My experience at Alex Box Stadium on Saturday

[wtw2400]

This was my first time there and I have been to most of the other SEC Stadiums myself. But there was something different about this stadium. Ive been to several minor league stadiums but none compared to this stadium. I arrived 3 hours early because I didnt have any tickets and I was worried they would sell out. Well I found out the box office didnt open until 2 hours before so I had some time to kill and I discovered all these pregame tailgators in their RVs. At Dudy Noble we have the Left Field Lounge so that is our tailgating of sorts, but I will say it did startle me to see all of this pregame tailgating 3 hours before a regular season game. So apparently they keep selling General Admission tickets which I believe is similar to Dudy Nobles policy except they assign every seat at Alex Box, so I had to stand at the designated Standing Room only section(which was not bad at all as I had a grear view of the game). But before then I ordered a Hamburger and a Drink and sat at a picnic table by one of their playgrounds before the game started since I did not have a seat. And LSU fans would come up to me and they were all nice and greetful to me at the game and I expressed the same warm welcome they gave me. Quite a polar opposite from their football crowd... It just really came across how much better facility wise Alex Box is currently than Dudy Noble and how we need to set the Gold Standard like we did 30 years ago and like LSU now has. If I was a LSU fan, I would buy season tickets and go to a game to Alex Box every game because the expereince from just a visiting fan was that much fun. As the game continued on, one thing remained evident. The LSU fans were into the game from the first pitch to the last pitch. Something Dudy Noble seems to have lacked the past few times I have been(I was not able to be at Super Bulldog Weekend this year). I really do think the reason why Alex Box was that much more enjoyable to me is because the stadium feels like a minor league game. Actually it is the closest I had felt to a college football saturday without it being in the fall. One thing that stood out to me is that LSUs bullpens were on the foul ball lines. I wondered why since they spent the amount of money to build the stadium. But then I noticed the LSU fans heckling our players warming up in the bullpen and they were right next to them so thats an idea I think Dudy Noble should consider except maybe put them both closer to the lounge areas.

I really enjoyed this stadium and if you ever get a chance to come tot this stadium then come. It is the best non Dudy Noble Stadium I have been to out of(Ole Miss, Alabama, Vanderbilt, South Carolina, and Auburn).

My point in all of this (because who want to read the novel I just wrote?) is that it is time for Dudy Noble to be the Gold Standard in College Baseball once again. And once these renovations are put into place, we need to create a great environment for Dudy Noble. I know the Left Field Lounge already is the best enviorment in College Baseball, but we need to spread it across the rest of the stadium and create uniformity with the Bleachers and The Grand Stands(which we are going to do!) And once that happens, you will be able to here our fans on tv chanting marron and white, Lets Go State, and a lot of pur other chants that we have rarely done except for the SEC Tournament games I have been to. This season and this weekend got me fired up for our new baseball stadium and I can say without a doubt that it will be the best in the country once its finished!

 

[KurtRambis4]

I agree, that it's time.

Unfortunately, we have some dubmass fans that are holding their money because we lost to FAU.

 

[weblow]

I was also there and noticed many of the same things.

I will say that Alex Box is 10x louder than Dudy and it has nothing to do with the setup. It is 100% based on fans being into the game. When they are cheering or chanting, it is damn hard to look around and find a single fan that is sitting there quietly. Everyone is into it.

In contrast, that only happens a few games a year at Dudy Noble. I don't miss a home game on the weekend at the Dude and the only time we have come close to matching the energy at Alex Box was Friday and Sat of Super Bulldog Weekend this year.

After Friday nights game, I left saying it was due to the amount of blue hairs at the Dude. This is both true and false. LSU has its fair share of mid-elderly fans sitting in the chairbacks but they are into the game. The guy two rows behind me had to be in his 80's and he cheered his *** off. Every chant, every chance to participate, he did. He had to have required a nap due to the energy he used but he was into it. At the Dude, 1/2-3/4 of the mid-elderly make zero noise. They don't cheer, even when the game is on the line. The max you get out of them is a clap.

