8/28 - Leathernecks vs Valparaiso

[sealhall74]

They wet our appetite with the BWW Bob Nielson Show last year. Do we get an encore this year or did that fly the coup with Beau? I have not heard word one about it. That is one example that comes to my mind. I did hear a replay of that MVFC Coaches Conference Call thing this week but that left me feeling hungry. I like a little more meat on my wings.

[WIU0812]

I do miss that show, but once again that was probably someone else that came up with it and asked if BWW would cover any costs and then ask coach to come out on Mondays and he agreed since that is part of his job to do what the marketing dept wants.

[sealhall74]

BWW is an "Elite" sponsor. I would think they would want to do the show in a big way but that is me talking 750 mile due East.

[sealhall74]

Technology is getting more powerful every day folks. You can "attend" an event without ever stepping foot on campus and administrators need to do a better job catering to those "virtual" attendees. Athletes at most mid-major schools need to anticipate performing in front of slimmer crowds during the careers, regardless of how much they win on the field. Box scores should include on-line viewership. I could rant on forever. Yes, sell some beer. Why not? To borrow a quote from Jimmy Connors, "This is what they want".

[WIU0812]

I guarantee if they sold me a cold Bud Light draft at a Western football game I would be spending at least another 20 at each game. If they had a Summer Shandy draft and my fiance was with me it would be more like $50 plus.

Another good article
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/co ... /10276865/

[BobLovely]

For reasons I do not understand, "school spirit" in support of athletic teams appears to have waned at Western. This appears to be the "root cause" of low student turn out. Oh, you can blame weather, marketing, wifi availability, performance on the field, lack of beer sales in the stadium and even the facilities if you want to treat symptoms. However, either the students want to support the teams or they do not. You cannot make them do so. You can only encourage them to do so. But, the long "tradition" of high student attendance at Western football games appears to be over, for now.

In contrast, later today I will travel to Manhattan, Kansas for a 6:10pm game between Stephen F. Austin and Kansas State. The temperature at kick-off is expected to be 92 degrees. The student section is on the east side of the stadium and will be in the sun for most of the first half and yet, I suspect the section will be full. Why? Because of strong tradition. Beer is not sold in the stadium. Kansas State does not provide musical entertainment for the students prior to the game. They do not need to because of tradition. Attendance at football games by students at Kansas State is considered the "cool" thing to do on campus. A "can't miss" event. We have to remember that Kansas State, like Western, is a state school located in a highly rural area about 100 miles west of Kansas City metro.

Next Saturday, I will be in Madison for the Western-Wisconsin game. Again, as at Kansas State, the Wisconsin students will attend the game because of long standing, strong tradition. With an 11:00am kick-off, the students will gradually file in late throughout the first quarter, as is the tradition for early season, morning start games against lessor FCS opponents. They expect to blow Western out.

Once lost, tradition is very difficult to re-build. But, this is the challenge ahead for Western Illinois. I can only hope the tradition returns. For someone who attended Western during an era of high student attendance at football games, the current situation is honestly very sad to observe.

Bob

[wiu712]

For reasons I do not understand, "school spirit" in support of athletic teams appears to have waned at Western.

There was a very large number of Western students in the section just north of the Band. They were loud for the entire game.

And they stayed until the game was over.

[sealhall74]

School spirit is waning for sure but I am not certain I would tag it as a root cause. I might go with the root cause being more of a campus-wide inattention to detail in too many things right now. When I was a student, I would hang out in the lounge in Seal anxiously waiting for the delivery of the Courier. Now in this electronic age, I still browse to it when I can. Did so just this morning in fact. I go to the Sports section and what do I see:

http://www.westerncourier.com/sports/

Maybe my computer is just screwed up and I am bringing in old cache of photos of Saul Phillips and his Bison or some Mark Hendrickson press conference, I don't know. But it sure as hell is not something I am too interested in and if I was a student and saw that, I would be shaking my head thinking WTF.

I read a good Courier article a day or so ago and the writer talked about what it meant to be a Leatherneck fan:

http://www.westerncourier.com/sports/wi ... b2370.html

The article was OK for a student writer but he/she could have gone so much further with it and could have made reference to any long-standing traditions that we as Leatherneck faithful need to uphold each and every Saturday. New students certainly need to know what they are and maybe we all need a little refresher now and then. Problem is, aside from the Marching Leathernecks, I don't see a lot of them going on anymore during my infrequent visits to Macomb. I think if I had any executive power for a day, I would institute a brand new tradition that hopefully lives on forever: One lucky fan gets designated "Honorary Peach Blossom" for each and every home game. That lucky person gets a little "makeover" complete with a mop wig and plunger. And of course the whole affair is captured and shown on that new video screen for everyone to enjoy.

We have work to do for sure. Next week, I am going to be taking good notes in Madison. I hope Tommy et al are doing the same.

[wiu712]

There was a sizeable group of "Peach Blossoms" at the game. They circulated on both sides of the field and ran up into the crowd multiple times encouraging people to make some noise.

One tradition that we can bring back is the crowd yells from the 1960's and 1970's. For example: those sitting on the west side yell out "Go" and those sitting on the east side respond with "Western". Other yells could be one side yelling "Purple" and the other side responding with "Gold". Those cross-field yells were brought back for a few years in the 1990's, but they have disappeared again.

[sealhall74]

There was a sizeable group of "Peach Blossoms" at the game. They circulated on both sides of the field and ran up into the crowd multiple times encouraging people to make some noise.

One tradition that we can bring back is the crowd yells from the 1960's and 1970's. For example: those sitting on the west side yell out "Go" and those sitting on the east side respond with "Western". Other yells could be one side yelling "Purple" and the other side responding with "Gold". Those cross-field yells were brought back for a few years in the 1990's, but they have disappeared again.

There is the problem, 712. Leave the cheerleading to the cheerleaders. Let the Peach Blossoms do what they do best.

I wish we had the kind of problems Barry Alvarez has:

http://www.uwbadgers.com/genrel/Letter-to-Students.html

I can't wait to get there.