1) I thought the hype guy was less annoying Saturday than he was last year. Maybe he can bring it down another notch, but I think he's close to the butter zone.
2) Other stadiums have QR codes posted around where you can scan for a program. But they'll need to do something with the cell signal or Wi-Fi.
3) I don't like the many and long commercials, but they've got bills to pay so I understand.
4) There has been conflict between the band & the DJ in the past. They definitely nudged more to the DJ Saturday. Jury is still out.
5) We still don't have a 3rd/4th Quarter transition thing.
6) My least favorite part are the in-game promotions. The tire stacking thing is awful. The stupid pizza topping video board race. Terrible. Suggestions:
- The Littlest 500 - put IU toddlers on tricycles & have them race from mom to dad from like the 20 yard line in. It would be like the pizza topping race where sections are assigned a kid
- Clean Up with the Mop Lady - put a girls track sprinter in a Martha costume. Pick a student to race the Mop Lady over 44 yards (to honor Taliaferro). If the student wins, they get $1,000. If they lose, the $1,000 rolls over into next week's pot.
1) I thought the hype guy was less annoying Saturday than he was last year. Maybe he can bring it down another notch, but I think he's close to the butter zone.
2) Other stadiums have QR codes posted around where you can scan for a program. But they'll need to do something with the cell signal or Wi-Fi.
3) I don't like the many and long commercials, but they've got bills to pay so I understand.
4) There has been conflict between the band & the DJ in the past. They definitely nudged more to the DJ Saturday. Jury is still out.
5) We still don't have a 3rd/4th Quarter transition thing.
6) My least favorite part are the in-game promotions. The tire stacking thing is awful. The stupid pizza topping video board race. Terrible. Suggestions:
- The Littlest 500 - put IU toddlers on tricycles & have them race from mom to dad from like the 20 yard line in. It would be like the pizza topping race where sections are assigned a kid
- Clean Up with the Mop Lady - put a girls track sprinter in a Martha costume. Pick a student to race the Mop Lady over 44 yards (to honor Taliaferro). If the student wins, they get $1,000. If they lose, the $1,000 rolls over into next week's pot.
You've got some clever ideas to build off of.
It's funny, I hear constant complaints about the cell signal. I have zero issues. I can even stream other games. Not sure why I've been so lucky.
@tmft Apparently a cell tower went down in Bloomington Saturday. I was on SOS mode most of the second half. I think they have improved cell service, but still get overwelmed. Stadium Wifi needs to be better too, but it's usable.
Thank you for reading Hoosier Huddle
@tmft I like the mop lady race, could football theme it better, but it's a good idea. Could go to the opposite 44 (66 yards) to honor George and the points against Purdue last year.
Thank you for reading Hoosier Huddle
1) I thought the hype guy was less annoying Saturday than he was last year. Maybe he can bring it down another notch, but I think he's close to the butter zone.
2) Other stadiums have QR codes posted around where you can scan for a program. But they'll need to do something with the cell signal or Wi-Fi.
3) I don't like the many and long commercials, but they've got bills to pay so I understand.
4) There has been conflict between the band & the DJ in the past. They definitely nudged more to the DJ Saturday. Jury is still out.
5) We still don't have a 3rd/4th Quarter transition thing.
6) My least favorite part are the in-game promotions. The tire stacking thing is awful. The stupid pizza topping video board race. Terrible. Suggestions:
- The Littlest 500 - put IU toddlers on tricycles & have them race from mom to dad from like the 20 yard line in. It would be like the pizza topping race where sections are assigned a kid
- Clean Up with the Mop Lady - put a girls track sprinter in a Martha costume. Pick a student to race the Mop Lady over 44 yards (to honor Taliaferro). If the student wins, they get $1,000. If they lose, the $1,000 rolls over into next week's pot.
I'd invite you to listen to a CrimsonCast episode from last week with Jeremy Gray on. He's pretty honest and open about a lot of gameday stuff. He knows there's work to be done but also states that improvements have been made (true).
I am pretty tough on IU's game day experience. I agree on a lot of the stuff that is brought up by the OP.
1. Bigger programs come with different approaches. Ohio State lets their band do a lot of the heavy lifting. They have some promotions and they do have an in-game Emcee, but she is not as active as IU's. Penn State is like a rock concert, especially during warmups. I don't recall them having an emcee, but the music is so much you couldn't tell.
2. Get used to the ads, they are not going away.
3. I am a hard copy program/media guide person myself as they are keep sakes and make looking up stuff a lot easier than looking it up on your phone or tablet. But I get it's a low return item. IU doesn't even give media members hard copies of the record book outside of a couple people. No paper game note either. It's a cost/environmental thing. It's a lot cheaper to create a PDF and post it than print a whole book of color pages 15,000+ times a week.
4. IU's website has been had bad information lately. The stats link for last game was for the Michigan game. However, they usually do a good job of posting the entire stat book in their recaps.
5. I won't tell people what to do with their money, but the light non-con slate will probably become a thing of the past sooner rather than later. The deadline for a new playoff format is December 1st and the Big Ten will follow whatever gets them the most teams in. There are rumors that the conference will add two teams down the road and that could mean 10 conference games (5 home/5 away). Even at 18 teams, I can see them moving to 10 conference games. So all the complaining about these games is like screaming into the void.
You may have more experience at OSU than I do, because before last year, I hadn't been in many years. But my takeaways from last year's experience were:
- The sound system is MUCH louder. I heard from OSU fans around me that it was much louder than usual. Heard the same from people that were there this past weekend.
