Taj79 Posted February 16, 2005 Share Posted February 16, 2005 ... my assumption has nothing to do with us having a winning team ... I've been associated with this program for 30 years now and winning seasons have been rare. My assumption is based on the continuing and constant evidence that we don't attract the talent to be a consistent winning team. That our talent level is very workmanlike and needs to bring its lunch pail to work each night, play tight defense, and control the tempo enough to pull away or hold up at the end. What I have continued to advocate is to control those situations that we can control ... one of which is the home court. As you all know, our margin for error is slim. When has it not been? I would offer Hughes and the last two Clagg years. Okay, maybe a year or two with Bonner/Gray/Douglas. But even then, laughers were never laughers for us. We went to games when we were in school sure ... but taking a Fireline to the Arena or Kiel can't be the same as walking to one on campus. Granted most of the student population is still commuter. Even the "wander in" crowd could jump. i make mention of Maryland and Illinois only for the home court issues. I make no bones about trying ot compare or expect our talent-starved program to ever compete at that level. Why cna't our fans and our atmosphere be like that ... that's what I'm asking. My take is that maybe it is time to break away from the "big time" schools and stop carrying this charade any further. Maybe there needs to be a divisional break up to this madness. You can't tell me that there deserves to be over 320 teams playing NCAA division 1 college basketball. The little guys --- and that includes Marquette, DePaul, X and YouDee and us --- might need to be segregated into more realistic divisions. But that is an argument for another time. Control what we can control -- that's my assumption. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted February 16, 2005 Share Posted February 16, 2005 far be it from me to care a bit about the johnny come lately's or the abandoning previous fans, i couldnt care less about them. in fact, there is a part of me that says, f em. but the only way i would want less than 12-13k in seats is if by doing that, it made it possible to add the practice facility and upgrade training and lockerroom facilities to top of the line, and make sure the athletic offices are there and are of palacial quality. the point is, dont be cutting seats which equate to revenue. be it billiken season ticket revenue (the potential is there as the 90's proved that) or circus revenue, arena football, concerts, etc., unless it adds something else, i.e. a recruiting advantage. to shortcut just to get the thing done is short term thinking that will inevitably cost us down the road. what this program needs is a billionaire of our own we could name the arena after. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted February 16, 2005 Share Posted February 16, 2005 taj, the division you are talking about is going to get shoved down our throats within 15 years. you watch. the bcs football schools are eventually going to declare themselves king and over the rest in a separate division for all sports eventually. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeseman Posted February 16, 2005 Share Posted February 16, 2005 Chuck, I agree - for some reason there are people who call themselves fans of SLU who I think relish the program not becoming big time. It is sort of their own little play toy and they do not want to share it with anyone else. The guy who talked about 4000 seats is so far off base it is not funny. The season ticket base is around 8000 give or take a few so who would that guy think should give up his tickets? What a joke! It is time for this program to start doing things right not half a**. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billiken Rich Posted February 17, 2005 Share Posted February 17, 2005 That'll be the day when I stop caring about sports altogether Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iggy Posted February 17, 2005 Share Posted February 17, 2005 14,000 sounds about right. Let's add an ice rink and try to bring back the glory days of Billiken Hockey! Now that would be cool. Plus the students could use it for open skating sessions during down time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MUTGR Posted February 17, 2005 Share Posted February 17, 2005 You have one. Why doesn't he step up to the plate? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted February 17, 2005 Share Posted February 17, 2005 well that was my point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willie Posted February 17, 2005 Share Posted February 17, 2005 I'm at a loss as to who your talking about? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MUTGR Posted February 17, 2005 Share Posted February 17, 2005 Mr. Apex Oil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willie Posted February 17, 2005 Share Posted February 17, 2005 I'm not sure his net worth is that high. I think his companies ran into some difficulties. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonwich Posted February 17, 2005 Share Posted February 17, 2005 And his philanthropy has gone into building a campus one academic level below a university. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MUTGR Posted February 17, 2005 Share Posted February 17, 2005 I don't think anyone but him knows for sure, since most or all of his holdings are privately held. But if SLU has an alum with deeper pockets, I'd like to know who it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willie Posted February 17, 2005 Share Posted February 17, 2005 I agree with your point that we should hope that he would be involved in a big way. I'm not sure what his current interst in the program is. I don't think he has been to a game this year and in past years you would see him about half the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeseman Posted February 17, 2005 Share Posted February 17, 2005 August Busch the 4 or 5th - the one that is in his 40s - you now see him in the ads. He graduated from SLU. Are his pockets deep enough for you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MUTGR Posted February 17, 2005 Share Posted February 17, 2005 Deep enough for me. You would think that he and Novelly combined, plus some change from the pasta house guy, might be in the range that Laurie put up for MU. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeseman Posted February 17, 2005 Share Posted February 17, 2005 Give it some time - Cherly will get some announcements soon I bet. The difference is that Laurie wanted the arena - we have to talk people into it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3star_recruit Posted February 17, 2005 Share Posted February 17, 2005 From what I've read, Novelly is a very big contributor to St. Louis U. but since he's such a private person Biondi won't disclose how big his contributions are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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