Columnist Dean Juipe: New days: Big crowds, more excitement

Dean Juipe

Thursday, Aug. 29, 2002 | 8:57 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4084.

Unlike my colleague, when I go to a football game -- and, by the way, I always sit in the stands and not the press box -- I want to rub elbows with the guy next to me. I don't want to be uncomfortable, but I want to be squeezed in and feel as if I'm part of something exciting.

For too many years, taking in a UNLV game at Boyd Stadium was the equivalent of a day at the beach. There was plenty of room to stretch out, and that's what people did.

They retreated, they reclined and -- when the Rebels were real bad -- they may have even regurgitated in what amounted to absolute privacy. There just weren't a lot of people around, and those that did show up could pretty much do as they pleased.

But no more. If the Rebels live up to their potential, those who used to wallow in the grandstands will find it's now a case of close quarters.

Las Vegans have only limited experience with such things, but a big crowd at a football game is a thing to behold. And while we'll probably never need a 100,000-seat stadium to accommodate the masses, it can still be a lot of fun if and when attendance reaches the Boyd maximum of 36,800.

When the Rebels played Arkansas in the 2000 Las Vegas Bowl it was pretty close to full, and, better yet, the enthusiasm level was contagious. Those who chose to stay at home or watch on TV truly missed something.

And never mind dwelling on the negatives of a big crowd. So what if it takes longer to weave through the parking lot? So what if you have to stand in line to enter the stadium or to get a beer or go to the bathroom? So what if you don't have a personalized vendor at your beck and call?

Those are tradeoffs for having a decent team and a solid program, something head coach John Robinson is working on. His predecessors, of course, had the same goals, yet, for the most part, they were never able to succeed.

We'll know Robinson has left his mark when we can't leave our cars parked within 100 feet of the stadium. Put it this way: The farther you're forced to park from a stadium entry point, the better your afternoon at Boyd is apt to be.

I want to have a ticket that's perceived as a valuable commodity. And I want to have to sit in my assigned seat, and not be able to saunter down closer to the field (as I used to do) simply because there were so many unoccupied ones that the ushers didn't even care.

I want the games to mean something and I want to feel the crowd roar. If I'm going to a football game, I want a full house and the sense that everyone's alive.