Post by bigfan on Oct 17, 2006 15:16:01 GMT -5
Student turnout at Galen Center's debut was simply embarrassing
Alex Delanian
You know, I've always thought you've been given a bad rep for your performance at football games. You can't get too rowdy during the countless routs USC football has had in recent years, but you always found the extra decibels necessary when it mattered most (see: California, 2004).
But this is indefensible.
Last Thursday, at the inaugural event in the Galen Center, alumni, donors, members of the administration and even President Steven B. Sample found the time to attend one of the most significant moments in the history of USC Athletics.
You didn't.
I can think of a few reasons why you didn't show up - television to watch, dates to go on, beer pong to play. I just can't think of any good reasons.
Of the 5,000 people who attended the No. 3 Stanford-No. 5 USC women's volleyball game Thursday night, roughly 750 were students. On Friday, when the team took on No. 8 Cal, the total attendance dipped to 1,044 and the students topped out at 400, if we're being generous.
This is from an undergraduate population of 16,400. That's like having a family reunion where only you and the dog show up.
At the Cal game I spoke to Arthur C. Bartner, director of the USC Trojan Marching Band, who was on hand both nights to oversee his musical troops and enjoy the unveiling of the new arena. He's been with the school more than 30 years, trying to support teams through blaring trumpets and efficiently timed fight songs.
As the handful of students trickled in, he couldn't help but wonder what kind of environment the arena could achieve but acknowledged that even with the presence of the band, the student body is the key ingredient.
"You have to develop a trend," Bartner said. "We have this huge football trend, but what has to happen is we have to make it so that this is the place to be on a Friday night.
"To create a home-court advantage, you have to have people, and students should be the first people."
On Thursday and Friday, the Women of Troy were pleased with the crowd reaction they received, but most of that came from nonstudents. Even those who showed up were strangely muted. There's no enthusiasm - instead of people feeding off each other and making a sporting event more exciting, the dullness rubs off and nobody appears involved.
Sure, USC is a football school and that will never change, but you have the power to diversify the athletic identity.
Look at some of the other prestigious athletic universities and the scope of their success. Florida, the defending national champion in basketball, was on its way to the national championship game in football until Chris Leak intervened and handed the Gators' undefeated season to Auburn.
The Texas Longhorns had the chance of a triple crown, holding the national championships in baseball and football entering March Madness, but fell short of the Final Four. Our school is as committed to nonfootball programs as those mentioned, but our student interest hovers somewhere between "I'll go if my friends go" and "Where's the Sports Arena again?"
It's not like there's nothing to cheer about, either. Men's basketball has a Pacific-10 Conference player of the year candidate in Nick Young, women's basketball has the top recruiting class in the nation, women's volleyball is a perennial Final Four threat and men's volleyball has a new coach and perhaps the best setter in the conference in Jimmy Killian.
It goes beyond the teams that will play in the Galen Center.
We have two dominant water polo teams, including a men's squad that has won the most prestigious tournaments of the year so far and appears destined for a third national championship in four years.
Yeah, it happens in other sports, too.
Individual golf champions. A soccer prodigy. Olympic-caliber swimmers. A baseball team with major-league talent and the nicest baseball field you've never seen.
But the discussion of sports at our school revolves around the Matt Leinart-Brynn Cameron baby and complaining about how terrible our undefeated football team is.
You can make a difference, fellow students, but either you don't recognize the power you hold or simply don't care.
And if you don't want to trust me, I understand. But think about that men's basketball game against North Carolina. People showed up because it was a premier opponent, but stayed because the Trojans played their best game of the season.
Think about the packed North Gym, which helped men's volleyball take UCLA to the limit last season. The team doesn't draw a huge crowd, but every little bit gives it more confidence to restore a program to its former level.
And think about what it feels like when that new student section in that new building is finally filled for whichever sport. Obnoxious signs, painted faces, clever insults of the opposing team and, most importantly, support of our teams.
Like I said, you don't have to trust me, but you should trust somebody who will be exhausting herself until 2010 on that Galen Center floor.
"When you don't have the crowd, obviously it affects us a little bit," said Taylor Carico, the freshman setter on the women's volleyball team.
And if the students ever fill the place up?
"If it ever happens, it'll be amazing," she said.
And for it to ever happen, you need to do the simplest thing anyone will ask of you in four years of higher education.
