Off Topic: a couple memorable hoaxes

[yoda]

Something made me recall a couple stories in the past about Bradley basketball that involved massive hoaxes....

I wonder if anyone else remembers these hoaxy events....

- Back in 2013 Bradley (under the direction of Joanne Glasser) promoted an event to celebrate Bradley basketball's
"4 Millionth Fan". Instead of actually choosing the 4 millionth fan, they rigged it so that season ticket holders just had to
click a link online to enter a supposed "drawing" to select the 4 millionth fan at a pre-designated home game.
It was fully promoted as a contest and that the winner would be randomly selected, but in the end the "winner" turned out
to be --- a Bradley employee who work under Glasser in the administration building at Bradley AND was a family member
of the Bradley Chairman of the Board Michel McCord, who had just passed away. Joanne was pulling this stunt off
to try to lure the family to continuing their financial support. It failed anyway, and the McCords are long gone.

- Back around 2010, when the PJStar & Kirk Wessler were daily writing hit pieces dishonestly slamming Jim Les and
calling for his firing, some guy wrote a "Letter to the Editor" in the PJStar. He claimed to be a lifelong BU fan and claimed
he was giving up his tickets and hated to see what was happening, all the while praising the coverage Bradley gets by the
PJStar staff. Some people on the message board did a little digging on the guy to call him out and guess what??
Turned out that despite their denials that he was NOT connected to the newspaper, he was, actually, a long time
employee of the ad agency that was owned BY the PJStar and was literally in the same building as the PJStar and the guy
was proven NEVER to have been a donor or season ticket holder as well. Why they felt it was necessary to pull this hoax
is still a mystery.

- When there was a very minor altercation at the apartment of Bradley's Daniel Ruffin, that in the end resulted in minor charges
that got dropped anyway, the writeup by the PJStar & especially Kirk Wessler contained completely fabricated claims
of choking, kicking and ligatures around the neck of the alleged victim... all of which were complete lies. Nobody ever
got an explanation or an apology, but it was pretty obvious Wessler just wanted to smear Jim Les & Bradley. He even
publicly posted on the PJStar message board (that no longer exists) that he had soured on Jim Les as far back as 2002
when Les was chosen over Wayne McClain, and started "beating the drum" to get Les fired. So I guess just create hoaxes?

- Lastly, Phil Luciano once wrote a column titled "Gutless rants hurt journalism" -
...in which he railed against people like you & me on message boards and blogs, claiming we are all gutless idiots,
and that they are the divinely crowned emperors of truth and knowledge because they are JOURNALISTS, and we are nobodies.
His hatred towards anyone with any opinion other than his own was also echoed by Kirk Wessler who gave a lengthy speech
ripping into message board posters at one of the "Smoker" events a decade ago.
In the interval, we have since seen the massive decline of the "legacy media" and rise of independent citizen journalism.
Is it any wonder that they pushed that "holier than thou" hoax on people long enough that the American populace
finally saw through it and have rejected their hoaxy hold on "journalism" Anyway, where are they now? Haven't heard
from Kirk or Phil lately.

 

[Stryker]

We do not hate journalists nearly enough. I know I have zero respect for Luciano and Wessler. They proved themselves worthless in the Les and post-Les years.

 

[yoda]

worse than worthless, they dragged Bradley basketball down and helped lead to the loss of half of Bradley's 10,000/game fanbase and 7,000 perennial season ticket sales, not to mention lying & propping up an administration that was the worst in the history of DI, and who should have been run off the Hilltop 5 years earlier than they were.

 

[Stryker]

worse than worthless, they dragged Bradley basketball down and helped lead to the loss of half of Bradley's 10,000/game fanbase and 7,000 perennial season ticket sales, not to mention lying & propping up an administration that was the worst in the history of DI, and who should have been run off the Hilltop 5 years earlier than they were.

I concur, but also I think the decline in attendance was somewhat inevitable over that time frame. Not trying to minimize the damage Glasser and Cross did, but we have seen the decline across the entire sport at most colleges, and it is in a large part demographic, IMO. Not saying it can't rebound, but over the past 15 years there has been a generational shift/change in the fanbase and the sport has had to work at creating and capturing a new demographic of younger people that have a lot more entertainment options than their grandparents and great grandparents had. There was a generation of people that supported it from the 1960s-2010ish and those people are now gone.

