🏀 KuBuckets Archive

It was a beautiful day yesterday and I enjoyed it by fishing all day at the lake. I caught enough to make it financially worth while, but if I had been skunked, it still would have been a great day. I was a little surprised that when I got home last night, there was nothing on here about the football game.

You guys have the right attitude - If nobody here cares, then I don't care either! Screw the oblong ball, bring on the round one.

@nuleafjhawk I care! I watched KU fb, vb and then the royals. KU vb was the only good thing. I do like to fish.

@nuleafjhawk Because I wasn't on here updating every play yesterday, that means I don't care about the game? You're crappy attitude towards football is what's wrong with KU football. This is one area I will absolutely give Iowa St. all the credit in the world for. They've historically been almost as bad as KU in football, yet their fans have ALWAYS supported that program and shown up to games.

When people accuse KU of having spoiled fans, I agree with them because the vast majority of this fan base only supports and pays attentionto the basketball program and couldn't tell you a dn thing about any other program. KU has one of the biggest fair weathered fan bases around and they're gonna be pussed off when KU gets relegated to the American or Mountain West after the next round of realignment because nobody at KU invested in the football program to make it attractive enough for the Big 10.

@Texas-Hawk-10 Lighten up Francis.

You either know nothing about me, or pay very little attention. It's called a JOKE.

@Texas-Hawk-10 I've been contemplating your deep social commentary and I want to apologize to ALL KU fans EVERYWHERE.

It's MY crappy attitude that has made us a laughingstock in football the past few years. I had no idea that MY attitude was such a powerful force. I condemn myself and my crappy attitude and it will happen no more.

Look forward to guaranteed victories in the next nine games and whatever bowl game we go to. 9-3 should still get us to a respectable bowl. I KNOW that this will happen because YOU said so. MY attitude has been what's wrong with KU football and now MY attitude is fixed !! OH happy day.

GO SQUADRON! DO GOOD! BEAT THE OPPONENTS SOUNDLY IN THE SKIRMISH!!

@nuleafjhawk You don't want to support KU football, fine nobody's holding a gun to your head. But making jokes about better things to do than watch KU football pisses me off because all it does is reinforce the Snob Hill reputation of the KU fan base. I can tell you for sure that current football players and prospective recruits do check out sites like these to get the vibe of the fan base to help decide on where to play. The apathy and disdain the KU fan base shows towards football is one of the biggest things holding it back. Why would any of the KU mega donors want to invest in KU football when they won't get any ROI on stadium renovations because they know the stadium will be half empty within a year of those renovations so they look elsewhere to spend their money. How long has KU been trying to raise the funds to do major renovations to the stadium, but still nothing other than removing the track and some other minor stuff has been done? It's a complete joke among the donors how little money has actually been spent on football compared to basketball at KU because the donors are either too stupid or too apathetic to know that investing in the football program will make KU better as a whole. KU's biggest enrollment numbers were from 2007-2009 when the football team was actually competitive, but KU still couldn't secure the funds to renovate the stadium.

So don't tell me to lighten up about KU football when the current apathy towards to the program has crippled its ability to recruit competent players and raise sufficient funds to even do basic upkeep renovations in a timely manner. I don't want to see KU football in the American or Mountain West conferences, but that's where they're headed without any kind of investment in the football program.

@Texas-Hawk-10 Just for your information, it's the football program holding the fans back - not the other way around. Ask K-State basketball.

You can rant and rave and spew venom all you like, but let's see, I was the one who even MENTIONED football. I've listened to / watched KU football probably for longer than you've been alive. I listened to the whole entire game on the radio while I was at the lake. I didn't turn it off, or turn it to National Public Radio, or leave at halftime, I was merely surprised that no one on this board had talked about the game at all.

@nuleafjhawk said:

@Texas-Hawk-10 Just for your information, it's the football program holding the fans back - not the other way around. Ask K-State basketball.

I see Iowa State ALWAYS over 90% at Jack Trice no matter how bad the football team is. It's not the football holding the fans back. It's people never giving a shit about the football team holding the football team back because who the hell wants to play in half empty stadium and who the hell wants to give enough money to make Memorial Stadium not the worst stadium among major conference stadiums which it absolutely is.

You've been going games longer than I've been alive, good for you because your generation is the one that created that culture of not giving a shit about the football team and giving them the money to keep up with basic maintenance and upkeep. Hope you're proud of your generation for creating the apathy KU fans have towards football.

@Texas-Hawk-10

You know your not entirely correct. Rooting for a turd doesn't mean things will get better. There are many examples of what I speak of. In fact rooting for a turd could keep the powers to be from changing anything. Like putting a winner on the field.

Everybody knows KU doesn't have a strong following in football. Yet why call fans out as being the problem? Every Saturday I get up and look for the KU football game in the thousands of channels that I have. More times than not I'm able to find the game. Yet if you think I going to spend three hours of watching KU get their ass whopped I don't think so. Most days I'm tuning out by the 2nd quarter. I don't think that makes me a bad fan.

You act as if fans will fix the problem with the KU football program. Again I don't think so. Look at the Royals. The owner finally spends some money and puts a winner on the field, and what happens? The fans come out in droves.

@Texas-Hawk-10 I will defend @nuleafjhawk He has been on this site for years talking about the football team. He cares more about KU football here than most of us. He's fed up with this embarrassing program. No one out there gives a rip about what a few of us hoops fanatics writes on KUBuckets. I doubt Mr. Beatty is reading our stuff, nor is the AD. This is just a fan site. We love talking hoops, like you do, but to blame a poster on a website for the demise of a football program is laying blame at the feet of the wrong people.

