses for the students any more.

Which is why I'm excited to see the Chiles Center rocking again with good student support... I really do think that there are some good leaders in place this year that will get it going strong again once WCC play rolls around.

Stonehouse wrote:
True to an extent, but at the same time... when we got Purple Pride rolling when we were students, we were still in the midst of not having had a winning season in 10 years or so. At some point, you have to just make it happen. And we did, to huge success.

I really don't think you can emphasize enough just how bad the basketball was in the Holton era, if we didn't have Pooh Jeter working his tail off night and day the team would have struggled to win 5 games a year (I mean the coach spent road trips shopping for new lizard skin shoes!). Sure it's easier to generate enthusiasm when the team is winning, but losing and enthusiasm aren't mutually exclusive.

I'm just curious. To those of you from what sound to be the "glory days" of Purple Pride, what is your opinion of that name and whatever being taken over by the athletic department? It happened my sophomore year and I remember my freshman year there was a Purple Pride house with the parties and stuff for soccer but nothing for basketball. I think it was shut down and they started sending P-safe out to bust the soccer parties but I'm not exactly sure. I don't really know what happened but anyway, how do you think that effected what Purple Pride has become.

Also, how plausible would it be to use some funding from the Purple Pride account, (I know there is money somewhere), to strike a deal with the T-room that give people who go to games (hand out a wristband or whatever) a tab that night. I mean everyone already goes to the T-room on Thursday but if you attended the game prior to the T-room you could get free beer from the end of game time til 10:30 or something like that. Is that possible at all?

Also, I understand that enthusiasm isn't directly tied winning, but from what it sounds like you had a group of people who were friends first who decided to put this together. In my years on the bluff we missed not having that core group to organize the party aspect with the college basketball fan aspect effectively. It would be nice if a group of people were selected almost for two year leadership terms. the first year is a learning year where they see how everything operates, and the next they are the mentor/facilitators. that is what my vision for it was but it never materialized.
Just a note, I don't mean to be defensive or offend anyone by what I'm writing. Truth is I'm a little bitter toward myself that I couldn't accomplish a perfect environment when I was on the bluff. I've thought about how to create a better environment a ton over the past four years and I tried a lot of different ideas and while some things brought up attendance, the enthusiasm faded after the third or forth row. Despite the not-perfect student section going to basketball games was a highlight over my four year career. as sad as it is, it was nice to be able to sit front row even if class interfered with parts of games (which happens a lot).

purplepride13 wrote:Truth is I'm a little bitter toward myself that I couldn't accomplish a perfect environment when I was on the bluff. I've thought about how to create a better environment a ton over the past four years and I tried a lot of different ideas and while some things brought up attendance, the enthusiasm faded after the third or forth row.

No no no... don't be down on yourself. You fought the good fight, and we all know that! It's not an easy thing to do, and none of us would ever say it is. Remember, it took us until our senior year to get it right, and even then, we kind of lucked into it because it all happened so organically.

I think the school "take over" had to happen after the leadership of Purple Pride over subsequent years lost focus - that is, they started emphasizing the party aspect before the fan aspect. When we were in charge, we were cut-throat: taps were pulled at least 10 minutes before the game started, no going back at half-time, and no after-parties. That is how we ensured that we never had problems with noise violations and that things never got out of hand. We were about the games first and foremost, and (naturally) sang the fight song at least 3-4 times during the pre-party to get people in the right frame of mind.

Later on, the parties became more important than the games, which meant kids coming to games late/leaving early and (of course) led to problems with Public Safetly, police, OLCC, etc.

The athletics department tried to maintain the momentum of the name and put into place a more permament student group, and actually it's been really successful in terms of getting numbers... the past several years, the numbers at games have been awesome, and the students have had lots of T-shirts, pre-game food, giveaways, etc too keep them involved and coming back. I have no problem with it.

The tricky part has been the lack of leadership in terms of getting kids' enthusiastic once they are through the gates. That's not to say we haven't had awesome students like you and Clay rallying the troops and keeping the atmosphere good, but I'm talking about a more wide-spread, organized group that is in synch and rowdy and wants to stand all game and helps basically peer pressure everyone into following along.

During the "glory days" of Purple Pride, we were lucky enough to have a solid group of 10-15 guys that not only had a lot of friends and contacts and already hosted parties and all that, but were also big basketball fans (many former HS players) who just innately knew how to best try and influence the game. Before the season started, those guys banded together, pitched in a not insignificant amount of their own money, and got the ball rolling. THOSE are the types of people we haven't been able to find in big enough numbers the past few years... but I think we are in good shape this year. I really do.

purplepride13 wrote:Also, how plausible would it be to use some funding from the Purple Pride account, (I know there is money somewhere), to strike a deal with the T-room that give people who go to games (hand out a wristband or whatever) a tab that night.

