Jim Moore looked around McArthur Court on Friday night with disappointment burning in his blue eyes.
His No. 23 Oregon women’s volleyball team had just lost, three games to one, to the No. 10 UCLA Bruins in Mac Court’s penultimate volleyball game.
As a group of students approached him to shake hands and offer condolences, Moore, in his fifth year coaching the Ducks, had a question for them.
Where was everybody?
On that night, Mac Court had an announced attendance of 1,543. Maybe half that figure actually showed up.
The lower bowl was three-quarters full, and a smattering of fans populated the 100 level.
Section 10? Around 100 student fans showed up to cheer on the Ducks as the Pit Crew’s hallowed ground was ceded to General Admission.
According to Moore, student attendance at volleyball games is down more than 75 percent since he arrived as head coach.
The following day, the Pit Crew had several sizable areas of empty real estate as the Duck men’s basketball team fell to San Jose State on T-shirt distribution day.
The number of student fans at women’s basketball exhibition games could be counted on two hands.
The same is holding true for every Oregon non-revenue sport, defined for this column as anything but football.
No longer can this be considered a trend. This is a new reality.
Oregon student fans are fair-weather.
Most students cannot be bothered to show up and stay for the duration of the game, a two-hour commitment in most sports and a three-hour commitment in football.
Those that do attend often prefer texting over cheering, following the action when they see fit.
Nowhere is this more evident than at football games.
The Ducks, ranked No. 1 in the nation in every major poll in the midst of an unprecedented season, still sell out of football tickets. However, no longer do the stands fill up 90 minutes before kickoff, threatening opposing teams with organized chants during warm-ups.
After Oregon takes a lead of seven points or greater, the student section recedes like a genetically misbegotten hairline, until all but the first 20 or so rows remain.
Autzen Stadium and Mac Court are not yet coasting on their reputations for noise, but the fans sure are.
Any chant not beginning with everyone’s favorite four-letter word isn’t worth doing. No longer is personal information a valuable commodity. Subtext and storylines are no longer respected when disrespecting the opposition.
Judging by the general reaction on campus, you would be surprised to learn that women’s sports do, in fact, exist.
Their games are not only reported within our pages but open to attendance, for free, for students.
No, volleyball, soccer, women’s basketball, lacrosse and the others will never be football, but the opponents can hear you more clearly. If that’s not enough reason to let them have it, what is?
Oregon students are great at marketing. Supwitchugirl struck a vein richer than anyone imagined when they sang “I Love My Ducks” for the first time, and later, “Return of the Quack.”
Behavior over the past couple of academic years indicates that students don’t love all their Ducks, just the football-playing ones. (And even then, maybe until the middle of the second quarter. That Four Loko won’t chug itself.)
What is love, anyway? Is it a four-letter word? Is it green, yellow, white, black and gray clothing? Is it body paint and accessories, self-expression and performance art, individual action molded into focused groupthink?
Marketing succeeds when people are convinced of the substance and the passion behind the presentation.
In that sense, Oregon students certainly believe in their Ducks. They believe that each sports team can reach its respective NCAA tournament and go far. If a team fails to, well, the students stop believing. They can’t hold on to that feeling.
Pit Crew President Alex Horwitch has leveraged his contacts through the athletic department and Nike this season.
People in high places are excited about the Ducks and willing to help. Horwitch has many ideas for drawing students to games — in every sport — and building excitement through special events and promotional giveaways.
But he has hit a stumbling block.
“The students are aware of the games and the events,” Horwitch said at Friday’s volleyball game. “They just choose not to attend.”
One important reason: academics. The author of this column does advocate for studying and classroom achievement, which may raise the eyebrows of his past professors.
Still, the word student always precedes the word fan.
Beyond that, what stops the students from attending games and cheering? True, not all Oregon sports teams are No. 1 in the nation. That used to not matter.
Opponents were treading on sacred ground, meant to be protected by any legal means necessary. No one showed up to Autzen or Mac Court expecting to get beat. Fans had to remind them of that expectation.
Despite significant volume generated against UCLA, the student fans present were disappointed in the outcome. Some stayed long afterward, thanking the coach and the Oregon players and receiving kind words in return.
Everyone who remained on Mac Court that night showed why they love their Ducks.
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Husseman: Oregon students becoming fair-weather fans
Daily Emerald
November 21, 2010
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