Kind of a lame weekly poll last week. You were all more or less evenly split about whether or not we'd actually have the game on Saturday. (We had the game on Saturday). If you said no (48%), FOR SHAME. If you said yes (43%), BOOYAKASHA YOU'RE A WINNER.
If you're hiding from the snow (9%), join the club. I've got a chest freezer full of beef and pork, and I'm settling in until the frost zombies come knocking on my door. I'm not even going to bother talking about my feelings about the game tomorrow not being postponed. I know, I know, it's on national TV, and a lot of students will probably show up like Saturday, but I think it's a little indecent to those fans who need to commute to the game and won't be able to.
Here's what really gets my goat though. When the university sends out a RAVE alert saying AU is closed and all activities and events are canceled, Athletics has the mindset of "this doesn't apply to us." It's just, unbelievable. There are a lot of other events on-campus that are all being canceled or postponed (former Senator Chuck Hagel was supposed to be on campus on Monday, for example), but nope! Not the basketball game. My issue with athletics on this topic is the same as my issue with the Washington College of Law. Let me spell it out in caps so it really gets across: YOU'RE PART OF AMERICAN UNIVERSITY. YOU'RE SUBJECT TO THINGS THAT AMERICAN UNIVERSITY AS AN INSTITUTION IS SUBJECT TO.
Okay, tirade over. Sorry about that, I don't mean to tirade as often as I do, but these kinds of things really bite at me.
This week's poll? How far do you see the Eagles going? I'll be interested to see how this goes because you have to factor in Hendra's continued suspension and subsequently absence from the court. So what's it going to be, folks, project where our Eagles' season will end.
Pro deo et patria and GO EAGLES!
Bill,
ReplyDeleteLove the blog, but I have to disagree with you here. In a down year like the Eagles are having in 2009-10, the last thing you want to do is turn away any potential exposure. I know it's only CBS College, but that doesn't matter. Real fans get to the game no matter what, as inconvenient as it may be. See you tomorrow night.
On a side note, even though AU has been closed for the whole week, all of AU's teams have continued to practice as they usually do or have used contingency plans to get by (there's about a foot of snow/ice still on the track and more on the LAX/FH field). Also, AU Athletics employees have been showing up to work or working from home all week. So to some extent, yeah, AU Athletics doesn't follow AU and it shouldn't otherwise the programs would suffer. We owe it to them to show up and give them some support. It's not like we're doing much anyway and with all the closures who's coming from work tomorrow night?
Your arguments are reasonable, and I don't disagree with them. I think we see differently on the principle, but I'm okay to agree to disagree there.
ReplyDeleteAnd you can bet your sweet bippy I'll be at the game tomorrow night, loud as ever and ready to make some bison burgers. See you then!
Two comments:
ReplyDelete1. The Patriot League has to approve any postponements of games. AU cannot do so on its own. If both teams (and refs) are there, the game is going to be played.
2. According to the PL bylaws, the first priority in scheduling/rescheduling (other than the safety of the athletes) is academic, i.e that athletes should miss as little class time as possible. Thus if a game can be played, they are not going to reschedule it because some of the fans cannot get there.
You have seen that there's a bit of snow around DC, yes? Safety of the athletes getting to the games isn't a foregone conclusion with the way a lot of the roads are.
ReplyDeleteYour points are well taken though, thanks for the info!
Also, its important to remember that these decisions do not get made in a vacuum. It's not as simple as the provost and president closing AU and so the athletics department closing up shop and going home. There's scheduling, there's another team (who has all the same issues we have with travel, class time, scheduling, etc.), there's the officials, there's the league office, there's a deadline that the regular season must be finished by, and there's the fact that this is major college basketball...if both teams and the officials can safely get to the venue, then the game is going to be played. Whether or not its convenient for fans to make it in, while an important factor - in theory - is not a factor. If the game can be played, then it must be played. Bill, this is a decision that is not in the hands of the AU department of athletics nearly as much as I think you think it might be. Yes, the university is closed, but the University Center still had movie marathons in the tavern; TDR is open; Eagles Nest is open; the library is open...so singling out Athletics as going rogue and defying the university is a bit unfair. If so, you need to level the same accusation at Bon Appetit, the library, and the University Center, among others.
ReplyDeletePoint being, the game can be played, and so why shouldn't it? Hopefulyl as many fans as possible can make it, and those that can't can watch online. Now, lets go get a win. Go Eagles!
PS- The only reason the UMBC game was cancelled back for the first snowpocolpyse was that they basically didn't want to play the game and saw an easy out and decided not to come....something that could never happen for a conference game. THe day of that snow storm, I know for a fact our team, coaches and officials, plus AU athletics staff were there, ready to play. So unless the visiting team cannot make it down (which isn't the case as Bucknell is here...and Lehigh was here this past weekend) then we're gonna play the game.
There are good reasons that TDR, the Eagle's Nest, and the library are open during this snowstorm. Are you contending that Athletics is on the same tier in terms of being critical? People don't go to the store before a storm for bread, milk, and basketball tickets, Eaglesfan.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the university center's movie marathons, it takes one student employee five minutes to load a DVD and put down the screen. Not the same level of effort as putting on a basketball game. You should be aware that if, say, Student Activities allowed a KPU event to go on during this storm, they would feel my accusations leveled against them as well. I apologize if you think I'm being unfair.
Your comments are valuable though. Perhaps I do overestimate how much power Athletics has over the decision, which is wrong on my part to do. I do appreciate the time and effort of the Athletics staff in getting everything together. They've got their own sidewalks and driveways to shovel out. Kids to take care of who are out of school. Bread, milk, and chicken supplies that are running out. Cannibalism that is starting to look convenient. I get that. I appreciate what Athletics does, just not, in this case, when they're doing it. Though now I do have a better understanding of why they have to do it.
Your comment about the fans being an important factor "in theory" is interesting to me as many fans and alumni I've spoken to often feel like they're only considered "in theory" and rarely "in practice."
Oh, and if you are a member of the administration, which I think you may be based on your comments here and over the weekend, welcome to the blog and thanks for posting! I don't write these comments fully intending to be snarky or mean (though I realize they're often interpreted as such). I'm willing to listen to your arguments (though I disagree with them), and I'm glad that you're willing to defend your views here.