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Leaving Early - Not a Rant

:eek: wow, never heard of that. Must be a local rule. Don't think I would back in either.
I will wager that 40 bucks that PSU makes more money off of parking (selling of and enforcement of combined) than any other large university.
 
The deck. I park downtown and walk. Gets the blood flowing. I don’t have what I would call a long commute, 2:30, but that means getting home at midnight by the time we get to the car, grab some travel grub and get out of town.

I stay, maybe for the Ridge Riley award, then bolt. I don’t mind folks leaving, but if you are moving while there is wrestling going on, I will be telling you to sit down. Goes for any sport.
 
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There have been times I have left with the last match winding down. The reason over the years has generally been a combination of parking garage and i needed to be out because of having to pick up call shortly after the match.
I haven't parked in the garage in 4 or 5 years now and I haven't left early since. Sometimes inow f time allows i may linger to say hello to someone I haven't seen in a while or to tell a kid "nice match". Sometimes still need to worry about call, but not parking in garage has eliminated that freaking headache.
 
Haven't been to an event at PSU since graduating in '77. I am a season ticket holder for the Tampa Bay Lightning missing only a couple games a year. It amazes me how many people leave early, even with the score tied. I stay for the whole game, listen to the stars of the game, and most of the people have gone, so the traffic isn't too bad.
I do think it is disrespectful to leave early from wrestling since it is more of an individual event. I agree, the big guys work as hard as anyone, and they all work their butts off to get out there. With a team game, especially the pros, I think it is less of a problem. Although when interviewed most of the players like to hear the crowd, they get paid either way.
 
Whenever I make the journey out to State College, I'm always at a hotel. Once we park my car at the Comfort Suites, we never get in it again until we go home. Uber is my friend! So I always stay in my seat till the end of the match, then Uber over to Primanti Bros to rehydrate.
 
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I think an idea is for those board members in attendance friday to watch for this and report their findings.

those that dont report back, well know are those that left early and we can exact a heavy-heavy toll for this insuboArdination.
 
I’ll admit I leave early at times. My wife and kids always stay and I leave so as not to get stuck in the garage...too much aggravation. We attend every match. If I can watch it on tv I am just as happy and would rather save the twenty minute wait.
 
I used to bail on heavy every single time. I hate traffic and the parking garage and Atherton lot were very frustrating. Then I discovered the Fraser Street parking garage. Always empty on Sundays. A nice walk to and from Rec Hall. So now I stay. When the match is over, however, it’s all business.

All right! I'll add a third alternative which has an upside and a downside. Downside - it's the longest walk. Upside? It's the Creamery parking garage and you can stop at the Creamery on your way in or out. Coming to the match, it takes you the length of the walk to eat your cone, so it's perfectly timed. :D
 
backing out of the parking spot to me is more aggravating then sitting in the stalled traffic that you wait in.

and....

I know its some of you guys not letting me back out :mad:;):eek::cool::)
Dunke, what’s the year, make, model and plate number of your car and I will make sure to let you out next time...
 
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I make it to about two meets a year so I never leave early, despite having a two hour drive home.

I will leave PSU football games early if it is a boring game, blow out, or bad weather. But some of those I stay to the end also.
 
I make it to about two meets a year so I never leave early, despite having a two hour drive home.

I will leave PSU football games early if it is a boring game, blow out, or bad weather. But some of those I stay to the end also.

I envy those with a shorter drive than mine. I now have "only" a 3 hour drive each way instead of the previous 4 hour one. It was always worth it to me - except 2008-9, when I questioned my sanity a bit.
 
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I envy those with a shorter drive than mine. I now have "only" a 3 hour drive each way instead of the previous 4 hour one. It was always worth it to me - except 2008-9, when I questioned my sanity a bit.

For Sunday duals I have a 3.5 hour drive home so I have in the past watched 285 from the tunnel and then sprinted (or at least my old man version of sprinting) to the parking garage. In recent years I gave that up and just stick around for a while and let the traffic clear out of the garage. If they would just leave the gates up like they used to do getting out of the garage would be easy, but they have to make things difficult for us.
 
I was reading a thread on HR that I'd like to ask others about. You represent a small number of overall fans, but when you're being serious, good info follows.

So my questions are (some general, some specific, so all can contribute);

What percent of a Rec Hall crowd leaves at the last bout, mostly prior to?
Why do they leave early?
If you have season tickets or attend regularly, what do you do?

Background: I'm just curious. In my lifetime, I've heard; "won't be stuck in traffic", "heavyweight is boring", "we had the dual won", "my wife made me", and others.

