Post by famouspnthrfan on Dec 27, 2006 16:54:46 GMT -6
sports.yahoo.com/ncaab/news?slug=uwire-calstatechicosportsadminis&prov=uwire&type=lgns
Cal State-Chico sports administrators are searching for school spirit
By James Damschroder, The Orion
December 27, 2006
(U-WIRE) CHICO, Calif. -- If you go to a Chico State basketball game this season, you might notice the following: Our most energetic fan is 78 years old, none of the students know the words to the school fight song and student attendance is less than you would find at LaSalles on karaoke night.
What's up? Are you too cool for school?
The stage and props are set: The school fight song is blaring from the band, championship-caliber teams are on the court and cheerleaders are cheering accompanied by a guy who does backflips off the gym floor like it's a trampoline.
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There's everything but the students, which is like a sandwich without the meat.
"I don't think (students) think it's cool to go," said Jeff Kragel, Chico State's intercollegiate athletics marketing coordinator. "We're trying to make it more of a social event -- boy meets girl, girl meets boy. Plus, you get to watch a volleyball game."
But by most measures, it's still not that cool for students to attend Chico State sporting events.
In a random survey of 50 students taken in front of the Bell Memorial Union on Nov. 29, 39 students said they had not been to a sporting event this semester. Eight students said they had been to one, and only three said they had been to multiple events.
The result was similar when the same question was asked of first-year students in front of Whitney Hall on Thursday morning. Forty out of the 50 students surveyed had been to no Chico State sporting events this semester.
"They're 300 feet from Acker Gym," Kragel said. "I don't know if they think they are going to catch the plague or what."
Of the students surveyed, there were multiple reasons given for not attending, but most just weren't interested.
First-year student Sudha Pillai hadn't attended any games because she was under the impression that the teams weren't any good, she said.
Kelly Fitzpatrick, another first-year student, said she didn't know where and when games were played. As she entered Whitney Hall, a big bulletin board at the entrance featured the fall sports schedules.
Kragel pointed out that the overall attendance numbers are very good compared with other California Collegiate Athletic Association schools. But, only about a quarter of the attendance is made up of students, he said.
"On the East Coast, students line up for days to get into a basketball game," Kragel said. "But for some reason, it's just not cool on the West Coast."
Len Whitegon, 78, would attest that it was once cool to have school spirit, and it never stopped being cool.
Whitegon single-handedly brought back the Chico State fight song, which used to be sung with pride when he attended Chico State in 1948. Now, if you attend any Chico State home basketball games, you will find Whitegon trying to restore that school pride by leading the crowd in singing the fight song.
"In the 1940s and '50s, football was a big event," Whitegon said. "Every Saturday night, everyone dressed up and took their girlfriends to the game. We would stand up and sing the fight song after every touchdown."
And they must have scored a few touchdowns, because Whitegon was able to remember the song after the university had forgotten the lyrics.
"The words probably need to be rewritten," Whitegon said. "But as long as they play the fight song, I'll rouse the crowd to stand up and sing."
Let's hope there are some students to rouse.
Cal State-Chico sports administrators are searching for school spirit
By James Damschroder, The Orion
December 27, 2006
(U-WIRE) CHICO, Calif. -- If you go to a Chico State basketball game this season, you might notice the following: Our most energetic fan is 78 years old, none of the students know the words to the school fight song and student attendance is less than you would find at LaSalles on karaoke night.
What's up? Are you too cool for school?
The stage and props are set: The school fight song is blaring from the band, championship-caliber teams are on the court and cheerleaders are cheering accompanied by a guy who does backflips off the gym floor like it's a trampoline.
ADVERTISEMENT
There's everything but the students, which is like a sandwich without the meat.
"I don't think (students) think it's cool to go," said Jeff Kragel, Chico State's intercollegiate athletics marketing coordinator. "We're trying to make it more of a social event -- boy meets girl, girl meets boy. Plus, you get to watch a volleyball game."
But by most measures, it's still not that cool for students to attend Chico State sporting events.
In a random survey of 50 students taken in front of the Bell Memorial Union on Nov. 29, 39 students said they had not been to a sporting event this semester. Eight students said they had been to one, and only three said they had been to multiple events.
The result was similar when the same question was asked of first-year students in front of Whitney Hall on Thursday morning. Forty out of the 50 students surveyed had been to no Chico State sporting events this semester.
"They're 300 feet from Acker Gym," Kragel said. "I don't know if they think they are going to catch the plague or what."
Of the students surveyed, there were multiple reasons given for not attending, but most just weren't interested.
First-year student Sudha Pillai hadn't attended any games because she was under the impression that the teams weren't any good, she said.
Kelly Fitzpatrick, another first-year student, said she didn't know where and when games were played. As she entered Whitney Hall, a big bulletin board at the entrance featured the fall sports schedules.
Kragel pointed out that the overall attendance numbers are very good compared with other California Collegiate Athletic Association schools. But, only about a quarter of the attendance is made up of students, he said.
"On the East Coast, students line up for days to get into a basketball game," Kragel said. "But for some reason, it's just not cool on the West Coast."
Len Whitegon, 78, would attest that it was once cool to have school spirit, and it never stopped being cool.
Whitegon single-handedly brought back the Chico State fight song, which used to be sung with pride when he attended Chico State in 1948. Now, if you attend any Chico State home basketball games, you will find Whitegon trying to restore that school pride by leading the crowd in singing the fight song.
"In the 1940s and '50s, football was a big event," Whitegon said. "Every Saturday night, everyone dressed up and took their girlfriends to the game. We would stand up and sing the fight song after every touchdown."
And they must have scored a few touchdowns, because Whitegon was able to remember the song after the university had forgotten the lyrics.
"The words probably need to be rewritten," Whitegon said. "But as long as they play the fight song, I'll rouse the crowd to stand up and sing."
Let's hope there are some students to rouse.