I was looking through about 100 pictures posted on Valpo's Flickr page and wondered about how the City of Valparaiso welcomed the fans from other places and what that experience might have been for outsiders? Thoughts?
Here's the connection to the flickr site--GREAT photos!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/valparaiso_university/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/valparaiso_university/)
The sign downtown next to Orville said Welcome Horizon League Fans
I didn't see anything anywhere else "welcoming" fans or notice even "Go Valpo" stuff
It almost seemed like none were aware or cared it was happening, maybe I am wrong
A few of us tried to meet at Figure 8 and it was closed. They are normally closed Tuesdays, but if I had a brewery I'd be open for 4k plus basketball fans during spring break. Stacks seemed to benefit as I couldn't get in the door pre game
I didn't hear about banners around town like last year. A fair bit of basketball coverage in the local papers (maybe especially _after_ the game?), but no "it's good for the local economy" piece like last year.
I've heard a fair amount of talking up of the team, the tournament, etc. around church, around the YMCA, etc.
I heard that local hotels were pretty full. [Typo corrected!]
Quote from: agibson on March 14, 2013, 12:11:04 PM
I didn't hear about banners around town like last year. A fair bit of basketball coverage in the local papers (maybe especially _after_ the game?), but no "it's good for the local economy" piece like last year.
I've heard a fair amount of talking up of the team, the tournament, etc. around church, around the YMCA, etc.
I heard that local hotels were pretty foul.
Pretty foul? Please explain. I wasn't sure if you meant full
I guess I am not too surprised by some of the comments here. It just never seemed like the community got behind Valpo University too much, until the Sweet 16 run. Maybe another run and a "better" conference will help sway the community?
Quote from: valpotx on March 14, 2013, 12:13:33 PM
Quote from: agibson on March 14, 2013, 12:11:04 PM
I didn't hear about banners around town like last year. A fair bit of basketball coverage in the local papers (maybe especially _after_ the game?), but no "it's good for the local economy" piece like last year.
I've heard a fair amount of talking up of the team, the tournament, etc. around church, around the YMCA, etc.
I heard that local hotels were pretty foul.
Pretty foul? Please explain. I wasn't sure if you meant full
Whoops! Typo corrected. I'm sure they were charming, as always.
I heard they were pretty full.
I saw a couple small signs on the shops on Lincolnway, but not too much. Kind of disappointing.
Quote from: valpotx on March 14, 2013, 12:13:33 PMPretty foul? Please explain. I wasn't sure if you meant full
I think he actually meant "fowl", after the incident in the motel on US 30 a number of years ago. That guy just got arrested again... :/
Quote from: LaPorteAveApostle on March 14, 2013, 01:54:09 PMI think he actually meant "fowl"
I think I saw the headline you're referring to, but decided not to read past that.
I prefer to think of the days when Strongbow rented rooms to travelers (I think that was once the case).
I envy you.
(http://cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/400x/36176391.jpg)
The banners were up... along Sturdy Road and around the corner... They only made 10-15 of them last year...and we gave one to Commissioner LeCrone... we intentionally did not date them... but they do say "Men's Basketball"
There was a few day delay on getting them put up... the street department does that... and with a significant snow storm and the huge fire downtown tied up the workers for many hours... not enough time for much else
Those are legit reasons. Shoes pizza had go valpo up
Wendy's congratulated the Valpo Youth Ice Hockey team for winning the State Title...
Quote from: talksalot on March 14, 2013, 07:20:55 PMWendy's congratulated the Valpo Youth Ice Hockey team for winning the State Title...
And there's not even an ice rink within a half hour of Valpo!
This report is really sad. I thought the mayor was a Valpo grad (law)? Last year the city had banners hanging all over etc. Someone in the AD's office is responsible for city/area relations (presumably) and if this wasd mishandled it is one thing, but if a full fledged effort was made and this was the result, I would stop buying anything locally. The University is a MAJOR employer (probably the largest) and as a result its employees buy a LOT of stuff.
You would think that the restaurants in area would have some sort of message up, as VU students DO spend money there too...
