Sun interview with Noel

[Al DeFlorio]

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.

http://cornelldailysun.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/04/28/408f48b84be82

[Per Ostman]

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.  

[CowbellGuy]

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. ::barf::

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

[billhoward]

[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.

http://cornelldailysun.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/04/28/408f48b84be82
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?

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.

[Tom Pasniewski 98]

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. :-(

[Al DeFlorio]

[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?

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.

[ninian '72]

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?

[KeithK]

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...

[Avash]

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.

[Chris \'03]

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.

[KeithK]

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.

[Al DeFlorio]

[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.

[Greg Berge]

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.

[cornelldavy]

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.

[Shorts]

[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.