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Been awhile since a marketing rant


bonwich

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The weird thing is that Gus talks during these promotions/performances at all.

My wife's family has Xavier season tickets. The PA guy there - and in every other road gym I've been to, which is a lot - simply introduces what is going on and then either hands it off to the promo people with cordless mics, or he doesn't say anything at all.

Why is he giving any commentary whatsoever? Does anyone at SLU realize this isn't the norm?

If people wanted bad morning radio-style chatter, they'd tune into his show.

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39 minutes ago, Pistol said:

The weird thing is that Gus talks during these promotions/performances at all.

My wife's family has Xavier season tickets. The PA guy there - and in every other road gym I've been to, which is a lot - simply introduces what is going on and then either hands it off to the promo people with cordless mics, or he doesn't say anything at all.

Why is he giving any commentary whatsoever? Does anyone at SLU realize this isn't the norm?

If people wanted bad morning radio-style chatter, they'd tune into his show.

Seems like it might be a department instruction. I noticed the women's announcer does it too. 

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Paul "Whitey" Herzog, long-time Bradley Braves P.A. guy, is one of the best in the business. Always cordial before and after the games, does his job w/o any fanfare or drawing attention. Gus should observe.

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1 hour ago, billikenfan05 said:

It was for the tshirt toss. He insulted "colleagues" in front of the arena. I mean our promotions are boring as hell and the marketing team blows goats but it's just a long line in unprofessional behavior from him. 

For the record, I was speaking generally over his career, not any specific time recently. He occasionally makes fun of the shoot-for-cash kids. I'm pretty sure I remember him saying something during the up-the-stairs run about a contestant's weight. A high-class program doesn't let its public representatives says anything about its patrons that could even remotely be considered derogatory.

And, as we all know, he's simply a crappy basketball announcer, especially for someone with a 30-some-year career in professional radio.

All that said, and given my quite regular attacks on him on this board, I have to add a personal note. I did a chicken-wing-contest gig with Guy (he wasn't in the 'fetz, so I can call him by his uncorrectioned name here) several weeks ago and he has a wonderful public demeanor for a celebrity and is charming in person. One of my friends and co-judges brought his kids into the judging area to meet him and Guy really couldn't have been any nicer. 

But the issues are separable. Can you imagine someone like Gus announcing games at Notre Dame or Marquette or Creighton or Gonzaga? Maybe some of y'all have seen stuff like his errors and antics in other college arenas, but it's simply amateur, and it reflects on the lack of demand for high performance from everyone that has defined our athletic department's personality forever. 

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3 minutes ago, bonwich said:

For the record, I was speaking generally over his career, not any specific time recently. He occasionally makes fun of the shoot-for-cash kids. I'm pretty sure I remember him saying something during the up-the-stairs run about a contestant's weight. A high-class program doesn't let its public representatives says anything about its patrons that could even remotely be considered derogatory.

And, as we all know, he's simply a crappy basketball announcer, especially for someone with a 30-some-year career in professional radio.

But the issues are separable. Can you imagine someone like Gus announcing games at Notre Dame or Marquette or Creighton or Gonzaga?

To answer your question: No.

I haven't experienced someone like Gus at any other D-I basketball venue. It's not just those Big East-level programs; I've been to games at venues of the Big East, A10, CUSA, SEC, Big 12, Big Ten, ACC, MAC, Valley, Horizon, neutral, and probably some I'm forgetting, and never have I seen a PA person make fun of contestants, botch names with such frequency, take so long to find information, or get calls wrong the way Gus Phillips does. 95% of the time, I don't notice the PA person because he/she is professional, or simply competent. That's all the job requires. Competence.

This is such an easy fix, too. We've been complaining about this for two decades and our athletic department refuses to correct the problem.

And it is a problem. It's embarrassing. It makes us look small-time. I've had visiting friends and family give me a hard time for it. There's no correct response, either, to "How is that guy your PA announcer? Is this his first day? Is he drunk? Can't they find someone else?"

"Uh...I don't know. But would you believe he's been doing it for about two decades?"

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57 minutes ago, Pistol said:

To answer your question: No.

I haven't experienced someone like Gus at any other D-I basketball venue. It's not just those Big East-level programs; I've been to games at venues of the Big East, A10, CUSA, SEC, Big 12, Big Ten, ACC, MAC, Valley, Horizon, neutral, and probably some I'm forgetting, and never have I seen a PA person make fun of contestants, botch names with such frequency, take so long to find information, or get calls wrong the way Gus Phillips does. 95% of the time, I don't notice the PA person because he/she is professional, or simply competent. That's all the job requires. Competence.

This is such an easy fix, too. We've been complaining about this for two decades and our athletic department refuses to correct the problem.

And it is a problem. It's embarrassing. It makes us look small-time. I've had visiting friends and family give me a hard time for it. There's no correct response, either, to "How is that guy your PA announcer? Is this his first day? Is he drunk? Can't they find someone else?"

"Uh...I don't know. But would you believe he's been doing it for about two decades?"

It is my understanding that a big booster wants Guy and for all I know that booster may actually be paying for Guy's service.  I am sure the AD has weighed the pluses and minuses and has decided - right or wrong - that it is worth keeping the clown.

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25 minutes ago, billikenfan05 said:

God damn the Marketing Department has hit a new low. They've just announced a student party during a SLUnatic organized tailgate that was announced on Tuesday. Bravo guys! 

 

IMG_4858.PNG

-goes to the ADept not working together, a shame

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57 minutes ago, cheeseman said:

It is my understanding that a big booster wants Guy and for all I know that booster may actually be paying for Guy's service.  I am sure the AD has weighed the pluses and minuses and has decided - right or wrong - that it is worth keeping the clown.

Said big booster had the ear of the prior autocratic president. Between a new, receptive-to-outside-ideas president and a newer booster with high quality standards and at least 20 times the donations of said big booster, I think we might have a chance at a change.

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Hey, so what was announced after the Samford game ended? I heard something as we were leaving about the next game being Saturday at 2 p.m. against Eastern Kentucky. That's the women's game, but did Gus actually say it was the women's game, and did he say anything about K-State? Of course, we were so numb from watching the numb-nuts play that I may have simply missed everything.  

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Game day management this evening was the usual clusterfork. So, I guess they didn't know in advance that they'd have several thousand more people than usual. Musta all been walkups. That's the only way to explain not having about half of the checkouts open at several, maybe all, of the concessions stands. And the trash cans overflowing in the men's rest rooms. 

Also loved the "Home Alone Cam." Very well thought out and explained. 

Finally, although I always thought anyone would be better than Gus, even the PA sub was pretty bad tonight. And how, you may ask, was this the game-management group's fault? Well, perhaps everyone else in the arena save me and the folks sitting immediately around me heard him just fine, no muffling, correct distance from the mic, etc. If not, someone should have simply walked down and told him. 

Luckily everyone was so distracted by the utterly abysmal basketball that they probably assumed that everything SLU does is abysmal. 

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29 minutes ago, billikenfan05 said:

Nobody showed to the game.

Oh, yeah, that was the icing on the cake. At least 10x more K-State fans at the game than students in our student section. I saw lots of kids wearing local hs sweatshirts and stuff, though. I bet they'll be really eager to come to SLU. 

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I kept wondering as well about the P.A. "why don't they turn up his volume?"

I thought the kids choir singing the anthem was good, but definitely went all wrong after that. 

I too saw the pizzas in the practice gym.    

To me, that's a major f up.   my gosh how can you be that wrong on a promotion for the kids?

 

 

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