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I went to the "Midnight Madness" event last Friday and IMO it was a fun and interesting event. The women's team had a lot of energy and enthusiasm for the event and it was really cool to see their 2011 debut in a relaxed and entertaining way. The women's team faced off against the men's team in a 3-point shooting contest - which was won by WBB freshman Kaila Hulls, who shot 18 of 25 on 3-pointers to beat out Dee Brown (and 2 other players from the men's team, as well as Chrissy Steffan and Noelle Yoder). This was followed by an entertaining dunk contest from the men's team as well as a 10 minute scrimmage by the women's team. I left at this point and it seemed like there were even more events on the agenda.

Some thoughts I had on the upcoming players after watching the event:

Obviously this year is a rebuilding year, with the graduation of 6 players who combined for nearly 6000 points, 4 of whom were starters. But it's clear to me that there is a wealth of talent coming up the ranks. Noelle Yoder was particularly impressive. She was on fire with 3 three pointers in the brief 10 minute scrimmage. She looked much more confident in her shot. She didn't get much time last year, but with the graduation of Lauren and Tracy she could really make an impact from beyond the arc.

Same is true with Kaila Hulls - wow! Her shooting technique is a little strange - her off-hand elbow sticks way out. But heck, I didn't care much when I was watching her rain 3's during the contest. She could be a deadly G/F along the lines of Lauren (and she gives us some height on the wing - 5'11")

Logan Pastor is a natural point guard, and even Curt Miller as he was emcee'ing likened her to Kate Achter for her "slash to the basket" style of play. She too is tall at her position (5'9" for a point guard) and could really help BG with their inside-outside game. Jasmine Matthews looks like a fiesty defender, and she seems to have a good rebounding instinct - admirable qualities in a guard.

I think an area where we'll need a lot of development is in the post. We graduated our top 4 posts in Hennegan, Uhl, Zuercher, and Albert - and now Geise is also done playing. At this point the team is very guard-heavy, and BG's never been the best rebounding team. And of course we haven't gotten any taller. I think we'll be seeing Havel and Rogers playing a lot more in the post to give us some height and experience, but Jill Stein and Allison Papenfuss will also have to step it up considering they didn't see much time last year. But Papenfuss has always made the most of her minutes and brings a tremendous amount of energy and rebounding power, and Stein also impressed last year in limited minutes. Perhaps Shanique Ogle will have a chance to make an impact as well. She didn't play in the scrimmage, but I look forward to seeing what she can do.

In sum, while this may be a rebuilding year, there are a lot of exciting and talented players on this team who have a chance to immediately contribute.I enjoyed the "Madness" event, and it drew a decent crowd. I hope they continue the event in the future.

One of the best things about the evening was the "live performance of the Stroh Rap and the worst is still the PA system or the announcer, I can't figure out which it is. It did seem better during the volleyball game but they switched announcers and you could only understand about evfery fifth word. Would someone PLEASE either instruct the announcers (they don't have to YELL) or get the system fixed!

factman wrote:One of the best things about the evening was the "live performance of the Stroh Rap and the worst is still the PA system or the announcer, I can't figure out which it is. It did seem better during the volleyball game but they switched announcers and you could only understand about evfery fifth word. Would someone PLEASE eith instruct the announcers (they don't have to YELL) or get the system fixsed!

Factman,
Agree with you 100%.....I went to the midnite madness event, (even though we'd been 50th "reunioning" since 7:30am on Friday... the young man who was doing most of the announcing seems to be one of those "new school" type announcers who think that their yelling into the mike infuses excitement into the crowd... I too, couldn't understand 2/3 of what was being said... Thank God that Curt Miller did the "play by play" for the women's scrimmage...at least he was comprehensible. Orr wasn't bad, but got a bit excited at times and talked too fast, another P.A. "no no".
All in all, I thought the young women Falcons looked pretty good...they've got some very tough shoes to fill. As for the guys...I saw better ball movement and passing...but without a roster (for either team BTW), it was hard to tell who exactly was doing well and who struggled a bit.

