Ahh…to be young, idealistic, and inexperienced. I don’t hold it against them. I’ve recognized the issue with student editorials and journalism even when I was a student.
Nonetheless, we have to highlight this viewpoint from Technician that “Poor attendance equals poor performance”.
Fact: After their game Sunday, Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski was asked about scheduling and blamed lackluster attendance on having Sunday games versus Saturday games. Ken Tysiac commented on Coach K’s observation and pointed out that N.C. State should be used to low attendance at their games.
Opinion: There are things that can be done cooperatively by the RBC Center and N.C. State Athletics Department to increase attendance at men’s basketball games. Improving the attendance for these games can improve the endowment, fan moral and possibly build up the team for a win
Before I get going here… can any SFN community members spend some time teaching us about the “morals” of fans? Exactly what is this “fan moral” of which Technician speaks?
Now…to the obvious ‘backwardization’ of Technician’s chicken and egg position that just doesn’t equate in any way, shape or form.
NC State has ranked amongst the Top 25 in attendance for every year since the RBC Center opened in 1999. How has that ‘fan support’ translated into wins over that period? I’ll answer that question for you — NC State has generally performed the WORST of the entire subset of schools that have generally ranked in the Top 25 of attendance over the last decade.
So…if we have had great attendance for an entire decade; yet have failed to win more while we have had that great attendance…how can the conclusion be made that we need more great attendance so that we can win more?
How long would it have taken Technician to try to do a little research and apply some facts and data to support their ‘opinion’? On one hand, it is sad and scary that this level of ‘analysis’ is coming from our college kids. On the other hand, if these kids really want permanent roles in the media then they are definitely well on their way to fitting in perfectly. (Must read)
Obviously, the headline and the position of the view should be, “Poor performance equals poor attendance”…and the very fact that we are having to blog this entry means that “Poor analysis equals poor editorial”.
As a parting shot…the following quote came from an NC State message board discussing this topic:
Picked up the school paper today. They can’t even get the major headline to the sports section right. It says “Wolfpack upsets rival UNC, 99-72”. They may be trying, but they are just not very good. How you do report the score wrong? That’s the most important thing in sports reporting.
