couldn't sell out 5000 tickets for an NCAA regional (with the home team playing here) without significant help from a visiting team (i.e. Kentucky or Tennessee)? Probably so. Rather sad. This is a big time event for the city of Little Rock. No it's not the men's NCAA tourney, but it's the next best thing if you are a college basketball fan. Not sure if we'll ever get the men's tourney back here. But if we do well, we might get the women back here one day.

(03-09-2012 05:46 PM)mjs Wrote:  couldn't sell out 5000 tickets for an NCAA regional (with the home team playing here) without significant help from a visiting team (i.e. Kentucky or Tennessee)? Probably so. Rather sad. This is a big time event for the city of Little Rock. No it's not the men's NCAA tourney, but it's the next best thing if you are a college basketball fan. Not sure if we'll ever get the men's tourney back here. But if we do well, we might get the women back here one day.

I doubt that we would sell 500 if the Lady Trojans weren't in it. And probably most of those would have been ghosts. And I'll venture a guess that many of our regular men's fans won't show up to support the women.

If the local media and various local chambers of commerce/convention & visitors bureaus are worth their weight, they should be promoting this tournament every minute they can. If the event is a success, it will likely come back. Any event that brings out of town folks to Little Rock will help the local economy with patrons filling the restaurants, hotels, and other visitor related activities. It seems like it would be an easy sell to get folks to come out with a local team playing in the event. The media and supposedly business and civic leaders should be promoting so hard, that it would make the casual fan feel shame if they didn't attend. However, I will be surprise if this will happen.

(03-09-2012 06:19 PM)LR Alum Wrote:  If the local media and various local chambers of commerce/convention & visitors bureaus are worth their weight, they should be promoting this tournament every minute they can. If the event is a success, it will likely come back. Any event that brings out of town folks to Little Rock will help the local economy with patrons filling the restaurants, hotels, and other visitor related activities. It seems like it would be an easy sell to get folks to come out with a local team playing in the event. The media and supposedly business and civic leaders should be promoting so hard, that it would make the casual fan feel shame if they didn't attend. However, I will be surprise if this will happen.

Alum, you lived here long enough to know that the media isn't going to promote anything not pig related. You probably didn't know this since you've moved, but the midget Wally small didn't write a column about the Sun Belt Tournament until it was over. But I'd guess during the tournament, he wrote two or three about Anderson and the pigs.

I really don't know much about the Chambers of either city, other than the fact that the NLR Chamber really promotes hard for the city of NLR. The NLR mayor does also. I've seen Terry Hartwick(NLR Chamber)and Mayor Hayes at many Trojan games. I can't say that I've ever seen the LR mayor or city manager at one, although they may have been there.

(03-09-2012 06:42 PM)LRTrojan Wrote:  

(03-09-2012 06:19 PM)LR Alum Wrote:  If the local media and various local chambers of commerce/convention & visitors bureaus are worth their weight, they should be promoting this tournament every minute they can. If the event is a success, it will likely come back. Any event that brings out of town folks to Little Rock will help the local economy with patrons filling the restaurants, hotels, and other visitor related activities. It seems like it would be an easy sell to get folks to come out with a local team playing in the event. The media and supposedly business and civic leaders should be promoting so hard, that it would make the casual fan feel shame if they didn't attend. However, I will be surprise if this will happen.

Alum, you lived here long enough to know that the media isn't going to promote anything not pig related. You probably didn't know this since you've moved, but the midget Wally small didn't write a column about the Sun Belt Tournament until it was over. But I'd guess during the tournament, he wrote two or three about Anderson and the pigs.

I really don't know much about the Chambers of either city, other than the fact that the NLR Chamber really promotes hard for the city of NLR. The NLR mayor does also. I've seen Terry Hartwick(NLR Chamber)and Mayor Hayes at many Trojan games. I can't say that I've ever seen the LR mayor or city manager at one, although they may have been there.