 

[yoda]

perhaps....

but after the anonymous ratting in 2005 and the NCAA attacks & sanctions, Bradley then went 86-56 over the next four years with FOUR post-season appearances and steady strong attendance figures. But after the other debacle of Joanne firing KK & JL, then when she had all her HAND-PICKED PIECES IN PLACE, we went 46-86 with attendance dropping from over 9,000 to around 5,000. No doubt like other schools, our crowds would be smaller today, but JG was responsible for the loss of $ TENS of MILLIONS of donor funds, pledges, naming rights, athletic revenue and MILLIONS in ridiculous expenditures for her glamorous travel, hotel stays and waste, plus the legal costs and lawsuit losses. There's even more that would raise eyebrows, but we can
go there later... Is it any wonder she has totally disappeared for a FULL decade, making next to zero public appearances.
We are almost at the 10-year anniversary of her departure - should we throw a huge party on the Quad??

Here's the attendance numbers-
It holds steady thru good years and down years all the way til JG starts firing our staff, then in 2011 it dives and
keeps plummeting & bottoms out thru the end of the JG, Mike Cross/Geno Ford era.. then starts to recover


2015 5,726 down 882 (Carver average 5827)
2014 6,608 up 51 (Carver average 6,984)
2013 6,557 down 1,083
2012 7,640 down 807
2011 8,447 down 892
2010 9,339 up 229
2009 9,110 down 490
2008 9,600 down 128
2007 9,728 up 508
2006 9,220 down 117
2005 9,337 up 159
2004 9,178 down 173
2003 9,351 up 279
2002 9,072 down 50
2001 9,112 down 1,066
2000 10,178 up 646
1999 9,532 down 237
1998 9,769 up 144
1997 9,625 down 47
1996 9,672 up 151
1995 9,521 up 707​

 

[Classof77]

Three people I don't miss in the slightest: Glasser, Wessler, and Luciano. I do miss Jimmy Les.

 

[molar50]

We need to invite Anthony Parker back to a game at the Civic Center. When he appeared in the Joann era, he was given an award, but he did not speak. I asked Michael Cross for the reason that he didn't speak and he told me that he wanted to keep the control to guard that Anthony won't speak too long or use vulgar language. He related that Witchita State had former players honored at half time and they used vulgar language and wouldn't stop speaking. I stated that Anthony is a bright person and would know exactly what to say and it was a disservice not to have him speak to our fans.

 

[Da Coach]

We need to invite Anthony Parker back to a game at the Civic Center. When he appeared in the Joann era, he was given an award, but he did not speak. I asked Michael Cross for the reason that he didn't speak and he told me that he wanted to keep the control to guard that Anthony won't speak too long or use vulgar language. He related that Witchita State had former players honored at half time and they used vulgar language and wouldn't stop speaking. I stated that Anthony is a bright person and would know exactly what to say and it was a disservice not to have him speak to our fans.

Great idea. Unfortunately, there might not be anyone left at Bradley from that era who remembers how poorly that was handled and who could arrange a proper do-over.
I've posted about this a couple times before - https://www.bradleyfans.com/forum/s...0-bu-great-anthony-parker?p=485257#post485257

Anthony Parker, one of the greatest players in Bradley history, was invited back to be honored by Bradley and be inducted into the Bradley Hall of Fame. On Nov. 12, 2012, he spoke briefly at a Braves Club Game-Day luncheon, and President Glasser and Michael Cross arranged to honor him at halftime of an early season non-conference game against lowly Texas-Pan American. And on top of that, the game was one of a couple games that Pres. Glasser moved to the Renaissance Coliseum when she was in a dispute with the Civic Center and was trying to use the move as a bargaining chip to try to get a better deal with the Civic Center. The game was not even included in the season ticket package, thus season ticket holders had to purchase the ticket in addition to their season tickets. Many season ticket holders were unhappy about this and refused to buy tickets. The total attendance for the game was only 3,151, an embarrassingly small turnout for a game honoring one of our all-time greats.
But that wasn't even the worst of it. Anthony was made to sit with his wife in the first row of the stands on the opposite side of the court from the team. At halftime, he was given a small plaque commemorating his HOF induction, but the ceremony did not include retiring his number!
I asked this question after the game- why wasn't a player of his stature given the honor of retiring his number? - https://www.bradleyfans.com/forum/s...s-pan-american-61-bradley-78/page4#post361125

After receiving the plaque, he did not speak, and simply walked back to his seat for the rest of the game. Neither the President or AD bothered to accompany him, escort him, or sit by him. At the end of the game, he got up and left the arena. There was virtually no interaction with fans or anyone. It was a shameful way to treat him.

