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Owls are overlooked, even in their own city - Ricefootballnet - 09-02-2021 10:24 PM

It takes a sympathetic view by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette to tell the whole truth about the status of Rice athletics in Houston mainstream media....

https://www.wholehogsports.com/news/2021/sep/01/owls-are-overlooked-even-their-own-city/

Suggest reading it....


RE: Owls are overlooked, even in their own city - Owl 69/70/75 - 09-02-2021 10:34 PM

Excellent read, good suggestion. Thanks.


RE: Owls are overlooked, even in their own city - ebarnum - 09-02-2021 11:00 PM

Excellent article. I think I will head to Fayetteville this Saturday for the game.


RE: Owls are overlooked, even in their own city - Tomball Owl - 09-02-2021 11:22 PM

The last line of the article sums it up well.

"Rice is a great school in a huge city. While football is not an afterthought, it has never been called a football factory, and the game against Arkansas most likely will not be reported in the Houston Chronicle."


RE: Owls are overlooked, even in their own city - bigowlsfan - 09-03-2021 06:37 AM

I think that is a product of Rice grads and fans not standing up and acting like a viable market (maybe there just aren't enough). Newspapers chase clicks and readers as much as stories, and if Rice football articles have no pulse, they will have no play.

In this day and age, you have no inherent right to be covered as a story in the media; news in the Chronicle is what people will read and follow, and what will drive their subscriptions.


RE: Owls are overlooked, even in their own city - ESE84 - 09-03-2021 07:28 AM

(09-03-2021 06:37 AM)bigowlsfan Wrote:  I think that is a product of Rice grads and fans not standing up and acting like a viable market (maybe there just aren't enough). Newspapers chase clicks and readers as much as stories, and if Rice football articles have no pulse, they will have no play.

In this day and age, you have no inherent right to be covered as a story in the media; news in the Chronicle is what people will read and follow, and what will drive their subscriptions.

And should the athletic director and university have accountability here? Rice grads and fans are out here. But we have not seen a coherent vision and executed plan for what Rice football can be, and we have watched in shock as our beloved baseball program went up in flames.


RE: Owls are overlooked, even in their own city - waltgreenberg - 09-03-2021 07:48 AM

(09-03-2021 07:28 AM)ESE84 Wrote:  
(09-03-2021 06:37 AM)bigowlsfan Wrote:  I think that is a product of Rice grads and fans not standing up and acting like a viable market (maybe there just aren't enough). Newspapers chase clicks and readers as much as stories, and if Rice football articles have no pulse, they will have no play.

In this day and age, you have no inherent right to be covered as a story in the media; news in the Chronicle is what people will read and follow, and what will drive their subscriptions.

And should the athletic director and university have accountability here? Rice grads and fans are out here. But we have not seen a coherent vision and executed plan for what Rice football can be, and we have watched in shock as our beloved baseball program went up in flames.

You do realize we have fewer living alumni than UT, A&M and UH have current enrolled students, right?


RE: Owls are overlooked, even in their own city - bigowlsfan - 09-03-2021 07:52 AM

(09-03-2021 07:48 AM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  
(09-03-2021 07:28 AM)ESE84 Wrote:  
(09-03-2021 06:37 AM)bigowlsfan Wrote:  I think that is a product of Rice grads and fans not standing up and acting like a viable market (maybe there just aren't enough). Newspapers chase clicks and readers as much as stories, and if Rice football articles have no pulse, they will have no play.

In this day and age, you have no inherent right to be covered as a story in the media; news in the Chronicle is what people will read and follow, and what will drive their subscriptions.

And should the athletic director and university have accountability here? Rice grads and fans are out here. But we have not seen a coherent vision and executed plan for what Rice football can be, and we have watched in shock as our beloved baseball program went up in flames.

You do realize we have fewer living alumni than UT, A&M and UH have current enrolled students, right?

I do realize that; that is why I mentioned there may be too few of you "(maybe there just aren't enough)".

That doesn't change the point, though. If articles about your school get no traction, through a lack of numbers, a lack of interest by alumni, a lack of success by the team, or whatever the cause, the numbers will speak for themselves. If no one reads them (clicks on them), that count is noted; it is just a fact.


RE: Owls are overlooked, even in their own city - Owl 69/70/75 - 09-03-2021 07:53 AM

(09-03-2021 07:48 AM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  You do realize we have fewer living alumni than UT, A&M and UH have current enrolled students, right?

You do realize that we built a 70,000-seat football stadium because we could sell it out with some regularity when those alumni numbers were even smaller and Houston was maybe 1/5 the size it is now and there were no interstate highways or jet airliners to bring out-of-town fans in for games, right?

We succeeded despite all the limitations back when we cared about succeeding. Now we don't, and can't.


RE: Owls are overlooked, even in their own city - ESE84 - 09-03-2021 07:58 AM

(09-03-2021 07:53 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  
(09-03-2021 07:48 AM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  You do realize we have fewer living alumni than UT, A&M and UH have current enrolled students, right?

You do realize that we built a 70,000-seat football stadium because we could sell it out with some regularity when those alumni numbers were even smaller and Houston was maybe 1/5 the size it is now and there were no interstate highways or jet airliners to bring out-of-town fans in for games, right?