@wissoxfan83 If you think my comment was specifically about one person, you are sadly mistaken. Joking or not, the attitude nuleaf showed in that post is exactly the damn problem with KU football. People think going to games and supporting the team are mutually exclusive to being satisfied with the on filed product. Those two things are not mutually exclusive. It is absolutely possible to go to the games, support the players who busted their asses week in and week out without being satisfied with the results. There's no rule against bringing signs into the stadium to voice that displeasure. 50,000 people voicing their displeasure at the stadium will make a helluva lot more impact than 25,000 silent people will.

People have withheld financial support of this program because of poor on field results for far too long. How is the program supposed to get better when they can't get the financial support necessary to have good enough facilities to compete in. This is not a chicken or egg issue like many believe. The financial and fan support has to come first, before there will ever be real.signs of progress. Why did Glen Mason leave? Why did Mangino want to leave? If Beaty is successful, why he will leave? What successful coach wants to stick around a program that won't invest in its own future?

@Texas-Hawk-10 I think I recall reading you're fairly young. Since the 80's when I attended KU it was the same problem. We went to the games as students because we had to buy them to get football tickets. No one cared then either.

I do understand your point about the double edged sword. Give to the program and it might improve. What were the numbers like when we had good teams in the early 90's and 7-9 years ago? Did giving increase?

@wissoxfan83 Yes, I graduated in 2010, was in Miami for the OB and San Antonio for the national title. Enrollment spiked after the 2007-08 year because of the success of both programs. Perkins started a fundraising drive to try and build a luxury suite on the east side of the stadium similar to what is on the west side currently. That drive got nowhere near the goal of about $30 million and it was abandoned and the little money that was raised was used on the last round renovations that widened the concourses and the other stuff that was done.

The attitude towards KU football has always been one of apathy from the older generations of people I've met over the years and that mentality has been passed down through the generations and it pisses me off because those people don't realize the impact KU football has on KU basketball. When the last round of conference realignment was going on, why wasn't KU prominently mentioned despite having an elite basketball program and one of the most profitable TV contracts in the country? It's becayse football drives TV contracts and KU football just doesn't look good on TV. How many games do we see on TV where the other team's fans are the ones making more noise than KU fans. It's not an easy or quick fix because this attitude and culture has been promoted by not only generations of fans, but also generations of administrators as well and needs. Why did Glen Mason leave KU? Why did Mangino reportedly want to leave? Why should we assume it'll be any different for Beaty if he's shows signs of progress at KU? Zenger comes from a fundraising and football background as an administrator and he's taken steps towards an all out renovation of Memorial Stadium by getting Rock Chalk Park built and getting the track removed. But now is the hardest part for him, convincing high level donors who have historically ignored football to give the tens of millions of dollars necessary to bring Memorial Stadium into the 21st century while KU football is in its darkest hours when the previous regime couldn't even raise $30 million when KU was at its peak in 2006-09.

There's other schools that have been historic doormats that have never had the issues of drawing fans that KU has. Iowa St. always has over 50,000 no matter how bad they or the opponents are, and Baylor has the Freshmen Line where the freshmen form the path for the players to run out of the tunnel onto the field. This is something that gets people invested with the program early on and keeps them coming back. These schools have also never had issues raising money for facility maintenance and upgrades and while they may not be the best facilities (McLane Stadium is a ridiculously nice stadium), they also don't turn off recruits the way KU's do.

Fixing the foundational issues with KU football as a whole is not an easy or quick fix because of people from the older generations who allowed the current issues that plague KU football to grow deep roots that won't go away and people get ridiculed for wanting to change by the vast majority of fans.

@nuleafjhawk

Howling!!!

@Texas-Hawk-10

I totally support KU football.

I want it coached by Jerrance and I want 60 potential basketball wide bodies recruited every year and trained to be basketball players, while going out each Fall Saturday trying to avoid getting hurt and playing grab football, so that we can get the TV football check AND amass an unparalleled stream of back up wide body big men, enforcers and rim protectors, plus maybe a few Charles Barkley types.

The last thing I want is for KU football to fold; that was the old me. That was before I realized KU football scholarships could legally be given to wide body basketball prospects that pretend to play a little football each Saturday, but generally just try to have as much fun as possible when they are not practicing basketball. I know we will only be able to use about 3-4 of the 60 on the basketball roster each season, but that is way more help than KU basketball is getting from KU football right now.

New Bumper Sticker and T-shirts:

SAVE KU FOOTBALL
FOR KU BASKETBALL

This dog hunts.

@Texas-Hawk-10 I'm not convinced that football success drives basketball success. None of the hoops bluebloods are considered football powerhouses. In fact if memory serves, we are the only blueblood, Duke, UK, UNC, and us to even get invited to a BCS game ever.

@wissoxfan83 Football drives conference realignment because football drives TV contracts. If KU gets left in the dust during the next round of realignment, which is very possible at this point, it will absolutely have a negative impact on KU basketball because KU basketball will be in a lesser conference which will just make it that much harder to contend.

This is how KU football success drives KU basketball success, but most people are too ignorant of this reality to make the situation better for KU football.

I wonder if anyone on the KUfootball chat site is talking about basketball?

@dylans There's a KU football site ??