I've never really understood the indifference the community had towards VU. There's nothing negative, but it's just like VU is kind of...there. I lived (notice past tense) in the region for a long time, and I never really got the sense that the community really cared too terribly much about the goings on at VU. Anybody have any insight? The surrounding communities I somewhat understand, but Valparaiso itself?
Quote from: milanmiracle on March 15, 2013, 12:58:06 PM
I've never really understood the indifference the community had towards VU. There's nothing negative, but it's just like VU is kind of...there. I lived (notice past tense) in the region for a long time, and I never really got the sense that the community really cared too terribly much about the goings on at VU. Anybody have any insight? The surrounding communities I somewhat understand, but Valparaiso itself?
Never having lived there I can only guess. A couple of things: Until Alan Harre, the President always lived in the President's Home on campus. Harre and now Mark Heckler choose to live in the community although I'm sure it isn't an "average" home! The probable sense by the community is that Valpo is somewhat of an "elitist" school. To some, it probably seems closer to Harvard than Indiana. Obviously this isn't true, but when your neighbors teach physics or electrical engineering there may be somewhat of a disconnect. The other possibility is the Lutheran identity and those not part of this tradition may seem to back away. Obviously this didn't stop several posters on this board!
It would be interesting to compare attitudes at other small towns with high academic institutions in their midst. Perhaps 62 could shed some light on this, having spent a great deal of his time in and around such places--as I understand it.
Quote from: milanmiracle on March 15, 2013, 12:58:06 PM
I've never really understood the indifference the community had towards VU. There's nothing negative, but it's just like VU is kind of...there. I lived (notice past tense) in the region for a long time, and I never really got the sense that the community really cared too terribly much about the goings on at VU. Anybody have any insight? The surrounding communities I somewhat understand, but Valparaiso itself?
I've never really understood it, and I live here. I do know that there's a lot of pride in VHS athletics and always has been. Believe me, if VHS was hosting some high level event the equivalent of the HL Tourney, there would be a "green" explosion everywhere in town - on story marquees and billboards, shop windows, street light banners, special welcome signs, retail promotions and discounts, etc.
I think the university bears at least some of the responsibility for the lack of interest from city residents. It's like in the workplace. If someone is perpetually slow and disengaged, do we perceive them as lazy, or are we willing to consider that we may not have given them the proper motivation to do a good job. As this relates to the relationship between the university and the town, I don't think VU has ever done an effective job of "motivating" the residency of Valparaiso.
Quote from: wh on March 15, 2013, 01:44:31 PM
Quote from: milanmiracle on March 15, 2013, 12:58:06 PM
I've never really understood the indifference the community had towards VU. There's nothing negative, but it's just like VU is kind of...there. I lived (notice past tense) in the region for a long time, and I never really got the sense that the community really cared too terribly much about the goings on at VU. Anybody have any insight? The surrounding communities I somewhat understand, but Valparaiso itself?
I've never really understood it, and I live here. I do know that there's a lot of pride in VHS athletics and always has been. Believe me, if VHS was hosting some high level event the equivalent of the HL Tourney, there would be a "green" explosion everywhere in town - on story marquees and billboards, shop windows, street light banners, special welcome signs, retail promotions and discounts, etc.
Yeah, if this was the 70's, I was one of those in the community who couldn't care less. VHS was all-in-all for me. But today? I don't get it either. VU is easily as high profile in the nation as VHS is in the state, I would think.
Quote from: wh on March 15, 2013, 01:44:31 PMI don't think VU has ever done an effective job of "motivating" the residency of Valparaiso
I'm sure they could do more. But, I suppose, I can sympathize with them a little if it seems like they're not making an all out push.
When the university wants attendance at events (athletic, musical, artistic, etc.) then the connection with the town and the region makes a lot of sense, and matters a great deal.
And, of course, there's always a natural connection because most of the faculty and staff, and an out-size number of alumni, live here.
And, Valparaiso is one natural constituency for students and, I suppose, for donors. There are a lot of Lutherans, a lot of people with VU family connections, etc.
