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Date Posted: 09:45:23am 10/13/05 Thu,
Author: ChicagoStag
Subject: Loud Minority/Silent Majority

JoeStag:

I was reading the back and forth post with you and GuyF on message boards and your reference to the "Loud Minority" and the "Silent Majority".

As a frequent reader and infrequent poster, do you have a sense of how many visitors come to our message board? I'm just curious how many vistitors there are, especially where I'm guessing many people don't post, but like me get their only info on the Stags on this board.

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[> Re: Loud Minority/Silent Majority -- JoeStag, 12:51:14pm 10/13/05 Thu, [1]

CS,

For every 10 people that tell me that they read this Message board, 1 of them say they actually post. So I am going to say that we have 50 active Posters (with 25 posting on a weekly basis). I would guess we would have about 500 people who read this Board. Maybe not daily, but at least a few times a week. But it could be a lot more.

More during the season, less during the off season. We had over 200 registered users on Arborwood, and you did not need to Register in order to read the board.

Of the Fairfield Fans I meet, about 75% have visited the board, and about 95% of them know about the board, even if they don't have a computer.

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[> [> Re: Loud Minority/Silent Majority -- ChicagoStag, 01:07:18pm 10/13/05 Thu, [1]

Thanks for your response JS. I think this shows how powerful this medium and this forum is to filling Stag Fans thirst for info, again considering the lack of info coming from the University and SID's office.

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[> Re: Loud Minority/Silent Majority -- Salty, 06:41:37am 10/14/05 Fri, [1]

I just wish the people who rip the SID departmant regularly could actually spend a few days in the SID office.

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[> [> Re: Loud Minority/Silent Majority -- ghostman, 08:11:21am 10/14/05 Fri, [1]

if understaffed, the SID department should be yelling and screaming for help - use the "if a tree falls in the woods theory". If they are stuck with what the got, set our expectations.
There is a ton of stuff that can be done over the summer or by managing interns properly.
another thing i'd like to see - pics of every athlete on the "meet the team/roster" pages on the website - too many of the kids have just a logo near their bios.

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[> [> [> Re: Loud Minority/Silent Majority -- JoeStag, 08:31:53am 10/14/05 Fri, [1]

I would have to agree that the SID department is probably understaffed and hectic. It is quite obvious that they work weekends and to 9PM-11PM on some nights. If they are understaffed, then is Fairfield's Direrctors and VP's that need to make that happen. And I am sure their managers set their priorities and direction...... at least they should. And as interested Alumni/Fans its our responsibility to make it known to them. There is still the issue that Sport Info does not report to Athletics.

The use of Interns or Volunteers should be used. I have metioned that there are probably a lot of Fairfield Alum that are retired or near retirement, and I am sure many of them has skills that can help, and they would want to donate their time.

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[> [> [> [> Re: Loud Minority/Silent Majority -- Rave, 08:47:45am 10/14/05 Fri, [1]

If the SID dept. is working so hard and all these long hours, then what are they working on? It surely cannot be sports promotion, because there is little to none being done at Fairfield. Someone please enlighten me. What am I missing here?

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[> [> [> [> [> Re: Loud Minority/Silent Majority -- JoeStag, 09:49:20am 10/14/05 Fri, [1]

Rave,

They do write-ups at all hours of the day on Field Hockey, Tennis, Soccer, and all the other sports. And they cover them similar to Hoops. I think there is a lot of work on these other sports.

I think the question is.... should they cover these other sports with as much detail as Men's hoops. Or should Men's hoops get just as much coverage in "Off-Season" as a team like Soccer gets "In-Season". I think they should, but they don't. And I think a some of that has to do with resources, and if so, Fairfield should look to increase that staff somehow.

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[> [> [> [> [> [> Re: Loud Minority/Silent Majority -- Rave, 10:27:13am 10/14/05 Fri, [1]

Where are these write ups being published? No one sees them. If as much time is spent on sports such as field hockey or cross country ( don't jump on me, I am trying to be practical), then the inmates are truly running the asylum and this organization has no common sense and is a detriment to the university. I think the important element in this ineptitude is where the SID dept. reports to. How the SID cannot report to the head of athletics is dysfunctional. We all know who they report to. Just think how much he cares about sports information being handled properly. He almost single handily destroyed Basketball at Fairfield. Fairfield needs to take its head out of the ground and see how a successful athletic and corresponding sports information dept. should run. I hope that Father Van Arx has the foresight to dismantle some of the long established fiefdoms at Fairfield.

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[> Re: Loud Minority/Silent Majority -- Observer, 06:35:25pm 10/14/05 Fri, [1]

Who is "he"?

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[> Question for Rave from Marist fan -- Shooter, 10:28:21pm 10/15/05 Sat, [1]

Sorry to butt in on your board, Stags fans, but I found this thread interesting from a professional standpoint as I have done work in sports information for several years.

Rave seems to have a problem with how FU covers its sports on fairfieldstags.com. IMO, that site is updated in a timely manner with previews, recaps, stats, etc. for all Fairfield athletic teams, and that is what it is there for.

