Nt Daily Article -- Students Should Support Nt's Sports Teams

[Green to the Bone]

Remember that time we went to the Mavs game in the early 90s and they lost by 47 to the Bulls? Anywho, in the third quarter (Mavs employee) Keith Grant comes up to me and just gives me a hug for what felt like hours, and I was like "cool, thanks man." He just smiled and said "We'll get through this little buddy." We laughed for a few hours about the funny moments sports gives us all, waited for the players to stop talking to the fans and get in the showers (I mean come on guys, there's only so much we expect!), and then decided to grab a beer at the MAT with Toni Braxton and Jason Kidd. Jim Jackson was pissed because we totally put cayanne pepper in his shampoo- ROFLMAO! Finally at three in the morning Popeye Jones drove us each home and said he hoped to see us at the next home game. He even gave me his jersey - and a chunk of his right ear because they were magic, regenerating ears.

That night made me love the Dallas Mavericks forever, win or lose.

When I was in a high school pep band in 1972 and we played for Atlanta Hawks home games, Wat Bellamy gave a friend of mine his sweatband.

[Bryan316]

After the football games and basketball games, Rick usually walked by in front of the students and thanked us for being there.

[Green to the Bone]

When I was in a high school pep band in 1972 and we played for Atlanta Hawks home games, Wat Bellamy gave a friend of mine his sweatband.

Make that Walt Bellamy. I don't know who Wat Bellamy was.

[Mean Green 93-98]

Is Rick V fan-friendly? When my wife and I went to the OU game a few years ago with our newborn twins in tow, those dumb okies wanted to charge us for two extra full price seats for our babies who were going to be sitting on our laps the whole game. As a North Texas fan who was used to much more accommodating seating policies, I was a little disgruntled. But suddenly, out of nowhere, our fearless and bold AD Rick V jumps out and takes the 2 tickets we have and swaps them out for another 4. How many other ADs would take up for their fans like that? Might not sound like much, but I will always appreciate the gesture.

[greenminer]

In 1997 I went to the Cardinals-Cowboys game with a marching band. Get this: Emmitt Smith walked ENTIRELY across the front of the band and didn't even flinch as he kept his undivided attention in front of him. It was an amazing display of focus and connection. I'll never forget it. Deion, too. Man, that guy was fast and gave us an incredible show when he sprinted right on by as fast as he could.

Those in the band that were Cowboy fans were in awe.

[JayDub]

Remember that time we went to the Mavs game in the early 90s and they lost by 47 to the Bulls? Anywho, in the third quarter (Mavs employee) Keith Grant comes up to me and just gives me a hug for what felt like hours, and I was like "cool, thanks man." He just smiled and said "We'll get through this little buddy." We laughed for a few hours about the funny moments sports gives us all, waited for the players to stop talking to the fans and get in the showers (I mean come on guys, there's only so much we expect!), and then decided to grab a beer at the MAT with Toni Braxton and Jason Kidd. Jim Jackson was pissed because we totally put cayanne pepper in his shampoo- ROFLMAO! Finally at three in the morning Popeye Jones drove us each home and said he hoped to see us at the next home game. He even gave me his jersey - and a chunk of his right ear because they were magic, regenerating ears.

That night made me love the Dallas Mavericks forever, win or lose.

Post of the year.

[Eagle1855]

Post of the year.

here we go again...

[Quoner]

Is Rick V fan-friendly? When my wife and I went to the OU game a few years ago with our newborn twins in tow, those dumb okies wanted to charge us for two extra full price seats for our babies who were going to be sitting on our laps the whole game. As a North Texas fan who was used to much more accommodating seating policies, I was a little disgruntled. But suddenly, out of nowhere, our fearless and bold AD Rick V jumps out and takes the 2 tickets we have and swaps them out for another 4. How many other ADs would take up for their fans like that? Might not sound like much, but I will always appreciate the gesture.

