Home Field Advantage?

Hello All,

Once again, there will be no running diary.

I know what you are probably thinking: "What will I do without a running diary for the Duke game?!?!?!?!?!?!"

I know, I know, most of you out there have come to rely on this to help get you through the week. The groundswell of reader feedback has resonated on te highest levels, as my campaign for a Nobel is really starting to hit its stride.

However, today I want to address a topic I have talked about before, only in greater depth.

After the game the other day, a friend texted me and asked "how can we POSSIBLY struggle against Duke AT HOME?".

I thought about it for a second and then realized that this was the easiest question to answer about the entire season:

Miami has zero home field advantage.

Exhibit A: Joe Robbie was teeming with about 38,200 announced people on Saturday. Capacity? 75,540, according to the stadium's official website. Really? A 7-3 team full of young, talented players in their home finale featuring a star quarterback FROM MIAMI and they played the game in a half full stadium? Speechless.

Exhibit B: At various points, Jacory was booed throughout the game. The starting quarterback. For the home team. Was booed. The same guy that finsished the game with 300+ passing yards and two touchdowns was booed. Here's an interesting fact: Jacory won ACC Quarterback of the Week awards for his play. That is in fact the same Jacory that was booed. At home. Another interesting fact: he did all this with a thumb that might be broken. On his throwing hand.

Exhibit C: I went to school there for four years, meaning I sat in the student section for roughly 30 games in the past five seasons, meaning this would actually be more like Exhibits C-ZZZ. I have never, EVER, seen a group of people that goes quiet quicker or with more staying power than a Miami crowd. First of all, the players usually run through the smoke to relative silence, mostly because it takes the students (the key component to any college football crowd) until about halfway through the first quarter to stream in from the tailgate. Then, the crowd only cheers when asked to by the mascot, paying more attention to their drink than the game. And if the players struggle? Well, they might as well not bother playing the rest of the game, because when faced with adversity, Miami students by and large show tremendous ability to shut up or, worse, start booing. As one message boarder said rather eloquently: "I am glad our players don't have the same attitude as our fans, otherwise we would only have 3 wins this season."

First, two caveats.

Most of my observations are only about the student section, which is a limited sample. Miami's crowds are a bit different because there are so few students in the first place, but still, I think the student section makes a difference. Passion is contagious, and if the students were to stay passionate throughout the game, many others would feed off of it. Therefore, this sample works.

Second,the top 5% of Miami fans are as good as the top 5% of any college's fans. Period. They are intelligent, passionate and loyal. These are the types that know the program well. They know that this team was nothing for 40 years, rose to prominence only to fall again, rose back to the top and now finds itself working out of another valley. They know better than to boo a quarterback who has been arguably the most valuable player in all of college football (yeah, I said it) after a few bad throws in a noon game against a bad team. Or, to boo at all. This is not directed at the top 5%.

Glad we have that out of the way. Now, let's get to the heart of the issue.

1st, I have theorized for years that a lot of the problem is where the university draws its students from. There is a heavy Noertheastern influence. This in and of itself is not a bad thing, I really have nothing against New York and New Jersey (well, I do dislike New Jersey and most people from there, but who's counting?). However, college football is an afterthought. The closest thing to a big-time football team in the northeast is Rutgers or Boston College. Not exactly powerhouses. Good football up there means professional footbally, a wholly different animal. In the pros, people get paid. It is still not right to boo the home team there, but I understand it. Players make money and therefore should produce results. Expectations are a Super Bowl every season or bust. Any season not ending in a Super Bowl is an unmitigated failure. Period. that is all well and good, but that is not what college football is about. LSU fans may be obnoxious, but they at least understand the game. UF might be the Anti-Christ, but there is no denying that their fans bring it every game. If Tim Tebow plays poorly you can bet your ass they will not boo him. They understand that they wouldn't be anywhere without him, and they understand that their team might not win every game. Losing doesn't make them happy, but it also doesn't do anything to their passion. College football is ingrained in these people. It runs in their blood. So it is understandable that a student body made up of southeasterners is more inclined to embrace a struggling college team than a student body made up of Yankees. However, that doesn't mean Miami students get to act like assholes. It means they have extra work to do to figure it out and not let their douche-baggy nature lead them astray. Otherwise, I'd rather they stay home and watch replays of the Jets game from the week before and fondle themselves to the new Ed Hardy catalog.

