 CROWD NOISE/DOME REPORT, BY MIDMOFAN (Nov 16) |
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I have been to every home
game so far, inc. preseason. FAN NOISE: Fan noise was at its best at the 49ers game for, IMHO, two reasons: 1. The emotion of playing, and whupping, the hated whiners. 2. The PA system was on good behavior. For this last game [against Carolina], the PA system was back to its old, horrible, form of last year and this preseason. To wit--- At the beginning of the game especially, and periodically throughout, the crazy volume control guy was back. At the start of each music segment or announcement, the PA would be up at full blast, then they would, after a second or two, turn it back down and then sometimes back up to get to the level they wanted. Instead of it being at this level for the next song or announcement, however, the volume would be jacked back up again. Doesn't anybody have some tape to mark the correct setting? The songs and announcements were so loud that it hurts your ears in the lower sections. You literally cannont hear whether the crowd is yelling or not. This prevents the fans from feeding off of each other. The music on many of the Panthers plays did not quit until the QB reached the LOS. Now it was too late to get a good roar going. The PSAs and commercials were incredibly loud and intrusive again. Some of them are so loud that the words are distorted and you can't understand what is being said (again this is how it is in the 100's). I think we should start posting the most annoying, loud and intrusive commercials and boycott the products untill they tone it down. The Tom Hanks Veterens day PSA was loud and very hard to undersrtand. It also was started late and ran long. The TV timeout was over and the ref was standing on the field with the ball in his hand looking up at the TV waiting for the PSA to be over so he could start the clock. Don't these guys work on this stuff before the game? At the 2 min warning (first half) the cheerleaders were waiting in the end-zone--- bent over at the waist---to do their bit for the end-zone fans and Holder just kept going on and on with announcements. Finally the cheerleaders start to look around with quite the puzzled look on their faces. Then the music for the cheerleaders starts up, exactly at the same time the ref starts the clock. The cheerleaders have to make a quick exit from the end-zone without doing their cheer. This seems to happen quite a bit during the game as well. The announcements run long, the cheerleaders are posed waiting for their music, and about three notes are played before the play starts. LOOK AT THE FIELD GUYS! If there is not enough time to play more than a few notes of the song, don't do it! Better yet kill all the announcements. Music can be great if timed properly (like right after a TD, during a break in the action, etc.) so as not to step on the crowd or the action. The dome guys who run this thing are clueless. I could go on, but suffice to say that the PA system makes it very hard to get the crowd into a roar or to sustain any kind of emotion. Combine this with the fact that all of our home games have been blowouts and it is easy to see why the fans don't seem to be as rabid as those of other cities. LATE ARRIVALS. Why fans don't get to their seats earlier? I think it is for many of the above reasons. The PA system at the dome, when it is blasting, makes it impossible to visit with your friends because you can't hear a word they are saying. Thus everyone stays outside as long as possible. Combine this with a truely horrible entrance system and there is always a crush of people trying to get into the dome at kickoff. Something has to be done about the ticket taking mess. Someone is going to get hurt very badly with the screwy system that they have. Whoever designed the dome entrances, food booths, and such has never been to a professional sporting event in his life. I know it is multipurpose, but this is one of the main purposes! While I am at it, since ATMs are such money making machines, why are there so few of them in the dome? The line at the one on the 100 level is always huge. Turn up the lights! Isn't there anyway to make it brighter in the dome without messing up the players? I always feel like I am in a movie theater. If you watch the higlights on TV the Rams games always look like they are being played at night. Other domes don't all feel this way, what is wrong with ours? LEAVING EARLY. Some folks do leave early, although it is not as many as some folks think. The reasons for the early departers are numerous and include--- * The lousy exits. See above. * The blowouts. * Wanting to get to the bars early. This is a big factor. If you are planning on getting a good seat at one of the bars and wait until the end of the game, you are out of luck. Most of the places will be already full. * The screwy traffic and parking around the dome. How long is the I-70 westboud exit just east of the dome going to be under construction? * Lots of parents with kids. I like this. I understand the problem young ones present. But here is a great chance to teach them to be true fans. Get them some cotton candy and stay to the end! (Unless of course they are crying and sitting next to me!) INSULT TO INJURY. One of the consistant fan induced plusses we have had at every game is the group of fans in the stands near the Rams field entrance/exit. After each game there has always been a huge crowed of screaming cheering fans lining up along the rails and around the exit. The players come over and wave and shake hands. Some signe autographs and some toss gloves and towels into the stand. At the Cleveland game my son and I moved over from our section to the tunnel right at the 2 min warning. We went right down to the rail. Pace tossed my son his glove and Fletcher tossed him a towel. He was in 7th heaven. Things like this make a fan. I know the players are real good about this 'cause I see them out and about and they are always willing to sign stuff and talk with the fans But! This past game [Carolina], there was a clear effort to stop this. After the game, the cheerleaders lined up in such a way so as to funnel the players directly to the exit, making it difficult for them to greet the fans along the rail. Ushers closed off the sections near the exits, preventing anyone w/o a ticket for the area from going down to cheer the team, even after the game was over. Uniformed security guards were in the crowd trying to keep folks from shaking hands or (low) fiving players as the ran through the exit. Wonderful. Who called out the stromtroopers? Reminds me of the Kiel Center announcers telling everyone to please sit down. The one consistant show of emotion and support and the idiots at the dome want to take it away. Oh well, all of this %#&! is sure easier to put up with when you are 7-2!! STILL. Despite all of the problems presented by the dome, the fans can and do get loud, very loud. The 49er game was the best, but we also have disrupted every team that has come into the dome at key moments. In the first Q of the Panther game we rocked pretty good. Also after the first big pass play, not a single fan in our section sat down. We KNEW we were going to score on the next play. Rams fans are great. We need not apologize to anyone. But the folks who complain need to direct the complaint to the right people---the domemasters and not the fans. Also, TV just doesn't pick up the crowd in the dome even when we are loud. The Rams fans are great and can overcome the problems, but it is harder to do when we are up by 20 points or so at the half. I'm sure in a close game we can sustain the emotion despite the domemasters |
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