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The media and called timeouts are awful, the crowd either loses all momentum and enthusiasm or we continue to be 'ho hum'.

This is because of the unacceptable delays in getting the band going and the cheerleaders/dance team firing up the crowd. The announcer pauses for a bit after the timeout, then reads all his sponser adds, then FINALLY, the band can play and the girls can do their thing. Problem is, by then, the timeout is over. The dance team doesn't even have time to finish their routine.

This is just silly and actually hurts the atmosphere. There has to be a better way to do it, hell, even if the announcer just had some urgency, the second that timeout whistle blows, FASTLY read what you gotta read, and lets get the band going, don't fumble around with your papers for a minute and read it like you are on Ambien.

Drives me nuts how we waste these opportunities to keep the crowd going.

At Rice the announcer does his reads while the band plays in the background.

I have complained about this for years, including directly to Steve Orsini. A couple years ago, I even had meetings set up with the announcer and the marketing staff in charge of game production, and right before we were scheduled to meet, the announcer was canned.

Nothing gets done. The people with the headsets glancing aimlessly up to the video board that run the show and tell the band to play and when not to play, and insist on complete silence during the reading of the stupid ads have clearly never been to a college basketball game in a real venue. Ads can be read OVER the music. Instead, we continue to to have the "power down" for each time out. The reality is that the only thing Orsini really cares about being "Top 25" in, is cashing checks. So we get rally killing ads instead of real atmosphere.

Gripe-Part 88

The way we handle the floor sweeping is embarrassing. Picking random small (often too small) children out of the crowd who do not know what they're doing, pay no attention to when or where they should sweep up the sweat, wander aimlessly around the lane during timeouts, wear non-SMU gear, make an even bigger mess by munching on popcorn and spilling their drinks, or in some cases use the time out as an opportunity to mug for the crowd at half court looks completely amateurish. Certainly no where near Top 25. Papa Dia or the refs have often had to do the work themselves. It makes my blood boil every game.

I don't mind having volunteers do this job, but there are plenty who would volunteer to sit on the floor every game and actually do what they are supposed to do. If you insist on it being kids, you could even assemble a team of 10-15 year old kids at the beginning of the year, issue them an official txhirt as their uniform, TRAIN them on what they are supposed to be doing, and just as important, what they should not be doing during the game they are working, and set up a schedule where each one "works" a couple games a season.

Gripe 89

And while we're at it, can we train our camera men to never ever ever put anyone on the jumbotron that is wearing a shirt for another college team. Mmmm-K. Thanks.

DiamondM wrote:Gripe-Part 88

The way we handle the floor sweeping is embarrassing. Picking random small (often too small) children out of the crowd who do not know what they're doing, pay no attention to when or where they should sweep up the sweat, wander aimlessly around the lane during timeouts, wear non-SMU gear, make an even bigger mess by munching on popcorn and spilling their drinks, or in some cases use the time out as an opportunity to mug for the crowd at half court looks completely amateurish. Certainly no where near Top 25. Papa Dia or the refs have often had to do the work themselves. It makes my blood boil every game.

I know of an 8 year old who has his eye on that gig. I told him that the possibility will be explored when he's 10 or older.

RGV Pony wrote:

DiamondM wrote:Gripe-Part 88

The way we handle the floor sweeping is embarrassing. Picking random small (often too small) children out of the crowd who do not know what they're doing, pay no attention to when or where they should sweep up the sweat, wander aimlessly around the lane during timeouts, wear non-SMU gear, make an even bigger mess by munching on popcorn and spilling their drinks, or in some cases use the time out as an opportunity to mug for the crowd at half court looks completely amateurish. Certainly no where near Top 25. Papa Dia or the refs have often had to do the work themselves. It makes my blood boil every game.

I know of an 8 year old who has his eye on that gig. I told him that the possibility will be explored when he's 10 or older.

I bet you let him practice at home.

DiamondM wrote:I have complained about this for years, including directly to Steve Orsini. A couple years ago, I even had meetings set up with the announcer and the marketing staff in charge of game production, and right before we were scheduled to meet, the announcer was canned.

Nothing gets done. The people with the headsets glancing aimlessly up to the video board that run the show and tell the band to play and when not to play, and insist on complete silence during the reading of the stupid ads have clearly never been to a college basketball game in a real venue. Ads can be read OVER the music. Instead, we continue to to have the "power down" for each time out. The reality is that the only thing Orsini really cares about being "Top 25" in, is cashing checks. So we get rally killing ads instead of real atmosphere.