He consumated this gesture of goodwill by making love to the entire USC Song Girl Squad without EVER LEAVING NORMAN.

[Quoner]

here we go again...

Maybe it's just the year of the post?

[Eagle1855]

Maybe it's just the year of the post?

touche' man, tou-f'n-che'...

[greenminer]

Remember that time we went to the Mavs game in the early 90s and they lost by 47 to the Bulls? Anywho, in the third quarter (Mavs employee) Keith Grant comes up to me and just gives me a hug for what felt like hours, and I was like "cool, thanks man." He just smiled and said "We'll get through this little buddy." We laughed for a few hours about the funny moments sports gives us all, waited for the players to stop talking to the fans and get in the showers (I mean come on guys, there's only so much we expect!), and then decided to grab a beer at the MAT with Toni Braxton and Jason Kidd. Jim Jackson was pissed because we totally put cayanne pepper in his shampoo- ROFLMAO! Finally at three in the morning Popeye Jones drove us each home and said he hoped to see us at the next home game. He even gave me his jersey - and a chunk of his right ear because they were magic, regenerating ears.

That night made me love the Dallas Mavericks forever, win or lose.

You, sir Quoner, are my favorite. BFF? pretty please?

[Green Mean]

I thought this post was genius because it really pushed the buttons of the student body that has no clue about NT athletics. Sure one of you guys said that ticket sales were an all time high and buzz and all that good stuff but what are you comparing it too? We have 35K students heading to 40K in about 3-4 years....all of our sports are Div 1A, and we are apart of a top 5 market with about 6 million people in this area. Sure our attendance is rising and etc but its not even baby steps yet like we should be doing. Believe me I am on campus most of the week and there is no buzz other than like a few websites and the NT Daily. The Daily always covers football and basketball thoroughly when the teams play...its always on the front page win or lose by 100. Oh and speaking of the daily I think alot of students actually do read the daily because all the newspaper stands are always empty usually....I just dont think people really care....and I think thats what the Daily was trying to say. Our goal next year should be averaging 22K-28K per home football game and roughly 3K-5K for each home mens basketball game. And I am saying these numbers at a minimum.

Edited March 9, 2007 by Green Mean

[MeanMag]

I am actually commenting on the original post...not the above comment.

Can I throw a little psychology in the mix? This kind of rant does nothing for attendance. Coming down on people for noone being interested in the games is COUNTER PRODUCTIVE. I ask you a simple question. When you were younger and invited to a party, would you go if you KNEW that noone was going to be there? No. You went if you thought it was a great party with a lot of people...in other words, if it were the happening place to be...outdated language, I know. It's no different than attendance at the games. If people perceive that noone is interested, then no one will go to the games. If they PERCEIVE that everyone is going and that IT IS THE PLACE to be, then more people will go. It's the same reason that UT and OU have the following they do...because people have a herd mentality. They don't want to be where the herd is not. Get it?

The way to increase attendance is to approach people in a positive way and portray it as the place to be. Negativity NEVER encourages attendance or interest...it does the opposite.

You sir are wrong, and by wrong I mean right...

I don't see what you are saying, and by not seeing what you are saying, I mean I am seeing what you are saying...

The Title of the article should read.

"UNT Student's should NOT support their local sports teams"

I want to kill The Tasty Greek, and by kill I mean be a seregate mother to his and Quoner's children.

Edited March 9, 2007 by MeanMag

[SilverEagle]

Here we are in 2007 talking about the same issue that has been going on since the early 70's. I'm not sure what the solution is, but I agree that a positive attitude is the only way that it's going to get resolved. Consistency is the other issue. This University (and by that I mean the alumni as well) is rarely consistent in instilling and promoting spirit at North Texas. I'm open to hearing positive and constructive ideas.

We're already pretty overstocked with sarcastic ideas. That seems to be the only thing we're consistent about.

