I'm sure the band does this to a certain extent, but they are just a part of a larger, coordinated effort, that needs to take place.

The Aggie Pack leaders weren't always so terrible. When I was a student (2006 to 2010), they regularly got crowds of students to attend games even though we were just not that fun to watch. Not to mention regularly organizing caravan-style roadtrips to away games like Portland State and Cal Poly. It's a shame the football and men's basketball teams weren't that great at the time -- good teams + good student section would have been a sight to see.

Serious question: Have you considered becoming an Aggie Pack intern? Sometimes all it takes is just one dedicated individual who has the energy and commitment to attract like-minded folks to the organization to improve it. Just an unsolicited suggestion!

+1!!! ... and you never know what it can lead to... an internship or job in athletics, a job at The Aggie, letters of recommendation, even a position with AST!

X-)

I was there when Judson and Adam D were the yell leaders. They were great and they knew their stuff. I could tell from the grass endzones that the leaders were disorganized and didn't really have a plan.

Interesting observations. I loved fans going on the field at the Toom, the Banda, etc. ... Something that has struck me as forced was the whole basketball team locking arms after every game as a tradition for one song, maybe its me.

I like the tradition of the Rec Hall being Rec Hall, having 8,000 seats, having upper bleachers that form a wall to keep contests with 2,000 or 3,000 intimate, the upper sections not having gaping holes, IM photos in the hallways, and not having a giant section of fenced off pipes right in front of two major facilities. The entryway multi colored wall tiles for donors were fine, too, vintage 1970s. Do I sound grumpy enough?

There certainly haven't been any sell-outs lately, but one thing to keep in mind is that even in a sell-out scenario, the Aggie Pack doesn't "look" full. On paper each seat is allocated a certain amount of real estate on the bleacher, say 18". The students stand closer than that and crowd toward the center. There seems to be a reluctance to oversell facilities these days, so the edges of the section won't ever fill in.

I get the idea of giving the students great seats since they are helping to fund the stadium, but there was something lost with not having the AP in the North End Zone. That added a dimension to the coin toss that you did not want to be an opponent facing north in the 4th quarter. They used to pack that grandstand like sardines. As I remember, you just showed your ID and got waved in so they probably weren't counting too closely.

As a current student I can't tell you how much it annoys me that we are loud on offense, don't make any noise on defense and that we can only seem to get truly loud when free stuff is thrown. It's ridiculous. I spent a lot of the fourth quarter trying to hush the students while we were on offense and then get us loud on defense. Especially during those big third downs. I absolutely love football and love this school but it's hard to sit in the student section when there is no good direction from the Aggie pack leaders. — Fiat Lux

Fiat Lux: Go down during the game and pull one of them aside and teach them. They don't know football.
Or just grab the Mic. DO IT FOR US.

Can't we just forward this discussion to the Aggie Pack?

Go for it, man. Once they find out its from me it will go in the trash :-x

Bossy cow cow is unique to the Davis campus and “perish the thought” it’s traditional. I once hosted a prospective student on a visit to Utah State at the request of my pastor and while we settled down to watch college football when I told him I went to Davis he immediately intoned “bossy cow-cow” to my amazement. He was from Texas A&M so I replied hullabaloo Kanick kanick (sp?) I think some of the school spirit was lost when UCD decided to ditch the traditions (cheerleaders in denim on milk cans for instance) and try to go Hollywood. Why not celebrate your traditions and who you are instead of trying to be like everyone else? I am not saying cling to everything but something has been lost. Thank goodness the band-uh is at least not wearing pajamas and marching Corp style.

/rant off

Bring back the actual farm tractor (??) and whistle!

I've been hearing the Bossy Cow Cow since I arrived at UCD in 1972. I cringed then and still do when I hear it. I have nothing against tradition at all. I wish we still had the old steam engine blaring away whenever the Ags scored.

I don't think that the Bossy Cow Cow represents "who we are." To the contrary, I think it represents who we were many, many years ago. The modern university has grown and changed dramatically from being basically a agriculture school. UCD is now tremendously varied academically and incredibly more diverse racially and culturally and the Bossy Cow Cow does not represent who today's students are. I think most of them find it so corny that it's embarrassing.

Just my 2 cents worth....

+1

(Y)

They'll be in Pajamas on Friday, October 27th (Pajamarino).

But that’s what makes it charming, harmless and fun and keeps us all from taking ourselves so seriously. I hardly think that an innocuous cheer is somehow going to threaten diversity? I am sure there are administrators or marketers that don’t like. Anyway my perspective and I was in the band-uh so that may bias my view.

OK ban Bossy Cow Cow and we will have a protest. Maybe the alums should sing it. It’s a very funny chant our students should experience to sing to their children when they can. It is NOT an embarrassment, but part of our culture. My wife’s grandfather was a WW1 vet and UCD grad (1921) always recalled it as he was dairy rancher in El Centro and could relate. She even remembered it!! Sung to her.

FWIW I hate bossy cow cow and found it embarrassing, not funny, as a student. When I brought my friends to a game, that was the moment when they wondered why they listed to me

I had an interesting conversation today with one of my undergrad interns. He is a former HS varsity football player at nose guard. He’s in his third year. I asked him why the student section is rather empty. He had two reasons. First, the team has sucked for the last few years, “but it sounds like they are somewhat better this year.” Its no fun watching the team get analilated. Second, NEAR ZERO marketing to the students on campus. I remember when i was an undergrad (i really do), pep rallies, banners on campus, it was common knowledge who we were playing and when. Hook these students now, and increase your donations from them once they get into the work force. Aggie Pack needs some reworking, as has been discussed here numerous times.

