Observer Niner/CUSA stories

Niners land JUCO standouts

Coach sees ECU closing the gap

Wow… 4 days in a row now? Thanks Mike. :wink:

[i]Originally posted by LutzFan[/i]@Oct 30 2004, 08:26 AM [b] Wow... 4 days in a row now? Thanks Mike. ;) [/b]
Yeah, this has been great. Don't stop now. Janovy's on a roll. :D

Would have liked to see a few of comments from Gibbons on Coleman. I’m glad it included the other teams pursuing him, though.

Here’s the part I like most…

[b]Jamison, who averaged 7.6 points and three rebounds, is a slashing offensive player and a strong defender.

“He’s as fierce a competitor as I’ve seen in college basketball,” Madison said. “It’s almost like he plays like his life is on the line.”
[/b]

Nice articles. Looks like I’ve got to dish out another dollar for my 2 copies. Hey Mike, you know there’s been lots of talk about CUSA sending 6 or even 7 teams to the dance again this year.

B)

Hate to sound like a prick because I do appreciate the slight improvement, but can we see some more well thought out/written, in depth articles?

These are good cracker jack things, but more feature type things?

I hope I’m not asking too much from the paper that’s right down the street from this top 30 school.

Thanks.

[i]Originally posted by 82NinerAlum[/i]@Oct 30 2004, 08:06 PM [b] Hate to sound like a prick ... [/b]
Players who matter on a college basketball team = five or six, max. Months in college basketball season = five. Conclusion: We have to spread that stuff out. Patience, my friend.
[i]Originally posted by Mike_Persinger+Oct 30 2004, 10:46 PM-->
[b]QUOTE[/b] (Mike_Persinger @ Oct 30 2004, 10:46 PM)
[i]Originally posted by Over40NINER[/i]@Oct 31 2004, 12:54 AM [b] Any idea when you're gonna run the story about the acc teams being afraid to play us.... [/b]
If a serious story about this ever gets written, I'll frame it and put it on my wall. Unfortunately, i'm not too optimistic, even though it would make watercooler talk everywhere in the state.
[i]Originally posted by Anborn+Oct 31 2004, 03:21 AM-->
[b]QUOTE[/b] (Anborn @ Oct 31 2004, 03:21 AM)

Mike, right or wrong, the 49er fans on this board have no idea how lucky they are to have an audience with the editor of the city’s sports section.

There is no way Blue Demon fans would be posting with Dan McGrath or Stu Cortney, or even Tulane fans with David Meeks. Thanks for engaging in witty reparte with the best of our fans.

As for the ACC issue: To gain respect, we must all continue to support those who are honestly trying to earn it. Winning two games in the NCAA tournament would go a long way towards doing that.

Keep the faith … and tell Harry Pickett I miss the days he wrote about my dad at the Elkin Tribune!

Mike,

I think most people totally agree with you on the ACC playing Charlotte. They have absolutley nothing to gain by playing Charlotte. It does not help with recruiting because they already own this area. It does not help with Media Attention because they already own this area. It does not help with fans because ----well, you get the point.

A loss to Charlotte would be a big hit to any of the top ACC programs. That is why we don’t hear much from NC State fans.

Saying they are scared is just a way of calling them to the table.

Go Niners !!

Thanks for the interest and the writeups so far.

Mike, why not use this slant on a story, taking from the News & Observer’s story from this week on ECU scheduling attempts with the ACC and ask why this isn’t more prevalent… large crowds, local interest, less time away from campus (they are students first, you know). You might get a comment from the staff then. Why would the 49ers go to the Cable Car Classic in California instead of staying in the East? You can do a general story of all area teams; take it to Davidson and Winthrop and ask about their efforts to schedule. Ask Gregg Marshall about not taking an opportunity to play the 49ers ($40,000 guarantee) for a SHORT ride on I-485, instead going on a 5-day trip to Oregon for 2 games (vs. Portland and Oregon, with RPIs of 193 and 89 last season). Good budget responsibility, I suppose? Ask former Queens coach Bart Lundy (now at High Point) what are the gains with a 2-game road trip to Creighton and Michigan and then hosting Utah Valley State in Alumni Gymnasium. Do a story on how coaches schedule out of conference properly to get a respectable RPI and have a good opportunity at getting an NCAA bid.