We succeeded despite all the limitations back when we cared about succeeding. Now we don't, and can't.

Well put. All I see is David Leebron raising the white flag of surrender.


RE: Owls are overlooked, even in their own city - Ourland - 09-03-2021 08:35 AM

We don't win. Fans, students, and alums are engaged when the football program is winning. Look at all the bodies we took to New Orleans back in 2006. Win, win, win! Even here, as we start winning, all the posters who have left will be back. Watch. They'll want to be part of the excitement. I value and respect everyone here. You have all stuck around through one of the lowest periods of our athletics history. Through the good and the bad, you are all true fans of Rice!


RE: Owls are overlooked, even in their own city - bigowlsfan - 09-03-2021 08:36 AM

(09-03-2021 07:53 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  
(09-03-2021 07:48 AM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  You do realize we have fewer living alumni than UT, A&M and UH have current enrolled students, right?

You do realize that we built a 70,000-seat football stadium because we could sell it out with some regularity when those alumni numbers were even smaller and Houston was maybe 1/5 the size it is now and there were no interstate highways or jet airliners to bring out-of-town fans in for games, right?

We succeeded despite all the limitations back when we cared about succeeding. Now we don't, and can't.

These are excellent points; colleges in big cities can be interesting enough or endearing enough to attract fans in that city who like sports and enjoy the product offered by those schools. That is especially true now that pro football has a sticker price that is so high; I would bet the cost to take a family of 4 to a Rice football game, all in (parking and food included), is probably 25% of the cost to take in a Texans game. Once you get that family in the gate, I bet you are more likely to get them to follow you in the popular press (taking us back to the original topic).

Now how you go about capturing the interest of those non-alumni fans is the challenge, and one I do not have the skill-set to create.


RE: Owls are overlooked, even in their own city - bigowlsfan - 09-03-2021 08:47 AM

(09-03-2021 08:35 AM)Ourland Wrote:  We don't win. Fans, students, and alums are engaged when the football program is winning. Look at all the bodies we took to New Orleans back in 2006. Win, win, win! Even here, as we start winning, all the posters who have left will be back. Watch. They'll want to be part of the excitement. I value and respect everyone here. You have all stuck around through one of the lowest periods of our athletics history. Through the good and the bad, you are all true fans of Rice!

As to posters being back, good thought; I do remember the exciting days, when the baseball team was good, and we would get about 5 posts per at-bat. Now, I look for a baseball game thread, and the first post I can find is "down 8 -2 to directional state university, in the bottom of the 4th".


RE: Owls are overlooked, even in their own city - waltgreenberg - 09-03-2021 09:12 AM

(09-03-2021 07:53 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  
(09-03-2021 07:48 AM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  You do realize we have fewer living alumni than UT, A&M and UH have current enrolled students, right?

You do realize that we built a 70,000-seat football stadium because we could sell it out with some regularity when those alumni numbers were even smaller and Houston was maybe 1/5 the size it is now and there were no interstate highways or jet airliners to bring out-of-town fans in for games, right?

We succeeded despite all the limitations back when we cared about succeeding. Now we don't, and can't.

Yeah, and at the time we built HRS, until the mid-1960s, Rice sports was the ONLY game in town. We were Houston's team. Just a wee bit different now, no?


RE: Owls are overlooked, even in their own city - waltgreenberg - 09-03-2021 09:15 AM

(09-03-2021 08:47 AM)bigowlsfan Wrote:  
(09-03-2021 08:35 AM)Ourland Wrote:  We don't win. Fans, students, and alums are engaged when the football program is winning. Look at all the bodies we took to New Orleans back in 2006. Win, win, win! Even here, as we start winning, all the posters who have left will be back. Watch. They'll want to be part of the excitement. I value and respect everyone here. You have all stuck around through one of the lowest periods of our athletics history. Through the good and the bad, you are all true fans of Rice!

As to posters being back, good thought; I do remember the exciting days, when the baseball team was good, and we would get about 5 posts per at-bat. Now, I look for a baseball game thread, and the first post I can find is "down 8 -2 to directional state university, in the bottom of the 4th".

Give Cruz, Bostick and company a couple years. I think we'll be competitive in 2022 (certainly above .500) and back to competing for the conference championship and post-season birth in 2023.


RE: Owls are overlooked, even in their own city - ExcitedOwl18 - 09-03-2021 09:24 AM

I completely agree with the commentary that Rice is irrelevant in the Houston market, but I'm not sure that Chronicle coverage is the right way to measure our relevancy.

One of my good friends is a sports journalist in Boston, and he tells me that high school sports stories consistently outperform stories on BC athletics. BC is about the best we could expect to be-a private, middling P5 school (record wise) in a pro sports town. They don't have a dedicated beat writer in the Boston Globe (much like us in the Chronicle). The guy who covers BC for the Globe moonlights as the sports reporter for a small town weekly newspaper. The Globe has similar circulation to the Chronicle. Print media is a dying breed, and with the exception on the NYT, WSJ, WaPo, and maybe NY Post, most of these outlets have had a hard time transitioning to digital. They're being supplanted by Politico, Axios, The Athletic, etc..


