Does Your Fanhood NEED Questioning?

[WuDrWu]

We hear it all the time. Sometimes from other people, media or teams but mostly from ourselves.

WSU has some of the greatest fans in the country.


REALLY?


I offer this:


Yes we do have a stubbornly loyal base and like any program, we have our bandwagon fans. We have the crusty old veterans that only seem to be able to recall the "good ole days" peach baskets and ice boxes and we have the kids who think history and tradition begun with the sweet 16 run of 2006.


I'll have more.....let's discuss.

[JohnDorian]

me and some guys down in the heskett center gym talked about how 3 years ago there's was pretty much no one in the seats and only a few people were wearing yellow and black and suddenly, everyone's wearing it

[rrshock]

There has always been quite the fan base, even though WSU went through some really hard times. When Randy was the coach, there were still around 6000 people in the seats at every game, and most of Randy's teams really weren't that good. People came when Thompson and Cohen were coaches too.

WSU has a great tradition in basketball, even though the last really great teams were in the 80's, with the exception of the S16 team.

People might not have been wearing WSU gear, but it was also alot more difficult to find it up until about 3 years ago, which is probably the reason for JohnDorian seeing it more now. WSU had some absolutely absurd liscensing agreement that really turned sporting goods companies away.

Like Doc said, there are your bandwagoners, and there always will be. But WSU really does have a large, loyal fan base, and always will.

[Awesome Sauce Malone]

I have pictures as a kid from when Mom and Dad bought us Shocker "uniforms" for lack of a better world. We stood in our bedrooms and dad pretended he was Don Hall. While we ran down the tunnel

nuff said

[Ricky Del Rio]

There has always been quite the fan base, even though WSU went through some really hard times. When Randy was the coach, there were still around 6000 people in the seats at every game, and most of Randy's teams really weren't that good. People came when Thompson and Cohen were coaches too.

Coach Smithson referred to the 6,000 loyal fans as the Dave Stallworth faithful.

[rrshock]

There has always been quite the fan base, even though WSU went through some really hard times. When Randy was the coach, there were still around 6000 people in the seats at every game, and most of Randy's teams really weren't that good. People came when Thompson and Cohen were coaches too.

Coach Smithson referred to the 6,000 loyal fans as the Dave Stallworth faithful.

Whatever they were, they still showed up.

[Wheaties]

me and some guys down in the heskett center gym talked about how 3 years ago there's was pretty much no one in the seats and only a few people were wearing yellow and black and suddenly, everyone's wearing it

I think the sudden change was due to them handing out 10,000 yellow shirts at the Providence game in 04 or whenever it was. On top of that they started asking the crowd on the scoreboard to "wear yellow".

[HockeyShock]

I became a Shocker fan in 1985 when my brother started attending WSU. The first basketball game I saw was WSU over KU in 1987 (You couldn't see a lot of games in Clay Center). My undergraduate career was basically the Cohen/Thompson/Smithson show. Turgeon started when I was a grad student.

Admittedly, my furor wasn't at it's highest during those years, but in my defense, I was in engineering, and working 20-40 hrs a week in co-ops too, but I never rooted for anyone else - I didn't have time to root for ANYONE.

But, once school was over with and the money and some measure of free time started rolling in, I was back with a vengeance. I grabbed tickets to as many games (usually in the back row) as I could. I attended the FSU game. I took the day off of work to watch the Seton Hall game.

This is my first year to have season tickets, and I couldn't be happier.

Do I pass?

:clap: :wsu_posters: :yahoo: :clap:

[forevershockerfan]

Even as I reflect back to the years that our arena was far from full, we still were loud and we are hard to beat at our House. We are also shunned by many bigger Programs who know we are a dangerous team to play and they really avoid coming here. As I looked around last game, it seemed that the only gaps of empty seats was mostly high around the student section. We are already sold out this year.

For the last 3 years or so, as I travel through this fine City--I have seen a positive change that only a winning Program can demand. The change is we have regained our respect of this fine City due to our success. Even some of the KU fans I know are following us now as a secondary team. The younger folk in High School and younger are now even bragging more and more about these Shockers. Most everywhere you go, people say they are going to games, listening to games, or at least looking forward to reading about WSU basketball in the Paper more than the past.

[Ricky Del Rio]

I became a Shocker fan in 1985 when my brother started attending WSU. The first basketball game I saw was WSU over KU in 1987 (You couldn't see a lot of games in Clay Center). My undergraduate career was basically the Cohen/Thompson/Smithson show. Turgeon started when I was a grad student.

Admittedly, my furor wasn't at it's highest during those years, but in my defense, I was in engineering, and working 20-40 hrs a week in co-ops too, but I never rooted for anyone else - I didn't have time to root for ANYONE.

