It's time for USM fans to show up

By By Will Bardwell / staff writer
Nov. 20, 2003
If you're a Southern Miss fan and you've already got your tickets to the USM-TCU game tonight, you're excused from further reading.
That leaves you.
To quote fathers everywhere, I'm not mad at you. I'm just disappointed. Really, really, really disappointed.
As of yesterday, so many tickets remained for the Golden Eagles' matchup against TCU that you should be able to get in right up to gametime. The ticket manager said they're expecting about 30,000, but even if they get there it'll still leave about 3,000 empty seats.
The biggest game for the Golden Eagles in recent memory, and it's not sold out. Not even close.
They've become so desperate to get fannies in the seats that the Hattiesburg American has collaborated with the USM ticket office to practically give away admission for $10 a pop.
Not that there's anything wrong with ticket promotions there isn't but this isn't about trying to pack the place to the gills. This is about trying to make the attendance respectable, and the fact that it's even an issue is embarrassing.
Before I start ranting, let me say that some of the most fanatical college football fans I know are Southern Miss fans. Some people absolutely eat, sleep and breath USM football. The Golden Eagles have more than their fair share of diehards.
USM definitely has plenty of bumper sticker fans, too. Those black and gold "Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime" decals are as commonplace on Highway 45 as potholes.
Unfortunately, it seems like all those guys with bumper stickers don't make it down to The Rock.
Think about it. Is there a team with more success and less support anywhere? Here you have a Southern Miss team playing TCU, a Top 10 team with a very real shot at making a BCS bowl if the Golden Eagles don't stop them. This game is twice as big as the Nebraska game was. Where the Cornhuskers were just a high-profile, out-of-conference opponent, the Conference USA title hangs in the balance in the TCU game. And the Horned Frogs are even ranked higher than Nebraska.
It's the biggest Southern Miss football game in years, and Golden Eagle fans seem to have more excuses than tickets.
Have to go to work the next day? Not good enough. Drive back in the middle of the night. I drove 27 straight hours from Salt Lake City to Mississippi when I was in college. You'll be back home around midnight, so relax.
Gotta work today? Not good enough. Skip lunch and leave an hour early. You'll get to Hattiesburg around 6 p.m.
Dog hates to be alone at night? Release it into the wild. Good riddance.
Can't leave the kids at home? Heck, take the kids. Remember that ticket promotion I was talking about? Kids can get in for $5. You're going to need a coupon out of the newspaper for that deal, but it shouldn't be too hard to find one of those at a gas station anywhere near the city.
This game is for all the marbles in Conference USA. Can you imagine if another major conference's title game weren't sold out on the day of the game?
In fairness to the aforementioned black-and-gold-bleeding USM zealots, a lot of them are just as upset about the support shortage as I am. This is not a knock on Southern Miss or the thousands of fans who do a great job of showing up every weekend.
However, this is definitely a slap in the face to those Golden Eagle bandwagoners who won't drive an hour and a half to see their team take a shot at the country's No. 9 team. For crying out loud, Southern Miss is favored. Not only do the Golden Eagles have a shot at winning, but they should win.
Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime? You. In Hattiesburg. Tonight. Quit making excuses and pack the place.