All ideas, Mike. Some people might be interested in it.

[i]Originally posted by Mike_Persinger[/i]@Oct 31 2004, 06:35 AM [b] (which would mean pointing out that none of the local ACC schools have anything to gain from playing you guys because if they win the nation expects it -- the general population does not know how good you guys are -- and if they lose it'll be in the headlines everywhere, screaming upset). [/b]
I disagree with that statement. The general populace, or the ACC populace? Perhaps people in our market don't know how good we are, but that's not true in a national sense. People in cities all over the country that house CUSA teams know how good we are, for starters.

The Northeast knows how good we are, especially fans of the Atlantic 10. The average basketball fan across the country knows Charlotte and most of them respect us. Sure, we don’t have the prestige of CHapel Hill or Duke, and we haven’t earned it yet, but certainly the common person in Charlotte already knows more about that than they want to.

I agree that people in our immediate area don’t know how good we are, and as a newspaper you have to decide if that is a priority of your paper. You can either pander to the idiot ACC fan mentality that says ACC is automatically better, by writing stories about the teams that already get more national coverage because they are in a “superior” conference, or you can enlighten them by covering a team that is based out of the city that is home to your paper.

Sometimes I think our coverage is wonderful, but I don’t like that fans get excited about big articles in the observer, we should be getting excited about big stories in the NYT, not our local paper. That should just be expected.

But, coverage so far is better, and I hope it contiunes to improve. Once basketball season gets in full swing, I don’t see why there shouldn’t be a Niner story every day in the sports section, with 90% of them being front page material. This team has a lot of stories waiting to be told and should do amazing things this season. And if they don’t, then you have another great story, what happened to the niners?

Mike -

The observer is doing a great job. It is nice to see articles about the Niner teams starting to show up. As with everything you have to start somewhere. I believe that this is the best reporting that I have seen, and exposure in a long time by the Observer.

Keep it up.

[i]Originally posted by HomeinHalton[/i]@Oct 31 2004, 08:46 AM [b] Mike, right or wrong, the 49er fans on this board have no idea how lucky they are to have an audience with the editor of the city's sports section.

There is no way Blue Demon fans would be posting with Dan McGrath or Stu Cortney, or even Tulane fans with David Meeks. Thanks for engaging in witty reparte with the best of our fans.

[/b]


Good points HIH and I completely agree.

By the way Mike, I took the liberty of making your email and homepage “linkable” in your signature for easier access.

[b][b][i]MikeP: [/i]OK guys, one more time on this:

To write a STORY (by Jena or another reporter, who write factually, are expected to be fair and accurate, get both sides, etc.) about this, someone from the Niner side has to actually say it. Bobby won’t. Judy won’t. The players won’t. We’ve asked. Leonard asked last year and the year before. I’ve asked Jena to ask. Those folks might even tell you that at an alumni function when they KNOW there isn’t a reporter in the house, but it does them next to no good to say it publicly. As for the ACC side, you go ask them “are you scared of playing Charlotte?” [/b][/b]

No one says it huh Mike? Try again…

[b]From NinerReport this summer: …Conversation between Curtis Withers, Sean May and Eric Williams about the ACC.

Withers: Man we would smash yall if we played yall. Yall don’t want to play us.

May: What? Man you’re crazy.

Withers: Come on now man the guards make the conference in the ACC. Raymond Felton and (Rashad) McCants makes your team, Chris Paul and Justin (Gray) make your team, Maryland’s guards make their team, Duke’s guards make their team, Virginia…

Williams: You’re talking crazy!

Withers: Who are all the big shots there… Guards.

Williams: We got great big men.

Withers: Imagine if yall played a school with a big man, you would win off of your guard play.

May and Williams: Whatever!

