About UM's football program

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source: http://whitedade.blogspot.com/

I agree with this guy 100%. UM might have a top program, but it isn't a big football school due to the reasons this guy lists:

Univeristy of Miami: Not Your Typical Big-Time College Football

University of Miami football. Yeah, you know them. The U, the Canes, the guys who brandish weapons to protect their homes over summer vacations and still manage to get arrested after making it to the NFL. One of the finest football programs in America, to be sure. But there are some things about UM football that those who have not gone here or lived in Miami would be surprised to know. If you went to a big state school with big-time football, like say Nebraska or Alabama or somewhere, you’d think because Miami is such a dominant program that it would be here just like it is where you are. Well, not so much. Most of these things stem from the fact that they play for a school full of rich kids from other places in a city that cares more about Venezuelan politics than it does about sports. But I digress. For those of you who never attended the U, or who have not experienced Miami football at its finest, here are some things about America’s most successful program that you would not expect:

1.) Games do not sell out. Unless your ticket reads “Florida State” or “Virginia Tech” chances are you have not only plunked down fifty bucks for a seat for your ass, but you will most likely get one for both your arms and at least one of your legs. And you can generally walk up to the stadium before any game and get a two-for-one deal from the scalpers. Why is this? The student body is about 8000 undergrads, many of whom are from countries where football is played with a little white ball and two nets. The rest are often too hungover to spend an hour on the Metrorail getting to the game, three hours tailgating and four hours watching the game, only to spend another two hours getting home. All of this in 90 degree weather at a stadium that most structural engineers agree should have collapsed about 9 years ago.

2.) Athletes are not Gods. This is my favorite thing about UM football. Sure, I doubt anyone on the team has problems meeting women, but I have been to several parties where people have actually LEFT when they heard football players were coming. Same with clubs. Any club football players are at you know is not going to be cool. Why? Trendy clubs in South Beach generally do not play hip-hop. Girls at UM are typically either rich Hispanic girls who would rather die than hook up with a black guy, or rich Jewish girls from Long Island or Boca who would not touch a football player until he signed an NFL contract. Then it’s on. I have seen athletes shot down over and over again on many a night out. And let me just say that Jeremy Shockey, before he was making millions and living in New York, was bumming pitchers off of Johnson and wearing jean shorts to South Beach. Enough said.

3.) Most fans didn’t even go to UM. Yeah, you know those rowdy assholes who threw battery acid on you for wearing your Temple Jersey to the Orange Bowl? They live somewhere off the Palmetto Expressway and I guarantee have never set foot on campus except maybe to tow some freshmen’s 3.25i.

4.) Alumni? What Alumni? Part of the reason the stands are so empty is because most UM students who come from out of state go home as soon as they realize that Dade County actually is populated by poor people who don’t speak English and not rich kids form the northeast. So we don’t exactly have families taking RV’s from all over the state to park in Little Havana for the weekend.

5.) We Sell beer at The Stadium. That’s right, eat your heart out, Penn State. You may have an entire stadium of 120,000 people wearing white. But can you buy beer? No, no you can’t. Take that!

6.) Students Get in Free. There are no such things as student tickets at UM. Just show up with your ID and you are in for free. Since 75% of the student body prefers to stay home rather than make the hour-long trek via train and bus to the stadium, this is rarely a problem. Unless, of course, UM plays Florida State. Then, the student section vaguely resembles Mogadishu during a food drop.

7.) We Boo the home team. That’s right. My first game was in 1998 and I remember Scott Covington getting booed after he threw an interception on our first possession, and then the kicker being serenaded with “Crosland Sucks, Crosland Sucks” every time he stepped on the field. What other college program degrades their players in such a manner? You gotta love it.

So, let’s see: Games that don’t sell out, drunken rowdy fans, people with little if any connection to the actual team and players who are judged by their playing and not their celebrity-status? What does that sound like? Oh, right. The NFL. Aside form the rigorous training and great discipline, it is no wonder so many players from UM have no problem adjusting to the NFL: they’re already playing in that atmosphere. So if any of you have a hankering to see some first-rate football (okay, not this week, but usually) and don’t want to have to fight for tickets, seat space, or convenient parking (convenient, yes, cheap no) come on down to the Orange bowl. It is pro-football at its finest. Just don’t expect a band, a big crowd or fans who cheer their team in victory or defeat. Because that ain’t how we do at the OB.

