A Sea Of Red

The days of Super Jon and his crew are long since over, but now we have ONE remaining painted-faced LU fan who stands on the front row of section 103 for the men's and ladies' games.

He has a high pitched siren-sounding scream that he does continuously when the opposing team is on offense (that you can hear on TV & radio broadcasts). Every game, he wears a red LU shirt, Mardi Gras beads, a cap turned backwards, and tonight I noticed that he was wearing what looked like light blue latex gloves with the fingers cut out while he was waving a pom pom in one hand and a red LU towel in the other.

If Gary Householder is our Number One Fan, this guy should certainly be Number Two. Does anyone know his name?

Cider Jim wrote:The days of Super Jon and his crew are long since over, but now we have ONE remaining painted-faced LU fan who stands on the front row of section 103 for the men's and ladies' games.

He has a high pitched siren-sounding scream that he does continuously when the opposing team is on offense (that you can hear on TV & radio broadcasts). Every game, he wears a red LU shirt, Mardi Gras beads, a cap turned backwards, and tonight I noticed that he was wearing what looked like light blue latex gloves with the fingers cut out while he was waving a pom pom in one hand and a red LU towel in the other.

If Gary Householder is our Number One Fan, this guy should certainly be Number Two. Does anyone know his name?

Dress code doesn't apply at basketball games?

I'm assuming he wore nondescript pants or shorts that went unmentioned due to their nondescript nature. If so, he is in dress code. What's the problem?

Sorry, guys, from my vantage point in the other corner, I couldn't see his pants, but I'm assuming they wouldn't have let him in the door without them. I also don't know what kind of shoes or socks he was wearing.

But he even does a little rotating shoulder-movement dance while the pep band plays: you can tell he's having a good time, no matter the score or which LU team is playing.

Love this guy - we need 2,000 more like him and we would be a much better team...

Our team being bad is partially caused by lack of student support. It affects play, recruiting, administrative support, etc...

Even when we made our run a couple years ago the student support was pretty terrible. Now that we are losing every game it is non existent.

Good observations postman. If we ever start winning 20 games a season, I think student support will pick up. Every school has a lot of fair weather fans. Example is UVA. Now that they are winning a few games, their fans have came out of the woods, where they were hanging out with UVA football fans.

I think for our students to really come back it would take multiple 20 win seasons and possibly a win or 2 in the ncaa tourney. That is how pathetic the student support for basketball is right now.

thepostman wrote:I think for our students to really come back it would take multiple 20 win seasons and possibly a win or 2 in the ncaa tourney. That is how pathetic the student support for basketball is right now.

Totally disagree. They students came out for the 1st game of the season vs Randolph and again for the 1st or second game of the second semester last year vs High Point. I don't think it would take much to get them back. But NOBODY wants to see this team play. It is tough to watch. I was thinking of making a couple of extra road trips to watch the Flames in person this season but I just can't bare to watch.

Fair enough, you were around the program the past few years more than I was. It just seems like this student body doesn't really care about basketball. It was the same when I was at Liberty too but not to this extent.

I just did a game at Duquesne up in Pittsburgh. Pitt was also playing at the same time and it was 0 degrees outside. They were playing Rhode Island who is pretty good this year but hasn't been good since 2003. Duquesne has a LONG history of losing.

THEY HAD 4500 people there on Saturday!!! My point is that the Lynchburg community needs to be sought and won over. Even over Christmas Break every game I have called has had decent crowds, even for teams with very little history of winning. The Community still supports those teams. Liberty needs to do a better job of connecting with the community and Liberty BASKETBALL in particular needs to win them over. Obviously winning does some of that but it is a lot more to it than that.

Correction on the Duquesne attendance. It was 2300 in a 4000 seat arena which was pretty loud. I was estimating the attendance and clearly I have been around Liberty too long and my ability to estimate crowds has been skewed

I never understood why it is so hard to get the community to come out for basketball. I know there is a lot of anti-LU feelings out there but with TRBC and LCA and the slew of other similar institutions around Lynchburg it is baffling to me why at least 2,000 in-towners aren't at every game. It makes zero sense to me.

That is something that can be turned around as well...get players involved in the schools, making appearances at local stores, at events like the Get Downtown festival at the beginning of the school year and the Children's Mile on Virginia Ten Miler weekend. Proactively set up interviews with the local radio stations...helping out at the Salvation Army and the Daily Bread, getting involved in CampusServe (or whatever its called now if it has a different name) on weekends, especially in the offseason...these are the sorts of things that help with community involvement, among others. Winning obviously will help as well but the team needs someone like a community liaison to facilitate involvement and connections with the area and with alumni of the basketball program

SCAR wrote: I was estimating the attendance and clearly I have been around Liberty too long and my ability to estimate crowds has been skewed

thepostman wrote:I never understood why it is so hard to get the community to come out for basketball. I know there is a lot of anti-LU feelings out there but with TRBC and LCA and the slew of other similar institutions around Lynchburg it is baffling to me why at least 2,000 in-towners aren't at every game. It makes zero sense to me.