- They had 2 emcees, one for on-field introductions of former players and such and then another 'hype-man' who was a local urban radio DJ. He talked a lot.
- The OSU band is awesome...for pregame. During the game, they didn't offer much, didn't play all that much or were drowned out by the canned music. There was no coordination in the game script for them to play. They played whenever...similar to how our band is. Lots of overlapping of the canned music between plays and the band playing.
That's interesting......
Seems like a lot of the bands from SEC schools play all the time, even between plays. Oklahoma's always playing Boomer Sooner. USC, Texas Alabama, Florida, FSU....most of the big time programs. Maybe it's not a northern thing because the Michigan & PSU bands don't play much during the action either.
I am pretty tough on IU's game day experience. I agree on a lot of the stuff that is brought up by the OP.
1. Bigger programs come with different approaches. Ohio State lets their band do a lot of the heavy lifting. They have some promotions and they do have an in-game Emcee, but she is not as active as IU's. Penn State is like a rock concert, especially during warmups. I don't recall them having an emcee, but the music is so much you couldn't tell.
2. Get used to the ads, they are not going away.
3. I am a hard copy program/media guide person myself as they are keep sakes and make looking up stuff a lot easier than looking it up on your phone or tablet. But I get it's a low return item. IU doesn't even give media members hard copies of the record book outside of a couple people. No paper game note either. It's a cost/environmental thing. It's a lot cheaper to create a PDF and post it than print a whole book of color pages 15,000+ times a week.
4. IU's website has been had bad information lately. The stats link for last game was for the Michigan game. However, they usually do a good job of posting the entire stat book in their recaps.
5. I won't tell people what to do with their money, but the light non-con slate will probably become a thing of the past sooner rather than later. The deadline for a new playoff format is December 1st and the Big Ten will follow whatever gets them the most teams in. There are rumors that the conference will add two teams down the road and that could mean 10 conference games (5 home/5 away). Even at 18 teams, I can see them moving to 10 conference games. So all the complaining about these games is like screaming into the void.
You may have more experience at OSU than I do, because before last year, I hadn't been in many years. But my takeaways from last year's experience were:
- The sound system is MUCH louder. I heard from OSU fans around me that it was much louder than usual. Heard the same from people that were there this past weekend.
- They had 2 emcees, one for on-field introductions of former players and such and then another 'hype-man' who was a local urban radio DJ. He talked a lot.
- The OSU band is awesome...for pregame. During the game, they didn't offer much, didn't play all that much or were drowned out by the canned music. There was no coordination in the game script for them to play. They played whenever...similar to how our band is. Lots of overlapping of the canned music between plays and the band playing.
That's interesting......
Seems like a lot of the bands from SEC schools play all the time, even between plays. Oklahoma's always playing Boomer Sooner. USC, Texas Alabama, Florida, FSU....most of the big time programs. Maybe it's not a northern thing because the Michigan & PSU bands don't play much during the action either.
Keep in mind you're hearing field mics placed right by the band so they can be heard on TV. They might play the same amount as the Marching Hundred, but you don't hear them as well because of competing noise and a mic not tuned to be just the right background additive.
I liked the cannon shooting the football in the air and a kid/chick/young dude trying to catch it. And the one where the two students try to throw the football through an opening for tuition or the like....put a corporate sponsor and run with those.
Just don't be PC and put a chick out there trying to throw the ball 20 yards at a target or kick a 30 yard field goal. Have different distances for the men & women. And old farts.
@packtherock I will say that the internet speed on Saturday was surprisingly fast. I downloaded the roster in a flash and could get to it the whole game. Much, much better than last year.
Exactly. Single page listing both rosters front and back selling for $2 wouldn't be a big revenue center but the profit margin would be insane. But I honestly believe this program is in the early stages of powering up.
Exactly. Single page listing both rosters front and back selling for $2 wouldn't be a big revenue center but the profit margin would be insane. But I honestly believe this program is in the early stages of powering up.
While we have older folks in our fan base, there aren't enough of them that would buy that to make it worth the effort. And people under 55-60 are either going to look on their phone or plan ahead and download the rosters before the game, if they're truly that interested in it.
@mushroomgod A lot of these smaller programs rely on these games to fund their department. Many programs just would cease to exist and that is not a good thing either.
I'm surprised how much smaller schools are willing to put up with to keep their football program. That even goes with MAC schools. They have to be on shoe string budgets and now if they do develop talent they can't keep it. Has to be discouraging for schools like Ball State let alone the Western Illinois' of the world.
I get your point, but these teams are just being used as sacrificial lambs anyway. What I'd rather see is the bigger schools just give a little slice of their playoff $$ to these programs 'for the good of the sport'. It wouldn't hurt anybody, but the greed is such that it will never happen.
@gros-louis I must have not noticed the Emcees then, which I am more than OK with. It should be more of an in-game host anyway.
Last year was the first time OSU acted like IU was a serious game. It was the loudest I have heard that place and I have been their at least a half dozen times. The band does the same things every game, there's a reason they are The Best Damn Band in the Land.
If he was an in-game host, it would be much more tolerable. I have been to 15 of the 18 Big Ten stadiums and IU just seems like they throw stuff together and hope it works. Some of it is really good, some of it is really bad.
Of those 15, leaving out OSU, PSU, Michigan and Nebraska, what 2-3 do you think most had it together, and which were the 2-3 worst. Also, what were the most effective things the better schools did (or didn't do)?