Tailgating Apathy

[98Jackfarmer]

Here is my effort to appease the powers that be.

My family and I went to the game at about 4:45 yesterday. We went to the north tailgate area. I was disappointed in the attendance and the blank tailgate spots around. I didn't look to see if they were not bought up or just not there? Either way it was a joke. I realize it was a poor day weather wise, but still? The couple pods of "cops" and their swat team look, combined with the 4 wheelers made me say a WTF? Something needs to change, what it is IDK?

[jakejc795]

Re: Tailgating Apathy

Here is my effort to appease the powers that be.

My family and I went to the game at about 4:45 yesterday. We went to the north tailgate area. I was overly disappointed in the attendance and the blank tailgate spots around. I didn't look to see if they were not bought up or just not there? Either way it was a joke. I realize it was a poor day weather wise, but still? The couple pods of "cops" and their swat team look, combined with the 4 wheelers made me say a WTF? Something needs to change, what it is IDK?

I guess you can count me among the vocal minority who will always see mentions of SWAT, vicious police dogs, and what some deem an invasive police presence in general as considerably more damaging to expanding our fan base than a general discussion about ticket prices, but hey, I know at least one person on here sees any mention of thinking bigger than tailgating as being "anti-tailgating," so I guess power to the tailgaters.

Regardless, I'll be on the east side rooting on the Jacks, whether there's beer and hot chocolate flowing or not. I'm there to watch and support the team

[98Jackfarmer]

Re: Tailgating Apathy

I guess you can count me among the vocal minority who will always see mentions of SWAT, vicious police dogs, and what some deem an invasive police presence in general as considerably more damaging to expanding our fan base than a general discussion about ticket prices, but hey, I know at least one person on here sees any mention of thinking bigger than tailgating as being "anti-tailgating," so I guess power to the tailgaters.

Regardless, I'll be on the east side rooting on the Jacks, whether there's beer and hot chocolate flowing or not. I'm there to watch and support the team

Fine, could they dress a little more casually or is it necessecary to look like you are running a chain gang? Either way it doesn't matter to me. I'll be there.

[SF_Rabbit_Fan]

Re: Tailgating Apathy

Here is my effort to appease the powers that be.

My family and I went to the game at about 4:45 yesterday. We went to the north tailgate area. I was overly disappointed in the attendance and the blank tailgate spots around. I didn't look to see if they were not bought up or just not there? Either way it was a joke. I realize it was a poor day weather wise, but still? The couple pods of "cops" and their swat team look, combined with the 4 wheelers made me say a WTF? Something needs to change, what it is IDK?

Surely you realize the irony of starting a tailgating apathy thread, and starting the post with arriving at 4:45...

I'm not criticizing, I also had tailgating apathy on Saturday. I didn't tailgate at all, and walked into the stadium during kickoff.

After waking up at 6:00 to go to the gym, I got my kids breakfast and watched cartoons for 15 minutes. Then I spent the rest of the day doing laundry, cleaning up the house, grocery shopping, took 2 kids to birthday parties, took another kid to basketball practice, and a attended a wedding. I somehow found time to run by my office and clean up my desk and take out the trash.

My only consolation is that my wife was even more apathetic than me - she didn't even go to the game! I haven't asked, but I'm fairly certain it was because UPD are a bunch of jerks.

Anyway, we'll try to be better fans next week.

[Gojacks2487]

Re: Tailgating Apathy

I'm tired of complaining about it also put it seems that our tailgate is the only tailgating that I have been to that UPD is everywhere you look. I've only been to UNI and the team in Fargo for FCS schools and I can hardly recall PD besides traffic control and parking lot entrances.

[Nidaros]

Re: Tailgating Apathy

I guess I am as apathetic as they come since I dont tailgate. I don't even have the energy to walk over the Alumni Assocation tent. Yesterday I drove by the tailgating area on the east side of the stadium. I saw there was one well equipped setup including a parked motor bike, now that's really getting into it. I suppose the motor bike is used on game days to monitor the UPD. Sort of counter intelligence. I think we got to give the UPD credit for being safe so far. A close friend sits in Club Area, got stuck in an elevator a couple of years ago, so being in the comfortable part of the stadium is not all that good. I suppose if I were 20 years younger I would enjoy tailgating. I still wish we had built a dome, but too late now.

