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Post by wrj on Mar 26, 2013 21:48:33 GMT -6
All fans are delusional!
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Post by wrj on Mar 20, 2013 21:22:40 GMT -6
To that, this Jackrabbit fan says, Go yotes!
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Post by wrj on Mar 16, 2013 22:00:57 GMT -6
Honestly, ready to give the State football championships to another town. I'm tired of it disrupting USD football. Vermillion really gets little benefit from hosting those games. Most people drive in for the day, play the game, and leave town. Restaurants may see an uptick in activity but it's not the boom people think it is. The hotels are not full like they are for a multi-day event like basketball or wrestling so the economic impact is not as great as people think. The folks in Rapid City are trying to help you out on this. www.gotmine.com/Expansion-Photos.pdfUse the right/left arrows on your keyboard or the roller on your mouse to scroll through the drawings.
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Post by wrj on Mar 14, 2013 20:51:21 GMT -6
Serious question: Who has the time and flexibility to purchase full passes to the SLT a year in advance? I know I don't have the time to take almost a week off of work to attend this event. Could I take a day here and there to attend Coyote games? Sure, but I need to know what days to take. I suppose I could buy the whole session pass but only attend Coyote games. Seems like quite an investment for a team that won 10 games and backed into a 7 seed. Bottom line, and this is what I am getting at, look at the demographics of the SDSU fanbase and the USD fanbase. USD puts out mainly professionals who work in offices. SDSU puts out a lot of people with ag degrees. Not too much planting going on in early March. Just saying. Alot of SDSU fans have time on their hands this time of year. I bought my season pass last October for this year's tournament. I live over 350 miles from Sioux Falls and had to request vacation days for Friday through Wednesday because I live far enough away that I needed travel days in order to make it to Sioux Falls by noon on Saturday and stay through the championship game on Tuesday evening. I also had to stay in motels for 5 nights, fill up my gas tank about four times, and buy a lot of restaurant food. I won't be doing this every year, but I was pretty confident about our Jackrabbit teams this year and hoped that it would work out that I would get to see a lot of Jackrabbit basketball. I also buy season tickets for football. Why? Because my South Dakota State University degree gave me a great career and a great lifestyle. South Dakota State University became an important part of who I am. I sat by a Northern State University Alumnus at the tournament on Saturday. He has a son that graduated with two degrees from USD and currently has a son enrolled in his third year at SDSU. He told me that he has never seen a group of alumni and fans as loyal to their alma mater as he sees at SDSU. Incidentally, I did not major in anything related to agriculture. My closest relationship the the ag world is that I eat. In fact, I eat very well!
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Post by wrj on Mar 13, 2013 19:44:18 GMT -6
Good news!
When the tide comes in, all boats rise.
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Post by wrj on Feb 25, 2013 9:37:53 GMT -6
I don't understand why the Coyote Point System is such big deal and topic of discussion around here. Here's the thing, there aren't enough season ticket sales or people going to the Dome right now to affect anybody one way or the other. Right now these points don't mean squat, good seats are available everywhere because nobody goes to the games so why do points even matter. I remember when the same was true in Brookings ..... but if you want good seats now, it matters!
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Post by wrj on Jan 11, 2013 20:42:29 GMT -6
Excellent analysis Yotemeal! Every game is important, but to me your analysis highlights Saturday night's game as an important one. We have to hold serve at home against the weaker Summit teams. I have to disagree with you a little bit Chuck. To be successful, you have to hold serve at home against all of the teams in the Summit!
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Post by wrj on Dec 16, 2012 9:36:36 GMT -6
Currently, one year contracts are a reality at both USD and SDSU. I am not really convinced that they are that much of a contributor to turnover of coaching staff. There will always be an ample supply of applicants who want to be a head coach or administrator at a Division I university. SDSU and USD do not, and probably will not in the near future, offer either the money or prestige to recruit or retain the top tier individuals for these positiongs. We will ALWAYS be stepping stones to something bigger and better for most. Coaches Boots, Stig, Nagy and Johnston may just be exceptions with different priorities. Or, any or all of them might be on their way to someplace else next year or the year after.
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Post by wrj on Dec 16, 2012 9:31:23 GMT -6
Also, what does being the state university have to do with anything? Look at notre same, pretty successful, and Rutgers just went to the big 10....duke, just a ton of examples. And tons of schools at the d-1 level have a great institutional background. Come on. I don't understand your point here. How does Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, fit in with Notre Dame and Duke in your example?
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Twins
Dec 2, 2012 21:20:17 GMT -6
Post by wrj on Dec 2, 2012 21:20:17 GMT -6
In addition to getting a pretty good prospect for 2015 and beyond, the twins also got rid of 4.5 million dollars of salary cost when they (hopefully) have someone else in Ben Revere to play center field. If this freeing up of salary money makes it more likely for the Twins to get an immediate impact player, the full value of this deal for the Twins has not yet been realized.
