{"id":3048,"date":"2011-10-04T22:55:17","date_gmt":"2011-10-05T02:55:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=3048"},"modified":"2011-10-04T23:06:24","modified_gmt":"2011-10-05T03:06:24","slug":"on-arriving-late-and-leaving-early","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=3048","title":{"rendered":"On Arriving Late and Leaving Early"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>JMU absolutely crushed one of its biggest rivals on Saturday in front of over 25,000 fans. The 31-7 victory over Richmond moved the Dukes to 4-1 on the season and 2-0 in the CAA. It was one of the most dominating JMU defensive performances in a long time. So I find it sort of odd that there is so much talk about the “problems” with the crowd on Saturday. For some folks it appears that the fact that some of the crowd arrived late and many people left early (when the weather went to hell and the victory was already in hand), is a bigger story than the game itself.<\/p>\n

Todd and I made sure we were there from kick-off until the final gun sounded. It wasn’t to prove how hard-core we were. It was because we really enjoy watching the Dukes play. Other people felt differently and either wandered in a bit late or decided to head out early. It would have been great if everyone stayed and cheered the entire game. Shouldn’t we be more excited that the attendance was 25,742 instead of bitching about those who didn’t stay the entire game?<\/p>\n

It’s pretty obvious that some folks got so caught up in the tailgate experience that they struggled to get into the stadium on time. That’s understandable considering that for many of us alums, there was no tailgating at all in our days. And it’s even more obvious that plenty of people had no desire to sit in the wind and rain to watch a game that was over early. As the crowd started to leave on Saturday I heard a lot of people say that true die hards wouldn’t be leaving. Well, duh. JMU isn’t selling tickets to 25,000+ die hards though. The tickets are going to thousands of die hards yes, but also to all sorts of students, causal fans, alums curious about the stadium, folks from the Valley, etc. And that all adds up to an awesome gameday experience. At its peak on Saturday, Bridgeforth was pretty fantastic. A giant sea of purple clad fans cheering like mad for the Dukes.<\/p>\n

Todd and I brought a bunch of friends back with us for this game. They all were alums and most of them never even went to a single game as students. We didn’t bring them to sell them on JMU football or recruit them in any way, but they all had so much fun that they’d like to go to more games in the future. When the rain started coming down, they were part of the masses headed for the bars though. Should we not let them back in Bridgeforth until they prove that they can stay the whole time? Of course not. That would be stupid. We should encourage them to come back and cheer on the Dukes. That’s how fanbases grow. You can’t just start plucking ready made fanatics off the street.<\/p>\n

My point isn’t that as fans we shouldn’t want more for the program. We should. I just think it sometimes by worrying about all the things JMU football isn’t just yet, we miss what it has already become. And in case you haven’t noticed, it is a rather impressive program. The team is starting to cruise and another 25,000 people will be in Bridgeforth this Saturday to watch them. And to me that is pretty awesome, even if some of them do wander in after kick off.<\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of JMUsports.com’s awesome gameday gallery<\/em><\/p>\n