[Mr_Tibbs]

Re: Tailgating Apathy

I'm tired of complaining about it also put it seems that our tailgate is the only tailgating that I have been to that UPD is everywhere you look. I've only been to UNI and the team in Fargo for FCS schools and I can hardly recall PD besides traffic control and parking lot entrances.

This. I think (hope) everyone on here appreciates that having a police presence at tailgate i's necessary and does help keep us all safe. The complaint is that it's noticiably different at SDSU. I've tailgated at USD, NDSU, Kansas, Minnesota, UNI, and Nebraska. SDSU does seem to have a unique level of policing compared to those places, and we have far fewer in the crowd to control than most of those places. UPD isn't the sole issue with tailgating, but to act like it isn't one of the main issues is ignoring something that has been cited by a lot of folks over and over. There's lots of things that could be done to improve tailgating, but considering the level of involvement UPD takes is one of them.

I also understand that they are there to do their job and enforce the rules. That being the case, what do we, as fans, need to do to petition to allow tailgating to begin at, say, 10 AM for 6 PM kickoffs to potentially avoid something like this in the future?

[98Jackfarmer]

Re: Tailgating Apathy

Surely you realize the irony of starting a tailgating apathy thread, and starting the post with arriving at 4:45...

I'm not criticizing, I also had tailgating apathy on Saturday. I didn't tailgate at all, and walked into the stadium during kickoff.

After waking up at 6:00 to go to the gym, I got my kids breakfast and watched cartoons for 15 minutes. Then I spent the rest of the day doing laundry, cleaning up the house, grocery shopping, took 2 kids to birthday parties, took another kid to basketball practice, and a attended a wedding. I somehow found time to run by my office and clean up my desk and take out the trash.

My only consolation is that my wife was even more apathetic than me - she didn't even go to the game! I haven't asked, but I'm fairly certain it was because UPD are a bunch of jerks.

Anyway, we'll try to be better fans next week.

Chores and work. I guess next time I will make sue to give complete backstory first. Have a good day.

[rabbits64]

Re: Tailgating Apathy

This isn't just an SDSU thing, this is a college football thing. Attendance is down all over. http://www.startribune.com/dropping-...ing/558388532/
Schools are charging good money for people to come and watch opponents like LIU..... Not the most compelling of matchups. Crap weather, the game is on TV, a lot of people are going to not show up.
Would selling alcohol at games help, maybe.

Our issue isn't going to go away, overall we have a fairly apathetic fan base, not a fanatical fan base like our neighbors to the north. I wish we had a more fanatical fanbase, but that is our reality.

[SF_Rabbit_Fan]

Re: Tailgating Apathy

Chores and work. I guess next time I will make sue to give complete backstory first. Have a good day.

The point is, Saturdays are busy. Some Saturdays are really, really busy. For you, me, and almost everyone else. One man's apathy is another man's dedication.

[SF_Rabbit_Fan]

Re: Tailgating Apathy

I don't know what the "incident" on Saturday was, but from what I gather people showed up early?

Why does it seem like every UPD problem story is a variation of: "There I was, breaking the rules. Then UPD showed up and ruined MY fun!"

[Mr_Tibbs]

Re: Tailgating Apathy

I don't know what the "incident" on Saturday was, but from what I gather people showed up early?

Why does it seem like every UPD problem story is a variation of: "There I was, breaking the rules. Then UPD showed up and ruined MY fun!"

For one thing, I happen to know that for the last several years, the group in question (and my group) would set up a couple hours early with no issue. Now, this season, it's suddenly an issue. And there's a lot of rules that aren't enforced on gameday. Such as the "no hard liquor", no open flames/charcoal grills, no in-the-ground steaks, and absolutely no fun allowed. Well, I guess that last part is enforced.