May: I ain’t gonna front, I didn’t really like that first team, it was all guards.

Withers: It was all politics right? See what I’m saying… Julius Hodge… NC State is definitely all guards.

Williams: Of course they’re all guards.

Withers: OK then see, all guards…[/b]

I do believe that Curtis guy is on the Wooden Watch, but then that could be just me.

[b]OK guys, one more time on this:

To write a STORY (by Jena or another reporter, who write factually, are expected to be fair and accurate, get both sides, etc.) about this, someone from the Niner side has to actually say it. Bobby won’t. Judy won’t. The players won’t. We’ve asked. Leonard asked last year and the year before. I’ve asked Jena to ask. Those folks might even tell you that at an alumni function when they KNOW there isn’t a reporter in the house, but it does them next to no good to say it publicly. As for the ACC side, you go ask them “are you scared of playing Charlotte?” and they will go on and on about scheduling philosophy. It’s not in their best interest, either, to say that they’re scared (and with teams like Kentucky, Connecticut, etc., on ACC schedules, I don’t think scared is the right word anyway). So they don’t. Now, if Judy or Bobby would say it, we could say “Bobby Lutz says you’re scared. How do you respond?” and they’d have to respond specifically about Charlotte. If Bobby or Judy wants to say it, tell them to call me. My number’s on this post. Short of that, the story CAN’T be written, because there’s no story.

To write a COLUMN (with opinion, like what Sorensen and Fowler do), you have to believe what you’re writing first (they don’t believe the premise here, from what they’ve told me when I mentioned it) and you have to acknowledge both sides (which would mean pointing out that none of the local ACC schools have anything to gain from playing you guys because if they win the nation expects it – the general population does not know how good you guys are – and if they lose it’ll be in the headlines everywhere, screaming upset). Playing Kentucky or Connecticut, believe it or not, carries more reward win or lose, and less risk.
Bottom line: Tell Bobby to call me directly. Tell Judy to call me directly. My phone line is always open. Or tell them to answer Jena’s question with the kind of chip-on-the-shoulder mentality some of you have, and say heck yeah, they’re all scared of us. Then we’ve got us a story. Until then, we can’t write it, because nobody will assert it from your side. [/b]

Thanks Mike, hadn’t heard this before (not saying you haven’t said it but I haven’t seen it). I appreciate you trying to get your column writers involved also.

I agree that the ACC does not have much to gain playing us and a great deal to lose playing us but they have the exact same thing to lose when they play the likes of ECU in football or A&T, App State, UNCG, Davidson in basketball - yet they schedule them but don’t schedule us - I just don’t understand that. Coach Lutz has said that the ACC teams aren’t willing to give us a 1 for 1 and I would think given our success that we deserve it, could you ask some of the ACC teams why they don’t feel the same way? Heck, Coach Lutz even said that he offered Duke a 2 for 1 if the 1 was in Halton but they don’t want to do that - I’d just like to hear from them why.

Keep up the articles Mike P, I’ve bought about 9 papers already this season!!

Mike, the Observer is even more AFRAID of the acc than the acc is AFRAID of the Niners… & yes, “AFRAID” is probably the best term to use.

You state your prime objective is to sell newspapers. I think everyone on this board, regardless of their support of the Observer, will agree that an article like this will sell a very large number of newspapers. So, do you want to sell newspapers or not?

[i]Originally posted by Over40NINER[/i]@Oct 31 2004, 03:13 PM [b] Mike, the Observer is even more AFRAID of the acc than the acc is AFRAID of the Niners.... & yes, "AFRAID" is probably the best term to use. You state your prime objective is to sell newspapers. I think everyone on this board, regardless of their support of the Observer, will agree that an article like this will sell a very large number of newspapers. So, do you want to sell newspapers or not? [/b]
I do, Over40, but not at the expense of my ethics. If Bobby and Judy won't say it, it's not news. It's not a story unless THEY say it, not you. Scheduling is a boring topic unless there's some conflict there. If the Niners want it, someone important has to say it.