We need the new stadium for several reasons but one of the biggest is we need some fans that have not had the ability to purchase chairbacks to have the opportunity to do so. The second thing we need is a decent ticket exchange. The LSU fans sitting behind me and to the right of me both bought their tickets off their ticket exchange.....this led to a seat filled with yelling fans instead of an empty chair.

I will have to say, Alex Box was the most electric stadium I have attended from 1st pitch to the last PERIOD.

With the number of fans we have attend games, we can do much better, but it will require our fans to actually participate in creating the environment.

 

[lowbird]

So they don't piss on you at the baseball games? That does sound good!

 

[patdog]

It's way past time for a new stadium. But living in the past is a time honored tradition for MSU baseball fans. Until recently, most of our fans thought we still had the best stadium in the country. Some still do.

 

[BossDawg78]

My point in all of this (because who want to read the novel I just wrote?) is that it is time for Dudy Noble to be the Gold Standard in College Baseball once again. And once these renovations are put into place, we need to create a great environment for Dudy Noble. I know the Left Field Lounge already is the best enviorment in College Baseball, but we need to spread it across the rest of the stadium and create uniformity with the Bleachers and The Grand Stands(which we are going to do!) And once that happens, you will be able to here our fans on tv chanting marron and white, Lets Go State, and a lot of pur other chants that we have rarely done except for the SEC Tournament games I have been to. This season and this weekend got me fired up for our new baseball stadium and I can say without a doubt that it will be the best in the country once its finished!

Yup. Actually, it's PAST time for DN to be the gold standard in college baseball once again. And like Kurt said, it's dumb as s#!t for fans to hold their money. I really hope they're reconsidering, because that won't help a damn thing. This renovation is taking a painfully long time to kick off when it should've already been done.

 

[wtw2400]

I was also there and noticed many of the same things.

I will say that Alex Box is 10x louder than Dudy and it has nothing to do with the setup. It is 100% based on fans being into the game. When they are cheering or chanting, it is damn hard to look around and find a single fan that is sitting there quietly. Everyone is into it.

In contrast, that only happens a few games a year at Dudy Noble. I don't miss a home game on the weekend at the Dude and the only time we have come close to matching the energy at Alex Box was Friday and Sat of Super Bulldog Weekend this year.

After Friday nights game, I left saying it was due to the amount of blue hairs at the Dude. This is both true and false. LSU has its fair share of mid-elderly fans sitting in the chairbacks but they are into the game. The guy two rows behind me had to be in his 80's and he cheered his *** off. Every chant, every chance to participate, he did. He had to have required a nap due to the energy he used but he was into it. At the Dude, 1/2-3/4 of the mid-elderly make zero noise. They don't cheer, even when the game is on the line. The max you get out of them is a clap.

We need the new stadium for several reasons but one of the biggest is we need some fans that have not had the ability to purchase chairbacks to have the opportunity to do so. The second thing we need is a decent ticket exchange. The LSU fans sitting behind me and to the right of me both bought their tickets off their ticket exchange.....this led to a seat filled with yelling fans instead of an empty chair.

I will have to say, Alex Box was the most electric stadium I have attended from 1st pitch to the last PERIOD.

With the number of fans we have attend games, we can do much better, but it will require our fans to actually participate in creating the environment.

I agree 100% with everything you just said.

 

[Shamoan]

Well, we are their World Series. Corndogs hate them so Cohen almost as much as...

 

[engie]

Like has been constantly said by a couple of us and constantly argued against -- Dudy Noble is now -- giving full benefit of the doubt -- the 6th best stadium in the SEC west. I could make the argument for 7th in some functions(actual "niceness", etc -- Plainsman is just small). It's amazing to me the number of people that have been arguing otherwise for years. It hasn't been an elite-level stadium since a few years after we added the skyboxes and last rows of seats on the grandstands in the late 90s, while Baum was still going up modularly. By the time Polk came back, it was still a better stadium, but already was a generally worse experience than Swayze.

Facilities are a huge piece of the pie in recruiting in baseball. I could argue that Cohen is recruiting as well as he is with less of a deck than any coach that came before him at MSU in the last 40 years. He certainly is recruiting with much less of an advantage relative to his competition. It's past time that we give him an advantage back.