Point being, if UPD showed up to harass those guys for something they (and I) have been doing for years with no issue, that sucks. Out of all the reasons to crack down on people tailgating, showing up early to set up shouldn't be one of them. Maybe those guys were being loud and obnoxious AND were set up early. In which case, maybe UPD wasn't in the wrong.

But as I mentioned in the past, I've seen enough of them acting like power hungry assholes on an ego trip in the past decade to give the group in question the benefit of the doubt. Go read all of the other FCS peers (USD, NDSU, Montana, etc.) forums regarding their gameday, and you'll see very few mentions about their police force in the parking lot. It's a unique situation we have here. And I refuse to believe our fans are that much more drunk and disruptive than any of the other fan bases mentioned. Do you think that NDSU had mandatory bathroom breaks for all attendees this past Saturday in Fargo in light of a drunk woman's golden shower going viral last week? Probably not.

[BrerRabbit]

Re: Tailgating Apathy

For a rainy, cold day, against an uninspiring and unknown opponent, coming off of Labor Day/Fair weekend, I thought the crowd was pretty good. Some disagree with that, quite vocally in fact, but it exceeded my expectations by a bunch. I figured 6000 people would be there. Anyone who thought that the stadium might somehow magically fill itself for this game was bound to be disappointed. I don't let the size of the crowd alter my enjoyment of the game, but some do, whatever works for them. YMMV.

We started at about 330 and had a good time. UPD was out in full force and I disagree that their presence is necessary or helpful but if they have convinced other people of that, then good for them. I don't think that University administration or the Athletic Department care much if at all about tailgating and I also think they'd rather rent our spots to Big Ag and other commercial interests than continue as it is. Either way it will work itself out and I'm not going to worry about it much more. I noted that my twitter feed started going off on UPD about 2pm and didn't inquire as to why. Not surprising.

[SDSU82]

Re: Tailgating Apathy

"For a rainy, cold day, against an uninspiring and unknown opponent, coming off of Labor Day/Fair weekend, I thought the crowd was pretty good. Some disagree with that, quite vocally in fact, but it exceeded my expectations by a bunch. I figured 6000 people would be there. Anyone who thought that the stadium might somehow magically fill itself for this game was bound to be disappointed. I don't let the size of the crowd alter my enjoyment of the game, but some do, whatever works for them. YMMV."


I agree. Rain was forecast all week for Saturday. It was raining in Brookings Saturday morning into the afternoon. It rained in the first half of the game and rained again, and pretty strong and steady, in the 4th quarter and it was a very cold rain. We were there but it was easy to see why there wasn't the crowd we would have had with a decent day.

Yet, Matt Zimmer, as always searching for something to deride SDSU and it's fans about, posts at game time that it is not raining (at that moment), that we "only" have over 10,000 fans in the seats, and that it is shameful. What an ass.

Zimmer's beloved Augie had 3100 at the game Saturday, less than half of the capacity of the stadium, in a city with a population of over six times that of Brookings, and with another 60,000 to 80,000 living within ten miles of Sioux Falls. Is that shameful? It's always great to see more turnout, but I think we did alright under the circumstances and we still had more than USD will have indoors for any game this year other than maybe when we play there.

[BrerRabbit]

Re: Tailgating Apathy

I too thought Zimmer's comments were awful and pushed back on Twitter. He seemed unwilling to consider another viewpoint. Unsurprising I suppose. I think the next worst part is that he gave an opening for a number of trolls from Fargo to opine. No one deserves to have to listen to that.

My daughter goes to Augustana (but came with us to tailgating and the game this weekend) and so last year we went to parents weekend and to an Augie game. It was a beautiful day, game against USF, a crosstown rival and the Vikings got housed in front of a very tame, lackluster and rather tiny crowd. Her quote from the day: "Never in my life did I think that my Dad would be the loudest person at an Augustana football game."