But, once school was over with and the money and some measure of free time started rolling in, I was back with a vengeance. I grabbed tickets to as many games (usually in the back row) as I could. I attended the FSU game. I took the day off of work to watch the Seton Hall game.

This is my first year to have season tickets, and I couldn't be happier.

Do I pass?

:clap: :wsu_posters: :yahoo: :clap:

Yes, in spades.

[GarH]

With flying colors!! WSU has always had a very loyal fanbase that has supported the team through thick and thin. Considering how long the thin period lasted those very loyal fans deserve a ton of credit. It's important though to not be self-righteous about the fans who have recently come on board with the recent success. They are buying tickets and merchandise, all of which benifits the Shockers and some of them will become die-hard fans too, so welcome them aboard as Shocker fans.

[shockball]

There is an article in today's paper about our exhibition game against the CCCP national team. They had Olympians and future NBA players. 9,100 in attendance. We had more than that for our two exhibition games this year.

I'll make the argument that the fanbase is more appreciative now than at any time. When we would play the other state D-1 schools in Levitt their school colors would more than dot the arena. I don't think this would be quite as pronounced today.

This comes from a Dave Stallworth faithful fan.

[AndShock]

I only became a WSU Fan a few years ago, the first game I attended was the Western Kentucky game in the NIT, and then my family got season tickets and I haven't missed a game since.

I've also been attending a couple baseball games each year, a volleyball game, and have only missed a couple women's basketball games, and that's usually because I'm watching a men's game, so I am attending other sports just because of jumping on the men's basketball bandwagon.

I remember rooting for KU when I was younger (I'm 16 now), but that's because they were the only "local" team I knew about, I don't recall ever even knowing about Wichita State because my only information came from watching games on TV and well, WSU was never on TV.

Now I'm all WSU, over half the stuff in my closet is yellow and I've got a WuShock painted on the wall behind me. I get into arguments daily with my friends over WSU and KU stuff, and I can't believe I ever rooted for KU.

[RoyalShock]

I only became a WSU Fan a few years ago, the first game I attended was the Western Kentucky game in the NIT, and then my family got season tickets and I haven't missed a game since.

I've also been attending a couple baseball games each year, a volleyball game, and have only missed a couple women's basketball games, and that's usually because I'm watching a men's game, so I am attending other sports just because of jumping on the men's basketball bandwagon.

I remember rooting for KU when I was younger (I'm 16 now), but that's because they were the only "local" team I knew about, I don't recall ever even knowing about Wichita State because my only information came from watching games on TV and well, WSU was never on TV.

Now I'm all WSU, over half the stuff in my closet is yellow and I've got a WuShock painted on the wall behind me. I get into arguments daily with my friends over WSU and KU stuff, and I can't believe I ever rooted for KU.

The most amazing thing about this post is how well written it is. 16? On the internet scale you write like you are 40. WTG! FWIW! LOL! Really, it's a breath of fresh air. Finally, some evidence that capitalization, grammar, punctuation and sentence structure is still being taught in the schools.

Back to the topic . . .

Being in the Hutch area I've noticed an increase in the amount of WSU apparel. It used to be that I was the only one I saw wearing any Shocker clothing. I play in a competitive church volleyball league here and at our game last week I saw two other people wearing WSU stuff. The times have changed for the better!

[SubGod22]

I only became a WSU Fan a few years ago, the first game I attended was the Western Kentucky game in the NIT, and then my family got season tickets and I haven't missed a game since.

I've also been attending a couple baseball games each year, a volleyball game, and have only missed a couple women's basketball games, and that's usually because I'm watching a men's game, so I am attending other sports just because of jumping on the men's basketball bandwagon.

I remember rooting for KU when I was younger (I'm 16 now), but that's because they were the only "local" team I knew about, I don't recall ever even knowing about Wichita State because my only information came from watching games on TV and well, WSU was never on TV.

Now I'm all WSU, over half the stuff in my closet is yellow and I've got a WuShock painted on the wall behind me. I get into arguments daily with my friends over WSU and KU stuff, and I can't believe I ever rooted for KU.

You're young, I forgive you :D

I've said it before, I grew up in a VERY pro KU house. But, they also watched WSU whenever they could. I was always drawn more to WSU than KU. Even growing up throught grade school I'd be the only person around that would wear WSU gear. It was hard to follow WSU for a long time as they didn't get a ton of TV time and I'd read what I could in the paper. Life is good now. The banwagon fans could develop into long term supporters. No need to treat them like less. Unless they're wearing KU gear while they're at it.