While most matches end at 285, the Lehigh dual, for example, ended at 184...and it appeared just as many left early...so I'm not convinced the heavyweight thing holds water...but I'd like to know.

Interesting that this happens in every sport. My interests are broad, so we attend a variety of different sports.

I usually stay. Especially this season with Cassar at heavy. If I were tempted to leave early the reason would be the parking deck. It has gotten really hard to get out of. In a short duel like Kent State when most of the matches did not go 7 minutes I probably spent more time in the parking deck than I did in Rec Hall. They insist on having the gates down even though they do not charge which makes exiting very slow. It would help if they just raised the gates for the one hour after the match ends.
 
I never leave any PSU sporting event (football and hockey season tickets; wrestling frequent SROs) early, and often drive 6 hrs round trip the day of the event. That said, I understand others have different priorities and considerations than I do.

I suspect most leave to try and beat the traffic, although drinking and tailgating are probably also factors for football depending on kickoff time. Interestlingly for the Iowa football game, the weather really stunk (constant cold rain), but the stadium remained a constant 60% full although the game was not in doubt late.

I think staying or leaving is the difference between being more a fanatic than casual fan.
 
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I never leave any PSU sporting event (football and hockey season tickets; wrestling frequent SROs) early, and often drive 6 hrs round trip the day of the event. That said, I understand others have different priorities and considerations than I do.

I suspect most leave to try and beat the traffic, although drinking and tailgating are probably also factors for football depending on kickoff time. Interestlingly for the Iowa football game, the weather really stunk (constant cold rain), but the stadium remained a constant 60% full although the game was not in doubt late.

I think staying or leaving is the difference between being more a fanatic than casual fan.
Does not cramming into the uncomfortable rec hall benches (or BS bleachers for that matter) make me less of a fan or just smarter?
 
Does not cramming into the uncomfortable rec hall benches (or BS bleachers for that matter) make me less of a fan or just smarter?

Probably neither. The OP is about fans who leave early. It is not about fans who never arrive. Smart fanatics can also watch BTN stream, listen, or follow and Twitter.
 
I stay for the entire meet when I go with my friends.
I leave during the 197lb match when I go with my Dad.
 
Here's a leaving early story...
Here’s my leaving early story. My Mom & Dad were watching game 7 of the 1960 World Series, at his Dad’s house. My Mom & Dad lived about 5 houses down the road and after the Yankees tied it up, my Dad had enough and left to walk home, my Mom walked in later and told him about Mazeroski‘s walk off home run to win the series. We give him a hard time about it to this day. Needless to say, I never leave early.
 
Dunke, what’s the year, make, model and plate number of your car and I will make sure to let you out next time...

No way....there are HR fans everywhere and I dont want my car keyed when brands finally brings the hawks back to central pa.
 
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As a former owner of an extended cab 3/4 ton truck with an 8 ft bed I completely disagree with not allowing you to back in. I could park that truck in a parking garage somewhat easily by backing in but it would probably have taken an hour to wedge it in there forward.
 
I go to very few Gopher duals nowadays because of the traffic coming out. I think we were in this shitty lot for almost an hour before we got out, last time I went. Now, I'm sure there's some better way to do it, but it's definitely an added headache that hinders the chances of me driving up to the dreadful twin cities, parking, and watching the Gophs.
 
Here’s my leaving early story. My Mom & Dad were watching game 7 of the 1960 World Series, at his Dad’s house. My Mom & Dad lived about 5 houses down the road and after the Yankees tied it up, my Dad had enough and left to walk home, my Mom walked in later and told him about Mazeroski‘s walk off home run to win the series. We give him a hard time about it to this day. Needless to say, I never leave early.

Ha Ha, I guess I wasn't the only one that happened to. I was in second grade in 1960 and just got off the bus from school. I followed the Pirates and couldn't stand the Yankees. The game was in the ninth inning and the lady crossing guard was listening to the game on the radio in her car. I listened for a little while and decided to go home to catch the rest of the game. I only lived two houses up the street, but needless to say, I missed Maz's homer.
 
What percent of a Rec Hall crowd leaves at the last bout, mostly prior to?
Why do they leave early?

Hmm... seems like there might be an element of human nature involved here as the percentages are similar for both leaving matches at HWT & leaving Mass immediately after Communion... and what is the commonality?... the parking lot! :D

Ergo, mystery solved: some folks dislike queuing for parking egress more than they like the human activity in which they are participating. :rolleyes:

As for me, I fall into the category of disliking queuing for parking egress, but love the activity so much more that, like stated above by some others, I’ll stick around taking it all in “killing time” to allow parking issues to die down.