But, it's still only a town of 30,000 people. How many VHS students, for one example, could possibly attend VU in a given year? In terms of the overall goals of the university, it's just one piece of a regional, national, and international puzzle. It's surely the most important town of 30,000 people for VU - but it's still just one town.
I'm a little surprised that the community doesn't more naturally engage with VU. There are some pretty high quality athletic, artistic, and intellectual offerings - usually at pretty reasonable prices. I'm surprised that events aren't somewhat better attended - even without a big push from the university. But, then again, it's only a town of 30,000.
That said, there is a significant amount of community engagement. Obviously, thousands of fans _do_ come out for basketball games. Thousands come out for Advent Christmas Vespers, and hundreds (sometimes many hundreds) for musical events. We have consistently good showings (sometimes in the hundreds) from the community for public talks in physics and astronomy, and open house events at the observatory.
Quote from: agibson on March 15, 2013, 02:01:19 PMI'm a little surprised that the community doesn't more naturally engage with VU.
Yeah, it's a two-way street; I was always astounded by the number of people in town that had never even been to campus, since I basically grew up there.
But there used to be more town-gown efforts, like the Choral Society, that have been discontinued (or perhaps replaced by other things and I haven't noticed).
The perpetual struggle. Unless it's a through-and-through college town (Madison, Ann Arbor, Bloomington, S Bend, Tuscaloosa, etc) pretty much everyone is going to be more HS than whatever U in the town.
All through February and early March, I looked for VU coverage in the Times. Consistently, stories were relegated to page 2 of the sports section -- often with no accompanying photograph. Only when we reached the tournament championship did the Times find room on the front page of the sports section. Local players playing on other Horizon teams garnered featured stories on the front page of the section, but the editors evidently just didn't think that VU merited better coverage. And I get the Valpo edition of the paper!
Support from the local press is important for growing the fan base. The Times is further removed from the Vidette-Messenger each year.
Quote from: humbleopinion on March 16, 2013, 06:47:56 AM
All through February and early March, I looked for VU coverage in the Times. Consistently, stories were relegated to page 2 of the sports section -- often with no accompanying photograph. Only when we reached the tournament championship did the Times find room on the front page of the sports section. Local players playing on other Horizon teams garnered featured stories on the front page of the section, but the editors evidently just didn't think that VU merited better coverage. And I get the Valpo edition of the paper!
Support from the local press is important for growing the fan base. The Times is further removed from the Vidette-Messenger each year.
Sometime back I mentioned something similar. One of our newspaper guys (can't remember who) replied that it is not the job of the newspaper to "gen up" support for VU basketball. That is the University's responsibility. So, I guess you could say that they placed the story on page 2 because they think it's only of page 2 importance with their local readership. It's either a sad statement about VU's importance in the community, or the editor is under estimating the community's interest in VU men's basketball.
Quote from: humbleopinion on March 16, 2013, 06:47:56 AMSupport from the local press is important for growing the fan base. The Times is further removed from the Vidette-Messenger each year.
Try being in a city 100 miles away >:( My feud with the local media about VU stems back to the Mid-Con days when I was a volunteer for the Fort Wayne Sports Corp, the entity that brought the Mid-Con tournament to the Fort. Knowing that a D1 conference tournament was going to be played in your city, and oh by the way the conference in which IPFW wanted desperately to be a member, you would think that they would give it a little coverage during the year as to build up some excitement.... but oh no just as you said wh, it is not their job to build excitement or enthusiasm, it is there job to report JUST HOW BAD THE TEAMS ARE IN THIS MID-CON CONFERENCE. Some of the old-timers probably remember the explosion that attitude caused with me and the forum when that article came out. The reporter even wrote another article about receiving "nuclear" emails from our posters.
No matter how many times I send them info about how many Lutherans there are in Fort Wayne, how many VU alums reside here, or VU's other Lutheran beginnings being so closely tied to this city, I just get these non-committal remarks about how they will look into the situation. It is no wonder that smaller local newspapers are going the way of the dinosaur. I can get articles about the major conferences from ANY news outlet but local news or news about things that have close demographic ties to a community can only be done well by a local source.
