We Should Count Our Blessings

[GopherIt!]

I can't reveal how I know this, so you're welcome to just ignore it, but there were no other suitors in Minnesota that offered to buy the Twins. The organization had been on the market, behind the scenes, to other local concerns for several years, and nobody stepped up. This wasn't even about Carl making money on the sale of the organization, either -- he has been desperate to get the Twins out of his estate before he dies. I know there was at least one person who publicly said he wanted to buy the Twins, but he could not/did not provide an offer

Yep, that certainly is a nice way to kill a conversation (i know something but I can't tell you what/why I know...)

[Kurosawa]

shrink--

How do you account for the apathy toward Hawkeye basketball? Listless crowds of 9,000 or less--sometimes dipping as low as 6,000--were the norm last year in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Williams Arena, meanwhile, was rocking with near-sellouts most of the season. I've heard all the excuses about Alford, etc., but with a new coach should come renewed enthusiasm.

[shrink]

shrink--

How do you account for the apathy toward Hawkeye basketball? Listless crowds of 9,000 or less--sometimes dipping as low as 6,000--were the norm last year in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Williams Arena, meanwhile, was rocking with near-sellouts most of the season. I've heard all the excuses about Alford, etc., but with a new coach should come renewed enthusiasm.

I haven't been back to the University of Iowa for some time now, but I can tell you why my mom stopped watching games.

Moral superiority.

Starting with Pierre Pierce (or maybe before that), she has said that there's been a big problem with the athletes, with drinking, drugs, assaulting their girlfriends, and even jail time. The state of Iowa is far more morally conservative than a cosmopolitan city like the Twin Cities, so I feel like these types of issues maybe hit three time as hard. Without the wins to provide any justification, I think the fans are just staying home.

As I grew up in the state, Iowa basketball was always an important part of the farmer's lifestyle for months after they got the crops in, and all winter long. Granted, it's not the cultural, state-fair-like tailgating Americana that football is, where Iowans drive from all over the state to fill Kinnick -- and basketball may never be that popular. However, Iowa winters are long and boring. They don't go outside and play in the cold like hearty Minnesotans do. Ice fishing, cross country skiing, and even hockey are non-existant. A reasonably successful basketball team that keeps its nose clean will draw fans back.

[kandiking]

^^^^^^^^^
AKA more farmboy-looking white players. the gophers couldve given them spencer tollackson out of charity.

[shrink]

^^^^^^^^^
AKA more farmboy-looking white players. the gophers couldve given them spencer tollackson out of charity.

Oh, I definitely don't think its a racial thing. Iowa basketball was at its highest popularity under George Raveling/Lute Olsen's almost entirely black teams. I don't see any racial discord on the football team.

It has more to do with the idea that privilged athletes shouldn't act like they above the law. Pierre Pierce was charged with third degree sexual abuse after Steve Alford and the U used their influences to get the charges reduced. Then two years later, "According to police reports, Pierce threatened to harm the woman while displaying a kitchen knife, forcibly removed her clothing, and made unwanted sexual advances."

I don't care if the player was black or white, that's going to disturb most Iowans, and Alford giving him a second chance probably turned a lot of people off to the team. Unlike the Minnesota, with a huge population within a half hour of the Barn, many Iowa fans need to commit to a long drive to get to Iowa City to see a game. If they don't like the players, I think they just stop going.

[yojimbo]

I agree with the moral superiority point, and that it's not racial. And it isn't just the players - Alford was considered a jackass by many fans as well, and for the very simple reason that he is one.

On the main topic, I would also raise the numbers for the Twins - their support is perhaps less obvious in the Twin Cities than it is outstate, and that support does skew old, but it is pretty strong.