Edited March 9, 2007 by SilverEagle

[Green to the Bone]

Here we are in 2007 talking about the same issue that has been going on since the early 70's. I'm not sure what the solution is, but I agree that a positive attitude is the only way that it's going to get resolved. Consistency is the other issue. This University (and by that I mean the alumni as well) is rarely consistent in instilling and promoting spirit at North Texas. I'm open to hearing positive and constructive ideas.

We're already pretty overstocked with sarcastic ideas. That seems to be the only thing we're consistent about.

I'm gonna sound like a broken record here, but yesterday I started a topic suggesting, in all seriousness, that the AD hire a full-time professional, someone experienced and well-paid, to do nothing but promote enthusiasm for all UNT sports. My tongue-in-cheek idea was to call the position the director of enthusiasm operations.

I laid out what that person's duties might entail (including pregame activities, victory celebrations, contests, and, yes, aggressively pushing travel opportunities for away games). I suggested that a donor might be found who would agree to fund the position for a set number of years, with renewal if the results merited.

I got just about zero response, which I think pretty much sums up how far we have to go.

Let's not let the amazing and positive promotional opportunity that this tourney presents go unaswered.

Edited March 9, 2007 by Green to the Bone

[UNTflyer]

Green Bone, I completely agree. Somebody needs to step up and promote this school.

We should have billboards up and down I-35 with the home schedule of next year's football team and congratulating the basketball team.

We should run radio commercials and tv ads selling season tickets.

If UNT is serious about becoming a nationally recognized school, they need to be recognized in their home town.

[LAZER]

Traditions, Spirit, etc. does not come from thin air, nothing will ever happen without wins. We as students and Alumni need to do all in our power to pack every game with anyone that will come with us. With higher attendance at the games the team will do better (hopefully) and when the wins start coming the AD needs to promote the hell out of them to the point where it almost annoying (this will cost lots of money but in the end it will pay for itself). with all the hype from the promotions and high attendance the traditions and spirit will come. All of this is tied together and it starts with us...the alums and the current students that already care.

[SCREAMING EAGLE-66]

Here we are in 2007 talking about the same issue that has been going on since the early 70's. I'm not sure what the solution is, but I agree that a positive attitude is the only way that it's going to get resolved. Consistency is the other issue. This University (and by that I mean the alumni as well) is rarely consistent in instilling and promoting spirit at North Texas. I'm open to hearing positive and constructive ideas.

We're already pretty overstocked with sarcastic ideas. That seems to be the only thing we're consistent about.

---There is one huge difference now than what things were like in the 70's.... The SWC existed then and we were the outsider... only North Texas and UTEP (of the present D-I's) were not members of it and we were largely ignored... and it didn't seem to matter what we did... we were not a "member of the "elite club" so we would get ignored.

---Today only A&M, UT, and TxTech has a big advantage over us... the rest are members of conferences that aren't the best in area, in fact the Belt has been pounding CUSA this year in football and basketball. We even have a big size advantage (enrollment) over most of these guys and are near a huge population area.. None of them except TCU in football has really jumped out as being outstanding in any sport either.

---We need to make student's aware of our situation now get them somehow to have have some self-pride and pride in our university and gain the respect of the other universities in the state. Pride and self-respect begins as home. It is sort of like what I tell my college students--- " If you don't care if you pass, then I don't care either."... If we don't show any respect in our university, don't expect any of the others to. This needs to made clear to the students even if that means articles in NT Daily or whatever. Not all read it but they do listen to others and some of their friends do.... The "have pride in our ourselves idea" needs to be pounded in the student and alums.....it matters.

Edited March 9, 2007 by SCREAMING EAGLE-66

[Quoner]

You sir are wrong, and by wrong I mean right...

I don't see what you are saying, and by not seeing what you are saying, I mean I am seeing what you are saying...

The Title of the article should read.

"UNT Student's should NOT support their local sports teams"

I want to kill The Tasty Greek, and by kill I mean be a seregate mother to his and Quoner's children.

"I don't get it, and by saying I don't get it, I get it."