I can also understand feeling it is disrespectful to the athletes (sports), musicians (concerts), actors (theater), et alii (etc.), ... but as a paying consumer, I think you have every right to do it as long as you don’t impact others who chose to stay to the end. :)
 
I have a 1 hour and 45 minute to Happy Valley, which I very happily take every time I have the pleasure of seeing our team wrestle. My biggest complaint is not that the Heavies are boring or wanting to beat traffic. Instead I have occasionally lamented that the matches finish too quickly. I remember thinking that after the Kent State dual.

I feel very fortunate to watch our guys and the idea of leaving early seems preposterous to me. Would you go to a Broadway show and leave before the final act concludes?
 
Thanks Roar for this Thread. Like others, I consider it disrespectful to leave early.

I have 3 hours door to door and 15 to 20 more minutes means nothing.

The two individuals that sit in front of me me often leave early and it drives me crazy.

Finally, I do remember that the public comments around Byers to show respect during Nick's matches and stay seated. When a couple of people got up to go at the next dual, some fans grumbled at them for leaving. I liked that peer pressure.

My solution for that minority who leave early is simple. Do what they do at the Oscars, hire a seat sitter. At the Oscars when one goes to the restroom, a volunteer sits in their seats so the attendance is full.

As season ticket holders you have first dibs to buy SRO tickets. Buy them, give them to your seat sitter, when you leave, your SRO friend replaces your ass in the seat.

You then showed respect to Nick or Anthony and grew the sport. Win Win!
 
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Hmm... seems like there might be an element of human nature involved here as the percentages are similar for both leaving matches at HWT & leaving Mass immediately after Communion... and what is the commonality?... the parking lot! :D

Ergo, mystery solved: some folks dislike queuing for parking egress more than they like the human activity in which they are participating. :rolleyes:

As for me, I fall into the category of disliking queuing for parking egress, but love the activity so much more that, like stated above by some others, I’ll stick around taking it all in “killing time” to allow parking issues to die down.

I can also understand feeling it is disrespectful to the athletes (sports), musicians (concerts), actors (theater), et alii (etc.), ... but as a paying consumer, I think you have every right to do it as long as you don’t impact others who chose to stay to the end. :)
I always just stick around and let the lemmings do what they do.

My brother and I went to Game 5 of the 1993 World Series - Curt Shilling’s amazing extra inning complete game. At the end of the game, we hung out in our seats until the ushers ushered us out, then stopped in a bar for a drink or 2. 1:15 later, we walk out and, what do you know, parking lot almost empty and no traffic.
 
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Thanks all...keep the comments coming...

% that leave early
-- Guesses in the 5%+ a little range, which amounts to 300+. Again, just a guess...and not a far-fetched number from my experience.

Why do folks leave early
-- Parking/traffic by far was the most frequent response. Others included; fighting the crowd inside Rec Hall, heavyweight being boring, and because my friends do.
-- Interesting that half a dozen or so responses were from individuals that park elsewhere (downtown, etc.), and take the casual stroll to their car, not fighting traffic al all.
-- The "boring heavyweight" comments were clarified by including a disclaimer that Cassar isn't boring (2 comments).
-- One suggested that leaving early might be the difference between being a fanatic vs a casual fan.

Do you leave early?
-- Numbers were 4-to-1, 4 stay for every 1 that said they leave early. That's not 5% obviously (see above), though I did have to decipher the comments. Also, there's a good bit of error in this "study".

Is it disrespectful to the wrestlers?
-- Of those that answered, the consensus was YES.
-- Most said it isn't intended to be disrespectful, but the anxiety of parking/traffic, walking out in a crowd, etc., cause people to want to leave. Interesting that some suggested indirectly that it's what we've become as a society. I happen to agree.
-- Some took the wrestler's perspective, which was cool. I'd feel disrespected if people left prior to my match...empathy, love it.
-- Some took a hard line...others should NEVER leave until the wrestling is done.
 
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Roar, I remember at one match the PA announcer warned that anyone heading west to be careful as weather was getting bad in that direction. My buddy also lived in Western PA, we looked at each other and stayed till the end. His boys went to Ohio State and he now lives in Columbus.

I thought I was great to be at a University that has such great weather service :).
We won the duel and I personally survived Cresson mountain. The forecast was dead on, white knuckle driving home but I knew God would not wipe out both a Buckeye and Lion wresting fan at the same time.
 
