Covering University of Colorado sports, mostly basketball, since 2010

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

On the C-Unit

Ah, the C-Unit.  What was once a merry band of maybe six kids has turned, in a little under a decade, into a force of nature.  Of they myriad of reasons why the Buffs enjoy one of the nation's best home court advantages, their presence is certainly near the top.  It's largely hyperbole, but they can often be the difference between winning and losing.  (I'm sure Arizona would rather not have to drive into their face on a last-second possession ever again.)
Welcome to Boulder.  From: the CU Independent.
In an attempt to defend last year's designation as a "Student Section of the Year" finalist, they've been pushing for votes in this year's contest.  If you're so moved, you can vote for them here.

That's all well and good, and I'm proud of how far the group has come since their humble beginnings.  The crew running the show deserves all the praise they have received from the mainstream media (even some more).  However, unlike last year when I voted for them on multiple occasions, I will not be casting a ballot for the C-Unit in this year's Student Section of the Year competition.  The fact of the matter is, they haven't earned it.

Sure, the core of the group, built around the famous 50 who traveled to LA last March, is as loud and active as ever.  Their use of the Big Heads has only improved with experience, and the first 10-or-so rows in the student section are legit and engaged. From a larger standpoint, the packed student section for the CSU game was one of the more impressive sights I've ever seen (the roar at tip-off will stay with me until the day I die).
Students, on students, on students.  From: the BDC
 There's no doubt that the C-Unit is quite good, and has the potential to be the best in the country.

The problem is consistency.  Sometimes they just forget to show up to games.  Against UCLA, one of the biggest home games of the year, the section was half-filled (at best).  Against Cal, a crucial conference test, that number ticked up to maybe 2/3rds full.  That's just not acceptable, not when compared to what the students have been doing the last few years.

"Oh, but the slopes just got some snow!" "The X-Games are in town!" "It's the Saturday before classes start up, and I don't want to be on campus yet!" "It's cold outside!"  These are but a sample of the excuses I've heard as to why the student section has been sporadically filled outside of two games this season (CSU and Stanford).  (My eye-rolling response is implied)

Excuses are fine, and no one is saying that the C-Unit isn't a good student section. But, as the old adage says, "90% of life is showing up."  Attendance is what separates the best from the rest, and the C-Unit has let themselves down this season.

You want my vote?  You think I'm full of shit, and don't know what I'm talking about?  Fine, prove me wrong and fill up sections 13-17.  Not just when it's convenient, but EVERY DAMN GAME!   It's not as if the team doesn't deserve it.  I know that 3,000+ are going to be there for Arizona in a fortnight, but what about ASU on the 16th?  Can anyone in the lead C-Unit group honestly tell me they think they'll have a full section that day?  ("The slopes beckon, brah..." *bong hit*) 
The team needs this rowdy setting every night.  From: the BDC
That ASU game may end up being just as important, if not more, then the 'Zona tilt for CU's final standing.  If you bother to show up on the 14th, then there's no reason not to show up the following Saturday.  We need you, GET YOUR ASS TO THE STADIUM!

The C-Unit has set a pretty high standard over the last two season, now they just have to learn to continue to live up to it...

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Theres more to life then cu basketball, like homework and yes maybe the x games. You expect attendence to be at 100% every game? Were not Kansas yet. How can you be this picky when the student section is exponentially better then only a few years ago? Also, characterizing cu as a bongripping stoner school bugs me. You only reinforce CUs less flattering reputations.

Anonymous said...

I can tell you that we are not getting to the level of big time basketball with the fair-weatherness our fans tend to show. Simple math tells you that filling our stands half the time does not compare to filling Cameron Indoor all the time. (Are you really using homework as and excuse? I'm sure you can find a few hours somewhere in between Wasted Wednesday and Thirsty Thursday.)

Second, if you don't like CU's stereotype then attend another school. That's like saying people in Kansas are tired of all the corn jokes.....uh duh! An off handed comment does little to support or oppose CU's reputation. How about not lighting up on campus in April? That would be a start.

Keep up the solid work Rumblin!

A.B. Homer said...

I stormed the court at a Division II women's volleyball game.

Anonymous said...

I didnt mean to hate. I really enjoy the blog rumblin, keep up the good work.

RumblinBuff said...

It's all good. This is coming from a place of love. I love the C-Unit, and want them to be as good as they can be (once upon a time I was a member). The team needs them to play their best at home. With a crowd like we saw against CSU, no team can beat the Buffs at the CEC.

Aaron Jordan said...

I agree with pretty much everything you said Rumblin.

A little less than a decade ago, the student section was pathetic, as was the state of the program. You can't really say that both the team and the students have made a gigantic turnaround. I think the C-Unit is heading in the right direction, but they shouldn't feel like they have crossed the finish line yet.

We need to add some consistency in our support to be considered one of the top-tier courts to play at. I think we have the passion and the ability to, but like one poster said above, we need to get rid of the fair-weather-ness that is going on before we are fully respected at the CEC.

To the people saying there are other things in life besides CU Basketball. You are absolutely right, but there are 2 caveats with that mentality. The first, is we will never be a top tier program if we make excuses about why we won't show up to games. Maybe that is okay with you, it's not for me. Secondly, the student section is only a couple thousand seats in the CEC, and there are somewhere in the neighborhood of 30,000 CU Students. There should be no reason we can't fill those seats when the team is this good. Students at other universities that have raffle systems would kill for a team as good as ours with tickets as available as ours.

RumblinBuff said...

Over in the AllBuffs comment section of this articles, someone raised a salient point about the first five rows on the East side. The oldies who have bought those seats rarely show up, and they deserve the same wag of my finger since those seats are constantly visible on the TV broadcast.

I'd put money on those being scalper and corporate seats, though, so I don't know what you can really do if the secondary market isn't using them.