Nippert/crowd/UC observations

[shaunsimpson]

- Once again the concessions were not ready for 35,000+. I did have a nice ball of cold dough that they called a pretzel.
- Love the Warstiener beer line. If I am going to be hungover from draft beer it might as well be good beer.
- Are you allowed to bring chairs into the stadium? The large woman in front of me brought nothing short of a recliner that has left a permanate imprint into my chin.
- Tailgating was in full force yesterday. I still don't understand Cincinnati's facination with JTMs, but some good food out there. Also, some of you need to get jobs that require more work and less cornhole.
- I really don't like the crowd wearing black. To me it is understated and doesn't stick out. I would rather see red since it would stick out a little bit more - and it won't cause an oven effect on a 90 degree Saturday.
- They let me stand in front of Diertle after the first half to shake off the leg pain from the chair. That made me happy.
- The ushers/standing police made me nervous. I have the over/under at 1.5 of the ushers passing away during the remaining games this year.
- When you are getting killed does your band have to play every minute??? Really Marshall that was a little much.

Overall: A lot of fun, great crowd, good game and bad headache. Hopefully the stadium will be ready for the next few games.

[BearcatDAN]

Awful lot of "negative-energy" for such a great atmosphere!! It has been a long time coming - this type of environment - for UC football and I think it went great. I brought my 3 kids and wife and we got our food with no problem, got in and out of the bathrooms with no problem and stayed till the end to let the kids run on the field. My 4, 7 and 9 year olds didn't complain once.

Don't take it personal, just trying to give you some other perspective. I've been to all different levels of UC games including when they played at Riverfront......this is how I want my UC Football. Let the sorry Marshall Fans whine about how they brought 6K fans and our campus is in the "hood" and we had port-a-potties - get what I mean! You sound like the team that lost. On a not-so-good performance we score 40 and still run'em off the field.

Now refocus and lets hear a "GO Bearcats!". You will feel better!!!!

[JBHarrison]

Hey,at least you got a ball of cold dough. Our family always goes for pretzels midway through third quarter (well,I mean I send one of the kids), but they couldn't even find a grain of leftover salt. That doesnt bother me (or the waistline) at all. I can remember games over the last 15 years where the lack of crowd was enough to shut several concession stands down completely. Everything fell into place otherwise to make a great atmosphere last night. I bet the problems are corrected for Homecoming. Go Bearcats!

[Irishbearcat]

I watched the game on tv. The excitement is definitely back. Nice to see a crowd of about 35,000 support the team. The skillled players did a great job, and our defense looked fast and hit hard.

[chris1dj]

Anyone have pictures of the stadium/crowd to post for a bearcat fan in florida? It's great to hear the excitement for the team and university! The family and I are planning a trip to see the team.

Go Cats!
DC

[shaunsimpson]

Don't get me wrong Dan....I loved the game and the atmosphere, but the stadium was not ready for 35,000 people. There will be growing pains, but to keep some fans coming to the games there need to be adjustments made.

[c_b_stamm]

As a graduate from 1994, I was amazed. I could not believe this was my UC. There were a lot of people and the stadium/athletic area looked fantastic. The student section looked like they were having a good time; I wish my seats had been toward that end of the stadium.

Things were not perfect, but there will be a learning curve and the university will learn what needs to be done. It's great to finally have this problem at UC. :)

However, I was also disappointed with how many people left in the second half. It was pretty sparse by the 4th quarter. I was an exception - I stayed until after the Alma Mater was played (and I had to drive back to Columbus).

[BearcatDAN]

Shaun,

NP, fellow Bearcat! I know what you are talking about and knowing you are a die-hard, I was hoping to keep your positive energy at the highest level! For my family and myself, we had so much fun it is hard to look at it any other way then just a great time. Let's just hope large crowds always present some incentive for improvement - cause they are large crowds!!!

BTW, Gilyard's Gang, keep it up!!! My little gang was right behind you and we stood and cheered every time!! It was fun seeing those Herd fans sitting on their hands most of the game - at least until they left in the 3rd quarter! So sad - too bad!! :-)

Let's get to 5-0!!!

[BearcatDAN]

Hey, the crowds will learn to stay. At the Rutgers game, everyone stayed to the end and that game was a blowout! It's a learned thing!

We stayed to the end, let the kids run around the field, walked past a very sad Herd crowd, changed the kids into PJs and headed back North to Dayton. Needles to say, the kids fell asleep and we had a nice drive home.

It was a good night to be a Bearcat!!! There will be more.....

[catswin]

I think they have just plain run out of space. Nippert Stadium is a cramped old dump and when you have 35,000+ in a stadium that is not blessed with 21st century amenities you are going to have issues. Outside of lining the who outer rim of the stadium in portajons and concessions areas you are stuck with what youve got.

On another forum I saw someone suggest that they blast out the back tothe concession stands near the pressbox and serve outt the back. I went back there last night and there were TV trucks all over the place with black eletrical wires. Not where I would want to stand in line.

I wish we would play our games down at Paul Brown Stadium. I love playing on campus but you cant take care of the fans with the design of the dump.

[Bearcat85]

Tailgate before the game, and then watch the game.
Any of you ever been to Michigan?
I am not going to complain about one thing for last night! NOT ONE! I was totally choked up to see an overflow crowd, with hugely overlowing student section, and the whole place totally into the game! I've been waiting way too long to see this to complain about anything at all.

[Lobot]

I watched the game on ESPN360 and they did some pans of the crowd. I haven't seen that many people in Nippert since The Miami Hurricanes came in 86

[Lobot]

I watched the game on ESPN360 and they did some pans of the crowd. I haven't seen that many people in Nippert since The Miami Hurricanes came in 86

Answered my own question..

The Bearcats, who received 53 votes in the Associated Press poll last week - which placed them 29th - could climb into the rankings for the first time since Oct. 25, 1976, when they were 20th.

[Catmandu]

Here's something I shot while there... I strung together a panoramic of nippert in photoshop.

http://www.unselfishproductions.com/dtm/bearcatfootball.jpg

let me know what you think.

[CatAttackFootball]

Here's something I shot while there... I strung together a panoramic of nippert in photoshop.

http://www.unselfishproductions.com/dtm/bearcatfootball.jpg

let me know what you think.

Looks Good!

[Tom Alverson]

I took several pictures during the game and made up a few panoramas from them (each photo is made from about 10 photos stitched together).

You can see small previews of them on this page:

http://nu8d.com/panoramas.aspx

There are links on that page to the full size images which are huge (about 8 megabytes - don't try with dialup). You can go right to the large images here:

http://nu8d.com/Documents/UC%20vs%20Marshall%20Panorama%20Halftime.jpg

and

http://nu8d.com/Documents/UC%20vs%20Marshall%20Nippert%20Stadium.jpg

Tom