Sun interview with Noel

A rather flippantly-written interview with Andy Noel touches on a planned "expansion and refurbishment" of Lynah and the recent (and regrettable, IMHO) make-over of the Cornell Bear.

[cornelldailysun.com]

Wow, Al. If you thought my interview with J. Andy was "flippant," you should read my previous interviews. "IMHO," I thought I played it pretty straight with him.

And Cornell student-athletes (like me) really do like the new bear.

Let's summarize:

- Andy jumped the railing at the wrestling championships when Travis Lee won without proper credentials.
- Andy thinks athletes should get free parking on campus.
- The thing Andy is "most happy" with during his tenure is the new logo.

What's a guy gotta do to get fired around here?

[Q]Al DeFlorio Wrote:

A rather flippantly-written interview with Andy Noel touches on a planned "expansion and refurbishment" of Lynah and the recent (and regrettable, IMHO) make-over of the Cornell Bear.

[cornelldailysun.com]
Edited 2 times. Last edit at 04/28/04 09:40AM by Al DeFlorio.[/q]

a) Flippant? That's an understatement. But times change. Could you imagine the color of Bob Kane's face 30 years ago if he was the athletic director being asked these questions?

b) Too bad there isn't a follow on story about Lynah

c) Weren't you the least bit curious about which was the hottest women's team? <g>

d) Another stern-faced bear mascot is not a positive for Conell. Of course, just as bad would be making the human bear look like the Zippy mascot for some major league expansion team.

So Ezra's vision called for freedom from religious denomination, freedom from gender discrimination, freedom to study whatever you wanted and freedom to park wherever you wanted for free. I will need a refund check, please. The words major, historic and renovation do not go together - the last should be restoration and Lynah doesn't seem to need restoration. I think the words major, historic and renovation were used to describe the Sage Hall project, my home on campus for a semester and a building I won't set foot in for what they did to it - we won't repair the facade, we'll repair everything behind the facade - what a facade.

[Q]billhoward Wrote:
a) Flippant? That's an understatement. But times change. Could you imagine the color of Bob Kane's face 30 years ago if he was the athletic director being asked these questions?

b) Too bad there isn't a follow on story about Lynah

c) Weren't you the least bit curious about which was the hottest women's team? <g>

d) Another stern-faced bear mascot is not a positive for Conell. Of course, just as bad would be making the human bear look like the Zippy mascot for some major league expansion team.
[/q]
Too bad there wasn't a follow-on question that asked "what changes are planned for Lynah"--rather than the sexist question noted above.

Times do change, but good reporting hasn't.

The new bear IS odd. Looks like he's trapped behind the C, unable to get out, and is enraged as a result. On the other hand, what do you do with a large, lumpy animal like this? Dress him up like Smokey but with a "C" cap?

Flippant? Um, we have questions about his initials, the sports he likes to play, hottest women athletes, people in world history. It sounds like a junior high school project, not a college student interviewing an administrator.

Explain to me how free parking for athletes wouldn't be an NCAA violation...

The fact that current student athletes really like huggy bear just means they don't have good taste...

Guys, I think the interview was meant to be a good-natured, fun exchange. The columnist who wrote that article has had, as I recall, several such interviews this year with various student athletes, and the tone of those interviews was the same. Sure, it wasn't serious, but it wasn't meant to be. I didn't think it was all that bad.

I think the general sentiment around here is that he is "all that bad." Consequently everything dealing with him is prejudiced by that sentiment. Given the relative difficulty of actually sitting down with the AD to discuss anything, it seems like a waste to use the opportunity on stupidity though. And for what it's worth I think the huggy bear is an abomination. A simple dignified block "C" would be infinitely superior, not to mention the good old bear leaning on C.

Yup. Exactly. Many of us don't like Noel much, so it's easy to find reasons to rip on him. I can imagine that non-serious interview with a coach or a player make for fun reading sometimes, but it does seem like a waste of time when you can manage to get the AD to sit down for an interview. Of course, maybe he wouldn't have agreed to a non-fluff interview.

[Q]Chris '03 Wrote:
Given the relative difficulty of actually sitting down with the AD to discuss anything, it seems like a waste to use the opportunity on stupidity though. And for what it's worth I think the huggy bear is an abomination. A simple dignified block "C" would be infinitely superior, not to mention the good old bear leaning on C.[/q]
My sentiments, exactly, Chris, on all counts.