I rarely post here, but stalk daily. But this subject has been a point of contention for me for MANY years, so here we go...

We've had season tickets for 7 years now (yes, we got them when wrestling was invented) and have never left a match early. Always love to see who wins the Ridge Riley. As far as parking goes, we park in the Red lot off of Atherton and it is always backed up getting out of. We just listen to the post match comments from Byers and then recap the match with our group while waiting to get out.

As far as disrespect goes, I wrestled 185 back in the day (now I struggle to make 285). And fans would get up to leave after my match. I ALWAYS felt so bad for my wrestling partner and good friend who wrestled UNL. I took it as the ultimate sign of disrespect towards a wrestler that busted his butt in the wrestling room every day only to be walked out on before he got his moment in the spotlight.

Roar, thanks for this thread, I've grumbled about and occasionally spoken out to fellow fans, if they can truly be called fans of the sport, for this ABOMINABLE act for many years.
 
Roar, I remember at one match the PA announcer warned that anyone heading west to be careful as weather was getting bad in that direction. My buddy also lived in Western PA, we looked at each other and stayed till the end. His boys went to Ohio State and he now lives in Columbus.

I thought I was great to be at a University that has such great weather service :).
We won the duel and I personally survived Cresson mountain. The forecast was dead on, white knuckle driving home but I knew God would not wipe out both a Buckeye and Lion wresting fan at the same time.

I remember that match....Well really don't remember the match all that well, maybe against the Goofs, but driving home we made it to Dubois on I-80 and the snow started. Never in my 43 years have I seen snow that heavy. At times I had to look at my speedometer to see if I was even moving. For a 20-30 minute span it snowed so hard you couldn't see any road signs, guard rails, exit lights, and cars lights. At times I'm pretty sure we was driving in the median. When the snow started to let up I had no idea what exit I was near on the interstate. And for those that say you should've pulled off, we tried but honestly couldn't find an exit.
 
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As an old HWT and former coach and tournament director, two things pi$$ me off . 1) fans leaving early . 2) coaches turning in OW ballots early
 
My father in law is a strange duck to say the least. Great-great guy but strange. He will stay to the end whistle of whatever he is watching, but he is the guy gone from his seat and closet to the door when that whistle is blown.

even his own grand kids. Rather than stay and say good job or what have you, hell call on the phone later to recap and congratulate.

On holidays, he comes early, helps to cook but he is out the door before i finish my pie and 2nd glass of red.

He and my mother in law come separate to most functions, games, etc. Unless its real far away, then she knows to get her chatting in during the game, cuz they are out of there when its over.

different strokes for different folks.......
 
I was reading a thread on HR that I'd like to ask others about. You represent a small number of overall fans, but when you're being serious, good info follows.

So my questions are (some general, some specific, so all can contribute);

What percent of a Rec Hall crowd leaves at the last bout, mostly prior to?
Why do they leave early?
If you have season tickets or attend regularly, what do you do?

Background: I'm just curious. In my lifetime, I've heard; "won't be stuck in traffic", "heavyweight is boring", "we had the dual won", "my wife made me", and others.

While most matches end at 285, the Lehigh dual, for example, ended at 184...and it appeared just as many left early...so I'm not convinced the heavyweight thing holds water...but I'd like to know.

Interesting that this happens in every sport. My interests are broad, so we attend a variety of different sports.
As a former 185/HWT, I can honestly say I never had the time to pay attention to whether the crowd was staying or leaving when I was on the mat. As for matches at Rec or BJC, I NEVER leave early.
 
As an old HWT and former coach and tournament director, two things pi$$ me off . 1) fans leaving early . 2) coaches turning in OW ballots early

I remember when they announced Bruce Hurst as the World Series MVP during the 10th inning of game six in 1986.
 
I remember when they announced Bruce Hurst as the World Series MVP during the 10th inning of game six in 1986.
I have a good story (that I've already told here, apologies...) about an attempt to leave that particular game early. With two outs and the doomed-looking Mets down two runs a family of four, seated a few rows in front of me, stood up to leave. A face-painted drunk guy with an orange-white-and-blue fake afro stood up and menacingly lit into them. "YOU DON'T LEAVE A WORLD SERIES GAME UNTIL IT'S FINISHED! YOU SIT THE F*** DOWN AND STAY UNTIL IT'S OVER."

Now the drunk guy was wrong to yell at the nice family like that, and everyone was a little unnerved. But what he said wasn't wrong, so no one defended the family. The family sat down. Baseball history commenced.
 
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