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An Insult to the CWU-WWU Rivalry!

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  • An Insult to the CWU-WWU Rivalry!

    My original post on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CWUCrimsonC...type=3&theater

    I am proud of the men's basketball team for putting together two quality wins last week, highlighted by a rivalry win vs. Western. However, despite the blowout win over the Vikings, last Saturday was a great disappointment to the legacy of the Central-Western rivalry. Some may argue that this rivalry has lost steam after WWU's football team folded. But if anything, that should only be a reason to further embrace the basketball rivalry if that is all we have left. On a Saturday night vs. Western, there should be zero excuse for not having a sellout with bleachers packed to the ceiling! So why was most of the upper half empty? This rivalry game is more than just a game, it is a local college basketball tradition. Historically this is the best college basketball rivalry in the Northwest. But this past Saturday, it certainly did not appear like it. This game is our one and only chance every year to turn Nicholson Pavilion into a wild party. It should be THE place in Ellensburg or around campus to be on a Saturday night. So where was everyone?

    Half of the reserved seating was empty. For this rivalry, that seating should've been long sold out many days before the big game. Everyone in town and the Valley should want to be in attendance for this rivalry. Alumni from all around the state should want to be in town for this rivalry. This game should be a date circled on calendars. It should be a tradition to attend. So why did so many people miss this game? What is the University doing to keep alumni engaged and promote and advertise this big game around town? Obviously not enough!

    Where were the students? Where was the giant standing student section that should bringing the energy and noise? Today's young students may not know of the long and exciting history of the Central-Western rivalry that includes the massive student sections with a long line forming before gates open, game-winning shots, and court rushes while on live television. Instead, Saturday's game featured a bunch of students sitting quietly disengaged. To those students, this was just another basketball game. More needs to be done to get the students hyped up and engaged aside from giving out free shirts. What is the university doing to reach out to students, particularly freshmen, to get them excited for football and basketball games like this? Where are the pep rally events in the SURC and around campus? The students are the heart and soul of any electric football or basketball crowd and they need to be better engaged and hyped up for such a rivalry game!

    CWU Men's Basketball should be proud of how they competed and focused to take down their rivals. But CWU as a whole should be ashamed. This most recent Central-Western rivalry game should be a wake-up call to put more focus and effort into re-engaging the fan base including the students, alumni, and the local community. I urge CWU to not allow this great and historic rivalry to die and to keep the tradition going!

  • #2
    Good post. Hate to be a get-off-my-lawn guy, but this OK Boomer says kids aren't that engaged in college sports, rivalries, or attending games. They are fascinated with their phones.

    Football and college hoop attendance has dropped significantly nation-wide in D1, can only imagine the brutal D2 numbers. It's a different world.

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    • #3
      Thing with Ellensburg or Monmouth or Bellingham is that they are isolated from the shadows of bigger colleges in towns where more people should be supporting them as the hometown team. WWU does a good job at engaging the town but WOU and CWU need to improve

      That appears to be that way in Alaska.

      But SPU or Concordia are in big cities overshadowed by D1 teams.

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      • #4
        Originally posted by CWU Wildcat Nation View Post
        Thing with Ellensburg or Monmouth or Bellingham is that they are isolated from the shadows of bigger colleges in towns where more people should be supporting them as the hometown team. WWU does a good job at engaging the town but WOU and CWU need to improve

        That appears to be that way in Alaska.

        But SPU or Concordia are in big cities overshadowed by D1 teams.
        I totally agree with this and the isolation of Ellensburg and Bellingham should get larger crowds. I used to harp on NNU, but they averaged 1K last year -- and that's with not promoting the games anywhere in a 100K town. No posters, no nothing. What could they do if they fixed that?

        Monmouth, sadly, is the worst. Even in the two 30-win seasons under Jim Shaw, the athletic dept., wasn't promoting the program that much, or maybe in ways I didn't see. They flood Facebook, which is good. In the winter, an hour-long drive to Eugene doesn't feel good to me; nor does the half-hour drive to Corvallis, to be honest. The Monmouth-Independence community (20K strong) isn't engaged in WOU athletics, or really WOU at all except for the Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony, and a few other things. It's a weird vibe, I've never got it and wonder if it's not a constant uphill battle. I'd rather watch WOU athletics a million times over than going to some bad Salem mall 15 miles away, but perhaps that's just me.

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        • #5
          Originally posted by tsull View Post
          Good post. Hate to be a get-off-my-lawn guy, but this OK Boomer says kids aren't that engaged in college sports, rivalries, or attending games. They are fascinated with their phones.

          Football and college hoop attendance has dropped significantly nation-wide in D1, can only imagine the brutal D2 numbers. It's a different world.
          CWU football attendance has always been strong. The average this year was well above capacity of 4,000. While disappointing, the 1517 in attendance exceeded the WWU v. CWU matchup in Bham by a large margin (1185 in attendance at Carver) Fully agree that this should be full to the ceiling type of game, however don't get too down on attendance at Nich.

          I will do some research but that might be one of the higher attendance GNAC hoops games this season.

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          • #6
            Yeah, I was a little confused about your post and wondering if you were calling into question that the count listed in the box score at 1500 something was erroneous, but in the world I live in, that's phenomenal... Maybe it's usually more for that game? Perhaps you could chalk that up to the Wildcats having a rough start, but they seemed to have turned things around as of late. GNAC's all over the place these days, now CWU took down the hottest team in the league, NNU... I wouldn't get too down on the attendance though; I believe they average the highest attendance in the GNAC for men's ball, so I'm just not sure if you're lamenting that it should be over 2k or if we all missed some kind of sarcasm or something? Coach Rinta even commented on the great crowd in the post game write up CWU put out after beating WWU...

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by Runnin' Cat View Post
              While disappointing, the 1517 in attendance exceeded the WWU v. CWU matchup in Bham by a large margin (1185 in attendance at Carver) Fully agree that this should be full to the ceiling type of game, however don't get too down on attendance at Nich.
              The game is Bellingham was during Winter Break. Most of their students were not back in town yet. Our game in Ellensburg was a month into the quarter.

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by northernGNAChoopfan View Post
                Yeah, I was a little confused about your post and wondering if you were calling into question that the count listed in the box score at 1500 something was erroneous, but in the world I live in, that's phenomenal... Maybe it's usually more for that game? Perhaps you could chalk that up to the Wildcats having a rough start, but they seemed to have turned things around as of late. GNAC's all over the place these days, now CWU took down the hottest team in the league, NNU... I wouldn't get too down on the attendance though; I believe they average the highest attendance in the GNAC for men's ball, so I'm just not sure if you're lamenting that it should be over 2k or if we all missed some kind of sarcasm or something? Coach Rinta even commented on the great crowd in the post game write up CWU put out after beating WWU...
                Coach Rinta is expected to say that. Maybe a good crowd relative to the other games so far this season. But he actually hinted that he thought it was pretty weak compared to it used to:

                But a Central-Western game should have over 2000 people. Half the reserved seating was empty as well as most the upper half of the general stands. The reserved seats should be mostly sold out days before the game and the main stands should be completely full. The crowd at this most recent game was the worst maybe ever, and that is inexcusable.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by CWU Wildcat Nation View Post

                  The game is Bellingham was during Winter Break. Most of their students were not back in town yet. Our game in Ellensburg was a month into the quarter.
                  The CWU game at Carver was the highest attendance for WWU on the season. The second highest attendance was for the WOU game at 821. Their average home attendance is 531 for the season. While it was certainly before students were back, it is still their largest attendance and more than double their season average.

                  Comment

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