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Home-field advantage has left the building

gwallaia

gwallaia

Moderator
Staff member
Interesting article by Bill Simmons, normally I disapprove of his ramblings but he touches on something here that I think many of us that attend games in shiny luxury box filled Reliant can realte to.


"We used to stand for every big down and every big drive," Bug says wistfully. "Now people yell at us to sit down. The old stadium was a dump, but we felt like we were at a football game, you know? Now we're at ... I don't know. The fans don't affect the game anymore. It's really sad. Grover calls it the wine-and-cheese crowd. We've become the fans we always made fun of."

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/partone/081121
 
i hate ppl who go to the game and treat it like thier at home. I get more excited in the bar than many ppl do at the games.
 
I don't think he's right in this one. The Texans hav eone of the newest, state of the art stadiums and our home/away split speaks for itself
 
gtexan02 said:
I don't think he's right in this one. The Texans hav eone of the newest, state of the art stadiums and our home/away split speaks for itself
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Maybe it speaks more of the crowds the Texans see on the road than it does for those at home.
 
texanhead08 said:
The Texans have become the NFL's version of homecoming.
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Aw, it's going to get better. I bet the Colts didn't feel that way last Sunday when they barely escaped with a win. But, what you said is funny though because it brought back memories of some college teams that certain schools were always the homecoming opponents.
 
If any of y'all have every watched NFL Films' "lost treasures" series....it becomes painfully obvious of how much luster the game has lost. Nobody cares anymore....even half the fans in the stadium don't really care (the suits), it's just about business now.

Reading that piece made me remember how much I miss the old dome.....yeah it was crappy and falling apart, but damn it that was the dome.

Another good example of what he's talking about.......all you have to do is remember how the crowds were at "the Summit" and then turn on a big national televised game at Toyato Center and look at all the empty bowl seats, because all of the suits either didn't show up or are in the luxury boxes drinking their lattes

Thus the Rockets are currently the third seed in the west despite having a better road record than a home record, to combat this....they have to give out free tickets in that bowl to real fans who otherwise couldn't afford them to try to manufacture some kind of "home court advantage" :rolleyes:
 
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"Doesn't matter, I'm sure we'll get our seats yanked within the next two seasons," Bug predicts. "Grover is going to flip out soon. He's like 25 more 'SIT DOWNS' away from causing an international incident. It's not gonna end well. He takes this stuff personally."
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Great story, and sadly...yes this is what football is coming too. I see it in the Bullpen all too often with people who have bought their seats from a ticket agency.
 
Carr Bombed said:
If any of y'all have every watched NFL Films' "lost treasures" series....it becomes painfully obvious of how much luster the game has lost. Nobody cares anymore....even half the fans in the stadium don't really care (the suits), it's just about business now.

Reading that piece made me remember how much I miss the old dome.....yeah it was crappy and falling apart, but damn it that was the dome.

Another good example of what he's talking about.......all you have to do is remember how the crowds were at "the Summit" and then turn on a big national televised game at Toyato Center and look at all the empty bowl seats, because all of the suits either didn't show up or are in the luxury boxes drinking their lattes

Thus the Rockets are currently the third seed in the west despite having a better road record than a home record, to combat this....they have to give out free tickets in that bowl to real fans who otherwise couldn't afford them to try to manufacture some kind of "home court advantage" :rolleyes:
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A lot of things remind me of how much better this game was back in the 70's .... It wasnt about dollars and cents but pride and kicking the other teams ass. Guy's went out there and played with broken body parts on a regular basis , it was jsut part of the game .... those were some tough son's of bitches.
 
Sniff sniff, I feel like I am about to weep. Sure it's a dump, but this Thursday I will attend my last game in Texas Stadium. I know to others it has been considered the worst of the worst, but the only bad day I've had there was a loss.

I am curious as to how different the atmosphere will be in the new stadium, and if we will still have that feel of camaraderie. I sure hope it doesn't give the feeling of being in a museum.
 
I wonder how much of this is a factor of youthful memories. Many times we went to games because our dad's took us. We enjoyed the experience of the game, spending time with dad, and being around other crazy fans like us. For a lot of us, we relish the stadiums of yore, but I wonder if part of that is because we relish the times of our youth.

I can tell you that my dad is not a sports fan. He played sports growing up, but he was not a fan. He understood them, he just didn't appreciate them. He has never been a fan of sports. For him, if sports didn't make the front page of the newspaper, he didn't read about it. The first sports event he ever went to was an Astros game that he took me to when I was 5.

For me, I always loved going to the game with him. Even though he did not particularity like it, it meant a lot to me that he would take me. It would be a special father-son moment when we went to the ball game. And in the end it didn't matter if we won or lost, the special memories that we had were priceless. I still think back on those memories every so often.

I think back on games at Astros and Oiler games at the Astrodome. I think back to the memories of a young Craig Biggio playing catcher or of Haywood Jefferies making a fingertips catch on the sidelines. I remember really enjoying those games.

I have gone to games at Minute Maid and Reliant with my dad a few times and while they have been enjoyable they have not been as good as days gone by. Both Minute Maid and Reliant are far superior to the Dome, but i think the youth factor is long gone for me. I am no longer that bright eyed youngster that I was at that time. I am no longer that young kid that tugged on Nolan's jersey asking him for an autograph. I am not that kid anymore. Now, I am an adult. And perhaps its that transition from childhood to adulthood that really makes us long for the days gone by.
 
I think it has to do with winning, or the lack thereof. I've been to MMP during the NLCS and WS runs and it was as loud and rowdy a crowd as there ever was at the Dome. Of course the Dome averaged about 18,000 a night but still.

I've also been to MMP when the Astros were stinking the joint up and yeah, it's quiet.

I believe the same is going on with the Texans. Because of all the losing there hasn't been many big games, but the few there have been, and the first couple of years when we got football back, the crowds have responded. It's hard to keep that intensity up though for a team that's not winning.

The expansion honeymoon is over and fans want wins now. I guarantee that the crowd at Reliant will be a huge home field factor when this team starts winning.
 
Well, I do know this........ever since the Colts left that loud horn they called the RCA Dome for their "SOTA" loaded with luxury boxes, they have been VERY beatable.
 
I would say that although Reliant is more state of the art than the Astrodome, the atmosphere was about the same "when they were winning". I remember my dad going to games in the late 70's and then took us in the 80's a lot when they weren't winning with only 20,000 if that at the games. Back then we could sit anywhere we wanted and then some. Come the Warren Moon days yeah it was a lot fun and packed, and a hell of a lot more affordable. And yes you still could wonder around and sit anywhere. Nowadays its still fun and enjoyable, and somewhat more pricey but that's to be expected and not a big deal. Like the article said, yeah you have those that fuss or look at the "common man" who roots and cheers loudly for they're team, but I noticed too that these "stick in the mud" season tix holders eventually start to give away they're tickets to the common man who roots/cheers loudly and "bothers" the other "sticks" that sneer and whatever. But lately I've noticed more and more "sticks in the mud" season tix holders in the lower seats have begun to sell or give they're tix away since they aren't winning. So the games have been a hell of a lot more fun to attend now that the rowdiness is back for now, until the team gets better and the "sticks" jump on the winning the bandwagon and start using their tickets again.
 
Win, and the homefield advantage follows.

Lose, and people leave early.

I agree with Speedy. The art of winning makes all the difference.
 
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