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ReplyDeleteYou can check out the blogs we are talking about in the "Fighting Irish Blogroll" on our sidebar -->
Boys--
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, welcome to the world of ND blogging. It's always good to have another site devoted to ND to digest while slaving through the work week wishing I was enrolled in Ackermann's finance class instead of filling out TPS reports...but I digress.
I've got a question for all of you--especially NDLep. One of my favorite parts of a game weekend at ND growing up and even in my years at school was the pep rally (I graduated in '08). Obviously they deteriorated over the years from the glory days at the Fieldhouse and Stepan, but there were still some awesome moments in the JACC the Friday nights of my collegiate years (Carlyle Holiday's senior night speech, the introduction of Charlie Weis at the '05 Michigan State pep rally, Rocket's speech before the '07 BC game, the '08 Michigan rally after I graduated).
I went to every pep rally in my four years even as they got lamer and lamer if only to hear the band come in--because nothing jacks you up for the entire weekend quite like a hearing those drums in the tunnel of the JACC when 40-80oz of King Cobra Malt Beverage are flowing through your bloodstream.
However, things somehow became worse last year. I was in town for the USC and UConn rallies. The USC rally was bad, the UConn one was an absolute embarrassment. Students don't go anymore, not all the players go, and the atmosphere is more of a carnival for little kids than a pep rally.
Lep (and the other guys on the site), tell me how you'd fix the pep rallies. I know it's unrealistic for them to rival the rallies from decades ago but there's no reason they have to be as terrible as they were last year. I laid out my plan in this post last year (http://wenevergraduate.blogspot.com/2009/11/lets-get-real.html) and I'd be curious to hear your responses. Lep, since you were intimately involved in the rallies last year I'm particularly interested in hearing your take.
Best of luck with the site guys, I'll be following along.
Matt Mattare
www.wenevergraduate.com
Matt, just read your Nov 27 post. Good read.
ReplyDelete'07 BC is a great example not only because of Rocket's speech was but because how the team reacted, or didn't react. The team was and is generally tentative or conditioned to not do anything, but Golden broke the mold by standing up when Rocket recalled the Purdue game and talked about how 'we have a Golden opportunity.' We need more impromptu moments like that.
As an aside, Golden really completed this circle by speaking at '09 BC, wearing a Backup College shirt, ending with 'I'll see you at the bars,' and scoring two TDs the next day to ensure BC didn't take the all-time series lead. Probably not coincidental that a dude with so much rally swagger was arguably our best player.
After learning about the recent rallies, Kelly said the first change he's making is that he and the entire team will attend each one. Obviously the right call there.
My main thing is to not have the rallies be as formulaic. Yes, a script is easier for planning and having everybody on the same page. But I think the student body would be more inclined to attend if there were some reliable change-ups. I might be in the minority here but I don't think a former player needs to speak each time. Maybe, but sometimes it seemed forced. That's obviously never going to work.
Having celebrities shouldn't be our bread and butter but it could work every now and then, which again speaks to the less formulaic idea. Bon Jovi at '08 Pitt was pretty cool, and there was the connection with Jovi and CW, plus that our band plays his stuff. Vince Vaughn was at the '09 MSU game, it would've been awesome if a name like that, especially because he's an ND fan, spoke at a rally.
The '09 Michigan send-off in Stepan on Thursday night was awesome. The students who coordinated the '08 rallies really tried to implement this for '08 UNC, then '08 BC, and neither worked, but a big kudos to them for sparking this idea and laying the groundwork. The same sort of thing is going to happen for '10 BC, which should be a good rally. I think these student-only functions should become a fixture for at least one road game per year.
The student-only rallies bring me to my second main suggestion: no video cameras for UND.com or media. Well, maybe camera somewhere for posterity, but no live stream. I don't know if many folks watch these online, and God bless them for their continued interest. I don't know if some people stay home to watch instead of attending, but the main reason to not have video is so that the speakers, particularly the players, can be a bit more liberal in their discussions without being afraid of giving bulletin board material or saying something that you wouldn't want to say with cameras on. Removing the cameras would add to the spontaneity and freedom of the rallies.
'10 Stanford rally in the JACC will be interesting to see if students attend the first rally there since '08 Syracuse. Unless there's going to be a huge turnout (Stadium) or special occasion (Dillon Pep Rally), I think inside is always better than out (Irish Green).
The school is smart to let the Dillon Pep Rally serve as the school-wide Friday rally again in 2010. Last year went pretty well considering it was the first year on a bigger stage (literally and figuratively) and Dillon was coming off a year without the rally at all.
A sincere best of luck to the student gov/HPC folks and others who are hard at work on the rallies because, like everything about BK's first season, a lot is hinging on the success of 2010.
Thanks for the input, Matt. You best believe that I will be weighing in on the pep-rally issue in the near future. I definitely have a lot to say about the subject, so be sure to check back.
ReplyDeleteGood analysis by tendomer as well, I will weigh in on the points he made with some more insider information.
I don't want to give too much away right now, but I agree that rallies need to be less scripted and more student oriented.
I'm stoked for the next away rally in Stepan because our first attempt at it last year was awesome.