Here comes the open practice (spring game) again, with our intent on seeing the product being prepared for the Fall season. And once again the weather gods have seen the schedule and decided :"This would be a great day for high gusty winds and cold temperatures". So, once again we are left with the sensation of being in the winter season when it should be Spring. The temperature right now is in the '60's and pleasant although quite wet. So on Saturday when we would all love to be out watching the practice and getting our first look for the upcoming season, the inclemency predicted will either limit our viewing (the practice will be inside) or will make outdoor viewing less than optimal. Is it possible for the schedule maker to issue a false plan so the weather gods will be tricked into fostering their bluster on a different day while we get the real schedule and enjoy a spring practice in the comfort of sunshine and pleasantness of the day. Just wondering...
Open practice gods strike again
- Thread starter d'son d
- Start date
No. There is no NU spring game. April 9 is the last scheduled (closed) practice.The Spring Event/open practice is Saturday.
Good move. Saves anyone from wasting their time with a thoroughly worthless event.
Yes, the powers to be have made this practice almost unwatchable but cancelling it is just a kick in the face of their loyal fans and ST holders. Total b.s.. Fitz paranoia is suffocating the program and maybe the illini fans are right that they will take back the state. Why is the last practice closed? Secret plays five months in advance? Doubt if I will "donate" to the parking fund next season and have already cut back on my season tickets and might do so again. Terrible decision and would bet that no other major program would take this same kind of action. To bad because it used to a fun day to get together we fellow fans and enjoy some football.
Illinois isn't having a Spring game, either. Just a controlled scrimmage if conditions are good. Michigan has canceled Spring games at least 4 times in the past 25 years. Pitt canceled two years ago. Florida canceled theirs last year.
If you received a nickel for every negative comment you post on these boards, you'd be able to pave the west lot yourself, Willy.
I remember years ago watching a spring game that was interrupted by a brief snowstorm. I think Francis Peay was the coach. Willy probably wants to bring him back. Last year's open practice was held on a lovely early April day at Ryan Field and the few hundred fans that were there saw the qb competition up close. Doubt many fans show in 30-degree weather with possible storms.
Maybe not Peay but how about when 20,000 plus attended the Spring Game while Barnett was HC. It was even on live TV. I guess I understand NU jus feels that they don't need new fans or let their loyal fans see Wildcat football. Great PR.
Was that the year after we were the biggest story in college football and possible one of the top 10 stories in the history of college football?
Maybe after a 10 win season Fitz and company could build on the momentum and advertise big time, a NU scrimmage welcoming the 2016 season. New fans just might be interested in what's happening in Evanston and them come to a game or two in the fall. Nope, NU doesn't need more fans, right?
The Open Practice Gods, I just tried to appease them by burning the stubs to all NU home games for the 2013 and 2014 season. Maybe this will satiate their wrath.
Here's what builds a fan base: Winning, winning and winning some more. Yes, you can do things like kids clinics and community appearances which NU does a lot of, and improved fan amenities like a new scoreboard, but at the end of the day, especially in a big city, pro market, it's all about WINNING! Since Fitz has had 2 10-win seasons in the last four years and even in an off year won at Notre Dame, I'm going to defer to his judgment on the importance of a spring game in crummy weather.
Sorry but exciting a fan base can be done many ways and one is to promote a actually play a Spring Game. Do you or anyone actually think that ND, Michigan or even lowly Illinois would cancel because it was predicted two days in advance that temperatures would be in the 40' or 50's and there would be a chance of light rain? Didn't think so.
Illinois canceled their Spring game. Will have practice scrimmage.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...tball-april-1-wont-have-spring-game/81876456/
Official high today was 54 degrees F. Set a new record beating the previous high of 51 degrees.
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Snowing a good clip here right now. Sure Sears is enjoying it on his visit from CA.Official high today was 54 degrees F. Set a new record beating the previous high of 51 degrees.
Weather forecasts are very accurate these days and they were warning of high winds all day in addition to the chance of precip. And it's snowing hard right now in Evanston. I don't think many fans would be showing up at Ryan Field this morning.
Snow in April. That's one reason I didn't stick around Chicago after graduation. As a student, I loved the change of seasons and the snow, but after four years, enough was enough.
73 degrees and sunny here today. Perfect day to take the kid to the park and stay the heck away from the Final Four madness downtown.
73 degrees and sunny here today. Perfect day to take the kid to the park and stay the heck away from the Final Four madness downtown.
Well the Wildcat secret holds in Chicago. The Trib. has carried reports about TSISB for at least this past week and yesterday's edition had the entire back page of the sports section covered on that South Bend school and the illini as well. Yes, they have cancelled their annual Orange/Blue game because of the coaching change but still will hold a open scrimmage next week. Coverage of NU spring happenings remain a mystery in both Chicago papers.
With all these top shelf recruits in today, it would have been great to have a spring game in an empty stadium (sarcasm alert). Oh, and NU gets plenty of coverage in the Trib. Right now, Illini are a bigger story with Lovie taking over and Notre Dame is Notre Dame plus they have a quarterback competition going on and they just had their pro day (NU had theirs in early March and it got good coverage from TV and newspapers).
How do you think these same recruits would feel if the game was publicized and then attended by five to ten thousand fans. Instead they will watch a practice in a totally empty indoor space where the kicking can't be included.
1) Probably better, because seeing 5-10 thousand fans in a partially filled stadium doesn't exactly get the juices going.
2) Kicking is part of indoor practices.
Why do the pro teams have their off season fests? And can you point me in the direction of evidence of the fruit of all this wining? Should we expect sell outs this year? At least a noticeable bump in attendance? Will the talk around my company coffee station be cloaked in purple? How many sports page top headlines should the wildcats expect next fall? More or less than the underwhelming Illini and out of state Irish? Maybe you and Fitz should consider some other ideas to 'excite' a fan base. (Hell, this damn board is boring as s..t these days....)
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