[81alum]

Rando, were you at the game? Any thoughts on the atmosphere? I'd love to hear from folks who were there.

I was at the game.  Although it was supposedly sold out there were quite a few empty seats in the nosebleed sections and scattered elsewhere.  In fact, I think there were fewer people than for San Jose State which was the other game I attended.  Attendance was listed at 50,424 which is what they always list for a sold-out game, but this is ticket sales and not gate attendance.  I also saw a lot of families with kids leave at halftime.  These late starts are terrible that way.  For that matter, I am not a late person and was running low on energy before the game was over.

There were quite a few Washington fans around me in the cheap seats, and they were concentrated in  several pods.  They were relatively quiet much of the game, but there were a few occasions when they all got loud together and I thought they were letting their presence be known.

I wound up following the band around in the parking lot before the game, and it was a lot of fun--they were not depending on alums and ringers the way they had to with SJSU, since the students were back.  The Red zone was packed and loud.  But I thought the rest of the Stanford crowd was a bit sedate.  I think there was a sense of foreboding.  It was obvious to me from early on that Washington was capable of moving the ball on our team and would put up a lot of points before the game was over--and so every time we failed to score a little more air went out of the enthusiasm balloon.

Quite a few times when the Red Zone began the "GO" ..... "STANFORD" call and response thing, the rest of the Stanford fans around the stadium were silent.  In my section I enthusiastically joined in, and then one other guy about 10 rows behind me joined in, and not a single other Stanford fan.  It was as if they were saying "ah, let the young kids shout, we are too grown up for that." 

The stadium did erupt when we got the interception.  That was what the place should have sounded like more often.  But when we gave it right back things quieted down again.

All in all, I was surprised that the game did not feel louder and noisier.

[81alum]

Rando, were you at the game? Any thoughts on the atmosphere? I'd love to hear from folks who were there.

I was at the game.  Although it was supposedly sold out there were quite a few empty seats in the nosebleed sections and scattered elsewhere.  In fact, I think there were fewer people than for San Jose State which was the other game I attended.  Attendance was listed at 50,424 which is what they always list for a sold-out game, but this is ticket sales and not gate attendance.  I also saw a lot of families with kids leave at halftime.  These late starts are terrible that way.  For that matter, I am not a late person and was running low on energy before the game was over.

There were quite a few Washington fans around me in the cheap seats, and they were concentrated in  several pods.  They were relatively quiet much of the game, but there were a few occasions when they all got loud together and I thought they were letting their presence be known.

I wound up following the band around in the parking lot before the game, and it was a lot of fun--they were not depending on alums and ringers the way they had to with SJSU, since the students were back.  The Red zone was packed and loud.  But I thought the rest of the Stanford crowd was a bit sedate.  I think there was a sense of foreboding.  It was obvious to me from early on that Washington was capable of moving the ball on our team and would put up a lot of points before the game was over--and so every time we failed to score a little more air went out of the enthusiasm balloon.

Quite a few times when the Red Zone began the "GO" ..... "STANFORD" call and response thing, the rest of the Stanford fans around the stadium were silent.  In my section I enthusiastically joined in, and then one other guy about 10 rows behind me joined in, and not a single other Stanford fan.  It was as if they were saying "ah, let the young kids shout, we are too grown up for that." 

The stadium did erupt when we got the interception.  That was what the place should have sounded like more often.  But when we gave it right back things quieted down again.

All in all, I was surprised that the game did not feel louder and noisier.