Lijit Ad Wijit

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

This is why I can't bring the radio team back, buddy


The comment box isn't long enough to respond to the last poster, and he/she asks a valid question, though ignorantly.

Here is what the latest anonymous coward said:

"There are those who only know how to complain and bitch about things. Then someone comes along and actually sees a problem and attempts to get a movement going to solve it.

You say the Mount "radio debacle". Why instead did you not:

a. Try to determine how much it would cost to broadcast the away games.

b. Find a way to use your efforts to raise the money to help the Mount?

Over and over in your rants, there rarely is anything remotely positive or forward looking. You need to make yourself a person who lives by the lessons of his Catholic education. Stop ---, Start +++."



You know what Catholics aren't supposed to do? Judge. You either don't know me, or are too cowardly to say these things with a name on your post, or come to me directly.

Let's look at the subjects of my recent posts before this light-hearted one you complain about:

-An update on a recruit we pursued but lost with nothing negative said about the Mount.
-Praise for a new feature on the athletics site
-Praise for the same site's YouTube page
-A neutral schedule update
-A neutral poll about new coaches
-A neutral schedule update
-A positive announcement of a new recruit
-A positive analysis of President Powell's quotes
-A VERY positive analysis of the new lacrosse coach

Do you see a pattern?

So, how much would it cost to have a radio team?


-Let's say 16 regular season road games (on average) X $100 meal money for both announcers (a high estimate) = $1,600
-An extra pizza per trip on the bus X $10 = $160
-An extra hotel room for about 24 nights X let's say $100 = $2,400
-Stipends (Roy fundraised his own position so we're only counting Stof here) about $2,000. I don't know that for sure but I think I'm close if not a little bit high.

Those things alone are $6,600. Add in extra meals and incidentals and we can probably round it to $7,000.

So you want me to use my "efforts" to raise $7,000 so that we can hear the Mount on the radio? First of all, if I was able to raise seven Gs for any cause it would be the mound of debt that my wonderful Catholic education has provided me. I'm grateful for everything I learned and experience at the Mount, but the last thing on my mind is raising $7,000 so that our road games are on the radio.

If I was hellbent on hearing games on the radio and could raise $7,000, I might as well make a deal with Greyhound,  Southwest and HotWire.com to transport myself to every road game for an overnight stay.

Now I realize you probably don't expect me to raise this money by myself, rather you suggest I start some sort of campaign where we all contribute to a cause (if you did want me to do it all by myself you can go play in traffic.)

Well I hate to break it to you but Mount fans don't care that much. I watched dozens of games in Knott Arena over the years, many of them against good teams or with postseason implications (or they were postseason games themselves) in front of a half-empty gym. Did you know that Knott Arena's capacity is in the mid-3,000 range? So how many times in my five-year career where I never missed a single home game do you think that attendance even cracked 3,000?

If you guessed zero then I owe you a pat on the back and a stick of gum. In fact, I think there may have been—MAY have been—two games with more than 2,500 people. I think one was against Robert Morris and the other was probably one of the dreams I had last year where we won NECs at home. (Obviously it didn't work out that way.) There may not have been more than two games with an attendance above 2,000. My point is that I could raise the $7,000, and an additional $100 for every person I wanted to pay to listen to every game, and they wouldn't listen to half of them.

If you think enough of me that I can raise $7,000 to get Mount basketball back on the radio than I am completely flattered. The fact that I can't has nothing to do with pessimism. I'm an eternal optimist on all things out of my control, believe it or not. Even when I'm watching the Eagles and Michael Vick gets sandwiched and Kevin Kolb spells him, and I complain about how Kolb won't throw the ball more than 15 yards down the field in 30+ attempts, I still think the Eagles will win. Just like I always believed the Mount would win, even against North Carolina.

But if the golden statue of Mary climbed off her perch in Emmitsburg and leapt over U.S. Route 15 with a bucket to collect change for the "Mount basketball radio fund," she would be lucky to gather enough cash to buy a $5 footlong at the Subway in town.

So anonymous sir or madam, I appreciate your motivation, but my post was not meant to bash anyone or anything (and it didn't.) It was merely meant to express my dismay that I will have more trouble than I ever imagined keeping up with the team for which I so deeply care. And that, in turn, means that passionate fans like you and me will have a more difficult time than ever before of staying connected. To be disconnected from the Mount would be as if Mary did in fact climb off that very aforementioned perch.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can't means I won't.

Anonymous said...

There are no ignorant questions.

Anonymous said...

Cajou insight?

Richard said...

No radio, no recruits, no new locker rooms, no Cajou! No wins. Im bout to cancel my hotel room in Dayton too. No wasting money for gas to travel and see a team that can't compete at all and lose by 70. Loyola will be whipping us by 30 now. I surely hope the Mount community enjoys Loyola people rubbing it in when they destroy us down there. The Mount has become the laughingstock of the NEC, possibly the whole country now. Geeze, Brown was not that wonderful. He was actually the reason we did not see the full development and talent of some players. Is Burke really that bad? Shawn and them did say the new coach was hard. Too hard for Cajou huh? I am sorry to be so negative, but, really though, look at all the negative things that has happened to the Mount since last March. What are we gonna do Gerick? Get in there and take over buddy- you shoulda never talked bad about Powell, maybe you would have gotten that chance. Love ya anyway Braddy.

Anonymous said...

What? Think you are overreacting? Undermedicted?
The last comment is so over the top it is disturbing. Guess it shows emotional involvement, even if the expression is at the expense of information, clarity, charity, understanding of any facts, etc.

BG said...

