Final HockeyCam Letter

Here is the 4th, and hopefully, final draft of the HockeyCam letter. The current plan is to send hard copies to the appropriate people as well as the Cornell Daily Sun. I really really hope the Sun is willing to publish it as a guest editorial as a full page ad will cost $560, which is beyond my bankroll.

If you would like to be included, please email me with your name as you would like it printed, followed by class year. I'd love to add a few players' parents names too if any of the lurking parents out there are willing. If so, please email me as well.

John E Hayes '98 '00

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An Open Letter to Cornell Athletics and the Cornell Community:

Recent events have transpired that have created a schism between Cornell Athletics and some of the University’s most rabid fans, namely the Lynah Faithful. These events came to a head last Friday, only hours before Cornell’s home opener against Ivy foe Yale.

Known to many of the Lynah Faithful simply as the Cowbell Guy, Adriano “Age” Manocchia ’98 has spent countless hours behind the scenes enhancing the fan experience for the Lynah Faithful. Besides bringing the his trusty cowbell and a Canadian flag on the road to every ECAC game for the last 4 years, Mr. Manocchia has single handedly maintained eLynah, a multimedia website featuring stats, game results, and video clips of the Big Red in action. Beginning with video clips and photos in 1998, eLynah has grown to include other features such as the Cornell Hockey Database, a central repository of game statistics, and the eLynah Forum, which provides a centralized place for fans to discuss hockey after the original Cornell Hockey Discussion Forum was shut down. Not only has Mr. Manocchia contributed his time and equipment to meet the needs of Cornell hockey fans, player’s families and alumni; he has even provided game footage to the Cornell coaching staff when the team’s own camera failed.

Last year, Mr. Manocchia, with the assistance of Mark Anbinder ’89, undertook a groundbreaking endeavor that came to be known as the HockeyCam. Although a little rough around the edges at the beginning, by the end of the season, Mr. Manocchia was providing truly watchable full-motion video of Cornell hockey without missing a single home game. From California to Connecticut, Western Canada to Europe to Israel, Cornell fans as well as player’s parents around the world were able to follow the Big Red via the HockeyCam. At the end of last season, fans had every expectation that the HockeyCam would continue this season. In fact, Cornell Athletics prominently featured a link to the HockeyCam on the official Cornell Athletics website.

This summer, however, when the provider responsible for the official website suddenly went bankrupt, Cornell Athletics had to scramble to find an alternative and subsequently signed a contract with OCSN, a for-profit provider of college athletic sites. In doing so, Athletics sowed the seeds for the current conflict by agreeing to a monthly subscription plan for internet broadcasts of Cornell sporting events known as CornellPass. Having been able to listen for free on the ’net since ’97, and having been able to watch full-motion video for free in ’01, the thought of paying for audio understandably upset the broadcast-dependent members of the Lynah Faithful. In addition, having a separate, unsyncronized audio feed would seriously detract from the HockeyCam experience.

Several events in the weeks preceding the home opener served to further exacerbate tension between Mr. Manocchia and members of the Athletics staff. In a move that was ill-advised in hindsight, Mr. Manocchia sent out a private letter to the majority of the eLynah visitors that was subversive towards Athletics’ official interests. After a copy of the letter was forwarded to Athletics, Mr. Manocchia understandably earned a stern letter in response. Simultaneously, he displayed a modified Cornell logo that was highly critical of Athletics on the eLynah Forum. Although the logo was clearly parody, Athletics then chose to escalate the situation by threatening Mr. Manocchia with legal action for trademark infringement.

Thus, with the first home game approaching, the fans were still faced with the prospect of paying for audio that would not correspond to the HockeyCam feed. Events finally boiled over when, 5 short hours before the Yale game, Mr. Manocchia returned from lunch to his office on campus to find that someone had removed from Lynah Rink the 200 feet of Ethernet cable necessary for webcasting the game and summarily dumped it on his chair. The HockeyCam was shut down, with little warning and no explanation, leaving prospective viewers in the lurch.

Lest one think this discontent merely arises from not wanting to pay for a service that was once free, history suggests this is not the case. Last season, when it became apparent that the HockeyCam would require an expensive piece of video preprocessing software, the denizens of eLynah rose to the call, spontaneously offering donations to offset the cost of the software after Athletics declined to do so. Nor is this the first time the fans have done so, as Athletics presumably still has the hardware that was purchased by the Cornell Hockey Booster Association in 1997 to stream audio over the internet. Particularly frustrating is the idea that we are being asked to line the pockets of a for-profit business like OCSN by paying for an audio-only feed, all the while being told how lucky we are to have a value-added experience by the boilerplate copy on the OCSN website.

While Mr. Manocchia has recently made several very questionable decisions that only served to inflame the current situation, we the undersigned find Cornell Athletics is culpable as well. Had Athletics chosen to admit that the subscription service might not be the best solution, and promised to do what they could to rectify the situation in the future, the vast majority of fans would have been satisfied. However, Athletics chose bureaucratic entrenchment instead. Moreover, the unceremonious dumping of the aforementioned Ethernet cable was perceived by some of the fans as a deliberate and insulting act intended to send a message regarding the HockeyCam. With hindsight, we are sure it was done innocently and without malice but at the time, it only served to further inflame fans that were already upset.

We understand that none of the hardworking people in Athletics actually sit in Teagle Hall and plot ways to disenfranchise the Cornell fans, alumni and parents. In fact we recognize how difficult their jobs must be as they only hear complaints from their constituency and never receive the kudos they richly deserve. However, while we understand Athletics cannot make all their internal decisions transparent with regard to outside parties, we simply wish they had been more forthcoming once the magnitude of the current imbroglio became apparent.