The downfall of Purple Pride happened early in the '06 soccer season when a couple of the senior leaders of purple pride made lewd comments to an opposing coach during a women's soccer game (which unfortunately I was out of town for to help keep them in line). That brought a little heat from a few in the athletic department just telling us to focus. The downfall really came when we got a letter from the OLCC saying what we were doing was illegal. That was the nail because after that it was impossible to get fan support to continue pregaming no matter what we did. So "Purple Pride" unfortunately died with many in the school. I would love to see it come back as Purple Haze or Pilot Nation (although enough time has probably passed now).

Also, for the record P-Safe told us they had no issues with Purple Pride because it was always about the group. So they were not the ones who let OLCC know. You go to the party, it (should) stay controlled, and everyone goes to the game. People staying together and focused.

We felt bad about all the kids who thought we ripped them off so we used EVERY dime of that money on Pilots athletics. That year we hosted the WCC Basketball Playoffs and since no school organization stepped up to purchase tickets (I'm still very disappointed about that) and the athletic department had only sold 25-40 tickets 2 days before the game we bought 125 tickets for the first men's game and 15 tickets for the women's. It was a risk because that was all the money we had and we had to guarantee any subsequent games if we won...which we did. Fortunately, by that point we were able to find enough people (including some young alum) to buy all those tickets at $5 (when we payed $7/game). That's the story of our year.

Sorry if that was too many details...

Very good points DTR. I would just love to see some really amazing, creative signs in the student section. I loved when the Nevada student section brought the Sisters of the Poor signs to the nationally televised football game against Boise State after the Ohio State dude made his comments! That was so hilarious and creative. Granted...you don't get that kind of an opportunity everyday.

I really enjoy the input on the thread from the purple pride Alum...that includes you now PP13 (Clay & you created a new albeit smaller vigor to the student section, your years of enduring snickering and cajoling to "sit down"were not lost on the players as evidenced by the fact that they gave you a standing ovation sendoff both of the last two years after the final WCC GAME of the year...and a hug/high five from Jasonn, lol).

I don't know if DTR post was post of year but it was up there with a good one from geezer, stoney, mattywizz, up7587,..... lol...even ND NUT himself...I (as self apointed a@#& ole, politically incorrect poster appreciate the thread). It generated new angles,& ideals for current young people who attend UP to shoot for, and excite us old kooks who go to games and wonder why the alum & local PDX fans seem to be the major "noise"/enthusiasm behind all PILOT games except GONZAGA/St Marys games...(I under stand the demands of University academic s, but eah gads, I never thought I would ever in my life witness a lamer let less organized student body over the last 4 yrs, with the exception of the few aforementioned & their bud's/gal pals who fought the good fight).

That being said I've really enjoyed the input in the annual thread, thank you....

Mesapilot1

I really wanted some perspective on the Pilots 30-4 at home since the start of the '08 season...

While I was in school 2003-2007, they went 29-25 at home and 46-73 overall. I'm impressed with how high that percentage of victories happened in less than half our games. I also like seeing the progress the programs is making.

its amazing all that has poured forth since purpleman12 asked what could be done to stimulate student support at BB games. alot of good suggestions, history and support from past and present students. its all got to help annd maybe it really doesn't need that much

I think part of the problem is the leadership and name keeps changing. Purple Haze, then Purple Pride, now Pilot Riot. I'm sure there were a couple less successful attempts at organization as well. It seems to me that the key is keeping the organization out of trouble. If I recall Purple Haze basically got shut down due to some shenanigans prior to better organization and leadership under Purple Pride.

Some of the things Stonehouse points out like pulling the taps before game time and not having a running party all through halftime and then more after the game helps keep things under control. If people are getting in trouble later in the night after the game is over it's on their own and not as part of the organizaiton at that point if you don't restart the party. If the leaders get in trouble or the org basically gets shut down there is no effective way to pass on the torch and every couple years a new group has to start from ground zero instead of building on top of everyone that has come before them.

Stoney pretty much covered the secrets to our success when we initially founded Purple Pride so I'm not going to get into that much, just that it basically was the effort of a group of guys from all over campus who all loved basketball and going to games. We just wanted to do something to make the games more fun for ourselves and everyone else. I guess one of the biggest signs that we were doing something right was after games having players come up and say thank you, there's nothing like an excited, grinning Pooh Jeter jogging across the quad to say "You guys were awesome last night" while thinking to yourself "Ummm, isn't HE the guy that just dropped 20 points last night?" Ahhhh nostalgia.

I think there is something to be said about the "branding" issue of constantly changing names to the student group. When we were there "Purple Haze" was kind of a caustic name...no dice there. An attempt at creating "Co-Pilots" was there my freshman year but that fizzled (PLUS, um I don't like mixing metaphors, and that's clearly a reference to the wrong kind of pilot). Purple Pride was a decent choice due to the tie in with the fight song, but I can understand why a new name was chosen since the "man" took over the PP name in hopes to keep the support alive. But yeah, I think continuity as a brand AND with group leadership is something that has clearly lacked, which is the big problem, forcing the students to start from scratch every year.

