Memo To The Athletic Department: Hire This Guy

08-09 Basketball Alums NC State Administration NCS Basketball65

Ever wondered why Wake Forest has a better atmosphere than NC State?

Mike Odom has never scored a point for Wake Forest, but when the Deacons play No. 1 Duke tonight, he will be called on to give the team some oomph.

During breaks in the action, Odom will cue up “Zombie Nation” or another high-energy song from his laptop and send it through Joel Coliseum’s sound system. Within seconds, thousands of Wake fans will be whipped into a frenzy that will give the players an added charge.

“Every game is special,” Odom said. “Obviously, Duke is No. 1, and our fans will be excited. We want to keep that excitement when they get here.”

Odom grew up in Raleigh following ACC basketball. While a student at N.C. State, he served as student manager for the basketball team.

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08-09 Basketball Alums NC State Administration NCS Basketball

65 Responses to Memo To The Athletic Department: Hire This Guy

  1. TheCOWDOG 01/29/2009 at 9:36 PM #

    Great prose Chops. You grabbed the flavor.

    Like Johnny Cash, I’ve been everywhere man. Rupp, Pauley, Assembly Hall…all our locals. Nothing, nothing comes close to the aura that was Reynolds.

    There where alot of factors that led me to sign my LOI here. Lou’s magic tricks, 2 sport opt out, but being a late recruit for Lou, ( he didn’t have much time when he took over )I never saw a football game for my visit.

    I ( and my basketball coach father ) instead, were whisked from the field that was RDU by the venerable Major Mac, straight to Reynolds.

    I swear peeps, I was already cocky and nonchalalant about the process, but when we hit the seats on the baseline floor under the East goal…and heard, felt, and smelled the energy in that building just before tipoff…it was over.

    I had the same freakin’ blast of other worldness that I had when entering Yankee Stadium for the first time as a 7 year old.

    It was Duke in Jan. of ’72 and for the next 8 winters,I always felt special to be a part of the crowd.

  2. Noah 01/29/2009 at 9:51 PM #

    First time I went to Yankee Stadium, there was a car burning out on the street beyond the big bat. Those buildings that caught fire in the summer of 78 were still sitting there…still burned out. Dave Winfield was still in the outfield. Don Mattingly was at first, Willie Randolph was at 2B, and Rickey Henderson was batting leadoff.

    Place still sucked. 🙂

  3. choppack1 01/29/2009 at 10:10 PM #

    Cowdog – You’re right – that place took by surprise – because it never got as much heart as Cameron – which of course, IMHO, is a poor man’s Reynold’s.

    I’ve never been in a stadium with worse sight-lines – especially if you were in those endzone seats behind the goal – in the middle or further back of the student section, but damned if I’ve ever had more fun at any sporting – though I’ll say, Carter-Finley is getting closer and closer.

    Still, I feel bad for students who never got to experience it – they missed out.

  4. TheCOWDOG 01/29/2009 at 10:13 PM #

    Damn Noah, bad timing….mine was Mantle, Maris, Berra and Ford.

  5. wufpup76 01/29/2009 at 10:27 PM #

    “Communist music like the football team used the last year of Chuck’s regime when they walked down the stadium to the field.”

    ^This really made me laugh 🙂

    I disagree that it is “communist music” (I actually like it) – but it for certain does not play well as our intro music … The entire thing is disjointed and the music is not something I would associate with basketball highlights

    I tend to agree, it made me feel kind of sheepish and embarassed when I first saw it – wonder how the players feel … Of course, if we had a really good record it probably wouldn’t matter and I’d be screaming “HELL YEAH! AWESOME!!!”

    Funny stuff

  6. YANCSSB 01/29/2009 at 10:36 PM #

    Count me as one of the ones not in favor of this idea. When you have to pipe in techno to generate some sort of “atmosphere,” you’ve given up.

  7. TheCOWDOG 01/29/2009 at 10:38 PM #

    What ever boys, we play in the most well lit techno graveyard in Raleigh/Cary for all the world to experience.

    Hey, we have had our moments at RBC my kids have seen it ( albeit CA. kids.), but ….hell I’m just as likely to mumble as make sense.

    Batting order in Yankee stadium that day by memory

    Bobby Richardson 2b ( More on him later)
    Tony Kubek SS
    Roger Maris RF
    Miickey Mantle CF
    Moose Skowron 1B
    Yogi Berra LF
    Elston Howard C
    Clete Boyer 3B
    Whitey Ford P

  8. redfred2 01/29/2009 at 10:40 PM #

    “RED means GO”, “the fast lane to technology”, and blah, blah, blah, and so on, and so forth…

    Then you go to a game, and have to sit there suffering through one of their amateurish and hokey lead in’s, or some kind of excrutiating celebration ceremony that they’re hopelessly trying to pull off with thousands and thousands of other innocent victims sitting right there beside you. About all anyone can do is to try to laugh it off, or try not to be so embarrassed that all you can do is think about getting up and getting out of the place.

