Basketball atmosphere is really good… and it could be great

For two glorious minutes on Saturday night, this was what the crowd looked like at the MAC. By Owen Main

For a while now, I’ve been considering writing something about this. What is an ideal in-game experience to have a great time as a fan and for the team to be most successful? For me, an optimal outcome means having a raucous crowd that can make a difference for young athletes in college. Winning is always more fun, right?

This goes for football, basketball, soccer, etc… .

Cal Poly has an athletic tradition, mostly centered around the quality of student-athlete themselves. In soccer, the sport that is the fastest-growing sport on campus for fans, tradition has been refreshed and transformed over the past few years. Students have led the student section and continue to get to games early to lay the groundwork for singing and dancing in the stands. It’s not an option, it’s an expectation. The atmosphere they’ve created, without the help of in-game production, is second to none.

So let’s talk football and basketball.

The in-game production for football is probably the most complicated of all the sports at Cal Poly. In front of seven to ten thousand fans, replays on the video board, music playing, the band playing, and making sure commercials are read all contributes to the chaos. This seasons, there were several instances during big games when people in the stands and on the field could inexplicably hear the radio play-by-play through the PA system at crucial times in the game. When the fans should have been encouraged to get loud, they were simply confused.

In another instance, a photo was put on the video board of a Cal Poly employee. To everyone in the press box, it was hilarious, and I’m trying to remember why. Perhaps we was eating something and it caught him mid-bite. Again, though, for fans, it seemed to confuse. At a time where ALL efforts could have been used to help the fans know to make noise and make it harder on the opposition, there was again confusion.

In front of a nearly sold-out Mott Athletics Center (highest attended game of the year) on Saturday night, the Cal Poly men’s basketball team needed a lift. Someone could have simply told the crowd, “Be as loud as you can when the other team has the ball. Your team really needs you.” Instead, numbers for a raffle were read-off on consecutive breaks in play, during which time the band was told to “wait,” or “hold on” or something of that nature. Over the PA system.

Nobody tells the band to wait.

So here’s what I believe. I believe that a game is more fun when everyone in the gym is into the game, with a collective mindset. I believe that promotions, when done right during the game, can enhance the atmosphere and keep fans excited and engaged.  I believe that a venue full of disengaged fans is really frustrating and I believe that a fan reaction like the last two minutes at Mott Athletic Center on Saturday night is the most fun thing about sports.

I also believe that in-game production can help create an atmosphere that is expected to be engaged on a nightly basis. I think it can be done, even at Cal Poly.

The shoe scramble is fun. By Owen Main

On Saturday, the shoe scramble and free throw contest were especially fun. On Thursday, a football player broke a mini bike he was trying to ride. Awesome. These are fun and engaging contests.

If you don’t think Cal Poly students can stand and jump around and make noise for the entirety of a 40-minute basketball game, then I say look at soccer. During a soccer game, they stand, unwavering, for more than twice that long. Students are capable of creating a great game-day atmosphere. They just need a little leadership. They need to know they’re rekindling tradition.

So, get a more organized student section. Get some student leaders, like the Mustang Manglers, and get some fan traditions started (for instance, standing until your team scores or like jumping up and down like crazy people and yelling whenever the opponent has the ball, if not for the whole game, at least for the final 10 minutes, etc…).

Then, pander to the pandemonium. Don’t stifle the best band in the conference. If you have an insane student section for 40 minutes on a nightly basis, more community fans will want to come see the spectacle too.

Right now, the Cal Poly fans and student section are good. Very good. So good, in fact, that the basketball team had won 16 consecutive home conference games before Saturday night. But, as the current business vernacular will tell you, good is the enemy of great.

If you think the crowd can’t affect a game, know this — for the first 38 minutes on Saturday night, the atmosphere at Mott was eerily average, despite the near sellout. Then for two minutes, Mott was great. The atmosphere was electric, the noise was deafening, and the basketball team made up nine points in 119 seconds. Now, the question is, for anyone who cares, can that greatness from the people in the seats be sustained?