I have to question the University's PR..which I believe is far less than satisfactory, especially in the Athletic Dept. Case in point are the Ft. Wayne papers. I have been told in the past that they do not receive releases form the University. Whether or not that is true I don't know.
If the do send out releases and the papers do not use them, we should continue to send them out, perhaps even increasing emphasis to a respective paper(s). Tab Girardot is a case in point - no mention of her being names last month's scholar-athlete on the month in the Horizon. She is from FW Canterbury an was runner-up in the Miss Basketball award when she was a senior. Now a second team
all Conference player and not even a mention in either of the FW papers.
Did they(VU) even send out a release to her hometown paper(s)? I don't know. It seems that we lack good info from the University. Do we even have an SID? If we have one, what does he or she do?? I appears to be"not very much".
Quote from: valpo64 on March 16, 2013, 10:40:36 AMDid they(VU) even send out a release to her hometown paper(s)? I don't know. It seems that we lack good info from the University. Do we even have an SID? If we have one, what does he or she do?? I appears to be"not very much".
1) Yes, we have an SID. We also have two interns in the department.
2) I would be quite surprised if these stories are not sent to any and all appropriate media outlets.
3) What does an SID do?Website, media guides, game stats, game notes, game stories, records, stats, reporting, game management, tv/radio management, interview requests, media requests, scheduling picture/video/etc., travel with the teams...that's just the start. We have 19 sports...with three people, they are busy, I can assure you (I've held that position at a different school...its a full-time job and then some)
As a former SID, your comments, IMO, are uneducated and are very typical of people who have no idea what an SID actually does. SID's have a TON more responsibility than writing and putting out game stories...if the local papers choose not to use what they receive (and they get a lot...way more than they can fit in a newspaper) that's their choice.
Most local papers have cut staff to a point where they just take the AP national news and print it and they are done...local/regional news doesn't matter to them anymore.
I appreciate and thank you for your comments, ValpoHoops. I am "uneducated" as far a SID duties are concerned. In this particular case I think it's important that hometowns of our athletes get personal info if it is of significance(i.e Girardot). It's the personal and team success info of our athletes that local people like and want to know and it builds interest in the program(s). With the great number of VU grads in this area perhaps it would even increase giving both to the University and the Athletic Dept.
I agree that local papers are failing badly and that perhaps is the problem here in F.W. Maybe I'm over-reacting to seeing Butler stories almost everyday(at least is seems that way). Sorry, I just can't get rid of that "hate Butler" mentality.(lol)
Sorry if those came across as harsh/attacking towards you...just woke up and was feeling combative :)
Over the years, it's gotten to a point where SID's played get fuller and fuller, and the visible results are smaller and smaller, I just know how hard they work and how much they deal with, so I get fired up on that type of debate.
I say, we just screw the local news, make some national headlines and we will be on the front page of every paper nationwide :)
Quote from: ValpoHoops on March 16, 2013, 11:14:49 AMI say, we just screw the local news, make some national headlines and we will be on the front page of every paper nationwide :)
And that, my friends, is obviously (the school that shall not be named)'s media game plan. Even their K-9 mascot's retirement gets national press coverage.
But getting to that point (consistently in the national eye -- not just a one-time flash-in-the-pan) requires great investment in numerous areas that may or may not be in line with VU values. If it is in line (even just close) we can't afford to let this first of hopefully many more opportunities elude us.
Have to say, though that it is nice to see we are already on the radar screens of guys like ESPN's Katz.
The long-term prospects of national newspaper big-market newspapers is looking bad. The only newspapers expected to survive are the local papers who are the only news source for the community. The Times would be well-served by doing a better job of covering VU. The big headline today is about Indiana advancing in the B1G tourney. We can get that story from 1000 different sources.
Quote from: wh on March 16, 2013, 07:59:11 AMSo, I guess you could say that they placed the story on page 2 because they think it's only of page 2 importance with their local readership.