Although the animus that currently exists between Mr. Manocchia and Athletics makes it unlikely, we hope that a middle ground can be reached for the benefit of the fans. Moreover, we hope that Athletics will continue to involve Mr. Manocchia in production of the HockeyCam, in spite of the lapses in his professionalism toward members of the Athletics’ staff, given the technical expertise and successful track record he has previously demonstrated on this project. Perhaps a liaison could be found who could handle the political aspects of interacting with Athletics while allowing Mr. Manocchia to remain involved technically. Even if his long-term involvement is politically untenable, we’d ask that Athletics allow Mr. Manocchia to resume production of the HockeyCam immediately until Athletics is willing and ready to provide a comparable level of service. Given his past reliability in this area, coupled with his ability to have the HockeyCam up and running by the next home game, we feel that it would be extremely punitive for Athletics to prevent Mr. Manocchia from doing so. To choose this course would do a great disservice to the fans, the alumni, the team, and indeed, the university as a whole.

In summary, we ask both sides to acknowledge that mistakes have been made, to bury the hatchet, and to move forward from this point to do what is best for the Lynah Faithful by restoring the HockeyCam.

It sounds ok, but it seems like it would be way too long to print as an editorial column. I would say chop out a few paragraphs, and you could still get your point across, probably even a little more effectively. I only skimmed it, but it also seems as if the student body as a whole would be uninterested in the whole issue, as the ones that care about hockey are probably going to the games, as well as because of the length. I know if I saw it in the sun as a student, I would have noticed it because it's about hockey, but then I would have stopped reading it. maybe you should just send to the administration and the athletics, people who have the power to do something about it? I don't know, just my opinion.

Listening to or watching the games online is actually about to become a lot more relevant to students, as many will be travelling out of Ithaca for a month or so from mid-December to mid-January, a period that includes several games.

Add me to the list. Charles D. Star, ILR '92, CIPA '94

Also, here are a few typos and such that I caught:

John E Hayes '98 '00 wrote:

Besides bringing the his trusty cowbell

Mr. Manocchia has single handedly (should be hyphenated) maintained eLynah,

player’s families and alumni; (should be a comma) he has even ...

Cornell fans as well as player’s parents (make it a plural possessive) around the world

we the undersigned find that Cornell Athletics (add underlined word) is culpable as well.

I'll follow up with an email in case you aren't checking here regularly.

Erica is right; the letter is way too long for publication in the Sun and if the Associate Editor at the Sun is interested in printing it, the best case is that you'll be asked to shorten it (more likely, the AE will take the liberty of extracting what she deems relevant).

Given that, you should take the initiative now. I think you could probably summarize the issue, which, after having read the letter, seems to boil down to the fact that you want HockeyCam restored as soon as possible for the benefit of alums and current students and staff who cannot go to the games. Then, for readers who want to know more about the particulars, reference a link to a webpage with the full text of the letter being sent to Athletics et al.

In addition, if you want to let the Sun readers know that Athletics did/does have other options for free audio netcasts and chose to pass on using them, then say so in the summary for publication. While Athletics is no doubt bound under contract to not permit other audio broadcasts this season, it is never too early to begin pressuring Athletics to go back to some sort of free service once the existing contract expires.

Can I suggest (even though John hasn't asked me to) that people tell him if they are in or out, and let the Sun make their own editorial decisions? He has put a lot of time and effort into the letter, and the last thing he needs is 100 editors reviewing the letter for substance. (Nothing personal, CULater or Erica).

All good catches. I'd pluralize the first reference to "player's families" as well.

Count me in, John: Albert R. DeFlorio, BS '65, M.Eng.(Elec.) '66

Likewise on the catches & shortening as you see fit. Count me in , John:
Chris Hanson, BS '82

I'll gladly be one of the undersigned...

I'm definitely in:

Lisa McGill, BA '97

Thanks for all the time and effort that went into writing that letter to represent us all!

Could folks please e-mail John to let him know they're in as co-signers as he requested, rather than posting that here? Thanks.

Beeeej

Beeeej gets two points for following directions

Thanks for taking the initiative on behalf of those too lazy to write thier own letters (moi).

On the whole it looks great and very professional. However, in discussing Age, you do make a couple of admissions of errors in judgement and promises of a future role. I just wonder if he has read this letter and is in agreement with your assessment of the situation and the future role that you have proposed for him. I feel that is important.

To help, a few tweaks of language might be called for. For example, you could say with regard to Age "PERCEIVED lapses in his professionalism". Similarly for the AD you could say "chose A STANCE THAT APPEARED TO MANY FAITHFUL TO BE bureaucratic entrenchment instead".

Minor quibbles, to be sure. But if people on both sides are feeling defensive it doesn't take much to offend.

Again many thanks,
Roy

You should have seen the earlier versions.
I don't have any problems with this version other than that I also think it's too long.
As far as professionalism, no, I don't think I was very professional about how I handled some things, and I probably owe Laura an apology, but I'm petty enough that I wouldn't offer one until I got one from them. Considering they were doing their job and I was doing the HockeyCam to help out some fans, professionalism should fall on their shoulders first.

I agree that professionalism falls to them first, and maybe only them, since you never professed to be a professional at this (damm good however). But I'm reminded about a Dear Abby, or was it Ann Landers, column where once a year she declared a Reconciliation Day. At that time you could say you were sorry how things were going, without having to be the first to say you were sorry about what you did. You'll be surprised at how much a difference that makes. Too often we wait for the other guy to say he's sorry first and it just brews. However all of us can be sorry about how things are going, and say it without having to say we're sorry for what we did. That's often enough to break the ice and get problems turned around.

But, although I'd be willing to help the AD work this out, I'm not yet ready to give back my financial support.