 

[BiscuitEater]

Well I found out the box office didnt open until 2 hours before so I had some time to kill and I discovered all these pregame tailgators in their RVs. At Dudy Noble we have the Left Field Lounge so that is our tailgating of sorts, but I will say it did startle me to see all of this pregame tailgating 3 hours before a regular season game.... And LSU fans would come up to me and they were all nice and greetful to me at the game and I expressed the same warm welcome they gave me. Quite a polar opposite from their football crowd.

I was fortunate to live in Omaha for several years and had season tickets to the CWS. Back I the late 1980s, Civic clubs (Rotary, Lions, Kiwanis) would sponsor each of the teams. These clubs would almost come to blows to be the LSU sponsor. LSU was pretty much a constant .. '87, '89, '90, & '91 .. while I was there.

Even with my maroon glasses on, I have to say that they are the best and most knowledgeable fans in college baseball. They would arrive a couple of days early and park their RVs in the main lot outside Rosenblatt or the lot between the stadium and Henry Doorly Zoo .. and they would be there till the bitter end. Many would take their annual vacation to go to the games .. even in the years that LSU didn't make it there. One couple would have crawfish flown into Omaha every couple of days even though it was late in the crawfish season.

Before, between and after games was a time to gather .. grilling, drinking and talking baseball. There were no strangers .. they welcomed all and especially anyone from the SEC. Met many and made friends that I would see back every year .. it really made the CWS special.

 

[TBone.sixpack]

Like has been constantly said by a couple of us and constantly argued against -- Dudy Noble is now -- giving full benefit of the doubt -- the 6th best stadium in the SEC west. I could make the argument for 7th in some functions(actual "niceness", etc -- Plainsman is just small). It's amazing to me the number of people that have been arguing otherwise for years. It hasn't been an elite-level stadium since a few years after we added the skyboxes and last rows of seats on the grandstands in the late 90s, while Baum was still going up modularly. By the time Polk came back, it was still a better stadium, but already was a generally worse experience than Swayze.

Facilities are a huge piece of the pie in recruiting in baseball. I could argue that Cohen is recruiting as well as he is with less of a deck than any coach that came before him at MSU in the last 40 years. He certainly is recruiting with much less of an advantage relative to his competition. It's past time that we give him an advantage back.

How do you address the fan atmosphere? Will a better stadium make our fans not act like they are at a play? That's what gets me. Everyone talks about our great fan tradition but we are not a great participation fanbase.

I agree with you concerning our facilities ranking.

 

[patdog]

By the time Polk came back

That decision set MSU baseball back by a decade. Both on the field and in facilities. And that's the reason Cohen is recruiting with

less of a deck than any coach that came before him at MSU in the last 40 years.

 

[bulldogcountry1]

I've never been to Alex Box, but it just doesn't present well on TV. It looks a bit cheap. Maybe it's just because there is too much aluminum. It's still one of the nicest college stadiums. I just feel like they missed the mark a bit, given their history and resources.

As for Dudy Noble, weekend attendance has been good, but the crowds are just dead this season. Getting owned by A&M on SBW weekend didn't help. There have been some good moments, but the grandstand area is just missing something. I expect the new stadium will weed out a lot of the old farts who wither don't come or oppose emotion and make room for the next generation.

 

[57stratdawg]

I think there are alot of reasons people haven't been quick to give. Last I heard we were right around the $10Million mark. Raising $ for this project has been a challenge. I figured we would break ground after the 2016 no matter what, but I was wrong.

 

[patdog]

MSU baseball has just been down for so long that it's going to take more than one good season to really bring the fans back and get them excited again. Cohen almost had us there after 2013, then he **** the bed last year. He's on track to host only our second regional since 2003 this year. Follow that up with another good year next year and the Dude will be rocking on a regular basis again.

 

[Imadick]

That's because coon-asses only have two moving parts(mouths and asses) and they are interchangeable!

 

[Shamoan]

part of where DNF lets us down currently is fan experience. sitting in the bleachers is hell and SBW is miserable if you dont have an outfield spot or a chairback. really, the fan experience needs to improve dramatically for the average joe and i think the new DNF will accomplish that. a ticket exchange would be a great.