RE: Owls are overlooked, even in their own city - bigowlsfan - 09-03-2021 09:33 AM

(09-03-2021 09:24 AM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  I completely agree with the commentary that Rice is irrelevant in the Houston market, but I'm not sure that Chronicle coverage is the right way to measure our relevancy.

One of my good friends is a sports journalist in Boston, and he tells me that high school sports stories consistently outperform stories on BC athletics. BC is about the best we could expect to be-a private, middling P5 school (record wise) in a pro sports town. They don't have a dedicated beat writer in the Boston Globe (much like us in the Chronicle). The guy who covers BC for the Globe moonlights as the sports reporter for a small town weekly newspaper. The Globe has similar circulation to the Chronicle. Print media is a dying breed, and with the exception on the NYT, WSJ, and maybe NY Post, most of these outlets have had a hard time transitioning to digital. They're being supplanted by Politico, Axios, The Athletic, etc..

Boston College is a good comparison to Rice, I think.

It is funny that the ACC thought they were getting the Boston market when they took BC from the Big East. I guess they did not factor in the Red Sox; Patriots; Celtics; and Bruins possibly offering up more interesting story lines.


RE: Owls are overlooked, even in their own city - ExcitedOwl18 - 09-03-2021 09:40 AM

(09-03-2021 09:33 AM)bigowlsfan Wrote:  
(09-03-2021 09:24 AM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  I completely agree with the commentary that Rice is irrelevant in the Houston market, but I'm not sure that Chronicle coverage is the right way to measure our relevancy.

One of my good friends is a sports journalist in Boston, and he tells me that high school sports stories consistently outperform stories on BC athletics. BC is about the best we could expect to be-a private, middling P5 school (record wise) in a pro sports town. They don't have a dedicated beat writer in the Boston Globe (much like us in the Chronicle). The guy who covers BC for the Globe moonlights as the sports reporter for a small town weekly newspaper. The Globe has similar circulation to the Chronicle. Print media is a dying breed, and with the exception on the NYT, WSJ, and maybe NY Post, most of these outlets have had a hard time transitioning to digital. They're being supplanted by Politico, Axios, The Athletic, etc..

Boston College is a good comparison to Rice, I think.

It is funny that the ACC thought they were getting the Boston market when they took BC from the Big East. I guess they did not factor in the Red Sox; Patriots; Celtics; and Bruins possibly offering up more interesting story lines.

Yeah, but you also have to remember that when the ACC took BC, Matt Ryan was QB and they were often ranked #15-25 (from about 2000-2009), they had a strong hoops program that was producing NBA talent (Jared Dudley, Craig Smith, Tyrese Rice, etc), their hockey team was really strong, and they were drawing far better attendance than they do today. It was a logical add.

BC football is seemingly in better shape now after an early 2010's swoon but basketball is still a total disaster.


RE: Owls are overlooked, even in their own city - Tiki Owl - 09-03-2021 09:55 AM

(09-03-2021 08:36 AM)bigowlsfan Wrote:  
(09-03-2021 07:53 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  
(09-03-2021 07:48 AM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  You do realize we have fewer living alumni than UT, A&M and UH have current enrolled students, right?

You do realize that we built a 70,000-seat football stadium because we could sell it out with some regularity when those alumni numbers were even smaller and Houston was maybe 1/5 the size it is now and there were no interstate highways or jet airliners to bring out-of-town fans in for games, right?

We succeeded despite all the limitations back when we cared about succeeding. Now we don't, and can't.



These are excellent points; colleges in big cities can be interesting enough or endearing enough to attract fans in that city who like sports and enjoy the product offered by those schools. That is especially true now that pro football has a sticker price that is so high; I would bet the cost to take a family of 4 to a Rice football game, all in (parking and food included), is probably 25% of the cost to take in a Texans game. Once you get that family in the gate, I bet you are more likely to get them to follow you in the popular press (taking us back to the original topic).

Now how you go about capturing the interest of those non-alumni fans is the challenge, and one I do not have the skill-set to create.

Pro sport ticket prices have in large part exceeded what many are willing to pay, but those people aren’t looking for an alternative as they simply watch from home via TV or streaming. If this alternative had been available in the 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s would HRS have seen the attendance it had?


RE: Owls are overlooked, even in their own city - OptimisticOwl - 09-03-2021 10:03 AM

(09-03-2021 09:12 AM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  
(09-03-2021 07:53 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  
(09-03-2021 07:48 AM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  You do realize we have fewer living alumni than UT, A&M and UH have current enrolled students, right?

You do realize that we built a 70,000-seat football stadium because we could sell it out with some regularity when those alumni numbers were even smaller and Houston was maybe 1/5 the size it is now and there were no interstate highways or jet airliners to bring out-of-town fans in for games, right?

We succeeded despite all the limitations back when we cared about succeeding. Now we don't, and can't.

Yeah, and at the time we built HRS, until the mid-1960s, Rice sports was the ONLY game in town. We were Houston's team. Just a wee bit different now, no?

Exactly on point.