Pulled from Twix is a good question for a Monday conversation:
Honestly, it’s easier to rule out the fanbases I hate (easy pick: the triple Ts – Tech, Tennessee, Tide).
Thinking back, the nicest away game experience with tailgating and game included was in Starkville.
How about your choice?
Notre Dame by a mile. I literally can’t imagine being treated better by a fanbase. Great at tailgates, sold us tickets for a reasonable amount, gave us helpful directions and tips about campus and the stadium, great stadium staff. 10/10.
Nebraska fans are very kind as well, but I haven’t been to Lincoln yet. And I can’t think of any others, actually.
however nice you think ND fans are, they’re nicer. Everyone who was lucky enough to make that trip understands. However you feel about ND football, those people are the most polite, most welcoming, most sportsmanlike after a tough loss at home where we strolled in and took over their stadium. There isn’t a team in the southeast with a fan base that comes close.They were so nice, it challenged our fan base to step up our game in 2019. The vast majority of UGA fans made an effort I’ve never seen before to truly welcome ND fans to Athens. Sure, we wanted to thump their team, that’s just competition. But both pre and post game, I was proud of how we treated them as opponents, not blood enemies. That was how they treated us. That rarely if ever happens down here.
i had a little taste of that when I went to Minneapolis for game 2 of the world series. After a lifetime of dealing with SEC road trips, I was shocked by how nice those people were. There were only a handful of us there, a long way from home, but they welcomed us. They were complimentary to us. Quite a change from a road trip to Auburn, or Clemson, or Tennessee. We all get in attack mode, me as much as anyone, and I don’t think it will ever be the norm here. Be nice if it was, though.
Have to agree on Starkville. LSU’s nice fans are unbelievably great and Baton Rouge is fun – unfortunately not sure those are anywhere close to a majority of their fans.
LSU is great before the game, and if they win, it’s great after the game. If they lose, just keep moving and keep your mouth shut.
But nothing compares to how nice the fans were at Notre Dame. Top notch for sure. Almost made feel ashamed for how much I hate their team. Almost.
My experience in Baton Rouge was even the fans yelling Tiger Bait were nice if you asked them for something. I’ve only been once but, LSU is the away game I’d most like to go back to that I don’t have family ties with. The game I went to was a night game and we were leaving the stadium late due to talking with friends. We were a little lost arriving in daylight but leaving the stadium in the dark with most of the parking empty. LSU fans asked us if they could help and then gave us some chili, brownies, and drinks. We made it back to the hotel rather late but had some fun chatting with them. Quote of the night was “Saban is an a-hole but when he is coaching your team, he is your a-hole.”
Haven’t been to Starkville. Ole Miss was generally nice. I want to make a baseball game in Starkville, not sure I can deal with the bell ringing for a football game.
I don’t doubt ND fans are nice at home but in the sportsbar, office, out in public away from Touchdown Jesus they can be their own kind of arrogant.
Nebraska fans are usually nice.
I’ve also made F1 races in Indy, they were nicer hosts than Austin. During qualifying on Saturday quite a few had headsets to listen to ND or Purdue Football.
Starkville fans were great, extremely nice, and they know they are viewed second tier in Mississippi, but their tailgates are bigger than set-ups at Ole Miss. The Grove at Oxford is amazing but super crowded. In Starkville they are spread out and friendly to visiting fans.
Oxford is the better town to party in, and their fans are also gracious in an old south way. I agree that most other SEC school visits are not as welcoming, but Mizzou did amaze me how nice they were.
I’m probably a little biased, but have to agree on Starkville. Since moving out to bizarro dawg area codes and picking up some in-law State alums along the way, the tailgates are some of the best. Good people, great food, easy to walk in and back out to the tailgate within minutes. (not counting the cowbell though…lol)
For me it’s Missouri. I moved to STL about 10 years ago and first went to Columbia in 2013 (?). I literally had Mizzou fans shaking my hand and thanking me for coming. I was so used to being treated like crap at Auburn, UT, SC, Tech etc. that I truly didn’t know how to handle it. I’ve been over there every year we’ve played since then and the “worst” I was ever treated was when a few frat boys asked me where the Gurley autograph table was. My response was that they would soon know the name Nick Chubb. Other than that, they are gracious and welcoming as fans. Maybe low expectations has a lot to do with that though.
I was at the 2017 debacle in Auburn. The fans could not have been any nicer.
The weirdest game in my 45 years of fandom was the 2019 SEC championship game against LSU. There was no atmosphere pregame and the stadium wasn’t even full when the game started.
We went to the Kentucky game in Lexington in 2010. Gorgeous drive up through Asheville from Athens, and stunning drive home through Great Smoky National Park. Late October and the weather was perfect, food and bourbon everywhere was good, had a gorgeous day at the Maker’s distillery, surrounded by gorgeous Appalachian foliage.
They also had blazered greeters at the stadium to direct us to our seats, which were practically on the field. Spooky dark afterward (buy some street lights, Kentucky), but everyone was so patient and nice and the shuttles back to the hotel were great, too. Just wish we’d had more time to visit distilleries.
Most hilarious is all weekend, whenever we bought anything, the cashier/server would ask where we were from, we’d say “Athens, Georgia,” and they’d ask what brought us to town that weekend. We’d say, “the game,” and they’d respond, “What game?”
It was their homecoming weekend.
It was pitch black after the Rose Bowl and we had a hell of a time finding our car!
ND and Mizzou have been good people. Gator fans are general fuck wits. FTMF!
My son, who was raised a UGA fan, attended ND and was a student there in 2017. I have been to multiple other games in SB and can confirm they have a very chill fanbase. One other feature I like about their gameday vibe is the use of hundreds of ND “ambassadors” across campus who provide information to the visiting fans and offer rides on their golf carts. Most of the folks are older and have probably been doing it for decades. Nice to be able to get direction to the nearest restroom or the bookstore. A great touch that probably does not cost much of anything.
That’s where McGarity got the idea of the Silver Dawgs program from. We don’t have golf carts of course, but everything else was absolutely inspired by ND’s ambassador program.