Gripe-Part 88

The way we handle the floor sweeping is embarrassing. Picking random small (often too small) children out of the crowd who do not know what they're doing, pay no attention to when or where
they should sweep up the sweat, wander aimlessly around the lane during timeouts, wear non-SMU gear, make an even bigger mess by munching on popcorn and spilling their drinks, or in some cases use the time out as an opportunity to mug for the crowd at half court looks completely amateurish. Certainly no where near Top 25. Papa Dia or the refs have often had to do the work themselves. It makes my blood boil every game

I don't mind having volunteers do this job, but there are plenty who would volunteer to sit on the floor every game and actually do what they are supposed to do. If you insist on it being kids, you could even assemble a team of 10-15 year old kids at the beginning of the year, issue them an official txhirt as their uniform, TRAIN them on what they are supposed to be doing, and just as
important, what they should not be doing during the game they are working, and set up a schedule where each one "works" a couple games a season.

Gripe 89

And while we're at it, can we train our camera men to never ever ever put anyone on the jumbotron that is wearing a shirt for another college team. Mmmm-K. Thanks.

So, sounds like you're ok with the meatballs.

As one who cannot make it to the games, I am mainly upset with the camera work during play while viewing on channelsurf or all access. For some reason the camera person chooses to pan the stands during play. During the ECU game there were times when shots were consecutively made on both ends of the court while the camera was on the crowd. I do not know who controls that but I would respectfully like to smack them upside of the head.

I would like to point out that the team won

DiamondM..come on..they were out of TP in the ladies room again, right..is that your real beef?!?

One Trick Pony wrote:I would like to point out that the team won

Thus the reason the complaints have shifted to presentation from play.

One Trick Pony wrote:I would like to point out that the team won

Stay on topic.

DiamondM75 wrote:

One Trick Pony wrote:I would like to point out that the team won

Stay on topic.

Well all-right! I believe most men enjoy the the anonymity of dropping their Johnson's in the mens room now given the new privacy dividers.

It's a form of game presentation LOL

shadowman wrote:The media and called timeouts are awful, the crowd either loses all momentum and enthusiasm or we continue to be 'ho hum'.

This is because of the unacceptable delays in getting the band going and the cheerleaders/dance team firing up the crowd. The announcer pauses for a bit after the timeout, then reads all his sponser adds, then FINALLY, the band can play and the girls can do their thing. Problem is, by then, the timeout is over. The dance team doesn't even have time to finish their routine.

This is just silly and actually hurts the atmosphere. There has to be a better way to do it, hell, even if the announcer just had some urgency, the second that timeout whistle blows, FASTLY read what you gotta read, and lets get the band going, don't fumble around with your papers for a minute and read it like you are on Ambien.

Drives me nuts how we waste these opportunities to keep the crowd going.

This is so dead on. I said the same thing in my seat last night. Who exactly is in charge of this? It's great that we are winning and I'm excited, but there could be a huge game in a few weeks where the crowd should be going nuts with music playing during an opponents timeout! Not hearing the announcer ramble on about no-name sponsors. Move these F'ing commercials to the half and get some energy into the presentation.

My other observation was the announcer. I think its the same guy from last year. He is way too wordy on everything. We don't need name-jersey number-and whether its a 2pt or 3pt on every possession. 75% of the time he's still going while the other team has been in its half court O.

Lastly, somebody please take over the music transition. I have really noticed the band more this year and think they are doing great. We had about 2 minutes of absolute silence right before the half while refs figured out a call. There should never be silence! Turn up the music during warmups pregame and at halftime!

And yes get the 4-year olds off mopping duty, it was really embarrassing a few games ago where a Papa had to grab the mop and clean. Someone is going to get hurt.

They need to rope in local kids basketball teams to provide moppers. Give out some free tickets as reward and it would generate some interest.

Mustangsabu wrote:They need to rope in local kids basketball teams to provide moppers. Give out some free tickets as reward and it would generate some interest.

Agreed...Did anyone see the kid last night that was mopping to mid-court then dropping the mop to ham it up...Ridiculous...Top 25 people...A 10 year old is fine, just train and make sure they are doing their job...

Also, all the kids shooting at halftime killed me...