The Rowdy is Gone at Gallagher-Iba

Posted by
on February 2, 2010M at 1:47 pm

So, Oklahoma State wants to bring the rowdy back to Gallagher-Iba Arena. 

It might want to start by bringing back the mildly interested or slightly excitable first.
 
Monday night brought the biggest home game so far for the Cowboys this season. Texas. ESPN. Big Monday spotlight. The announced attendance was just over 11,000, the Cowboys’ biggest crowd of the season, but really, it looked like there were more than 2,500 empty seats.
 
Where the crowd was concerned, Big Monday was a Big Bummer.
 
How could Cowboy fans not fill the place, not pack the house?
 
When I moved to Oklahoma City a little over a decade ago, I remember thinking that no one had a better environment for college basketball than OSU. Sure, it was good at Duke and Kansas and North Carolina, but it wasn’t any better than OSU.
 
And when Gallagher-Iba expanded in 2000, going from its bandbox capacity of 6,381 to its current expanse of more than 13,000 seats, I hiked up to the top row of Section 322 and talked to some folks who were so happy because they’d finally been able to get tickets to games.
 
Those days seem so long ago.
 
Where did the rowdy go?
 
Some people say that it disappeared with the escalation of ticket prices. I don’t buy that. OSU sold over 11,000 season tickets. Cowboy fans bought tickets in droves. But they aren’t always using them.
 
It’s befuddling. Like everyone else, I’ve heard the arguments that some people are still upset about the way the Sutton era ended and that others think these Cowboys need to play more defense. To the first group, get over it. To the second group, maybe the Cowboys would be inspired to play better defense if they were playing in front of a packed house that was going bonkers.
 
Would a couple thousand more people have made a difference Monday night against Texas? It’s hard to say. I always think an engaged home crowd is worth between three and six points, and the Cowboys lost to the Longhorns by a dozen. Still, Texas had a true freshman who played the game of his life; maybe he’d have been a little more intimidated if GIA had been more hostile.
 
I don’t know where the rowdy has gone at Gallagher-Iba, but I do know this — it’s sad that it isn’t there any more. The atmosphere in that arena was something special. Now, it’s nothing special at all.
 

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Comments
Comment by joe on February 3, 2010 @ 9:13 am

how about an article “Why has the Rowdy NEVER been at OU”??

Comment by Charles Prater on February 3, 2010 @ 11:02 am

I have been an OSU BB season ticket holder for over 30 years and have experienced the ups and downs of the program when coaching changes were made.

The “Rowdy” occured during the “Sutton” coaching era (Eddie’s success in going to two final fours) but was disappearing during Sean’s final year (start of the downward trend).

Coach Ford has been unable to reverse the trend due to several reasons, some of them beyond his control, such as higher ticket prices and the way the departure of the Suttons’ was handled.

The only way to return the “Rowdy” is to recruit more talented players, schedule better teams for non-conference home games and be a conference champion contender. Otherwise, the “Gone” will continue and attendance will drop to an average (maybe) of 6,000 per home game. I been through these cycles before.

It also wouldn’t hurt for Coach Ford to be more personable with fans and praise them for their support in his post game commentary. It worked for Eddie.

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