Because the community doesnt stand behind this team or its administration. You cant say its because of talent or wins because EVERY TEAM That wins the Big South Tourny has a spike in attendance for at least the first 5 home games of the next season, and that still didnt happen. Don't support the community, they dont support you. Its that simple. These guys arent in the community where there have been previous staffs that have made it a priority because of how important it is. Throwing a tailgate isnt in the community, but that is as close as it gets for this group.

I think LU needs to do a better job marketing the team, not only in Lynchburg, but surrounding counties/towns/cities.

This applies in every sport.

thepostman wrote:I never understood why it is so hard to get the community to come out for basketball. I know there is a lot of anti-LU feelings out there but with TRBC and LCA and the slew of other similar institutions around Lynchburg it is baffling to me why at least 2,000 in-towners aren't at every game. It makes zero sense to me.

I agree. There are a LOT of basketball fans in Lynchburg. We used to go visit the schools and connect with the students when I was coaching. I would take 2 of our more popular players to the barbershops where it was cool to be seen. Soon all those guys were coming. Not turning this into a race thing but the Black community is completely disconnected from Liberty and Liberty basketball. It doesn't have to be that way.

TheGovernor wrote:

thepostman wrote:I never understood why it is so hard to get the community to come out for basketball. I know there is a lot of anti-LU feelings out there but with TRBC and LCA and the slew of other similar institutions around Lynchburg it is baffling to me why at least 2,000 in-towners aren't at every game. It makes zero sense to me.

Because the community doesnt stand behind this team or its administration. You cant say its because of talent or wins because EVERY TEAM That wins the Big South Tourny has a spike in attendance for at least the first 5 home games of the next season, and that still didnt happen. Don't support the community, they dont support you. Its that simple. These guys arent in the community where there have been previous staffs that have made it a priority because of how important it is. Throwing a tailgate isnt in the community, but that is as close as it gets for this group.

Agreed...whoever comes in needs to be someone who reaches out not only on campus but in Lynchburg as well as even Roanoke and Danville. They also need to make appearances at events like Get Downtown, the Amazing children's mile and others. They need to go to things like CampusServe and volunteer at theSalvation Army and the Daily Bread. Have a community liaison whose sole job is working out opportunities for the team to connect with the community. Have someone who can setup events reaching out to the alumni as well like SCAR and others.

I wonder if Head Coach has ever went out into the community for a public appearance, to drum up community support.

TheGovernor wrote:

thepostman wrote:I never understood why it is so hard to get the community to come out for basketball. I know there is a lot of anti-LU feelings out there but with TRBC and LCA and the slew of other similar institutions around Lynchburg it is baffling to me why at least 2,000 in-towners aren't at every game. It makes zero sense to me.

Because the community doesnt stand behind this team or its administration. You cant say its because of talent or wins because EVERY TEAM That wins the Big South Tourny has a spike in attendance for at least the first 5 home games of the next season, and that still didnt happen. Don't support the community, they dont support you. Its that simple. These guys arent in the community where there have been previous staffs that have made it a priority because of how important it is. Throwing a tailgate isnt in the community, but that is as close as it gets for this group.

Posts like this are why you are TheGovernor and not just TheMayor! Combine that with BJ's list and is it really that difficult?
But MBB isn't the only team who fails at this.....

I agree, it's every team at LU.

LU should lead BSC in attendance in every sport.

prototype wrote:Love this guy - we need 2,000 more like him and we would be a much better team...

Our team being bad is partially caused by lack of student support. It affects play, recruiting, administrative support, etc...

Love the kids enthusiasm.......but it gets annoying. If 1000 kids did it? Awesome. 1? Check his meds.
Attendance has about .0000001% to do with why this team is bad

Winning solves not everything, but a lot. If ALL of that we're going on, and the team was still losing as it is, attendance wouldn't be much better. The things you guys are describing are great! But it must be combined with a winning product on the floor for the full effect.

ballcoach15 wrote:I agree, it's every team at LU.

LU should lead BSC in attendance in every sport.

Actually, I believe our tennis teams do have the support of the Central Virginia tennis community. When I was there, it wasn't uncommon to see local players watching us indoors at the sports racket, and for big matches we've always had a good crowd...at least what you could call a good crowd for a non-professional tennis event.

However, the last time I remember basketball doing anything in the community was when both our men's and women's teams won the Big South and made an appearance downtown. Our women's team also had several Lynchburg residents make the trip to Chattanooga when we made the Sweet 16 also.