Well, let's call a spade a spade.
The prevalence of website-based news allows newspapers for the first time to tell what people are reading based on clicks.
So they can tell immediately, every day, what pieces resonate with readers. And what don't. SO their printed pages start to reflect this reality.
Let's make sure not to paste too many full stories on here, because if the couple hundred people who frequent this site had to click to read them, it would further the cause we're all pleading here.
And probably our own pgmado would appreciate it too.
The University bears some blame in this discussion. Not all, but some. Here's an example. If you go back as recently to 2008, Lakeshore Public Television was broadcasting more Loyola and UIC basketball games than they were VU games--and this of course was after seven NCAA tournament berths and a Sweet 16 appearance. Both Loyola and UIC saw the benefit of getting exposure to communities in NWI that were located on its door step by purchasing that air time. VU didn't. This type of thinking is something that VU traditionally has not had for a long time athletically. Their community outreach to help generate interest and build a subway fan base has historically been near zero in NWI, IMO.
This mindset is changing at VU, but we're only four or five years removed from 2008. It's going to take a lot longer to generate ample community interest given all of the decay. No one should really be surprised from a lack of interest yet. It's premature.
Quote from: crusaderjoe on March 16, 2013, 12:00:26 PMBoth Loyola and UIC saw the benefit of getting exposure to communities in NWI that were located on its door step by purchasing that air time. VU didn't.
VU was involved for a while. In 2005-2006 for sure, maybe other years as well? RLH called the games, right?
Quote from: agibson on March 16, 2013, 12:56:43 PM
Quote from: crusaderjoe on March 16, 2013, 12:00:26 PMBoth Loyola and UIC saw the benefit of getting exposure to communities in NWI that were located on its door step by purchasing that air time. VU didn't.
VU was involved for a while. In 2005-2006 for sure, maybe other years as well? RLH called the games, right?
Yes, RLH broadcast them and sure, a fan could see some VU games on LPT. But it was odd that "NWI's home team" had less games broadcasted on the local TV channel than two other schools which were in the same conference (or soon to be in the same conference) and located outside of Indiana. If you're trying to cultivate a local subway alumni base in NWI, I would have thought the reverse should have been in place. What signal are you sending to potential fans when they can watch Chicago schools more often than the local Indiana school?
I know this has to to with local support of VU, but I can tell you that Valpo might as well be located in Wyoming as far as Indianapolis media coverage is concerned. That's even when Valpo and Butler were in the same conference.
Quote from: FWalum on March 16, 2013, 10:16:29 AMSome of the old-timers probably remember the explosion that attitude caused with me and the forum when that article came out. The reporter even wrote another article about receiving "nuclear" emails from our posters. No matter how many times I send them info about how many Lutherans there are in Fort Wayne, how many VU alums reside here, or VU's other Lutheran beginnings being so closely tied to this city, I just get these non-committal remarks about how they will look into the situation. It is no wonder that smaller local newspapers are going the way of the dinosaur. I can get articles about the major conferences from ANY news outlet but local news or news about things that have close demographic ties to a community can only be done well by a local source.
[/color]Henry Rudisill was an American born Lutheran who came to Fort Wayne to oversee the landholdings of his employer John Barr. He soon learned that local labor was "both scarce and expensive; Rudisill immediately suggested that Barr 'hire some Germans from Germany and send them out to me. German emigrants are frequently arriving in Baltimore and would be glad of such an opportunity. You can hire them much lower than the Americans and I think they are more to be depended on. ... If you can get whole families it would be better....Their women are good in corn fields...They are more industrious and temperate than our Americans."
[/color]In later years, Rudisill was part of a movement to bring the Lutheran Church more into line with American culture. His pastor, (Freidrich Wyneken, later president of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio and Other States-became the LCMS in 1947) upon returning from Germany and wishing to take the congregation back to 16
th century German Lutheranism, forced Rudisill's hand as did the declaration by two German pastors in the community that [/color]membership (http://historycenterfw.blogspot.com/2011/12/city-of-immigrants-brief-overview-of_16.html#) in a fraternal organization was not to be undertaken by Lutherans. Rudisill was a member of the Wayne Lodge No. 25 of the Free and Accepted Masons and had been since 1830.
