Time for Tide fans to put up or shut up...
Support shouldn't be based on wins alone
The days of whining and negativity are over



    

          Well, the battle for better seating for students has begun.  I agree that some type of new configuration might improve our home court advantage. All this chatter about moving long time season ticket holders to give students is an option.  Here’s what I’d say to all the vocal proponents for such actions – try showing up for the games first. Earn you keep. The last couple of seasons have seen a black hole in seating where students sit. They are conspicuous with their absence;  and any talk about changing things around needs to follow on proof that students will actually attend. I have to give a lot of credit to the small cadre of students who do attend.  Those guys and girls are loud, obnoxious, and fairly well choreographed. I’m not talking Duke type actions, but it’s pretty spirited  for a small number of about  500. It may be a little higher, or could be lower. I know that in a lot of home games  you could set off a roadside bomb and few injuries will occur. The Crimson Chaos gave way to Grants Tomb

       I know that fans are going to say its Grant’s fault. And the answer to that is a resounding NOT. It’s not Grant’s fault that fans didn’t appear.  No product to support will be the rally cry. If you don’t show up you have no meaningful opinion. Refusing to attend is a personal decision each person makes.  If you didn’t come to support Grant  ,then what about Levi and all our players?  Were they not worthy of our support and attendance?  Here’s my take on our fan support. The lack of support far outweighed the liabilities of the team.  The team didn’t succeed as most had hoped. The fans didn’t do any better in the eyes of the players.  As a basketball fan base we are above Auburn, but I can’t think of another team we beat out.  This is just an opinion.  The SID always gave an inflated attendance number which reflects the amount of season tickets and other tickets sold. In other words we don’t  count warm bodies, we count little pieces of paper.

       I have long thought the SID ought to say that we sold 10,232 tickets were sold but only 2500 fans showed up. After Grant was fired, the Tide played in the NIT at home. The NIT reported around 2800 tickets were sold.  I bought a couple to say goodbye to some good kids. That attendance figure for the NIT said a lot about support for basketball.  I’m sure that when Johnson can get enough players on board next season to win a lot of games. Attendance will get better due to curiosity and a hope for the future.  Those people are called fair weather fans. Fair weather fans are about as important as spitting in a rainstorm.  I personally can’t stand them.  They are unworthy  in the eyes of many.   If Johnson succeeds we may have a few hundred new true believers. As long as the wins accumulate we will have more actually attendance.  I think Avery is going to have tough first year. We lost  Cooper , Randolph, Tarrant, and Mitchell.  The seldom used Slaughter is gone as well. At least he showed the fans he deserved more time.  On paper, right now, we’ll have Obasahan,  Coleman, Norris, and Taylor as key players.  Luckily all three (two?) of our recruits will get a lot of  playing time out of necessity.  I’m not sure the team will win 19 games next season. We might. If Johnson can do that we will have us one heck of a coach. He needs to sign at least one or two JUCO / Transfer  forwards who can rebound and score some. I haven’t seen a name connected to Bama that sounds certain. If any coach can win 20 games with our line up as it now appears, I’d be thrilled.

        Johnson is going to improve things. He already has people talking about basket ball.  That’s a good step. He’s out promoting our program, visiting clinics, AAU events, and meeting boosters. He’s working hard.  All of that will really help things if he can get some players next season.  Otherwise,  I think we’d be prudent to not  predict things he cannot do.  But there is one thing we can do regardless of the team, and that is to come to games and cheer.  We’ve heard all the excuses for not attending. There are NO excuses this time round.