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Post by wrj on Dec 1, 2012 8:13:53 GMT -6
Didn't Wisconsin have an alumni band perform during the FB game vs USD last year? Thought they were called the "Decrepids" or something of that nature. Couple of thoughts if this gets going: 1) all members must be, or at least appear to be, sober; and 2) a kazoo (sp) is NOT a band instrument. If you are interested in an alumni band, you should follow the example of success. I was at the game in the 2011 season that this alumni band group reunited. It was quite impressive: www.lhab.org/
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Post by wrj on Nov 15, 2012 20:17:58 GMT -6
beleive me if i could i would West river jackrabbit alumni group watches games at thirsty's in downtown rapid. I'm sure you would be welcome there. One of my co-workers from USD plans to be at Thirsty's wearing red. You won't be alone!
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Post by wrj on Nov 10, 2012 21:12:04 GMT -6
If the Coyotes pull off the upset next Saturday, do anyone's opinions on this subject change?
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Post by wrj on Nov 9, 2012 23:22:42 GMT -6
Just been texting back and forth with my tailgate crew and it looks like we'll have all hands on deck by 10AM for tailgating. I'll be out there much earlier setting up. It is supposed to be a nice morning with temos in the 70's. Shouldn't turn to crap until the evening and by that time we should all be long gone. Only in South Dakota can we start the day in the 70's, have thunderstorms in the late afternoon, and have the temps drop to the 30's with snow that night. Taking recommendations for beverage of choice. Leaning towards PBR tallboys although I am feeling a bit seasonal. If I was going to be there, I would recommend some Shiner Blonde Light. Good luck on your final home game.
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Post by wrj on Oct 21, 2012 20:03:06 GMT -6
As a Jackrabbit fan I am an outsider here. I know the game outcome was negative. What about the whole concept of playing the game in Sioux Falls? Should the Coyotes do it again? Did it really net USD enough money to give up a home game? Or, did it gain something other than money that made it worth playing in Sioux Falls? Obviously getting blown out by a higher profile program that plucks some of the best FCS talent in the area is not good. USD has unique challenges to SDSU, and IMO waned to take a chance by seeing if they could reconnect with disconnected alumni in the SF area. SDSU has had a more connected alumni group for years and has had more students for years. On top of that they did a good job reaching out and connecting with even more alumni. Throw in the success in FB, MBB and WBB they have earned some rightful buzz and attention. USD needs to have some success on the field and basketball court as job one. People will jump on a winning wagon. The crowd was made up of a significant number of people that do not go to Vermillion for games. Will coming to see the Coyotes get destroyed make them come back? Probably not it was pretty embarrassing. The interesting thing though is four of my coworkers that came and tailgated actually told me they are much more likely to come to some games in Vermillion more for the festivities than the football really. They also told me that unlike me they would leave at halftime if the game sucked. Not sure what the rest of the crowd's take will be. It is a tough decision to mess with locations. I live in the Black Hills so I was not there when SDSU decided to try playing in Sioux Falls, but I know that a lot of fans were not amused. I also know that SDSU does have a certain percentage of its fan base that does travel to see games. When I am back in Brookings for games, I almost always see others from the Black Hills there. I don't know if USD has a similar group of fans or not. And, if not, why not? I know a number of USD alumni in the Black Hills, but most of them profess little or no interest in Coyote athletics. They think I am crazy to buy season football tickets for a team that requires 750-800 miles of round trip travel per game. I am unaware of any other SDSU fans from the Black Hills that have already bought Summit League basketball tournament tickets, but I will not be surprised to see other fans there that travel a significant distance to see it. Of course, there is a lot of optimism about SDSU basketball this year. If that optimism fizzles during the regular season, there may be some tickets available from some of us. Statistically, I don't know enough USD alumni here for it to be a valid sample size. The "N" is simply too small. The last time I was at a game in Vermillion was before my daughter graduated from USD which was in 2008. USD was still playing in Division II. Tailgating was in its infancy at USD. I suspect that if I had cause to return, that I would see a lot of different things now. I suspect that if you are able to look back that far and remember, that you would actually see that a number of things about Coyote football and the game day experience have improved. I am also quite certain that it will improve more. To compare to SDSU would really require that you compare USD to the SDSU experience of five years ago. It will still be a few years before comparing the two will be comparing apples to apples. Of course, even then, it will be comparing yellow apples to red apples. I say this with some disappointing memories of our earliest years in Division I and our earliest years when we had become playoff eligible. Truthfully, other than winning, I don't know how to expand the fan base. Hang in there. Keeping the current loyal fans is probably the first step to fan base growth.
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