KW Article: To Live, BU Spirit Must Get Younger

[Bravesfan]

Hmm...let's see...in case you don't subscribe and in case they start charging for the online content...
I will try to summarize everything in that column as well as everything in the last 20 columns combined...

-we need more students to buy tickets and come
-we need more people to but tickets and come
-we need a different coach, and it is important who is the guy that gets picked
-we need more wins, less losses, and fewer injuries
-we have some great players
-and in the JL tenure we haven't finished higher than 4th and have a sub-.500 record in Valley play

I agree with all of your points, but it would be interesting to see if the dyanamic would change if students were allowed to sit in the first five rolls of the lower bowl around the perimeter of the arena. It would at least allow the students closer to the team and maybe make things a bit more raucous. Just a thought, but I have seen posts saying it wouldn't make that big a difference either.

As far as this year's attendance was concerned, I don't think there is any major issue here. We still outdrew most of the Valley teams, hands down.

[tornado]

I agree with all of your points..

well...thanks but they weren't my points, they were the few points that got churned out over, and over, and over again and again as new daily columns from Mr. Wessler...
There were a few nice stories on Dodie, etc...but 90% of what has been in the PJS star the past month has been rehashed, old stuff we've heard a million times and has been on this board over and over as well.

[Bravesfan]

well...thanks but they weren't my points, they were the few points that got churned out over, and over, and over again and again as new daily columns from Mr. Wessler...
There were a few nice stories on Dodie, etc...but 90% of what has been in the PJS star the past month has been rehashed, old stuff we've heard a million times and has been on this board over and over as well.

Yes, very true!

[ancona flash]

When I first saw this article I was hoping he'd address the younger generation of non-BU students or alums as well. I grew up during the 80's and was infatuated with BU hoops and a young impressionable age. When I was 10, 11, 12, 13 yrs old I literally begged to go to BU games. It started the love of BU hoops that still lives on today and always will.

Kids in Jr. High today aren't begging their parents to go to BU games. These kids won't grow up to be like me and go to games even when BU sucks. When the blue hairs die off and their money dries up, we'll need a whole new generation to pick up the slack, otherwise we'll end up like Drake.

This is another reason why the powers that be cannot screw up this hire. If we go another 10 years of not attracting new fans to BU basketball, we're in trouble.

But I still think there is hope and a solid current fan base, but we've got to do something big to keep it that way over the next decade.

[Braves4Life]

Great points ancona. You and I grew up in the same era and have a very similar perspective. Bradley Basketball was a "can't miss" event for me as a kid and it has carried over to this day.

[TNel]

When I first saw this article I was hoping he'd address the younger generation of non-BU students or alums as well. I grew up during the 80's and was infatuated with BU hoops and a young impressionable age. When I was 10, 11, 12, 13 yrs old I literally begged to go to BU games. It started the love of BU hoops that still lives on today and always will.

Kids in Jr. High today aren't begging their parents to go to BU games. These kids won't grow up to be like me and go to games even when BU sucks. When the blue hairs die off and their money dries up, we'll need a whole new generation to pick up the slack, otherwise we'll end up like Drake.

This is another reason why the powers that be cannot screw up this hire. If we go another 10 years of not attracting new fans to BU basketball, we're in trouble.

But I still think there is hope and a solid current fan base, but we've got to do something big to keep it that way over the next decade.

BRILLIANT observation ... and another reason to overturn OBAMACARE and the "death panels." We need to make sure the blue hairs are kept on life support as long as possible until we get the BB program turned around. Maybe, by then, the surviving blue hairs won't even know they're sitting in the upper bowl.

[Bravesfan]

BRILLIANT observation ... and another reason to overturn OBAMACARE and the "death panels." We need to make sure the blue hairs are kept on life support as long as possible until we get the BB program turned around. Maybe, by then, the surviving blue hairs won't even know they're sitting in the upper bowl.

While I agree with you about Obamacare and "death panels" being bad, the rest of that post was terrible!

[TNel]

While I agree with you about Obamacare and "death panels" being bad, the rest of that post was terrible!

Full disclosure: I'm one of them and tired of being blamed for occupying the better seats, not standing for the entire game, and contributing to the overall decline of attendance in particular and the BB program in general.

[Bravesfan]

Full disclosure: I'm one of them and tired of being blamed for occupying the better seats, not standing for the entire game, and contributing to the overall decline of attendance in particular and the BB program in general.

Got it. Hey, you and anyone else of any age have every right to come and watch a game, and cheer in any fashion you so choose to.

I guess I need to do a better job spotting sarcasm.

[TNel]

Got it. Hey, you and anyone else of any age have every right to come and watch a game, and cheer in any fashion you so choose to.

I guess I need to do a better job spotting sarcasm.

No offense taken BF. Should have included disclosure in my first post. Just lettin' off a little steam. Is "my bad" the proper colloquialism?

[Bravesfan]

No offense taken BF. Should have included disclosure in my first post. Just lettin' off a little steam. Is "my bad" the proper colloquialism?

No problem. "My bad" would suffice.

[amettrick]

How is this humanly possible? I regularly chatted with JL when I'd see him at events. I'd sneak in question about a recruit and I'd often get a non-answer or smirk that told me what I wanted to know while maintaining deniability. Could JL have done some more? Sure, but if you didn't talk to JL when he was here you absolutely made no effort whatsoever, especially if someone was a writer for the Scout.

Of course I spoke to him regularly while I worked for the paper, but only in the context of an interview.

The 4 years prior to that, its kind of hard to speak to a man that you never see. You even said it yourself "when you saw him at events." If it wasn't an organized basketball event where he was scheduled and advertised to appear, he was invisible to the student body.

[ph]

While winning is the easy answer, I do wonder why winning helps so much.
I think the answer is more of BU being relevant on a national stage, then just winning.

[SFP]

While the history of what happened to student attendance (I was part of the 1982-83 student group) is known to many on the board, I like the fact that KW wrote an article on it as JG and MC do not know the history. If you're going to get a new coach, you might as well address the other issues that are out there.

I posted this before. The student section needs to be center court lower bowl, fossilized rich boosters be danged.

JL's "connection" with the students was nonexistent. In my 5 years at Bradley, not once did he make himself visible on campus. In fact, if not for the fact that I covered the team for the Scout for a year, I would have never had a single encounter with the man.

Forming some kind of connection with the students is part of the job as a college coach, and its part of the job JL completely ignored/disregarded. I only hope whoever the new coach is doesn't do the same.

I agree 100% with the above posts! Runningfield I have posted over the years as much! The chance of it changing though is probably very low because just like our politics today, money talks, not doing what is right. The game should be for the students first and then for us old guys.

BTW...Versace did not connect with the students either but we were winning so nobody really cared.

[bigjimmy]

I have talked with both non athlete BU students and non Basketball BU athletes and they have all told me that JL's pressence around campus was very low profile except around the BU athletic complex. It seemed like Mo had more involvement and inter action with students. I'm not saying the new coach has to be all buddy buddy with the students just be more visable. As for the current seating at the Civic Center I'd move the band away from behind the basket and closer to the opposing bench to make it harder for them to hear. If all of the lower bowl students seats aren't filled by gametime let anyone who wants to sit in that section so that it can be filled up. There's not much else you're going to be able to do at the Civic Center.