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A column that will be appearing in Tuesday's edition of the NI.
Thought I'd share.
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At $5 per ticket, American Idol winner David Cook sold out the 800-ticket allotment to his concert the Maucker Union in less than one day.
For free, the rest of you could be (should be?) watching one of the most historic basketball season in the school’s history.
The Panthers perch atop the Missouri Valley Conference narrowed to one game following a loss at Wichita State this weekend, but they’ve got plenty of elbow room in the McLeod Center.
The attendance for the last home game against Southern Illinois was a dismal 4,575. It didn’t seem to bother the Panther offensive onslaught, as they went on to crush the rival Salukis 81-55. The margin of victory was the highest in the history of the storied series, and it felt like no students were there to enjoy it.
There were some. The regulars, the “Norms,” of the student section, decked out in their overalls and wigs. There were others, maybe first-timers, cheering as loud as possible. There were some who were there to support a residence hall and some who maybe got lost on their way back to University Mills.
You have to wonder what a visiting player thinks when he walks into the brand-new arena, ready for an eardrum-crushing experience and walks out to whispers.
It’s a hard pill to swallow with such an exciting product on the floor. Sure, the McLeod Center was packed to the rafters for the Creighton contest on Feb. 8, but it looks as if a close loss might have sucked the wind right out of those bandwagon fans that this team desperately needs and, better yet, deserves.
The players don’t seem to be noticing. Or, at least, if they are, they’re staying quiet about it.
“It was loud in there tonight,” junior guard Ali Farokhmanesh said after being questioned about the attendance woes after a win over Illinois State. “My ears were hurting at some points.”
But to the fans who have seen the season unfold, it’s evident that there is a lot of wasted space in the McLeod Center during games.
And this column is not to chastise or toss blame at any students. It’s more of a face-in-the-palm mixed with a Charlie Brown missed-the-football grunt.
I am a realist. I know that many students at any given university, not just UNI, have other things to do. Stuff happens, and you have to make decisions on what to do with your time.
It just seems like everyone is calling each other up to collaborate on not going to games.
If you don’t want to come to the games, that’s fine. It’s your life.
But you’re missing a real good show.
You’ve missed a 12-3 conference run to this point in the season. You’ve missed out on an 11-game winning streak. You’ve missed Coach Jacobson do it with a team that includes just one senior.
You missed out on the emergence of Lucas O’Rear, some great shooting by Farokhmanesh and some great offensive piloting by Kwadzo Ahelegbe.
Man, you’ve missed out.
So, if you don’t want to show up when UNI looks to repeat a shellacking of Drake on Wednesday evening at 7:05, it’s fine.
That leaves plenty of room for an MVC trophy.
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Thought I'd share.
---
At $5 per ticket, American Idol winner David Cook sold out the 800-ticket allotment to his concert the Maucker Union in less than one day.
For free, the rest of you could be (should be?) watching one of the most historic basketball season in the school’s history.
The Panthers perch atop the Missouri Valley Conference narrowed to one game following a loss at Wichita State this weekend, but they’ve got plenty of elbow room in the McLeod Center.
The attendance for the last home game against Southern Illinois was a dismal 4,575. It didn’t seem to bother the Panther offensive onslaught, as they went on to crush the rival Salukis 81-55. The margin of victory was the highest in the history of the storied series, and it felt like no students were there to enjoy it.
There were some. The regulars, the “Norms,” of the student section, decked out in their overalls and wigs. There were others, maybe first-timers, cheering as loud as possible. There were some who were there to support a residence hall and some who maybe got lost on their way back to University Mills.
You have to wonder what a visiting player thinks when he walks into the brand-new arena, ready for an eardrum-crushing experience and walks out to whispers.
It’s a hard pill to swallow with such an exciting product on the floor. Sure, the McLeod Center was packed to the rafters for the Creighton contest on Feb. 8, but it looks as if a close loss might have sucked the wind right out of those bandwagon fans that this team desperately needs and, better yet, deserves.
The players don’t seem to be noticing. Or, at least, if they are, they’re staying quiet about it.
“It was loud in there tonight,” junior guard Ali Farokhmanesh said after being questioned about the attendance woes after a win over Illinois State. “My ears were hurting at some points.”
But to the fans who have seen the season unfold, it’s evident that there is a lot of wasted space in the McLeod Center during games.
And this column is not to chastise or toss blame at any students. It’s more of a face-in-the-palm mixed with a Charlie Brown missed-the-football grunt.
I am a realist. I know that many students at any given university, not just UNI, have other things to do. Stuff happens, and you have to make decisions on what to do with your time.
It just seems like everyone is calling each other up to collaborate on not going to games.
If you don’t want to come to the games, that’s fine. It’s your life.
But you’re missing a real good show.
You’ve missed a 12-3 conference run to this point in the season. You’ve missed out on an 11-game winning streak. You’ve missed Coach Jacobson do it with a team that includes just one senior.
You missed out on the emergence of Lucas O’Rear, some great shooting by Farokhmanesh and some great offensive piloting by Kwadzo Ahelegbe.
Man, you’ve missed out.
So, if you don’t want to show up when UNI looks to repeat a shellacking of Drake on Wednesday evening at 7:05, it’s fine.
That leaves plenty of room for an MVC trophy.
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