Class of 61 wrote:

factman wrote:One of the best things about the evening was the "live performance of the Stroh Rap and the worst is still the PA system or the announcer, I can't figure out which it is. It did seem better during the volleyball game but they switched announcers and you could only understand about evfery fifth word. Would someone PLEASE eith instruct the announcers (they don't have to YELL) or get the system fixsed!

Factman,
Agree with you 100%.....I went to the midnite madness event, (even though we'd been 50th "reunioning" since 7:30am on Friday... the young man who was doing most of the announcing seems to be one of those "new school" type announcers who think that their yelling into the mike infuses excitement into the crowd... I too, couldn't understand 2/3 of what was being said... Thank God that Curt Miller did the "play by play" for the women's scrimmage...at least he was comprehensible. Orr wasn't bad, but got a bit excited at times and talked too fast, another P.A. "no no".
All in all, I thought the young women Falcons looked pretty good...they've got some very tough shoes to fill. As for the guys...I saw better ball movement and passing...but without a roster (for either team BTW), it was hard to tell who exactly was doing well and who struggled a bit.

While I was only there for the end of the event, I'm going to say it was the person announcing and not the PA system. While there was issues with the PA system opening night of volleyball vs Sparty, I was there the next day for one of the matches, along with the Akron and Buffalo matches and couple of weeks ago, and the system seemed fine to me, I understand everything being announced, and at the midnight madness event I heard the Stroh rap fine over the system as well

There were a couple times during Saturday's "Stroh Show" where it clearly clipped from being "over-driven." Whether it was the microphone or the speakers, I'm not sure. I would suspect they have a limiter on the speakers so they can't blow them, but if not, invest about $300-$500 to add one so the speakers won't blow. If it's the microphone, then turn down the gain and problem is solved.

Musicman probably hit the nail on the head.......we have no one that knows what they are doing to adjust the system properly for different situations.

Gotta agree with all above. As soon as I started walking up the stairs to the arena, I was struck with how loud and screechy the sound system was, and it didn't get any better after I sat down. Everyone I spoke to said it was because the announcer (for the volleyball game, and then the Falcon Madness event) was screaming, and that's why it was so bad. Seems with that, plus everyone on this board realizing the same thing that someone would say something to someone who can do something about it! We can only hope. I just know that I was very disappointed that the sound system in this new top notch facility seemed no better than the one at Anderson Arena.

I was at The Stroh today and am assured that the sound system it perfect! So, the announcers just need to speak into the mic.....not yell!

Wow. Sounds like amateur hour. I have 2 pieces of equipment, a compressor limiter and a feedback eliminator. If I get pissed off enough, maybe it's time to fix it. You can yell all you want, it won't help

HoopsFan

factman wrote:Musicman probably hit the nail on the head.......we have no one that knows what they are doing to adjust the system properly for different situations.

We are all assuming they even installed a proper sound system.
Believe it or not, the sound system in Anderson was replaced for the last season by a system with NO VOLUME CONTROL for the microphone. I'll say it again: NO VOLUME CONTROL for the microphone.

So what did that leave us with?
- People running the music (with volume control) who think we're at a rock concert and that the music has to be as loud as they can get it.
- little to no communication between the band, announcer, and music system so that all 3 may try to be heard at any given time the the clock isn't running.
- people who (generally) don't know how to use a microphone, (excluding the announcers who did an amazing job with what they had to work with). Hint - talk into the microphone, don't shout. And don't hold it away from your mouth and expect the sound person to adjust the level with a volume knob without getting feedback (if there were a sound person or equipment with volume or gain control).
- likely, microphones from the low end of the price spectrum - you get what you pay for.

Lord only knows what they put into the Stroh Center. You can be sure that whatever was not spent on the sound system or equipment was more than made up for in administrative salaries and parking and ticket prices.

Perhaps some training is in order, led by someone who knows what they are talking about, and NOT by the salesperson.

For all the good it does, I'd like to request that the person in charge of the music keep it at a decent level. Loud music does not excite the crowd any more than someone yelling into the microphone. People with the microphone in their can excite the crowd with voice inflections, not by yelling. Please, take a lesson from the people who announce the game. They do an admirable job using their voice inflections, not with volume.