The split was amicable but growth of the new English-speaking congregation was not immediate.Presbyterian minister Charles Beecher, in 1846, was quoted as saying, "The life among the German Evangelicals is a life of miserable toil and disgust to any generous mind. Mostly stingy and stupid, they are excessively bigoted and narrow in their ideas."
Lutherans in Fort Wayne, who started Valpo, have never been looked upon favorably by others outside their group. But Lutheranism is greatly ingrained in the fabric of Ft. Wayne.
Regarding Butler's sports information department, they have one of the best SID's in the business in Jim McGrath. He's been there probably close to 30 years and does a fantastic job.
Quote from: crusaderjoe on March 16, 2013, 01:20:39 PMYes, RLH broadcast them and sure, a fan could see some VU games on LPT. But it was odd that "NWI's home team" had less games broadcasted on the local TV channel than two other schools which were in the same conference (or soon to be in the same conference) and located outside of Indiana. If you're trying to cultivate a local subway alumni base in NWI, I would have thought the reverse should have been in place. What signal are you sending to potential fans when they can watch Chicago schools more often than the local Indiana school?
Money is the answer, what was the question?
I am pretty certain that Loyola had some deep pocketed alumni who were filling out some nice checks to Lakeshore Public Television. LPT 56 can not even think about coverage unless they can at least break even. Somewhere about mid-decade and maybe coinciding with the mortgage banking meltdown donations earmarked toward VU interest just dried up. Now I am not certain that they even have a regular VU coaches show because it has been several years since I've seen one. At one time Homer either had a bi-weekly or monthly regular half hour interview.
Prep Football Report or Roundball Review(HS) have been about the only remaining reasons to ever go to 56 other than the regular always high quality PBS viewing.
As the former head of a major N-P, I know quite a bit about media communications. Every week newspapers like the Times are inundated with hundreds of press releases and requests from organizations for reporters and photographers to cover their event or tell their story. All others things being equal, the organizations that get the greatest exposure are those who have taken the time and made the painstaking effort to build personal win-win relationships with that media outlet.
It starts at the CEO level and cascades down throughout both organizations. In NWI, for example, there is a group of high profile business and community leaders and other movers and shakers that make up an elite fraternity of individuals who regularly come together under the guise of promoting regionalism and improving the area's quality of life. Some of these power brokers include the NWI Regional Development Authority (extremely powerful), NIRPC (lots of big names), Arcelor Mittal, US Steel, BP Amoco, the casinos, local universities, community foundations, many other smaller players, and last but not least the Times - under the umbrella of its "One Region One Vision" initiative. These people all know Masterson and the Times editorial staff personally. They all support the Times One Region initiative. In return they receive an amazing amount of exposure from the Times. That's what win-win relationships are all about.
As to how this relates to VU, I do know that Mark Heckler was a main player on the NWI Quality of Life Council, and in fact led the successful effort to merge the QLC with One Region One Vision. So, to at least some extent he is a player in this group and has undoubtedly built a personal relationship with both Times leadership and some of the power brokers mentioned above. That's a good thing for VU. From there it is up to Heckler as to how he uses his influence to promote Valparaiso University in the press. Whether that relates to athletics coverage is anyone's guess. At the next level, hopefully ml has made the effort to build and nurture personal relationships with the Times and P-T sports editors. Hopefully, VU's SID has done the same with sports reporters and photographers. This may sound like common sense - and it is - but it's amazing how many organizations short-cut relationship building, and then sit around for years and bad mouth the other side for not giving them a fair shake.
This is only touching the surface, but the point is there is a lot more to getting your fair share of media exposure than a flip of the coin.
The illuminati hates valpo that's why the city isn't a big supporter lol
Quote from: truth219 on March 17, 2013, 04:50:45 PMThe illuminati hates valpo that's why the city isn't a big supporter lol
LOL :D