Just another fail by our AD. How will the folks on BTB defend him for this FUBAR? Ray Weaver, what you got to defend him?
Just another fail by our AD. How will the folks on BTB defend him for this FUBAR? Ray Weaver, what you got to defend him?
I will say it is frustrating to be there for a game and rarely ever see replays of great or questionable plays. The video board is there to augment the gameday experience, not just shill for local businesses and play three helmet monte. Hell, my son's high school has a video board run by the A/V club and they show replays. I know its not as simple as pointing a camera at the field and rewinding the video, but we should be better than a rinky dink high school A/V club, right?
I've come to despise the video board. And to think, I was just like everyone else when we got it thinking, wow! what a great step to improving the whole gameday experience. I was wrong...
Attendance has dropped all across the country at all sports' events. There are numerous reasons for this, and we could spend an entire 100+ post thread discussing it (and maybe we will!) Clearly, more now than ever, college football programs have to ratchet up the gameday experience. To fully understand they are competing for people's entertainment time and dime. We all love the advantages of watching a game on TV with the countless replays of close plays. We get to see 14 different angles, in close-up slow-motion...was that a catch or not? Obviously a video board in a stadium can't compete with that, but you better give us something! Also, scores of other games. All we get in Ruston is 5 randomly selected games, once it was Rutgers vs. Maryland. Say what!? And then they were way behind anyway, still showing 2nd qtr scores when the game was in the 4th qtr. I know because I have the NCAA Scores ap on my phone. BUT! I prefer to keep my phone in my pocket during a Tech game. The video board should keep up with CUSA games and a few games "of interest." And yes, that includes LSU if they are playing at the same time. My third favorite team is any team playing LSU!
The loud music, and especially the cRAP music sucks. They can at least turn down the volume. I am 60 years old and suppose to be losing my hearing, but I sure as heck can hear that mess all too clearly!
Also, we need a scoreboard in the SEZ. Doesn't have to be fancy....in fact!!! I would prefer a simple board that provides the basic information. I guarantee I would not be glancing north during a game to see the clock(s), down and distance, etc... Maybe that's why Tech doesn't want a real scoreboard in the SEZ.
What is true, we need some changes, some improvements in all things TECH FOOTBALL!
And look....I didn't even rant about that lousy Nancy Bergeron, "Wadies and gentlewen…."
The video board hit its high water mark in 2011-12. Short vids of players dancing to Move it Like Bernie and Sexy & I Know It were equally cheesy and hilarious. Wagon Wheel was new and novel. Clips of Terry & Kix screaming for fans to get up on third down never failed.
It's been downhill since that.
Wagon Wheel is awful. If there was ever a song that's totally anathema to everything we should be trying to do on game day, its that one. Instead of a hard hitting, smash mouth, get on your feet and scream song (think AC/DC), Wagon Wheel winds the crowd down to a deep sleep.
Oh....I get it. Some BB&B clown will now reply, "but I like Wagon Wheel."
And there's the problem. Some folks just aren't cut out for high impact, college football.
Here's a shocking development: When you get 20,000 people all in the same place (OK, maybe 3,000 on Saturday), they aren't all going to like the same things. Some people hate rap music. Guess what, the young folks love it. Some people love Wagon Wheel and Sweet Caroline. Guess what, they both bore me. It's impossible to please everyone. The key is to try to provide enough different stuff that everyone has an enjoyable experience. That's a very difficult thing to do. It's even harder when the product on the field isn't satisfying fans, and right now, it's just not.
the bold, the beautiful, theprofessor
My wife and I observed that the crowd energy deflates drastically when we play Wagon Wheel. It's really bad especially right before a crucial 3rd down and the operators throw up the "Make Some Noise" graphic. The crowd intensity is gone.
It's like the feeling in this DJ trolling video, the song is getting faster/louder and about to "drop the beat" but doesn't.
The videoboard operator is like a DJ at a night club, you can really control the energy of the game. Example if there is a questionable call under-review, play the replay over-and-over to rile up the fans. It's not the time to play a Ruston ad or dance cam. That deflates the energy in the stadium (which we've done many times). I've seen us play away and their operator runs the replay over again in these situation to get the fans loud on the next play.
There's that rash again ...
It kind of made sense to play it as a crowd pleaser back when it was a hit single. But since then, it's altogether out of place at a Tech football game.
Now, if they wanted to play it on the tron at NC State home games (or some other school actually located in or around Raleigh), I'd get that. But if there's connection between LOUSIANA Tech football and a cow-tipping melody about hitchhiking down the East Coast … it's lost on me.
I was one of the first people trained on the video board when it was built. I loved getting the crowd pumped and dancing during games. As far as the production of the game, it was outsourced. I don't know how its done now. On replays, we had rules as far as what was allowed to be shown and how many times it could be shown for penalties, injuries, turnovers, ect. I don't remember if those rules were from the WAC or NCAA. . I haven't been to a game in a couple years but some issues could be resolved by training a couple full time people instead of trying to retrain workers every year or 2 to do the job. I left because I was an intern and there was no budget for another full time worker.