I sympathize a little with Noel. He's ostensibly the A.D., but he has to fight to stay on the top ten list of people with authority over Cornell athletics. It's gotta be a bitter pill to be the Dan Quayle of Ivy League sports.

To suggest that this is sexist or poor reporting is a pretty narrow view. This is clearly not a news article, and I don't think its intent was to deeply explore newsworthy issues. It shows a side of the AD that people who don't know him never see, and in that respect, I think Per did a good job. Looking at questions like "What's the J stand for?" and "If you could have dinner with any three people in history, who would they be?" or even the format of the article, it's apparent that the interview wasn't intended to go in depth on any serious topics. That's just the nature of this article, as well as the other 10-question articles Per has written (which, by the way, I find quite entertaining).

As for the charge that this was sexist, I have to disagree. Per has fired 10 questions at both male and female athletes on campus, and each time he asked which was the hottest team of the opposite sex. It's just another lighthearted question. I wouldn't call it sexist if the same question goes for both sexes.

The Sun gets an unfair rap on the eLF, in my opinion. It's an extracurricular activity, just like ice hockey. Fun pieces like this one are part of what make working at The Sun enjoyable. When they are done well - like Per's series of 10-question articles - I don't see how anyone can complain.

[Q]Per has fired 10 questions at both male and female athletes on campus, and each time he asked which was the hottest team of the opposite sex.[/Q]Well, if the question's not sexist, at the very least it discriminates on the basis of sexual orientation.

...Anyway, my opinion, which I think is fairly similar to many of the people who have posted on this thread, is that the lighthearted pieces (in the Sports section, as well as on the OpEd page, Red Letter Daze, and even the occasional News article or cover photo) are in general ok. The problem is that there are some serious and local issues which members of the Cornell community care about that end up taking the back seat. In this case, the example is that the AD even went so far as to mention renovations in Lynah, and your columnist let the opportunity pass to find out more details about that renovation. You wouldn't have to stick the info in the middle of the interview; you could even follow up in a separate article.

Consider the Daily Show and Jon Stewart's method of interviewing, which has won him a lot of positive recognition. When he interviews major public figures, the interviews are at times "flippant" and almost always lighthearted, but he almost always finds a way to squeeze in at least one tough, serious question.

While we all recognize that the Sun staff is students who do this as an extracurricular, it's one of those organizations that has responsibilities as well. Imagine if one Friday, instead of taking the ice, the hockey team decided to just go out for some pizza instead. Would it be within their rights as students? Sure, who doesn't like to get some pizza on a weekend? But wouldn't you expect them to catch a lot of flak for it?

What distinguishes the Sun from every other student publications on campus (from the Lunatic to Blood&Guts to the Review) is that it provides timely, locally relevant news. What I'm saying, and I think some other people are as well, is that we'd like the Sun even more if it shifted it's focus slightly towards a little bit more news, a little bit less self-indulgent humor.

I think Chris has it right on with his comment about everyone here hating Noel. Talk about a whole lot of uproar over nothing.

I have never been a big fan of Noel. I had a run-in with him while he was assistant AD, and I thought he was over the top with me, although I have to admit he had a point. We all know about the sports pass debacle, and based on my limited information I don't think they handled the hiring of the football coach as well as they could have. I was really unhappy with the women's hockey coaching situation a few years back, but Noel made up for that with the hiring of Davidson, who certainly had all of the credentials and has done a nice job so far. So it's not as if I love the guy, but I think the eLF regulars take this a bit too far.

Some comments:

1) The article is intended to be a light interview. Get off your high horse(s) about "good reporting" and think about this from the perspective of someone who isn't a huge hockey fan. I know it's difficult, but apart from the hockey fans, nobody cares what Cornell does to Lynah Rink. So maybe leaving that extra bit of info out *is* good reporting.