And I didn't know he wasn't allowed to speak (fear he would say something vulgar). What a joke. Anthony is a very religious, born-again Christian. He is the most polite and decent man anyone could meet. Bradley needs to honor him properly.

The 30th anniversary of the 1996 MVC championship team and Anthony Parker's 1996 MVC Player of the Year Award will be next year.
Let's have AP return (and maybe some of his teammates) for a proper ceremony celebrating one of Bradley's greatest players and a great team.
And retire Anthony's number 24!

 

[Stryker]

Great idea. Unfortunately, there might not be anyone left at Bradley from that era who remembers how poorly that was handled and who could arrange a proper do-over.
I've posted about this a couple times before - https://www.bradleyfans.com/forum/s...0-bu-great-anthony-parker?p=485257#post485257

Anthony Parker, one of the greatest players in Bradley history, was invited back to be honored by Bradley and be inducted into the Bradley Hall of Fame. On Nov. 12, 2012, he spoke briefly at a Braves Club Game-Day luncheon, and President Glasser and Michael Cross arranged to honor him at halftime of an early season non-conference game against lowly Texas-Pan American. And on top of that, the game was one of a couple games that Pres. Glasser moved to the Renaissance Coliseum when she was in a dispute with the Civic Center and was trying to use the move as a bargaining chip to try to get a better deal with the Civic Center. The game was not even included in the season ticket package, thus season ticket holders had to purchase the ticket in addition to their season tickets. Many season ticket holders were unhappy about this and refused to buy tickets. The total attendance for the game was only 3,151, an embarrassingly small turnout for a game honoring one of our all-time greats.
But that wasn't even the worst of it. Anthony was made to sit with his wife in the first row of the stands on the opposite side of the court from the team. At halftime, he was given a small plaque commemorating his HOF induction, but the ceremony did not include retiring his number!
I asked this question after the game- why wasn't a player of his stature given the honor of retiring his number? - https://www.bradleyfans.com/forum/s...s-pan-american-61-bradley-78/page4#post361125

After receiving the plaque, he did not speak, and simply walked back to his seat for the rest of the game. Neither the President or AD bothered to accompany him, escort him, or sit by him. At the end of the game, he got up and left the arena. There was virtually no interaction with fans or anyone. It was a shameful way to treat him.

And I didn't know he wasn't allowed to speak (fear he would say something vulgar). What a joke. Anthony is a very religious, born-again Christian. He is the most polite and decent man anyone could meet. Bradley needs to honor him properly.

The 30th anniversary of the 1996 MVC championship team and Anthony Parker's 1996 MVC Player of the Year Award will be next year.
Let's have AP return (and maybe some of his teammates) for a proper ceremony celebrating one of Bradley's greatest players and a great team.
And retire Anthony's number 24!

This is so bizarre and ridiculous. The idea that Anthony would get up and start using foul language is entirely laughable. So sad how things went.

 

[yoda]

This is so bizarre and ridiculous.

..wait til you hear the FULL STORY of how Joanne & Mike Cross settled on offering the head coaching job to Geno Ford - after being turned down by the first dozen or more candidates they offered the position to - even some who initially had interest because it is a prestigious school with a historic basketball legacy and it would have tripled their current salaries, and they even came to campus to see the facilities and be interviewed - then had a massive change of heart & bolted when talking to the admin and learning how they were going to be treated. Geno hadn't even sought the position! It was JG & MC who targeted him so aggressively that they were willing to run roughshod over principles, contract clauses, and legal obligations - which then drew BU into years-long lawsuits & legal battles that cost $$ MILLIONS.​

...sure wish the real facts and truth had been covered by our local media...