    I hate to say it, then again, I really don’t, but EVERYTHING about the way NC State presents itself is BOR…RING to the point of embarassment!!! I layed it pretty much all on Herb, but Sidney is no picnic or great communicator when things aren’t going his way either. It’s also the radio announcers, the video intro’s, and EVERYTHING ELSE that you can possibly think of!!! Plain Jane to the MAX, and sadly enough, that is EXACTLY the way they want it!!!

    On the one hand there’s this big hype about “BEING ON THE CUTTING EDGE”, “THE FUTURE” and “THE ROAD TO TECHNOLOGY”, on the other there is the way NC State University presents itself on a regular basis, the perceived face of NC State, and the reality beyond that fancy new ad campaign. It’s such an enormous dichotomy that someone from elsewhere who wasn’t already familiar with what NC State has to offer would have to be seriously searching, and go well beyond, overlooking all of those inconsistent messages that are constantly being sent out to the general public, before they could ever consider taking The University itself seriously.

    Does anyone think that Wake Forest’s stock hasn’t risen due to their current national profile, and doesn’t that put them in a position to increase funds and even enrollment if they chose to do so at this point? Does anyone think that any sudden spike in interest is due to some master stroke and a change in the way they handle their academics? Or is it simply because they are such a “class act” and well liked by all that they encounter?

    Um, well no, it’s none of those things. It’s because they are OUT THERE when they normally wouldn’t be if they weren’t producing a high quality product in athletics. They’re on Sportscenter, they’re in the news, and they are pretty much kicking ass in two sports now.

    They were already at a point where some would consider them successful, now they’re even much more successful, it’s not at all like Raleigh, and you gotta admire them for it.

  9. wufpup76 01/29/2009 at 10:46 PM #

    ^”dichotomy” … great word usage!

  10. Classof89 01/29/2009 at 10:46 PM #

    Noah, the Washburn year was 84-85, the year we lost to St. Johns in the Elite Eight. He disappears from the box scores in late December, which would have been after the first semester grades came back. That team played an amazing OOC schedule, which is a particularly jarring contrast to the lineup of stiffs and patsies we schedule now. That year, we had Kentucky, Louisville, and SMU (when they had Jon Koncak, I think).

  11. TheCOWDOG 01/29/2009 at 11:01 PM #

    ’89 that team was hosed against St Johns. Although we may have hosed everyone with Washburn.

    Does anybody know off hand why he wasn’t straight to NBA draft out of high school? Other than the obvious?

  12. redfred2 01/29/2009 at 11:14 PM #

    ^Maybe they didn’t know he existed?

    Did he ever really attend HIGH

    …school, or any other school for that matter?

  13. TheCOWDOG 01/29/2009 at 11:34 PM #

    Red…at some point in time, I’d like to hit up on some of the old folks about what really went down when he came here. I was in Cali for those years and never got a grip. Don’t think anyone here got a grip either, but in my estimation started the V excumunication.

    In fact that’s why I’ve stayed away from all things related to that time in space in here.

  14. Classof89 01/30/2009 at 9:45 AM #

    We actually played St. Johns twice that year–first time in the ECAC Holiday Festival in MSG (yes, younglings, there was a time when OUR program was so prominant nationally that we were regularly invited to play in high-profile holiday tournaments on national TV in major US cities) WITH Washburn–we actually lost by more the first time. Then we lost at home to GaTech in ACC opener (I think that was Bobby Cremin’s Final Four year with John Salley, and Mark Price). But I’m fairly sure we were mid-top 10, if not top 5 for a short span in the fall of that season.

  15. Daily Update 01/31/2009 at 11:56 AM #

    Lots of good posts(Cowdog and Choppack as usual). I went to Cameron again a few weeks ago and again wasn’t that impressed. It isn’t Reynolds, but they do have one of the nation’s top teams playing there every single year.

    My feeling about NC State basketball is that our history and tradition are officially dead. Monteith, Oblinger, Turner, Robinson, Fowler, and the move to the RBC killed it.

    Totally agree with Alphawolf above, if I decide to go today, then it is essentially like going to watch the execution of someone we all love. A couple of years ago when we beat UNC, I had a similar feeling. My wife lost the tickets and we weren’t able to go. I didn’t get too upset because I was expecting to lose by 30 points…

    I have my ticket ready today. I am meeting some friends at Players Retreat for some pre-game beers and the Wake/GT game. Then I have to make the decision on whether to go to this game or not. The likely outcome won’t be pleasant to experience. There are going to UNC fans throughout the arena(Fowler should be fired just for being the AD when the UNC/NC State game isn’t even sold out).

    I went to the NC State/UNC game in the Dean Dome last year. Wow…that was ugly. 44-11(or whatever it was) at half-time and I had to leave. I couldn’t take anymore.

    Do I really want to experience this situation today in person? How could it have gotten to the point where I seriously consider skipping the UNC/NC State game in our own arena when I have already paid for the ticket? It just pisses me off more and more everyday that somehow Lee Fowler remains at NC State.

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