[Devilicious]

funny and oh-so-true!

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Holds true for most of their sports teams as well. When I was there, the baseball team won the College World Series like twice, and no one noticed, since A) college baseball is even more boring than major league baseball, and B) the apathy of the student body towards the sports teams.

Apathy towards school-sanctioned events was the general feeling when I was there, be it a film festival (which I had the dubious distinction of running for two years), or the sports teams. UM was basically a training ground for upscale club promoters and marine biologists. Kids didn't party on campus usually, but would dip for whichever club was lax on checking IDs that week. The rich northern kids would go to the Grove and become a statistic, and the few 'geeks' would hibernate in their dorms. Then there was the .01% of weirdos who would go to the Beach (or Downtown after March 2000) and give the club scene a try.

The "Greek System" had zero sway, since the large amount of foreign kids had no idea what the point was. I'm from the States and I'd be hard pressed to define what they were there for.

And truly enough, everyone I knew personally in school, save one, does not live here anymore. They all went back home to the United States. Thus, no alumni body to attend the games.

In general, the attitude was of general indifference, the logic usually being "I'm supporting them by paying tuition." Which I tended to agree with. I had no raging desire to go to the games unless I had nothing better to do.

[LeVeL]

Its true...the students @ UM aren't too crazy about their sports program. Also 80% of UM students dont live in South Florida, the only people that show up to games are resident south floridians.

Me living in Miami almost all my life I have never been a UM fan and never will.

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God, when I was there, the general topic of conversation amongst the students was about transferring. At least those from the Northeast.

They see the glossy brochures about UM, but they can't deal with the world outside of the gates on Stanford Drive. The marketing material is excellent. You see the UM campus, which is arguably one of the best looking in the country (both by landscaping and people), and the nice parts of Miami-Dade county.

Then when they get here, they're in for a major culture shock when they go beyond campus or Coconut Grove...all of the sudden there's all these people speaking Spanish and Hatian, and having to work for a living. They whine to Mommy and Daddy, and then they transfer to [s]UF[/s] Generic State School Number 12, and are happy in their little microcosm of Dave Matthews Band concerts, smoking pot, Abercrombie & Fitch, gang rapes by frat boys, and college radio.

UM as a school is decent, but what made me end up staying here was the overall community outside the gates. In a city of eccentrics, my own eccentricties are looked upon without disdain. The school was just an (expensive) means to an end.

[james stratus]

That's all pretty true. I went to UM and never really cared about how well our teams were doing. Basically the freshman and the Greeks are the biggest number of students at football games. Only the real die hard fans keep up with it afetr they are freshmen. The basketball games only have one section for students as that is all that is needed, and no one goes to the Baseball games. I think I might have gone to one baseball game the entire time I was there and I am not even sure I went to even that one.

All games are free and everyone is getting drunk on that beer, even the freshman, at each game. It needs to be that way otherwise the crowd would be really boring :P . Mostly people sort of resented that all that tuition money was going towards a palm tree and faking player grades, so school spirit in that catagory wasn't very prominent.

My only excuse to go to games on a regular basis came in the 97 season when I worked for the Athletic Department's Event Planning and Promotions. It was cool though as I had access to be on the field during games, in the Press Box, VIP boxes, and pretty much anywhere in the OB and got paid for it. Pretty much the same for the basketball games at the Miami Arena where occasionally I did the music. It was the best relationship with UM sports I ever had

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Totally.

I was there from 97-01 during the "bad years" after the big scandals of the mid-90s with falsified grades and players getting free gifts galore and all that. So the athletic dept had to work hard to restore their image...it only got "interesting" to people when the team almost went all the way in January of '01, and then came through for real the next year. Everyone likes a winner and all.

But in general, even in good times, the interest in the sports teams is largely non-existent amongst the student population. The freshmen go since the orientation people hype it up, and the Greeks go to get drunk and show off, and the Pike (I forget) kids get to shoot their little cannon off. The bulk of the crowd is local Miamians, and people from the big state-run (ick) schools who travel to see their team play.

True story, I almost incited a riot one year when UM lost to VT and I told their section of the stands that it didn't matter, because in the end, our girls look better. ;D

Different story in general with the academic experience in Miami. The school finds it hard to compete on the "activities" level, since less than five miles away are the top clubs in the country, some of the best beaches, and plenty of culture from South America and the Carribean.