Haha, I think people have a demonstrated interest in getting something started it just requires people willing to take the initiative. I guess current students should know that the ath. dept. wants them there and is really supportive if you work with them, but there is only so much they have the power to do. Furthermore, the alumni are supportive as well, because I mean we want our pilots to win and some of us remember just how fun it was back in our years, the students just need to ask.

Furthermore, the alumni are supportive as well, because I mean we want our pilots to win and some of us remember just how fun it was back in our years, the students just need to ask.

I was going to bring something like this up as a discussion. What can we as alumni/non-student fans do to help out the student section. As a student I always loved it when the rest of Chiles started getting into games. Because I moved after college, I've never experienced a game in Chiles as a non-student so it would be interesting to see how that would be.

Well well well... seems like a perfect time to bring up an idea that has been thrown around here on The Bluff.

What say ye to an alumni version of Purple Haze/Co-Pilots/Purple Pride/Pilot Riot?

I'm talking very stripped down... only for Saturday games, held at the new alumni house across the street from Chiles, a pre-game keg, matching t-shirts... and (if needed for non-season ticket holders) a ticket package?

Very minimal cost... something like $10-$15 maybe? And using the same model of - your shirt is your entry, and you're good to go from there.

We did have the pre-game thing with Captain Wally's, and while that was successful, I think it was tough to do it every game and was a bit expensive to host because of the food options.

Do you think there would be interest? Do you think we could get something like 40-50 people (it would be open to all fans and alums) together before the Saturday games, and maybe the Gonzaga game too?

That is pretty much what I was thinking, and I am very disappointed that I will not be in Portland to partake so lets make this work so that I can enjoy it next year when hopefully I will be back in the beautiful Rose City.

Stonehouse, I think that idea is brilliance... We need to make this happen, stat! If the students wont step up, the diehard old falks will!

I love the idea of focusing on Saturday games (it is hard to get to NoPo in time for a decent pre-game during the week), and being right across the street... love it.

Count me in.

purplepride13 wrote:That is pretty much what I was thinking, and I am very disappointed that I will not be in Portland to partake so lets make this work so that I can enjoy it next year when hopefully I will be back in the beautiful Rose City.

I won't be in town until feb.but Stoney now is your time to shine...with Nuts org.skills and DTR's skills go for it!!!

Mesapologist 1

Hahhaa, oddly enough Mesa, that pretty much is the best graphical representation of my skill set I've ever seen...

if Mesa is coming, I gotta think the Alumni portion of this plan is pretty loosely defined.

coud be induced...

Purplegeezer wrote:if Mesa is coming, I gotta think the Alumni portion of this plan is pretty loosely defined.

coud be induced...

What! Geezer these alum from UP are always telling me I have a honorary BS degree from P. ee U.ew (that usually gets me past that woman at the Pilot Club security checkpoint). I know its not original but it was the best I could do my during my freshman year at the Chiles when I was thirsty.....

I don't bother with that. I just engage fr. Beau in a conversation as we sail in....

Purplegeezer wrote:I don't bother with that. I just engage fr. Beau in a conversation as we sail in....

LOL,

I like the idea, Stoney. I agree that somebody has to make it happen. It would be cool to have something like that for when the out-of-town fans swing into town as well. Is it possible to have a mixed group...of current students as well as alumni? That kind of promotes responsible drinking and not too much heckling in the stands either... Just a thought. Plus, we all know the family names that have been at UP forever. I'd love to see some pre-game and post-game festivities that involve several generations...

onetouchfutbol wrote: Is it possible to have a mixed group...of current students as well as alumni? That kind of promotes responsible drinking and not too much heckling in the stands either...

Well clearly PilotNut and I just got taken off "the list"

onetouchfutbol wrote:I like the idea, Stoney. I agree that somebody has to make it happen. It would be cool to have something like that for when the out-of-town fans swing into town as well. Is it possible to have a mixed group...of current students as well as alumni? That kind of promotes responsible drinking and not too much heckling in the stands either... Just a thought. Plus, we all know the family names that have been at UP forever. I'd love to see some pre-game and post-game festivities that involve several generations...

Hey everyone... sorry I'm only getting back about this now.

Glad to hear people are responding well to the idea - I am pretty excited about it, and I think we could definitely make it happen. If nothing else, it would be something fun to do before a game, and could help instill some of the "tailgating atmosphere" that goes hand in hand with college football and (I hope) may one day start happening with UP soccer. In my mind, it's not about the drinking aspect at all, and really it shouldn't be. If people want to have a beer or two, fine, but really it's more about getting people together and pumped for the game.

Anyway, honestly, I don't think it would be an appropriate thing for current students - they can do their own thing, and should. This would be something for alums/friends/season ticket holders... you know the type. Not totally open to the general public, but definitely an open door policy with good word of mouth.

Keep an eye out for details... it's all very theoretical at this point. But I think it's got potential.

Stonehouse wrote:In my mind, it's not about the drinking aspect at all, and really it shouldn't be. If people want to have a beer or two, fine, but really it's more about getting people together and pumped for the game.