[NU Sports] Ryan Field fans ... (fwd)

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

> Most of the major football schools are not located
> in major metropolitian
> areas (ie 2 million or more).  The biggest
> exceptions are probably USC 
> and UCLA, and neither school is exactly a big draw
> in the LA area.  

Plus - lest we forget - LA does not have an NFL team.
So they get all the media coverage for LA sports in
the fall while we're sharing sports section space with
the Bears, the friggin' Irish, the Illini, the Big Ten
as a whole and others.

There are a lot of factors. Another one to consider:
Maybe we're winning too much.

We'll never be Chicago's team -- but in 1995, we were
Chicago's darlings. It was a great story and everyone
was at least curious as to whether NU would win that
week and keep the miracle season alive (though I don't
remember any game besides PSU -- maybe Wisky -- that
was a sellout and tough to get a ticket to from
scalpers).

Now it's become common to have the Cardiac Cats pull
an upset or two each year. And bowl bids aren't a
once-in-a-lifetime rarity. 

USC needed a 30-some game winning streak to capture
LA's attention. We needed a Cinderella story season to
turn heads in Chicago. It'll be interesting to see
what happens once USC's streak ends and they have a
season like, say, Oklahoma this year. I know the fans
in Norman will be there whether the team is 11-0 or
7-4. I'm not so sure about those in Southern
California.

Again, I'm not complaining about the problem - I'm
glad we're making winning less of a novelty:) and fans
who don't want to take advantage of Ryan Field and its
streak of fantastic finishes are missing out - their
loss. 

I'm just suggesting that success might be one of the
many reasons -- along with small, spread-out alums,
ticket prices, kickoff time, major city, etc. -- that
we're not filling the seats.

GO CATS!!!
-SjT

* * * * * * * * *
STEPHEN J. TRUOG
sjtruog at yahoo.com
GO CATS!!!


		
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