"Yes. You do. It's over."

The obvious solution that we've been over and over again and again is staring us all in the face:

MORE POSTERS! MORE THREES! MORE BILLBOARDS!

[UNTSIG]

cost effective advertising..... so how much do you think that UNT athletics should spend on advertising? we are an athletic department working on a very limited budget. i guarantee you that promotions like table tents, flyers, billboards and commercials do not pay off for us right now. if you were to run a commercial 20 times a day on ESPN for a month leading up to a Sun Belt game, it wouldn't make a difference in the number of people going to the game. i wish our students supported UNT more. i wish our alumni supported UNT more. the lack of promotions is not because they don't want people to come to the game or that they are lazy, it's because they don't get any return on their investment. some of you talk about advertising like it is free. the biggest return that they get is that they are keeping athletics in the consiousness of that student, alumni or casual fan. it does not translate into butts in the seats though. please, some of you complain so much.. put yourself in the AD's shoes: How much is that worth in terms of dollars? they do a good job of keeping athletics visible with cheap advertising. until we start winning and getting recognized on a national level or we start playing more high profile schools, our attendance is going to be lacking. that's not to say that we should give up. but i ask you at what price should we "try" ?? don't waste this opportunity with the NCAA tournament... what do you want them to do? put up a billboard?? run a commercial?? put table tents up?? director of enthusiasm operations, at a college?? there comes a point when we can't make ourselves look 2nd class. if you have to have someone in charge of enthusiasm at a college, you have just admitted that you have a lot more problems than a table tent and billboard can address.

[SCREAMING EAGLE-66]

----It is NOT all about advertising..... It is mostly about some self-pride and PRIDE in our/your university.

---THAT is the problem....UT and others have it and show it.... most of our students don't.... That is sad.

[greenminer]

I'm gonna sound like a broken record here, but yesterday I started a topic suggesting, in all seriousness, that the AD hire a full-time professional, someone experienced and well-paid, to do nothing but promote enthusiasm for all UNT sports. My tongue-in-cheek idea was to call the position the director of enthusiasm operations.

I laid out what that person's duties might entail (including pregame activities, victory celebrations, contests, and, yes, aggressively pushing travel opportunities for away games). I suggested that a donor might be found who would agree to fund the position for a set number of years, with renewal if the results merited.

I got just about zero response, which I think pretty much sums up how far we have to go.

Let's not let the amazing and positive promotional opportunity that this tourney presents go unaswered.

ok, my response:

If we have to create a position soley for that, IMO then the athletic department is failing to do what it's already obligated to do (with the current staff in place). If they aren't doing ANYTHING at all to brainstorm promotional ideas and get them going, then I would be all for this. But I think (and I hope I'm right?) that they are probably meeting every now and then in some form or fashion (committee?) to address all this.

Just to reiterate, I agree that we want some answers to this promotional opportunity. I just hope that it's being addressed with some process already in place.

[Quoner]

cost effective advertising..... so how much do you think that UNT athletics should spend on advertising? we are an athletic department working on a very limited budget. i guarantee you that promotions like table tents, flyers, billboards and commercials do not pay off for us right now. if you were to run a commercial 20 times a day on ESPN for a month leading up to a Sun Belt game, it wouldn't make a difference in the number of people going to the game. i wish our students supported UNT more. i wish our alumni supported UNT more. the lack of promotions is not because they don't want people to come to the game or that they are lazy, it's because they don't get any return on their investment. some of you talk about advertising like it is free. the biggest return that they get is that they are keeping athletics in the consiousness of that student, alumni or casual fan. it does not translate into butts in the seats though. please, some of you complain so much.. put yourself in the AD's shoes: How much is that worth in terms of dollars? they do a good job of keeping athletics visible with cheap advertising. until we start winning and getting recognized on a national level or we start playing more high profile schools, our attendance is going to be lacking. that's not to say that we should give up. but i ask you at what price should we "try" ?? don't waste this opportunity with the NCAA tournament... what do you want them to do? put up a billboard?? run a commercial?? put table tents up?? director of enthusiasm operations, at a college?? there comes a point when we can't make ourselves look 2nd class. if you have to have someone in charge of enthusiasm at a college, you have just admitted that you have a lot more problems than a table tent and billboard can address.