Wally does appear to like Joe Foley so he will probably write some about it. He certainly won't have a UAF men's game to right about. How many ways can he right the same thing about Anderson being God's gift to Chickenhawg basketball and the team being "tired". Anyway, the best thing would probably be that we get a 14 seed, the Ladybacks get a 6 seed and also get sent to Little Rock. That would be an event that would dominate the media, even in this town. Those are the seeds Creme predicts so it certainly is very possible.

I am sick and tired of the NLR and Little Rock chambers of commerce going out of their way to help promote one Razorbascks basketball game played in NLR. UALR plays lots of games in Little Rock and what does the LR chamber of commerce do. Nothing.

(03-10-2012 07:15 PM)ez272 Wrote:  I am sick and tired of the NLR and Little Rock chambers of commerce going out of their way to help promote one Razorbascks basketball game played in NLR. UALR plays lots of games in Little Rock and what does the LR chamber of commerce do. Nothing.

And promoting one baseball game the pigs play here. The pig coach said he'd like to play more game here, but can't find anyone who will play him here. Coach Norwood said that the Trojans would play them here. Why not, he plays Kansas and Oklahoma.

UALR grads won't stand up for the school.

(03-10-2012 10:16 PM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote:  UALR grads won't stand up for the school.

That is the absolute truth. I can go through my facebook profile and look up all of the people that I went to school with at UALR and nearly all of them have something hog-related on their profile, "wps" or a hog thrown up on their profile image at opportune times. . One or two throw a bone to the Trojans and that's it, and it usually because we won something big. IT AIN'T COOL TO TAKE UALR ATHLETICS SERIOUSLY IN LITTLE ROCK. It hardly ever was and it will take a thought revolution to turn the tide. The typical "fan" of the program outside the super die-hard core is somewhere around the temperature of our dear UAF alum ex-poster Scotto. Casual observer, but always quick to put it all into cardinal-and-white perspective for us morons who don't fall into the party line.

(03-11-2012 10:16 AM)Robert C Wrote:  

(03-10-2012 10:16 PM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote:  UALR grads won't stand up for the school.

That is the absolute truth. I can go through my facebook profile and look up all of the people that I went to school with at UALR and nearly all of them have something hog-related on their profile, "wps" or a hog thrown up on their profile image at opportune times. . One or two throw a bone to the Trojans and that's it, and it usually because we won something big. IT AIN'T COOL TO TAKE UALR ATHLETICS SERIOUSLY IN LITTLE ROCK. It hardly ever was and it will take a thought revolution to turn the tide. The typical "fan" of the program outside the super die-hard core is somewhere around the temperature of our dear UAF alum ex-poster Scotto. Casual observer, but always quick to put it all into cardinal-and-white perspective for us morons who don't fall into the party line.

Really don't know how you change a "culture". While you can't totally blame the media, they certainly make sure it continues unabated. Every local TV channel has their Hog Zone, Pig Sty, Razorback Central, or whatever. How you make UALR athletics cool? It seemed like we were heading in the right direction with Newell playing at the Statehouse Convention Center. Going or staying downtown after work to play on the banks of the Arkansas River seemed to be the "in" thing to do for awhile. Not sure if the fact the convention center sat maybe 2500, not the 5200 Newell claimed, is relevant or not since it was "cool" to go and be seen there. I think even though Newell's success continued, it wasn't the same after we moved back to Barton.

When we moved to Alltel, I had delusions of a big-time program filling a 16,000 seat arena. Now we really only need 4000 to 5000 a game to create a really great college atmosphere at Stephens. Doesn't seem like too much to ask in a city the size of Little Rock with a large alumni base in the area.

I think with the new dorms and the school slowly developing an active young student body, it will get better over time. Especially for the students that are not originally from Arkansas. I don't have strong feelings either way about UAF, but I'm not originally from the state. I did cheer for the Razorbacks when Nolan was the coach and have a somewhat interest in their basketball program now that Anderson is the coach. I always heard good things about Coach Richardson and Anderson through former players and other folks that have met or known them. However, UALR is my #1. Although USC is my football favorite since UALR does not have a football program. I was proud alum when I lived in Arkansas, which I had my alumni sticker and UALR license plate on my car.