Second, the booing issue is one that doesn't really need much explanation. You don't fucking boo your own team. You just don't. Think about how upset you'd be if the football team sat over your shoulder while you took a math test or compiled an Excel document at work...and then they booed when you messed up. You wouldn't respond well, would you? Remember when Vince Young went missing after being booed at home and people thought he might harm himself? That's how big an impact it can have. Vince Young, Mr. All World Profesional Quarterback, was so rattled the cops had to be sent to find him. If anything, you bite your lower lip, take a deep breath and then cheer LOUDER when your team is losing.

Third, you shouldn't have to rely on a mascot or a teleprompter to tell you when to make noise. I used to think that homefield advantage was a myth, and that the football took care of itself. I have argued for hours about this with my friend Ty. Hours. I still think that people make too big a deal of it when their team wins. But I have begun to reform my view. This season, I have begun to realize that there are certain areas of each game when teams need a boost. There is no such thing as a perfect game. Every team on Miami's schedule sees Miami as a huge game, no matter our record. There will be times in each of these battles when things are going against the 'Canes and the crowd can help swing things in the 'Canes favor. And yet, more and more as each campaign wears on, Miami crowds dissapear when needed. The crowd's decibel-level should not be dictated by the play on the field. It should be dictated by love of the university and love of the team. Fans should also know when they are supposed to be cheering, which brings us to our next point...

You should be watching the fucking game. Stop trying to hit on the girl next to you. Maybe 10 beers at the tailgate was enough and you don't need another one right now; maybe it can wait until halftime. Girls, I understand that not all of you are intense football fans. That doesn't give you an excuse to get sloppy-drunk and make a scene. It means you should just keep cheering, even if you're not sure why. And for the love of God, do not get mad at your boyfriend when he pays more attention to the game than you. It's his one time of the week when he is allowed to not have to deal with you. Embrace it. It could save the relationship! (I could actually write a book about how women should act at sporting events, including a requirement to wear a sundress of some kind, but I will stop here.)

Next, you should be getting in to the stadium on time. This doesn't mean at kickoff, it means at least 20 minutes before, so that you can be there for the pre-game intro that sets the mood for the game. Done and done. Imagine being a player and running out of the famed Miami smoke and emerging in to...nothing. Kind of a drain on your enthusiasm, no?

Another issue is that Miami fans are notorious bandwagon jumpers. At the beginning of the season, people rushed to join a group called "Jacory Harris for Heisman 2009". Well, I would be willing to bet a million dollars that a lot of those same people were the ones booing him on Saturday. Think the people who were chanting "Berry" on Saturday knew who he was at the beginning of the season. The majority probably didn't even care. And as soon as he has a bad game. I dread the crowd reaction...

I guess the final point is to give some Michael Scott advice:

Whenever you are going to do something, ask yourself whether an idiot would do that thing. If the answer is "yes", do not do that thing.

some examples might include:

"Would an idiot jeer an opposing player being carried off on a gurney?" Answer: Yes

"Would an idiot try to start a fight with the guy next to him over a comment like 'Hey bro, calm down.'" Answer: Yes

"Would an idiot shush someone during a FOOTBALL game?" Answer: Yes

The beautiful thing about this question is that it always works. Try it on anything. The result is stunning: you end up only doing the smart, classy thing.

Say what you want about other fans, but no one can say that LSU or UF or Penn State or Ole Miss doesn't have a homefield advantage. Their fans might be classless, racist, smarmy, stupid, redneck, crass, drunk or otherwise, but during a football game in their stadium that dissapears (for the most part) and they focus on trying to do whatever they can to help their team win. In the parking lot after? Maybe a different story. At halftime? Maybe a different story. But they are doing something right, and until Miami fans, particularly the student section, get more like them, no one should ever complain about Miami stuggling at home as opposed to on the road.

This was pretty much all I could think about after the WIN the other day. As if reading my mind, Russo sent me the following e-mail:

"Just in case you haven't written your post game blog yet I have some things for you to consider. That crowd on Saturday was bullshit. The vibe was terrible, no energy. It also reminded me yet again this season how "fair weather" most Miami fans are. The Berry chants were entertaining at first but all of the people chanting Berry over and over again were the same ones who either had no idea who Damien Berry was before this season or scoffed at the idea of him getting playing time. As soon as he has a bad game he will be dropped again. And you do NOTTTT boo your own quarterback no matter how many interceptions he throws!!! Especially when he has an injury on his throwing hand. I was appalled and you would have been too."

This, ladies and gentleman, from a girl that spent her formative years in Virginia and really only became a Miami fan four years ago. Four years in, and she already gets IT. Maybe I should've just copy-pasted this e-mail instead of writing all this. Really, it is as simple as that one paragraph. And yet, seemingly so difficult...

Always guard the inbound passer.