Thank you!

Would you rather the money build up the product or continue to hyper an inferior one? Todd Dodges salary probably translates to a lot of TV spots - we could have just hired Flanagan for a free car, lunch money, and some tacos and reinvested the rest. Until the budget grows, everything is a trade off that needs a higher return. Bigger programs can do whatever because they have an apparent return no matter what. That's why Joey Harrington billboards can be funded by Oregon...

Also, why is no one giving props to the PR/Media Relations group right now? We finally have a story to sell and I am seeing it everywhere (just like after Jamario's first season.) I'm sure this is much more fun for them then trying to spin some tennis team's loss against Idaho or a 35 point loss to MTSU. I want to make sweet love to the media relations department to thank them for what they've done, but I won't because then they might lose 12-20 seconds of their day that could cost us a feature story somewhere.

Edited March 9, 2007 by Quoner

[Eagle1855]

the lack of promotions is not because they don't want people to come to the game or that they are lazy, it's because they don't get any return on their investment.

exactly.

I really think it starts with freshman orientation. If you can get students excited from the get-go, you can hook them for life. Look at A&M (though I am in no way advocating brainwashing...).

I agree with whomever posted about it becoming the "cool thing" to do. This is key. Almost any athletic event is fun when you are with thousands of other fans and friends all living and dying with every point scored.

[Green to the Bone]

cost effective advertising..... so how much do you think that UNT athletics should spend on advertising? we are an athletic department working on a very limited budget. i guarantee you that promotions like table tents, flyers, billboards and commercials do not pay off for us right now. if you were to run a commercial 20 times a day on ESPN for a month leading up to a Sun Belt game, it wouldn't make a difference in the number of people going to the game. i wish our students supported UNT more. i wish our alumni supported UNT more. the lack of promotions is not because they don't want people to come to the game or that they are lazy, it's because they don't get any return on their investment. some of you talk about advertising like it is free. the biggest return that they get is that they are keeping athletics in the consiousness of that student, alumni or casual fan. it does not translate into butts in the seats though. please, some of you complain so much.. put yourself in the AD's shoes: How much is that worth in terms of dollars? they do a good job of keeping athletics visible with cheap advertising. until we start winning and getting recognized on a national level or we start playing more high profile schools, our attendance is going to be lacking. that's not to say that we should give up. but i ask you at what price should we "try" ?? don't waste this opportunity with the NCAA tournament... what do you want them to do? put up a billboard?? run a commercial?? put table tents up?? director of enthusiasm operations, at a college?? there comes a point when we can't make ourselves look 2nd class. if you have to have someone in charge of enthusiasm at a college, you have just admitted that you have a lot more problems than a table tent and billboard can address.

Nobody has suggested that they think advertising is free. We're all adults here and we know about these things. Some of us have professional experience along these lines. So you offer a classic straw man argument.

But do you think any of the companies that already advertise in the Pit or Fouts would chip in a few bucks to have their name and logo on a billboard congratulating the team? Get four of them to split the cost (billboards are cheap anyway). You bet they would do it, but only if asked.

Nobody, but nobody, is criticizing the AD. I'm a big fan of his, and I've told him so. Another straw man argument.

And you seem to think that the university would be admitting a problem if it hired someone specifically for athletics promotion.

You're right about that.

You seem to think that fewer than 2,000 people at a conference playoff game is OK, or at least the best we can do. Your point seems to be that nothing is worth trying and that our current situation is the way it's got to be.

You seem to offer not one, I repeat, not one positive idea for improving our situation.

Let's get enthusiastic for a change. Let's not settle.