 

[AlCoDog]

17 LSU.

 

[engie]

How do you address the fan atmosphere? Will a better stadium make our fans not act like they are at a play? That's what gets me. Everyone talks about our great fan tradition but we are not a great participation fanbase.

I agree with you concerning our facilities ranking.

It took years to destroy and it will take years to build back. There is no quick fix, although the new stadium is going to go about as far toward artificially fixing it as we can. As a student at the time, the Swayze experience was already, not exaggerating, multiples better and more inclusive than Dudy Noble. It blew my mind the first time I went to a game in the outfield there as a 20 year old. This was around 2004. It was crazy that, at the time, to go to an impromptu midweek game at MSU -- I was sitting in bleachers I could barely see from with a crick in my neck stone sober(or getting that way) while looking at empty grandstands policed every 15 feet by zealous ushers -- you could forget getting in booze unless you planned in advance and got the cooler in the gates early(the cooler searches are more lenient now than they were then, or at least that's my perception of it). Or I was trying to pull strings with friends at the last minute to get onto frat rigs, etc and I was not much on asking for favors at that point... No way around it -- for Dudy Noble to be a truly enjoyable experience -- it was going to be a bit of a pain in my *** and definitely force pre-planning on my part to be fun. I could and did have a blast in Oxford showing up 5 minutes before game time with a cooler slam packed with booze.

The difference was staggering -- and I've been harping on it as hard as I could ever since. What State has done -- is for a generation now -- excluded a large percentage of students in the true awesomeness of Dudy Noble. It's a lot more fun to me now because I actually know a couple of rig owners I can go to any time. I can get skybox tickets almost any time I want them. Etc. But I never forgot what it was like to be an "outsider". The VAST MAJORITY of our fanbase and administration have forgotten that part -- and they've been doing it for a generation now. So, the truly passionate age group that would change the atmosphere never developed the true passion. Not to the same extent that it has been being developed elsewhere. So, all the 20/young30 somethings you now see in left field at Swayze that are buying season tickets and forcing them to expand again -- are not present to the same extent at MSU. The new stadium will help getting them back, but it isn't all that it is going to take.

 

[BossDawg78]

Last I heard we were right around the $10Million mark.

That's it?! Holy geez, wtf? Am I just a victim of the good ol' pessimistic State attitude or would any other school in the SEC already have the funds available? Or at least have the project started....I mean, it seems like State drags their feet a lot dealing with these things. Maybe I'm being way too impatient. I thought for sure the amount would be north of AT LEAST $15 mil by now.

 

[KurtRambis4]

Maybe. Maybe not. That

doesn't change the fact that the people who a month ago said they were holding their donations bc we lost a few games aren't idiots.

 

[patdog]

I can guarantee you not one single person who defends the current Dudy Noble Field has to sit in the outfield bleachers.

 

[PhredPhantom]

It took years to destroy and it will take years to build back. There is no quick fix, although the new stadium is going to go about as far toward artificially fixing it as we can. As a student at the time, the Swayze experience was already, not exaggerating, multiples better and more inclusive than Dudy Noble. It blew my mind the first time I went to a game in the outfield there as a 20 year old. This was around 2004. It was crazy that, at the time, to go to an impromptu midweek game at MSU -- I was sitting in bleachers I could barely see from with a crick in my neck stone sober(or getting that way) while looking at empty grandstands policed every 15 feet by zealous ushers -- you could forget getting in booze unless you planned in advance and got the cooler in the gates early(the cooler searches are more lenient now than they were then, or at least that's my perception of it). Or I was trying to pull strings with friends at the last minute to get onto frat rigs, etc and I was not much on asking for favors at that point... No way around it -- for Dudy Noble to be a truly enjoyable experience -- it was going to be a bit of a pain in my *** and definitely force pre-planning on my part to be fun. I could and did have a blast in Oxford showing up 5 minutes before game time with a cooler slam packed with booze.