Show up.
Alex Delanian
You know, I've always thought you've been given a bad rep for your performance at football games. You can't get too rowdy during the countless routs USC football has had in recent years, but you always found the extra decibels necessary when it mattered most (see: California, 2004).
But this is indefensible.
Last Thursday, at the inaugural event in the Galen Center, alumni, donors, members of the administration and even President Steven B. Sample found the time to attend one of the most significant moments in the history of USC Athletics.
You didn't.
I can think of a few reasons why you didn't show up - television to watch, dates to go on, beer pong to play. I just can't think of any good reasons.
Of the 5,000 people who attended the No. 3 Stanford-No. 5 USC women's volleyball game Thursday night, roughly 750 were students. On Friday, when the team took on No. 8 Cal, the total attendance dipped to 1,044 and the students topped out at 400, if we're being generous.
This is from an undergraduate population of 16,400. That's like having a family reunion where only you and the dog show up.
At the Cal game I spoke to Arthur C. Bartner, director of the USC Trojan Marching Band, who was on hand both nights to oversee his musical troops and enjoy the unveiling of the new arena. He's been with the school more than 30 years, trying to support teams through blaring trumpets and efficiently timed fight songs.
As the handful of students trickled in, he couldn't help but wonder what kind of environment the arena could achieve but acknowledged that even with the presence of the band, the student body is the key ingredient.
"You have to develop a trend," Bartner said. "We have this huge football trend, but what has to happen is we have to make it so that this is the place to be on a Friday night.
"To create a home-court advantage, you have to have people, and students should be the first people."
On Thursday and Friday, the Women of Troy were pleased with the crowd reaction they received, but most of that came from nonstudents. Even those who showed up were strangely muted. There's no enthusiasm - instead of people feeding off each other and making a sporting event more exciting, the dullness rubs off and nobody appears involved.
Sure, USC is a football school and that will never change, but you have the power to diversify the athletic identity.
Look at some of the other prestigious athletic universities and the scope of their success. Florida, the defending national champion in basketball, was on its way to the national championship game in football until Chris Leak intervened and handed the Gators' undefeated season to Auburn.
The Texas Longhorns had the chance of a triple crown, holding the national championships in baseball and football entering March Madness, but fell short of the Final Four. Our school is as committed to nonfootball programs as those mentioned, but our student interest hovers somewhere between "I'll go if my friends go" and "Where's the Sports Arena again?"
It's not like there's nothing to cheer about, either. Men's basketball has a Pacific-10 Conference player of the year candidate in Nick Young, women's basketball has the top recruiting class in the nation, women's volleyball is a perennial Final Four threat and men's volleyball has a new coach and perhaps the best setter in the conference in Jimmy Killian.
It goes beyond the teams that will play in the Galen Center.
We have two dominant water polo teams, including a men's squad that has won the most prestigious tournaments of the year so far and appears destined for a third national championship in four years.
Yeah, it happens in other sports, too.
Individual golf champions. A soccer prodigy. Olympic-caliber swimmers. A baseball team with major-league talent and the nicest baseball field you've never seen.
But the discussion of sports at our school revolves around the Matt Leinart-Brynn Cameron baby and complaining about how terrible our undefeated football team is.
You can make a difference, fellow students, but either you don't recognize the power you hold or simply don't care.
And if you don't want to trust me, I understand. But think about that men's basketball game against North Carolina. People showed up because it was a premier opponent, but stayed because the Trojans played their best game of the season.
Think about the packed North Gym, which helped men's volleyball take UCLA to the limit last season. The team doesn't draw a huge crowd, but every little bit gives it more confidence to restore a program to its former level.
And think about what it feels like when that new student section in that new building is finally filled for whichever sport. Obnoxious signs, painted faces, clever insults of the opposing team and, most importantly, support of our teams.
Like I said, you don't have to trust me, but you should trust somebody who will be exhausting herself until 2010 on that Galen Center floor.
"When you don't have the crowd, obviously it affects us a little bit," said Taylor Carico, the freshman setter on the women's volleyball team.
And if the students ever fill the place up?
"If it ever happens, it'll be amazing," she said.
And for it to ever happen, you need to do the simplest thing anyone will ask of you in four years of higher education.
Show up.
.....He said that the place was absolutely "crawling with cops."