Disturbing letter to editor

Altoid_storm · Post by **Altoid_storm** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 5:33 pm

Just wanted to say quickly: thanks for all of the rallying support.

As of right now we're almost at 4,000 in the Facebook group (and Lobster guy got booted)

I'm back on campus now and I'm thinking of other things I can do. Signs, windowsplash, anything.

NWLB · Post by **NWLB** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 5:36 pm

How about planting any of the BGSU Sports Yard Signs and flags upside down. Be visual about it.

CHNews · Post by **CHNews** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 5:57 pm

Just a head's up to our new article, a Q&A with Garry Galley:

http://www.collegehockeynews.com/news/2 ... owling.php

Rod Fausnaugh · Post by **Rod Fausnaugh** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 6:11 pm

Altoid_storm wrote:Just wanted to say quickly: thanks for all of the rallying support.

As of right now we're almost at 4,000 in the Facebook group (and Lobster guy got booted)

I'm back on campus now and I'm thinking of other things I can do. Signs, windowsplash, anything.

BG youth hockey is pasting flyers all over the ice arena to show support to the players.

Here is a link to the flyer...
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3619/335 ... 8a.jpg?v=0

Just download and print on an 8 1/2 x 11....

We will also have several copies if you would like to sign your name to one and paste it to the wall in the ice arena...

Rightupinthere · Post by **Rightupinthere** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 6:31 pm

CHNews wrote:Just a head's up to our new article, a Q&A with Garry Galley:

http://www.collegehockeynews.com/news/2 ... owling.php

Welcome to the site and thank you.

AZIce · Post by **AZIce** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 9:03 pm

From the article in The Blade

"You can't print my reaction to this - it ranges from anger to disbelief," said Mr. Blakely, a Perrysburg resident. "You have transient administrators considering a decision that will have a devastating impact. This is almost like a drive-by shooting."

That just might be the best I have seen this described yet. In 5 years Cartwright will be retired and Christopher on to greener pastures, yet we will all still be left with no team or arena.......

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dl ... /-1/SPORTS

MACMAN · Post by **MACMAN** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 9:29 pm

BGSU hockey is a BRAND. The University choose to rob it many years ago, when they should have pushed football away and built BGSU as a HOCKEY school and gone all in. Now were at the bottom. We can come back, because there are still enough who believe in the brand but it would take a huge commitment from all.

sbkbghockey · Post by **sbkbghockey** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 10:31 pm

Rod Fausnaugh wrote:
Altoid_storm wrote:Just wanted to say quickly: thanks for all of the rallying support.

As of right now we're almost at 4,000 in the Facebook group (and Lobster guy got booted)

I'm back on campus now and I'm thinking of other things I can do. Signs, windowsplash, anything.

BG youth hockey is pasting flyers all over the ice arena to show support to the players.

Here is a link to the flyer...
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3619/335 ... 8a.jpg?v=0

Just download and print on an 8 1/2 x 11....

We will also have several copies if you would like to sign your name to one and paste it to the wall in the ice arena...

Great Work!! One nice thing in all this crap is the community comming together to support BG Hockey!!!

Altoid_storm · Post by **Altoid_storm** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 10:55 pm

Here's the flyer I made up to stick all around campus. I've already printed out 45 but I'll print more tomorrow during the day. I'm also making a huge posterboard size sign to stick in my window since I live on the ground floor in Founders

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u30/ ... eyJPEG.jpg

jpfalcon09 · Post by **jpfalcon09** » Sat Mar 14, 2009 3:11 am

After thinking more today and talking to other Falcon students and alums, a lot of this can also fall on the community for the problems. I'm not suggesting that they are to blame, but they're a stakeholder in all this. It's no shock about the fickleness of BG sports fans, especially those in the town. The proof is in the attendance of every sports team who has a bad season, from football on down.

It's sad that people have started treating college sports like professional sports. Those who are student-athletes at BG, or any college, should not be subjected to less support based on a win-loss record. Sadly, this is how our society operates. These men and women represent our university and always deserve the best no matter what happens, and that includes every sport. What's a shame to me is that potentially student-athletes who are playing to both represent our school and to entertain, are going to either lose their scholarships or have to transfer.

If anything good comes out of this, regardless if the hockey program is cut, is that I hope everyone, student, townie, alumni, looks differently at BG athletics and understands that even though a season may be bad, that doesn't mean that our support should waver. It is my hope that if the hockey team survives the budget cuts, that everyone understands this and packs the ice arena every home weekend, winless team or undefeated. That would be the ultimate message.

TheKa · Post by **TheKa** » Sat Mar 14, 2009 9:43 am

Hello All!

I'd like to invite EVERYONE out to the Ice Arena today (Saturday March 14th) between 10:30 am and 2:30 pm to "sign a sign" to be put up in the Ice Arena to further show our support.

13abc should be there and we need all of the numbers we can get to plaster the arena! Come support the team and watch the youngest reasons why we are fighting. Without the arena, The BGYHA is going to be in trouble.

