Coach Pleas Stay Till The End

Coach Dave Doeren the new head football coach at State plead with State fans during his weekly news conference to stay to see the game out till the end.  If you watched the game on TV Saturday at 12:30pm and saw after halftime the stadium was half empty and most of the time when that happens right after the half the home team is getting killed.

Yes this was a TV game on Labor day weekend and yes it was hot.  Who in their right mind plays a football game in the South in the afternoon before October.  It is too hot to sit in 90 degree weather with 80% humidity.  But oh yes this was a TV and TV said this game would be played at 12:30 so part of college athletics to get more revenue from TV is to play the game at Midnight Friday if TV says so.

I don't know how many of you remember back in the late 90's when Lou Holtz was the coach at South Carolina and they came to Raleigh for a Thursday night game when Thursday games we not yet a regular part of the TV schedule but they played the game in a Tropical Storm.  There was no lightening but it rained buckets most of the night.  Since I was a season ticket holder then you know I was in my seat with all my poncho's on and stayed dry the entire night.  While walking to my car after State beat South Carolina 10-0 a gust of wind came up and ripped my poncho off 100 yards from my car.  By the time I got to my car I could not have been any wetter if I had of sat the entire game without a poncho.

TV said the game will be played and it was.  The coach has every right to ask the fans to stay till the end, let's face it.  That game with Louisiana Tech was closer than the score.   There have been may come backs made in every stadium when most of the fans were in cars headed home when the come back occurred

I just didn't fall off the turnip truck and I understand many of the fans while sitting in 90 plus degree weather had a drink or two before going in the stadium and as they sat there boiling they were going into a state of dehydration with what ever level of alcohol was in there system.

Every fan that pays the price to attend any game has the right to leave anytime they want to whether winning or losing.  I remember listening to Woody Durham one Saturday when Carolina  was down to I don't remember who 14-3 with about three minutes to go and they came back to win the game 17-14 and his comment on the winning score with only seconds left was something " What a great comeback that you were not here to see" referring all the fans had departed when they thought the game was lost.

We are a soft society these days.  We love air condition  and any time we have to sweat I would as soon go home and watch on TV. I know coaches want the stands full until the very end but I don't care who the coach or team is the high price ticket section is going to leave when they want winning or losing and the only thing a coach can do about it is win and ask them to buy season tickets again next year.