How many people work in ICA in administration? ... I see one glaring hole, but won't address it here... huge budget... priorities ... if Brayton's shoes aren't filled, delegate top priorities.

Bob Dunning in the Davis Ent today advocated Chancellor May take us into FBS football to play USC.

I can't believe he says that. That would be a terrible decision for the Ags.

He clearly doesn't have a clue! I wasted 60 seconds of my time reading his article. If Davis had an actual Sports Beat he'd be raked across the coals.

I would support a move to FBS. We have the right guy in Hawk to take us there. Yes, we’ll be “bad” for a few years, but can you imagine winning a game against Cal or UCLA?

We already play them for body bag games. Might as well do it with an increased focus on winning.

My only question is, if we move to FBS, does this increase our budget somehow?

If we would have won against EWU and NAU we’d be thinking FBS.

In three years, we need to seriously start thinking about transitioning. I believe Chancellor May, AD Blue, and Coach Hawk will take us there.

Let’s wake the sleeping giant!

Let’s compete against Cal and UCLA!

Let’s give our billionaire alumni reason to open up their wallets!

Let’s have closer games!

Why don't we get to FCS playoffs before we start talking about the FBS... or even just a couple winning seasons in D1...

I love the enthusiasm, but if we beat NAU and EWU, we're not thinking FBS, we're thinking playoffs. In I-AA. Dunning is smart, and this idea has been in his head for awhile. Big Oregon guy.

Zythe, attempting such a move involves 2 big issues.

1. Big stadium expansion and Athletic Training Facility. There are seating minimums required, attendance etc. ... $50 Million? $70 Million? BD was asked about this a few years back. He doesn't have to raise it.

2. TV. There are big dollars at play depending on affiliation. There have also been rumblings about college football / college sports dividing up again, maybe 3 tiers in DI football, conferences shuffling, etc. Complicated. There may be a time where we are forced to make a decision.

Excellent points! I would add the biggest issue is attracting and landing D1 recruits!

There is no compromise for size, speed and athleticism on the field at the D1 level. The competition is tough as California ranks 3rd behind Texas and Louisiana as the state recruiters nation wide visit.

UCD simply can't compete at that level. One doesn't just "compete" against Cal or UCLA...the athletes have to be on the field and that starts with signing up the Jimmy and Joes.

Take a look at what UCD is up against...
Cal
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KbCydniGMw

San Diego State
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FGQ7ExKt54

UCLA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvQWYW79T6s

Saying FBS will somehow let us compete against Cal/UCLA is disingenuous.

The only practical place for Davis is the MWC, which is the 7th best out of 10 FBS conferences. The best of the MWC, like Boise and SDSU, can compete with stronger teams in the Pac 12 (BSU taking WSU to overtime, SDSU beating Stanford) but that won't happen every year. Most of the time Pac 12 games will be set up as bodybag games just like they are now.

When it comes to scheduling, you're looking at 1-2 Power 5 games per year. Maybe one of them will be a home game, but even that's not guaranteed and I've heard that's kind of a last resort for P5 teams. The rest of your OoC games will be an FCS game (so at least there's still room for Sac!) and 1-2 games against random Group of 5 teams. You're also playing games on "me-too" platforms (CBS Sports Net, ESPN2/ESPNNews, Facebook) at like midnight East Coast time.

If Davis gets good enough such that MWC makes sense, then sure let's talk about moving. But there's nothing particularly glamorous about FBS, at least how UCD would experience it.


Also, side note -- it's entertaining to see the SDSU athletics center hyped up like that. It just feels like a normal office building when I'm on the academics floor.

Who are top FCS programs out west? EWU, Montana, NAU? We have a much better chance of standing out here if we win, become a regular playoff contender, and challenge for some championships. ... and Berkeley is up in 2 years.

Berkeley under massive debt burden from their new facilities.

I'm all for a solid training table and injury rehab, but a lot of this stuff looks like fluff. ... Maier, Doss, Rodgers and Bua seem to do fine without the glam.

there's one other requirement. a conference that wants us! why would the Pac-12 want to add 2 more teams (they are not gonna be the Pac 13) and if they were, they'd head into Texas for big money. We'd have to buy in, and probably buy out of our current conferences. Mountain West? Again, us and who else, because conferences want to have a balanced number to make two equal-numbered divisions? If the MWC lost teams, and needed teams to get to the minimum for two divisions (i think its 12) so they can have a championship game, made. else, no. to be honest, Sac is probably more attractive and they have a stadium that meets the minimum. I would think the Sac Metro area has bigger TV numbers than the greater Dixon-Woodland Metroplex.

and, there's the Tittle IX stuff. add more football scholarships and either add the same for women's, or drop a men's sport.

ain't gonna happen. there is no way a California school will make the transition up. just too expensive, and no suitable conference to jump into.

they mentioned South Alabama in the comments to the article. they had a stadium in place (old, but meets requirements). they are in a rabid football area and had resources (remember they showed up with a Semi with their logo?). they had a conference (a weak one, but a conference) who wanted them.