Let's leave Jean's personal life where it belongs. If I wanted to post that he wouldn't be back I would have done it before the school did. And to be honest I haven't talked to him lately but there's probably a reason he hasn't announced the motivation for his decision. Just let him go.
Richard you are jumping the ship a little bit early. Burke deserves some time to install his system, players, etc., before we rush to judgement. Last time I checked St. Francis (Pa.) was still the laughingstock of the league for the longterm.

Richard said...

Yeah, I may have been too hard on Jean. I let my emotions get the best of me,so I'm sorry Jean and to other fans. Anonymous, are you sure you aren't Mr. Little? or is it that you are just unsure about your spelling abilities? Under-medicted? It was a little funny though for you to suggest. You must have observed me in person and feel that way about me don't you? I do quite fine in my life thank you. How else would I be able to afford to travel all around to watch Mount away games. I have been a fan for a long time through many ups and downs, but I do not recall this sudden of a downward spiral. Is it due to Powell not wanting to fund the program sufficiently other than paying the coach? At least I have not been a fairweather fan,yet-only going to 'important' games like title games as some people have that call themselves bigtime Mount supporters. Yeah, right. Hey Brad yes SFPA was down for quite awhile, but I it is inaccurate to call them a joke, currently anyway. They have a lot of young talent that will be back from their playoff team last year. But for real though- the superstar Lamar Trice leading the way this year? One word for that- scary. I know that many of my comments are radical and get a rise out of many, but I am just really hardcore into it. Once again, sorry Jean. I hope things get straightened out for you. Just please don't transfer! We love having you on our team. I will not be in Ohio. As far as other away games, it is contingent upon the effort- because the last games of the past two years had me wondering at times- the JMU and last years RMU.

Anonymous said...

Can we once and for all put an end to the thought that Tom Powell is responsible for the underfunding of the Mount's athletic programs? Dr. Powell can't spend what the university doesn't have.
The Mount has far too low an endowment for a institution that is 200 years old. The endowment is the lifeblood of any institution. Tuition/Room/Board basically cover expenses. Investments in areas like infrastructure (dorms, academic buildings, locker rooms, etc.), new educational programs, athletic programs (scholarships, coaching/staff salary), etc. are typically funded by the endowment. When your endowment hovers around $35-$40 m, there isn't enough investment income to allow the university to make these investments. I'm not trying to be a cheerleader for Dr. Powell but he has accomplished a lot with limited resources - new lax/soccer stadium, new baseball field, new softball field, new dorm, updated Terrace, increasing lax scholarships from 4 to almost the NCAA max of 12.6. My guess is that if the money were available, he would make all of the investments in the athletic department that we would all like to see... but the money simply doesn't exist. There is a solution to the problem though... put your money where your mouth is and contribute to the Mount (whether you are a grad or not). That is the only way that the endowment will grow and investments will be made. Just my two (or three) cents worth of opinion.

Richard said...

Hey Anonymous, I would contribute to the Mount and many other organizations. However, there is simply one thing that stops me. Most money that people contribute to all these orgs and charities, schools, etc, never ever goes toward what they say that it is supposed to go toward. They either pocket it for elaborate social events or other nonsense, but one way or another it does not go to whatever cause it may be- most of it anyway.. You will never see me donate to much of anything because almost all of it is a big corrupt scam. People are such fools to actually believe in things, but oh well, that is what carries people through life- hopes, dreams, and pure fantasies. Otherwise they would have a perpetually negative attitude and life would blow because reality is so dishonest. The Mount and many other things have got bigger money than they will want you to believe. I sure as heck will not fall for it. it sort of goes along the lines for example of a person having 999 instead of the 1000 that they think they need or want to have....so they end up telling others they are broke or do not have it, all due to not having the figure that they want to have. I am sorry but I lack naivete, and people do not like that. Powell is not much different than most others in positions of power or wealth.

BG said...

You are correct on a lot of the improvements. But as of last season, lacrosse scholarships were still right at about four. Was there a dramatic shift in the offseason? I don't think they have that many yet.

Richard said...

I wonder if anyone who reads these blogs would satisfy my curiosity of opinions? Who out of the triumvirate of Castellanos, Golladay, and Trice, has the most true talent and potential to have success at the guard position? I guess I will soon find out a little-moore, but I predict that currently it is Dave. I had originally figured that Jean would begin as the PG but that option is now defunct. So who is more likely the best dude for the job?

Anonymous said...

Actually lacrosse, both men and women, doubled their scholarships to 8. I love seeing that they might have found their niche with lacrosse and are putting money into it.

Anonymous said...

Never liked the LAX bro mentality, best exemplified by the Duke mess. Do support the Mount team, and I want to see increased sensitivity training to all students (especially athletes) to core human values, inclusiveness, charity and kind understanding (rather than drinking, false dress 'codes', inappropriate self inflation, etc. I am not even going into the sex stuff.

Anonymous said...

They have actually gotten to about 10 Lax scholarships when you add in academic scholarships. They have done a good job at getting creative.

Anonymous said...

Hey Richard - where were you for the practice? I know Norfleet isn't PG material, but did ya see his shot? I'm with you on Golladay as a major possibility, but from what I saw and heard, watch out for Castellanos. This kid is a winner and a leader. I also like the outlook for Cleveland. BTW, Cajou may return.

Richard said...

Well, by God, if I was invited I'd have surely been there. I did not figure it was an open practice. Why didn't anyone tell me? I surmise that Castellanos will be similar to Joey Rodriguez of VCU, though not quite as much of 'street-mentality'. I sure hope Big John (Jean) Cajou returns!