I know you guys are men's basketball fans primarily, aren't we all, but you seem to be implying that the proper course would be to reduce publicity of all other sports and focus on men's basketball. That's not only incredibly unfair to those kids and their parents (believe me, we hear about it from them when we're not putting up everything they need to know about little Timmy's tennis match or crew regatta) but it does a disservice to the university.

That site is the only outlet where the other sports are covered at all in anything remotely approaching depth. Are you saying you want to take even that away from them?

And hey, maybe if you're sick of prima donna basketball players besmirching your school's good name, head on out to see Stag soccer or volleyball take a big run at MAAC titles this fall, and when hoops ends check out your solid lacrosse and softball teams. Admission is absolutely free.

Anyway, y'all seem to have some questions/reservations about how your SIDs are running things. I'd be happy to help answer from an insider's perspective. I'll check back on this board for replies. Peace out, Fairfield.

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[> [> Re: Question for Rave from Marist fan -- Rave, 09:51:12am 10/17/05 Mon, [1]

Marist fan; I am not saying that there should be any reduced publicity for soccer or any other sport. You seem to be saying that putting results on the Fairfield site is adequate coverage. This is where we disagree. Revenue producing sports such as basketball should be promoted and communicated to the general public through the newspapers etc. Our coverage through these outlets is not good. Everyone talks about problems with the Ct. Post. Well, what about Stamford and New Haven or Waterbury? This is where the Sports information dept. earns its pelts. This is where relationships must be developed or mended. I don't believe this is happening and part of the problem is that Sports Information does not report to the Athletic Dept. Does that make sense to you? I also believe that any sport that is subsidized through athletic scholarships should produce some revenue. It doesn't have to be much, but something. Football was dropped and it did produce some revenue. It was erroneously stated how much football cost, but did not even mention how much it did bring in. I am not saying it was break even, but the numbers presented were not accurate and fair. And as far as your comment on prima donna basketball players ruining the reputation of the university, if what happened to Maxwell happened to any other student including members of the vollyball, soccer or Lacrosse teams, non of us would ever know it. If you think that incidents like Maxwell's only happen to basketball players, you are quite naive. In summary, I am not begrudging any sport of publicity on the Fairfield site. However, the extra steps necessary to promote revenue sports such as basketball in other outlets besides the F.U. site, is deficient and missing. If this area were developed, more recognition and publicity could also be given to sports such as soccer, lacrosse or volleyball.

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[> [> [> Re: Question for Rave from Marist fan -- Shooter, 10:55:58am 10/17/05 Mon, [1]

I agree with you that time and personnel are major factors in all this, but it also goes onto the newspaper's end as well. Between national sports news from the AP and the local high school stuff (which will always take precedence though it annoys me to no end), there's not always the room for small college coverage. For example at Marist, men's basketball gets good coverage at the Poughkeepsie Journal with its own beat writer but nothing else does. I know the SID, the AD, etc. have been beating their heads against the wall trying to get more (reporters at games, feature stories) but the paper is unwilling or unable to comply. Going to other papers is difficult as interest in Marist athletics drops off severely outside the Poughkeepsie/Dutchess area. Kingston and Orange County newspapers halfheartedly cover men's hoops but that's it.

Applying that situation to Fairfield, you guys have an added obstacle that Marist doesn't: the monolith that is UConn. There's another page or so of the sports section gone as everything that comes out of Storrs from Calhoun and Auriemma is statewide news.

As for coverage in places like Stamford and New Haven: I don't know much about Stamford, but I bet their paper doesn't have enough sports staff to cover Fairfield, and New Haven already has Yale, Quinnipiac, UNH, Southern Conn. etc. I think all Jack Jones and the other FU SID personnel can do is send all their releases to those places, point out the accomplishments of local athletes (the #1 thing that would garner press coverage) and see what sticks. Don't forget, you guys are competing with Sacred Heart and U of Bridgeport just for space in the CT Post.

A lot of times what SIDs have to do with the smaller sports is "pick their battles" with the paper. Meaning, don't push and prod all the time, as that creates bad feelings and leads to even less coverage, but rather wait and make pushes for more comprehensive coverage at times such as MAAC Championship tournaments. To me, that's a great litmus test of a good SID. If you saw CT Post articles on the MAAC Softball Championship last May in Stratford, or if you will see MAAC Soccer coverage next month, that's a good job by FU. If not, then maybe not so much.

Sounds like Fairfield U. and the CT Post don't see eye to eye on sports issues. I'd suggest get-togethers b/t Gene Doris, Jack Jones, Chris Casavant, the sports editor, to establish a plan for the future. I don't think a men's hoop beat writer, a Post writer at every women's home game, and at least a weekly notes column for the other sports is too much to ask. Lax should probably get expanded coverage as well due to their success.

In short, it's frustrating for us when we can't get our releases in the paper b/c coaches complain, parents complain and fans complain.

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