This piece is a replica of ESPN.com's "10 Burning Questions," which appears pretty regularly on Page 2. The past articles in this series are the same way, and I think they're pretty good. If you come expecting a serious interview, you'll be disappointed, but it's clear early on that this piece is not supposed to be serious. Incidentally, the Page 2 interviewees that do the best are people like Ichiro Suzuki and Julie Foudy, who say silly things about mascots and have fun with the interview. Someone like Pedro Martinez, who takes himself too seriously, is actually annoying in this context. Kudos to Noel for having a little bit of fun without saying anything an AD shouldn't be saying (see the question about the hottest women's team for an example, and read the whole thing, not just his initial canned response).

2) Noel is a huge fan of Cornell athletics. In fact, he's a huge fan of a number of sports other than men's ice hockey, which few Cornellians can boast. I think his choice of great sports moments is telling. He doesn't mention last year's Frozen Four run, but he mentions men's and women's lacrosse, and wrestling. I should add that as the assistant AD, he went to many of the women's hockey games, which, as a women's hockey fan, always impressed me.

I would think being a Cornell sports fan would be a positive quality in our athletic director, but we can turn that into a cause for complaint. He jumps into an area without proper ID, so he should get fired? Riiiiight. If Lee's roommate had done the same thing, you'd all be complaining about the unfairness of the system. If the first person over the glass when the hockey team made it to Placid in 95 had been arrested, there'd be a huge uproar. In fact, everyone would have called for the AD's head. When the AD forgets himself in his excitement over an athletic achievement, he's a jerk who should lose his job. Sound silly yet?

Oh yes, before the inevitable response - I realize an AD is held to a different standard of behavior than an average fan. Even so, if it was an AD other than Noel everyone would think this was endearing and a clear illustration of his love for Cornell athletics. In fact, if it was an AD at another school, we'd probably hear "Andy Noel could learn a thing or two from this guy."

3) The free parking thing was something fun and silly in the interview, and it's not as if he's saying athletes should have free parking everywhere. Just Teagle and the Crescent lot, which makes sense if you think about the locations of those lots and where the athletes spend most of their time. This may be a violation of NCAA regulations, which may be one of many reasons why it hasn't happened yet. Does it matter if he's saying he agrees with the athletes, when he *knows* the parking fee structure will not be changed on the whim of the athletic department? You know it isn't going to change, I know it isn't going to change, and I promise you Andy Noel knows it isn't going to change. So what's the harm in him having some fun with that part of the interview?

Most of the complaints about this article are simply ridiculous. Seriously. Even the complaints about the ugly huggy bear logo. So Noel is proud of the new logo? It's a lot better for him to be proud. What would you all say if he was ashamed of the new logo? And it's not as if it's the logo on all of the uniforms. I haven't seen the men's hockey team exchanging their classic jerseys for an ECHL style huggy bear logo sweater. Ugh. Heaven forbid. When the women's hockey team got new jerseys a couple of seasons ago, they went with the Red Wings style Cornell jerseys. I didn't like the choice, but at least they're better than minor league hockey jerseys. Heck, they're better than most NHL jerseys.

[Q]Shorts Wrote:

Consider the Daily Show and Jon Stewart's method of interviewing, which has won him a lot of positive recognition. When he interviews major public figures, the interviews are at times "flippant" and almost always lighthearted, but he almost always finds a way to squeeze in at least one tough, serious question.[/q]

Yikes. I feel like a shill for the Daily Sun.

Anyway, Noel's comment about Lynah came from a serious question.

[q]5. What kinds of things can we expect from the Athletic Department in the near future?[/q]

Without that, we never would have heard about Lynah, and I doubt anyone would be complaining about it. As I said, a significant percentage of the readership for this article couldn't care less about renovations to Lynah, just as most of us couldn't care less about the rehab and expansion of Schoellkopf Memorial Hall.

The problem with this interview, as with other things that have appeared in the Sun sports section, is that it is "derivative" of an idea used at another media outlet (in this case, Page 2 at espn.com, where they run half-serious, half-fun "10 Questions with..." interviews from time to time, which include such questions as who would you have dinner with, from anyone in history and which superpower would you like to have and why).

The difference is that those interviewees are often interviewed seriously elsewhere, so we generally know their opinions on the serious issues; Andy Noel is not often interviewed by the Sun and so on the rare occasion that he sits with a Sun reporter, many readers would prefer to have him address serious stuff.