The difference was staggering -- and I've been harping on it as hard as I could ever since. What State has done -- is for a generation now -- excluded a large percentage of students in the true awesomeness of Dudy Noble. It's a lot more fun to me now because I actually know a couple of rig owners I can go to any time. I can get skybox tickets almost any time I want them. Etc. But I never forgot what it was like to be an "outsider". The VAST MAJORITY of our fanbase and administration have forgotten that part -- and they've been doing it for a generation now. So, the truly passionate age group that would change the atmosphere never developed the true passion. Not to the same extent that it has been being developed elsewhere. So, all the 20/young30 somethings you now see in left field at Swayze that are buying season tickets and forcing them to expand again -- are not present to the same extent at MSU. The new stadium will help getting them back, but it isn't all that it is going to take.

To sum up what I read from your post, it seems that you want the new stadium to be built so that MSU can, once again, be the best facility and aid recruiting but you seem to think that the ones who paid for the current stadium (like me) and the ones who have already contributed the money to the building of the new stadium (like me) are keeping the "20/young30" age group out by buying up all the best seats in the grandstands. In other words, you want their money to build the stadium but you are ticked off when they don't attend and stand up and yell at the level you deem appropriate. Is that about right?

I understand why the "20/young30" age group does not contribute at the level (on average) as the older group. When I was "20/young30", I didn't either because I didn't have the money. Now that I am older, I am in a better position to contribute more money since I have finished raising children and putting them through college at Mississippi State. There are many others who are, even now, in a much better position than me to contribute money to the program but I do what I can. Maybe if Bernie Sanders gets elected, all the tickets and stadium improvements will be free along with tuition and everything else but, until that time, we depend on people making contributions and investments and, in my opinion, the ones who put in the most money should be rewarded with the first choice of seats. That's the American Way that I have supported and continue to support.

You said, "It's a lot more fun to me now because I actually know a couple of rig owners I can go to any time. I can get skybox tickets almost any time I want them. Etc." How do you think that those rig owners and skybox holders got to be rig owners and skybox holders in the first place? They contributed lots of money over a long period of time and continue to do so while you haven't so now you just show up when you want to and take advantage of their long and significant investment in the program. Maybe one day you'll be in their position and then you can help others who haven't contributed as much as you do for as long as you have.

I'm not really trying to "go off" on you. It just seems from your comments that you have only considered this situation as it relates to you right now and what you want to do right now. We are fortunate to have a nationally-significant program at MSU that didn't get that way without decades of hard work and significant levels of contributions and support. Be a part of it instead of just criticizing it. Make it better the same way that others have done so over the years. Unless you are extremely wealthy and are willing to contribute obscene amounts of money in a short period of time, it will take you a while to move up the ladder but, after a time, it will happen. According to your comments, you are approximately 32 years old. I was 32 years old about 32 years ago. When I was 32, I didn't have great seats, either, but as my investment in the program grew, so did my quality of seats. I would encourage you to continue to support the baseball program you and I both love and, sooner or later, it will pay off.

 

[bulldogcountry1]

part of where DNF lets us down currently is fan experience. sitting in the bleachers is hell and SBW is miserable if you dont have an outfield spot or a chairback. really, the fan experience needs to improve dramatically for the average joe and i think the new DNF will accomplish that. a ticket exchange would be a great.

It would also be nice not to have to wait 15 minutes to take a piss when we have over 12K.

 

[engie]

I already know that everything I say is going to fall on your deaf ears -- because you live in an alternate reality of your own choosing after doing the same thing for years and years and years without ever getting any perspective from other viewpoints as it relates to Dudy Noble. But here goes.

To sum up what I read from your post, it seems that you want the new stadium to be built so that MSU can, once again, be the best facility and aid recruiting but you seem to think that the ones who paid for the current stadium (like me) and the ones who have already contributed the money to the building of the new stadium (like me) are keeping the "20/young30" age group out by buying up all the best seats in the grandstands. In other words, you want their money to build the stadium but you are ticked off when they don't attend and stand up and yell at the level you deem appropriate. Is that about right?

