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A smattering of UNLV fans can be seen amid Wyoming fans during the first half of the women’s Mountain West Conference tournament basketball game Tuesday, March 9, 2010, at the Thomas & Mack Center.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010 | 7:46 p.m.
Sun coverage
Rebels fans are noticeably missing from the Thomas & Mack Center tonight.
The UNLV women's basketball team is playing Wyoming in the first round of the Mountain West Conference tournament and could have used your help.
Instead, the Lady Rebels are trailing 28-21 at halftime against a Wyoming team they are equally matched against and could probably beat. You might have made a difference.
I know this is only women's basketball. I know the handful of locals who care about the Lady Rebels are probably somewhere in the arena.
But come on, Las Vegas. This is embarrassing. The tournament is in your backyard. The players deserve better.
Just take a lesson from the Wyoming fans, who are making UNLV's home base feel more like Laramie.
They easily are spotted in the school's tough-on-the-eyes colors of yellow and brown. They stand during timeouts and cheer to the school's fight song. It was the same way for New Mexico fans earlier in the day.
Meanwhile, there were fewer than 100 UNLV fans standing during the Rebels' fight song. And that's a generous estimate.
Maybe there are more entertaining things to do in Las Vegas than root on the local university. Maybe I'm trying to make my hometown into a college town.
I should know better. See everyone Thursday night when the UNLV men take the court in the tournament against Utah in a must-win game to reach the NCAA Tournament.
Lon Kruger's team can be thankful they are competitive this year. If not, the fair weather fans wouldn't even bother showing up.
Here is a good quote from the post-game media conference courtesy of Wyoming coach Joe Legerski: "That gave us a big lift down the stretch to know we had so many fans behind us and cheering us on," Legerski said. "It gives our team energy. Even though we were are the road, it felt like a home game today." UNLV lost 60-55 ...
VegasVegas, get your facts straight. It's the transients that have nothing invested into caring about UNLV that creates "no fan loyalty". I am a native. And I am extremely loyal. Why else would I have continued to keep my football season tickets for over 10 years? Besides pure lunacy, obviously. In my experience as a TRUE AND LOYAL fan, those from Las Vegas, or those here long enough to stop calling thier original home town "home" have everything you could want in a loyal fan. If you knew anything about this town or UNLV athletics, you would know that. Those 18,000 at Sam Boyd Stadium every Saturday sure aren't the transient ones. They are the ones who gravitated to the program, or the ones who have been caring for longer than YOU'VE lived here. Before Kruger took UNLV mainstream again, those 5000 to 6000 fans at the Mack were those who have loved and followed this team for years. Why else would they be there. Sometimes I miss those days.....it was easier to leave the parking lot. All joking aside, I hope the new fans to UNLV that have found a fondness for the program gain a true passion and don't fall off the side of the earth if the program has a down year. They sure seem passionate in big games. That's a start I guess.
Never watched a WBB. Not really my cup of tea.
Lady Rebels deserve better fan support
So sorry I disappointed you Ray.
Get us a winner, might think about showing up. That's life. Deal with it.
i bet you 8 bucks Ray.. that if you didn't have to cover the game or didn't have press credentials you wouldn't have been there either. An article blasting us for not going to a woman's sports event? Whats next? The dive meet or the golf team? Friday night you will see our true colors....
@Ray-I happen to agree with you Ray, I have always been disgusted with the lack of fan support ever since my playing days for the football team back in the late 70's and early 80's. You would think with the size of the metro area and UNLV being the only game in town that we would have better support, but like these people say, "I only support a winner". They fail to realize that supporting your home town team helps bring in winners-along with winning coaches. I will always say that I love UNLV but the people of Las Vegas SUCK! (A big thank you to the few who support the program!)
i made a comment discussing the low level of play by womens basketball in general, no profanity or anything, but because I slammed a womens sport--the comment was deleted because it was not PC--this is why 100 people are at the event---it is such low quality basketball--a middle school mens game is higher level. when someone speaks the truth should they're comment be deleted????
Agreed, the only reason there is a WNBA is because the NBA (with whom the product was produced) forced ESPN to show the WNBA if they wanted the NBA contract or lifetime would still be showing the games if they still played. I think the women's game would be similar to women's hockey, only show up for the olympics. Most people don't go see a movie just for the sake of the movie being produced. It has to be a good movie. Same with sports, if the quality is not there, most will not go. Just because I am a fan of the men's basketball team and would watch them through thick and thin, doesn't mean I have to be a big fan of all other UNLV sports. You want them to do well of course, but to say you have to be a fanatic for them just because you're fanatic for basketball is a little overboard.
I don't understand what a "fair weather" fan even is. If I don't like the product, I don't buy it. It's simple. Robert De Niro is a great actor but if his movies start to suck, I'm not going to waste my money buying his movies. Put a product on the floor that we can be excited about and we will show up.
Ray,
Calling the fans out is laughable from your part. How about you call out the coach for putting such a mediocre product on the floor? Typical Vegas media. Blame the fans lol. Like unlvrunrebs said, would you have gone if it wasn't part of your job?
Me too Mrlucky. No profanity- just saying the truth-women's basketball is a joke. PC gone amok.
Letsgorebs: UNLV coach Olivier mentioned in the post-game news conference that part of attracting more fans is having a better team. So, you are 100-percent right on that comment. But it doesn't make sense for there to be only a few hundred UNLV fans out of an attendance of 4,000-plus. The tournament was in Las Vegas. Wyoming supporters managed to travel hundreds of miles for the game, when UNLV fans couldn't travel 10 miles. That is what is laughable. ...Thanks for reading and commenting. As usual, it's been a spirited debate :)
I actually really enjoy Lady Rebel games. Being a part of the band I have to be there, but the plus is that when you chant, or yell at the referee's, they can actually hear you! A friend of mine was almost thrown out for questioning a referee's call.
It really lifts the women up for fans to be there. When we played North Carolina earlier this year, the Cox was almost full. It was a great environment, even though we lost.