Props to you both for attending the Rutgers game.

I think, inevitably, a fan gets more obsessed with his/her team as that team is doing well. I know that when UConn went to the Final Four with Okafor, I must have read every single article about them. This year, living on the west coast, I still follow the team, but haven’t been able to watch nearly as many games. In some ways, though, last year was more frustrating than this year. There was no reason UConn shouldn’t have won it all last year. And yet they dropped a bunch of games they should have won, lost to Cuse in the Big East tourney, and played horribly against both Washington (who they should have lost to) and George Mason.

This year I just don’t get that frustrated. For me, it’s a lost year and I just wish they could get as many games as possible. It’s also a strange year because you usually have some emotional connection from the players from the previous year. This year, there really are only two: Adrien and Austrie.

As I was taking the picture of the student section at the Hartford Civic Center for the UConn/Rutgers game there were several other things that were going through my mind. One in particular is where the school puts the student section in the first place. Check it out in the picture that Coach O posted. This picture of course was taken at the Hartford Civic Center but it is basically the same setup for the on campus Gampel Pavilion. Here is where I have to criticize the school. During the summer I called the UConn Athletic Development Office to discuss my priority points and the conversation turned to several different topics. One of which was you guessed it student seating the other was names on uniforms for everyone not just scholarship players. I’ll get to that at another time. Now while I would love to be right down there where all the action is I realize that when all is said and done this really belongs to the students and that is where they should be. Donald had an article on Feb. 2nd about how much he disliked Duke (have to agree with him there) but having said that I think the way they seat their students creates an environment that helps the team. All you see all around the lower section is students jumping up and down cheering their team on. There is no where an opponent can go on the court without seeing this. They can’t hide or get in a position to ignore it. There are no corporate big shots and stuffed shirts with comfortable armed chairs. There are only screaming students standing on bench seats. Duke has it right. Now I realize you can’t change the seating at the Civic Center but the school can certainly pull all those comfortable armed seating out of Gampel and replace them with bench seats. And I mean all of them. Hey UConn how many more people can you get in there for a game? Do the math. Oh trust me you won’t loose the contributions that all those stuffed shirts bring to the table. They will still come. I wonder how many of them make their own megaphones out of a soda and popcorn cup. I should have Coach O post up a picture of that. Bottom line is you need to get the students on the floor where they belong.
Just a note here: The UConn Athletic Development Office is very approachable and I know of at least one person that is willing to listen to whatever you have to say.
GO U-C-O-N-N