No, not really. While I appreciate your $250/$500/or $1000 30 years ago -- the fact that the stadium is crap now and these "people that built it" have their noses stuck so far up their own rears to even recognize it is on all of YOU 1985'ers. It sure isn't on me. What I do clamored for -- for years here -- is the bs "lifetime" licenses to go away and for full enjoyment opportunities of everything Dudy Noble has to offer to EVERYONE that comes through the gate and is willing to pay for it. I'm tickled pink that they are giving me exactly what I clamored for. Those people got their last discount this go round on the reduced rate PSLs. They just now get to pay pretty close to fair market value for your right to not show up to any games in their seats. And MSU gets to become a profitable baseball program again for the first time in a long time.

I understand why the "20/young30" age group does not contribute at the level (on average) as the older group. When I was "20/young30", I didn't either because I didn't have the money. Now that I am older, I am in a better position to contribute more money since I have finished raising children and putting them through college at Mississippi State. There are many others who are, even now, in a much better position than me to contribute money to the program but I do what I can. Maybe if Bernie Sanders gets elected, all the tickets and stadium improvements will be free along with tuition and everything else but, until that time, we depend on people making contributions and investments and, in my opinion, the ones who put in the most money should be rewarded with the first choice of seats. That's the American Way that I have supported and continue to support.

And -- where -- exactly -- in my post -- did I support the redistribution of wealth for the good seats to go to nonpayers, etc? I didn't say that -- you made it up. In fact, we give prettymuch all of the best seats to nonpayers now. You damn right who pays the most should get the best seats. You think all those TOTAL PRICE $245/yr in some cases 2nd and 3rd generation fans disguised as empty seats directly behind every camera angle of our grandstand are the actual high bidders that deserve the current seats? You think that $245 on top of the $1000 in 85 is fair market value for the same seats LSU literally sells for $2350 per year? Or are those people the ones that got a sweet deal from a dumb athletics dept 30 years ago that have since contributed to our downfall rather than our salvation and in a true capitalistic circumstance -- bankrupting the program? We both know the real answer.

You said, "It's a lot more fun to me now because I actually know a couple of rig owners I can go to any time. I can get skybox tickets almost any time I want them. Etc." How do you think that those rig owners and skybox holders got to be rig owners and skybox holders in the first place?

1) They were in the right place at the right time when they became available in the 1970s.
2) They were in the right place at the right time when they became available in 1997.
There have only been a couple of TRUE snapshots to actually buy in to an important part of MSU baseball. And no one from my generation was present for any of it.

So, yeah. I don't ***** about the football seating arrangement. I mostly don't even ***** about the Hump seating arrangement/reseating. I'm a big fan of capitalism. What I do ***** about is the fact that such an arrangement has never existed in my adult life for Mississippi State baseball.

They contributed lots of money over a long period of time and continue to do so while you haven't so now you just show up when you want to and take advantage of their long and significant investment in the program. Maybe one day you'll be in their position and then you can help others who haven't contributed as much as you do for as long as you have.

Yeah, that $175/year for those current lounge spots is so significant -- I don't know how I could ever find myself in position to afford that. Right place, right time. All that is and all it ever was.

I'm not really trying to "go off" on you. It just seems from your comments that you have only considered this situation as it relates to you right now and what you want to do right now.

Did you read ANYTHING I wrote? I'm not considering jack about "me" right now. I get to go experience the absolute best of Dudy Noble ANY TIME I WANT. I'm considering all the people that you -- and the like -- have left out for years and years that never felt the magic of Dudy Noble and come back once/twice a year BEST CASE. You've literally allowed Ole Miss to become a superior baseball atmosphere to Mississippi State. With a superior facility. And you can't even see it. Thank goodness that Scott Stricklin could see it in the same way that I could see it.

We are fortunate to have a nationally-significant program at MSU that didn't get that way without decades of hard work and significant levels of contributions and support. Be a part of it instead of just criticizing it. Make it better the same way that others have done so over the years. Unless you are extremely wealthy and are willing to contribute obscene amounts of money in a short period of time, it will take you a while to move up the ladder but, after a time, it will happen. According to your comments, you are approximately 32 years old. I was 32 years old about 32 years ago. When I was 32, I didn't have great seats, either, but as my investment in the program grew, so did my quality of seats. I would encourage you to continue to support the baseball program you and I both love and, sooner or later, it will pay off.

