Andy Noel

[rhovorka]

Well, I think I've held my tongue long enough.  My limited interactions with Mr. Noel have proven him to be the single most unprofessional University official I have ever encountered.  Does he love and support Cornell Athletics?  Without a doubt; I don't think he would've taken the job if he didn't.  I've seen him present at many Athletic events, both home and away.  And I'm sure he's able to act in a pleasant manner in a cordial setting.  However, the temper-laden and needlessly confrontational demonstrations I've personally witnessed, which included a moment where it seemed he was very close to physically striking an individual in a public place, have demolished any respect I had or possibly could ever have for the man.  If he is the person representing the administration of Cornell Athletics, then my perception of the entire department will be very negative until he is no longer in that position.

That's really all I'll say on the issue.

[Ken71]

I was involved in such a confrontation with Andy back at the height of the ushers' "crackdown" on fan "obscenity" by standing at the bottom of the aisles.   The fans around me were complaining that the usher was blocking our view of the game - he blocked my view of the crease.  I pointed back at Andy and suggested that he'd ordered the crackdown and keeping fans from viewing events was crazy.  He ranted a bit, and Robin Knuutila (one of the more courteous ushers) broke things up and suggested to the other usher that he didn't need to stand there during the whole game - just as opponents' penalties were being called.

I encountered Andy the next day outside of Schoellkopf and he apologized profusely.  We've had pretty cordial relations since, but the crackdown HAD gone too far and he realized that.

Athletic administrators have much of the passion that made them successful as athletes, but that often clashes with the need for more politic tact and consensus-building skills to get things done.  I think the improvements to facilities that have been made are fine, but the idea of selling out to OCSN and the CornellPass idea should have been rejected in favor of efforts by the ardent supporters who'd worked to provide net access and content in the first place.

Ken '71

[jeh25]

Rich Hovorka '96 wrote:

...where it seemed he was very close to physically striking an individual in a public place

Ummm. Wasn't it you he almost took a swing at in Schoellkopf?

[bigggreddd77]

Yeeeeahh...Rich is THE MAN!!!!

Keep preaching the faith...9 IS GOOD!!!

[bigggreddd77]

I used to be an employee of the athletics department (statistician for sprint football, lacrosse, basketball) with Laura and Pat Gillespie and I really don't understand why you guys have such big problems with the department.  Maybe I'm out of touch having been out of school for a few years...who knows?

I must say that I actually thought that the new logo was kind of cool...makes Cornell look a bit more 'professional' if you will.  I was there during the beginning of this transition, and for the most part, I always thought it was good that Cornell was trying to make their marketing materials look better.

I do agree that maybe some of their ideas were anti-traditionalist (anyone remember that SUBWAY challenge?  do they still do that?  I just remember everyone booing as the Subway challenge took the ice between periods).  But, bottom line is that all of these things...CornellPass or whatever...make money for the athletics department, which makes it possible to provide audio feeds, etc for us fans.  None of these things come free for the school.  Anywaaaaay...someone please clarify/recap for me the exact reasons that you are all pissed off at them...

[kaelistus]

[q] None of these things come free for the school [/q]

Jason, Age has already stated that he was willing to that he was willing to provide audio AND video feeds for free. Cornell just won't let him.

[Al DeFlorio]

Jason Demby '99 wrote:

...someone please clarify/recap for me the exact reasons that you are all pissed off at them...

Well, Jason, let's start by saying Vermont, Clarkson, St. Lawrence, Colgate, RPI, Union, Yale, Brown, Harvard, and Dartmouth all thought enough of their fan following to find a way to provide free Internet broadcasts for them this season--despite Laura's whining "Internet upheaval."  They just tried harder--and cared more.

Where would you rank the Faithful among the fans of those ten schools for their loyalty to school and team?

[Al DeFlorio]

Ken Deschere wrote:

...the idea of selling out to OCSN and the CornellPass idea should have been rejected in favor of efforts by the ardent supporters who'd worked to provide net access and content in the first place.

Ken '71

Bravo, Ken.  

Seems to me any protest sent to Athletics or elsewhere has to include this sentiment.  The whole thing has just reeked of a "let 'em eat cake" attitude.

[CowbellGuy]

A slight clarification. They can't let me do it now because they're in a legally binding contract. The fault lies with them not taking the 14 seconds to drop me an e-mail and ask before doing so, and ::rolleyes:: going around telling everyone that all avenues were explored.

On the other hand, they might no have listened, as ::rolleyes:: didn't seem to believe me when I said I could have handled all the sports quite easily. They live in their own intellectual vacuum over there and revel in it.

[Al DeFlorio]

Age Manocchia '98 wrote:

...as Anita Brenner didn't seem to believe me when I said I could have handled all the sports quite easily. They live in their own intellectual vacuum over there and revel in it.

I suspect part of the problem we're dealing with now is the setting in of a "bunker mentality."  They're in the mode of justifying why what they did was right--and defending it to the death--instead of looking at the situation with an open mind.

[tml5]

That's a good point, Al.  It also reeks of bureaucratic stupidity.  Someone was probably assigned the task of exploring other avenues, and that someone never considered talking to the fans for whatever reason.  Then Athletics made this regrettable decision, probably expecting every other school on OCSN (and there are a lot of them) to do the same, and it backfired.  Now they're all about defending their decision, and the stupidest thing is that if they admitted their error and put it to the fans to find a workable non-Cornellpass system for *next* year they might actually get some subscribers for the hockey feed *and* good press.  Let's face it, they claim they're working to improve the fan experience.  Well, this would be one obvious way of doing that, but I guess nobody ever thought to consult the fans about what would improve their experience.  Hey, does this sound like pro sports to anyone?

[bigggreddd77]

While I do agree that Age does an amazing job and I'm sure he is more than capable of providing Cornell Athletics with all of their needs...the issue comes down to professionalism...  We are not dealing with a high school athletics program here...but sometimes it seems as if a lot of people are treating it with that kind of mentality.  Cornell athletics has seemingly entered a contract with the hopes of getting their SH!T (I think Brown has that word copywrited ;-)) together when it comes to the athletic marketing/communications and I still don't see why it is such a terrible thing.

I'm sure that paid passes for online feeds will be coming to the other schools in the near future...it just seems that Cornell is on top of things a bit and is ahead of the game.  Or maybe the other athletics departments have more money for that purpose?  Honestly...I really don't know...

But...I don't think that there is some big conspiracy against the Cornell sports fan to see how much money they can get out of us.  G-d knows that we're better fans than the fans at all of those other schools, and I think they do appreciate it.  

Hell...whats the deal...now you even have to pay for zagat.com!!!!??? :-)

[CowbellGuy]

If they wanted to pay SalsaShark.net for it, would that make it more professional for you? The problem with people like you and the rest of the tools at athletics is that you have no grasp of how much (or little) work or technology is involed in streaming audio. Instead you jump to conclusions rather than exploring possibilities.

[Josh '99]

Al DeFlorio wrote:

...Vermont, Clarkson, St. Lawrence, Colgate, RPI, Union, Yale, Brown, Harvard, and Dartmouth all thought enough of their fan following to find a way to provide free Internet broadcasts for them this season...

Rich and I talked about this the other night.  What we really couldn't figure out was, who the hell is paying to listen to Princeton hockey online?   ::twitch::

[Al DeFlorio]

That's why it didn't matter which approach they chose.  It affected no one anyway, so it was clearly easier for Princeton to "let George do it."  Who's going to object?  Hockey Mom?