The larger issue for me is how unoriginal the Sun has been of late, what with this type of interview and the very-poorly-executed version of "The Writer's Bloc" that they "borrowed" from Page 2. Too many columnists use the paper as an opportunity to mention their friends or otherwise regale us with their personal adventures, mistaking the Sun for their personal diary. In addition, although some of the sports stories are well-written, many show a lack of interviewing or reporting skills. Interviews with opposing coaches or players during the week before a game are noticeably few and far between.

Yes, some of us are taking this too seriously. For reasons stated in other posts. But I have to comment on one thing:
[q]Seriously. Even the complaints about the ugly huggy bear logo. So Noel is proud of the new logo? It's a lot better for him to be proud. [/q]Yes, it would be better if he learned to be ashamed of the new logo. 'Cuz then he might get rid of it

[Q]CUlater 89 Wrote:

The problem with this interview, as with other things that have appeared in the Sun sports section, is that it is "derivative" of an idea used at another media outlet (in this case, Page 2 at espn.com, where they run half-serious, half-fun "10 Questions with..." interviews from time to time, which include such questions as who would you have dinner with, from anyone in history and which superpower would you like to have and why).

The difference is that those interviewees are often interviewed seriously elsewhere, so we generally know their opinions on the serious issues; Andy Noel is not often interviewed by the Sun and so on the rare occasion that he sits with a Sun reporter, many readers would prefer to have him address serious stuff.

The larger issue for me is how unoriginal the Sun has been of late, what with this type of interview and the very-poorly-executed version of "The Writer's Bloc" that they "borrowed" from Page 2. Too many columnists use the paper as an opportunity to mention their friends or otherwise regale us with their personal adventures, mistaking the Sun for their personal diary. In addition, although some of the sports stories are well-written, many show a lack of interviewing or reporting skills. Interviews with opposing coaches or players during the week before a game are noticeably few and far between.[/q]

Such-and-such is derived from ESPN.com or ESPN the magazine? Virtually everything there derives from somewhere else, too. SI does a quick five-questions column. Lots of magazines do Twenty Questions interview (Playboy has for years.) Even Dorothy Parker's flip writing ("Hepburn's emotions ran the gamut from A to B." had antecedents.

The Cornell Sun remains the finest undergraduate college journalism program in New York. (Columbia has a good academic program, but it's a grad school. Syracuse/Newhouse is a decent trade school but if you need to take a semester understanding the who why what when where how mantra, that's a semester you could have spent taking real academic courses.) The Sun operates at no cost to Cornell University other than the psychic cost to Cornell when someone in Day Hall gets caught doing or not doing something. And like the athletics program, there are rough edges; these are students doing, learning, and learning from their mistakes.

Of interest is that the Sun has become a bit more mainstream of late. By that I mean the least represented minority at the Sun was not blacks or Hispanics, but Greeks. Other than the sports department, in decades past, if you were in a fraternity or sorority, you weren't working for the Sun. That's changing. I think that means more mainstream points of view will be represented across the board.

The Sun also runs way more sports than in previous decades. When I was an undergrad, I wrote sports not news because I believe real news is Dear Abby, the crossword, and sports. Most students didn't and still don't give a rap about the "real" news on Page 1, stuff like "Student Assembly Discusses Dorm Advisory Council Participation." The Sun also has a way better weekend/entertainment section. That's not important to campus radicals; it is important to everyone else trying to figure out where to go on a date. Assuming one has a date.

A light-hearted interview with Andy Noel is fine. A follow-up about what's really going to happen at Lynah would be better. One out of two is better than none out of two.

I met with some of the current Sun people last week at a NYC reception. They said Jeff Lehman a) seems like a regular guy and b) really likes sports. Compared to Cornell's previous half century of tallish presidents, one said, he seems like a munchkin and bears a slight passing resemblance to Bill Gates.

[Q]KeithK Wrote:

Yes, some of us are taking this too seriously. For reasons stated in other posts. But I have to comment on one thing:

Seriously. Even the complaints about the ugly huggy bear logo. So Noel is proud of the new logo? It's a lot better for him to be proud. [/Q]
Yes, it would be better if he learned to be ashamed of the new logo. 'Cuz then he might get rid of it [/q]

Could be worse, guys:

baylorbear.jpg