So, had I been giving as significantly every year along the way as anyone in my position possibly could -- what could I actually hope for -- in my own name -- in the current iteration of Dudy Noble field? The absolute ceiling for anyone in my generation in the current stadium is a couple of chairback seats. True or false? Rig spots opened up in the past few years? No, I didn't think so. And I see the names on the door of half of the skyboxes -- I know the reality of that situation.

 

[BulldogBlitz]

It's the free corn dogs and booze that makes for a better crowd in red sticks.

 

[wtw2400]

I've never been to Alex Box, but it just doesn't present well on TV. It looks a bit cheap. Maybe it's just because there is too much aluminum. It's still one of the nicest college stadiums. I just feel like they missed the mark a bit, given their history and resources.

As for Dudy Noble, weekend attendance has been good, but the crowds are just dead this season. Getting owned by A&M on SBW weekend didn't help. There have been some good moments, but the grandstand area is just missing something. I expect the new stadium will weed out a lot of the old farts who wither don't come or oppose emotion and make room for the next generation.

I agree. I did not expect to see so many bleachers. But it does not present itself as a problem like at Dudy Noble. At Dudy Noble, the bleachers and the Chairbacks are split up and it looks pieced together and ugly. Yes Dudy Noble can be the best atmosphere in the nation on Super Bulldog Weekend. There is no question about that. But what about a regular weekend? This weekend at LSU they did not have their spring football game and they still packed the stadium. I asked an LSU fan and he said "its just a regular Saturday". And I checked their Attendance records and they were all 12,000+. (Saturdays game was about a lil over 11,000).

I hate to say this being the diehard state fan i am. But I enjoyed Alex Box a lot better. Its the only SEC Stadium I can say that right now. I will take a look at Tuscaloosas this weekend as their stadium looks nice too. But for any of you that have not visited these stadiums check them out. Ive been to every road weekend except Los Angeles and Gainesville this year and it kind of brings comparison points between Dudy Noble and others. Our stadium is not trash by any means but its just time for renovations. The Yankees and the Red Sox did it. Cohen is our man. What we as a fanbase have to realize is that 2007 was really our first year as a decent Athletic Department because of all the dumb decesions that happened in the past that continue to plague us today with this lifetime season ticket holders. I dont mind that if they actually SHOWED UP. I literally have a row to myself in the chairbacks every weekend I go(actually I just buy General Admission and just sit in the chairbacks) bc of the lack of people that show up. Idc if these people are 15 or 75. The fact is we look so dumb on TV when we are #3 and still have the empty seats on TV whereas Alex Box has 0 issues with fan support and vocals.

We really have great Athletics. Lets help continue it to grow. And remember. We are pro MSU fans not anti Ole Miss fans. I live in Alabama so I could easily just become an anti alabama fan. But I move pass them and focus on my team. I have lived in Mississippi and trust me when I say Alabama fans are 10x more obnioxous than an Ole Miss fan could dream of being. Lets support our teams so we can actually win National Titles like Vanderbilt, South Carolina and LSU have done. I hate to be the one to say it, but we have ZERO titles. Lets be proactive now because whatever happened in the past didnt work.

I agree with pretty much everything you all have said. I enjoy this board so much! Thanks and Go Dogs!(PS sorry for the lengthy write but when I get excited, I cant stop typing about my dogs!)

 

[Palos verdes]

Trying to compare the LSU and MSU fanbases is useless. They're completely different animals altogether. We will always have a more placid atmosphere at DNF, compared to what you'll see at the box. It's a cultural difference.

 

[HammerOfTheDogs]

The Left field Lounge is the Grove of SEC baseball

Old farts, living in the past.

 

[fireworks4jeffy]

I couldn't agree with you more about their baseball fans being completely different than their football fans. I went to an OM-LSU series wearing an OM shirt a few years back, and they were surprisingly hospitable.

I kind of think that SEC baseball fans in general are more laid back than football, but it's especially evident at that ballpark.

 

[tatedog]

There is a big difference between the women in the Grove and LFL, Mutt. There are still some premenopausal women in the LFL have that have seen a championship won.