If you can't make it...please PM me or send me an e-mail to [email protected] and I'd be happy to add your name and message!

GO FALCONS!!
Erika

FalconTurf · Post by **FalconTurf** » Sat Mar 14, 2009 9:52 am

jpfalcon09 wrote:After thinking more today and talking to other Falcon students and alums, a lot of this can also fall on the community for the problems. I'm not suggesting that they are to blame, but they're a stakeholder in all this. It's no shock about the fickleness of BG sports fans, especially those in the town. The proof is in the attendance of every sports team who has a bad season, from football on down.

It's sad that people have started treating college sports like professional sports. Those who are student-athletes at BG, or any college, should not be subjected to less support based on a win-loss record. Sadly, this is how our society operates. These men and women represent our university and always deserve the best no matter what happens, and that includes every sport. What's a shame to me is that potentially student-athletes who are playing to both represent our school and to entertain, are going to either lose their scholarships or have to transfer.

If anything good comes out of this, regardless if the hockey program is cut, is that I hope everyone, student, townie, alumni, looks differently at BG athletics and understands that even though a season may be bad, that doesn't mean that our support should waver. It is my hope that if the hockey team survives the budget cuts, that everyone understands this and packs the ice arena every home weekend, winless team or undefeated. That would be the ultimate message.

I agree with an one large addition:
The athletic department has done little promotion of the program in good times and bad. I live one county away and have seen nothing distributed to the general public about the schedule let alone any promotions to fill the empty seats. Many people from these communities regularly go to BG for various things and with a little encouragement they may take in a game or two especially if they had kids and a value package was regularly offered (during student breaks would be a good time).

I feel very little is done outside the alumni, Falcon Club, university and Wood County to promote BGSU in any way. They simply expect people to come and when a good crowd is expected they never finish the deal by promoting it. And they rely on too small of a pool of people. I know it takes money but it takes money to make money.

If this program falls then ultimately how can football or men's basketball survive with their lack of support. They recieve only slightly more promotion simply because area newspapers and television stations are more likely to cover them. Ultimately, hockey is the bird in the mine and it does not survive then nothing else will unless huge changes take place.

Altoid_storm · Post by **Altoid_storm** » Sat Mar 14, 2009 3:45 pm

Does anyone know what TIME the trustees are meeting Wednesday?

The students want to start up a protest.

eastharbor11 · Post by **eastharbor11** » Sat Mar 14, 2009 4:30 pm

This point has probably already been made, but I like how the administration just sits back and states that the hockey team lost a lot of money, as if they had nothing to do with it. We taxpayers, and moreso the students, pay the salaries of these administrators to effectively manage the university, including the athletic department. Maybe if they hadn't completely abandoned the hockey program and its arena we wouldn't be in this situation.

I realize the Stroh Center is being paid for by outside dollars, but the fact is that the administration chose to make that and the football stadium their priorities. I hate to admit it, but ice hockey is the only men's sport in which BGSU has a legitimate chance to be a national powerhouse (and they once were, of course, not that long ago).

If this were a private business, would upper management be simply allowed to say "well that area lost a lot of money last year." NO! The shareholders would demand to know WHY it lost a lot of money, and the upper management would be held accountable. It's time the administration is held accountable for their total failure regarding the hockey program (and I wonder how much money their precious football and basketball teams lost last year as well).

NWLB · Post by **NWLB** » Sat Mar 14, 2009 10:18 pm

I think the perception within parts of the administration is that hockey hasn't done anything in the lifetime of current students, that the fans are hardcore, but prone to dwell on bygone glory, and the team alumni are tightwads.

Harsh? Yes, but one can build a credible sounding argument in meetings that casts everything in a bad light.

This is the first time the program has truly had its very existence threatened. Come what may, the entire fan community is going to be expected to put-up-or-shut-up in a very big way. And no matter how positive or negative we take any of this, that is how it is around here.

When this fight is over in a matter of days, all of us here, who are speaking out against cutting the sport are going to have to regroup again. If we love the team and sport as much as we do, we are going to have to take the entire show under our own umbrella. Because the University has shown it can not be counted on for anything.

Without the leadership on campus, it will have to come from within our community, and frankly it may be time to cease it. The community can save this program, and in doing so, demonstrate how poorly the university has done in engaging us with other sports and programs. The hockey community will not only save the program, but become the boost the program needs to thrive again. It will do so because it must and can. We have no choice, and failure is not an option.

In any case, the talk of private companies and such point to the arena in my mind. The University doesn't know what to do with it, and won't try on its own. Athletics doesn't own it, and can't do anything directly with it. Lets look at some kind of University-private hybrid. Declare the facility some kind of research-enterprise zone, figure the numbers out, and lets move forward. Relieve the University of the cost of operation, work-out some kind of lend-lease for classes and athletics, etc. Then call Scott Hamilton.

Disturbing letter to editor

Administration