| Subject: Re: Titan Term Paper |
Author:
Jizznak
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Date Posted: 08:08:14 03/13/03 Thu
In reply to:
Graduate Student
's message, "Titan Term Paper" on 18:50:08 03/12/03 Wed
Graduate Student, your experience at the tournament sounds similar to mine.
If our Titan club board had any BALLS (and everybody knows who I am so if you have a problem with that or any other comment I'm about to make come talk to me) they would compose a letter to the conference raising some of your/our issues. I know that would take time away from drinking in the parking lot before the game, drinking during halftime, causing a disturbance during the second half that requires Harv, Glenn, Luscious, or the hardest working man in a white Horizon League coat coming over asking you to calm down, and then drinking after the game but maybe that's what you are elected to do. But thanks for keeping the undesirables out of the Titan Club, if you've done anything else let me know.
Forget the horrible officiating and the apparent favortism to Butler and the other teams with white head coaches, I'm talking about the way the tournament was run. No memorabilia, no sponsors, no noticable host hotel, it was a joke. The Hilton had its staff wear t shirts on Saturday, to bad I couldn't get the front desk lady to sell me hers (I still can't understand why she wouldn't sell it when she didn't even know what the Horizon League was. She did say she thought Soccer should only be played on a natural surface, that indoor soccer was a joke, and we should be ashamed to be fans of it). When I was checking out of the Holiday Inn, the front desk attendant asked me why somebody from Detroit would be visiting Milwaukee in the middle of winter, at that point I was wondering the same thing.
Great job horizon league. I think I've just figured out the name change. We changed from the MCC, not because of new horizons, but because the sun is setting on this conference.
Maybe it is time for a new coach, not because of anything Coach Watson can control, but because he and the players he recruits, the coaches he hires, and the fans that follow him deserve better.
>Horizon League – Raise Your Sights
>
>I know this is the longest post in Titan website
>history. However, writing this made my buddy and I,
>who were there, might provide good perspective and a
>hopefully a good laugh for Titan & HL fans.
>
>The following are some thoughts and observations from
>the HL tournament weekend. These comments hopefully
>will provide some perspective and insight as to the
>state of the Titans as well as the MCC, erh Horizon
>League:
>
>The hotel the HL teams stayed at was the same hotel
>the players from the Major League Indoor Soccer league
>were also staying. That’s right basketball fans, you
>could purchase all the MISL tickets you wanted at the
>HL teams hotel. They had a really cool laser light
>show as well that flashed IT’S MISL ALL STAR WEEKEND
>!! NO mention of the HL tourney going on at the team
>hotel !
>
>We were informed that there was a hotel that had some
>HL Tourney trinkets for fans, however, these items
>were not ordered in time by the HL league officials.
>Seems they had the dates mixed up. They must have
>been busy with the NCAA officials down the street
>figuring out ways to ensure a Butler / UWM match-up
>for Tuesday night.
>
>Before the game on Friday, there was a real cool
>sports bar next to the Cellular One / Mecca arena. My
>fellow Catholics and I had an excellent Fish Fry. On
>a whim I thought I would ask the bartenders and a
>couple hottie waitresses what they thought of the HL
>tourney being in town. To a person they all said,
>“Don’t you mean MISL All Star weekend?” They
>basically had no clue there was a HL basketball
>tournament. When I did mention basketball, they would
>say, “Are the Bucks playing? Marquette? Marquette
>Women’s basketball?” It gets better… One even asked
>if the Milwaukee School of Engineering had a game
>tonight. I am not kidding on that last one. More to
>follow on MSOE Raider basketball.
>
>We get into the game. A classic Titan crowd as we
>enter this old / recently renovated with no luxury box
>arena. Don’t get me wrong, there are good site lines,
>however, it is not the Palace or even Cobo for that
>matter. I look around to see if there is ANY HL
>tournament stuff. After TWO laps around the arena I
>could only find towels available. You had to sign up
>for a credit card of course to get one. So I promptly
>filled one on in our buddy Johnnie LeLoser’s name.
>
>We get into the arena and on the floor you see a nice
>duct tape job of the word Horizon League in the paint.
> It was basically white duct tape. NO sponsor could
>be found. However, what could be seen up the rafters
>was a 20 X 20, or it at least seamed that big to me, a
>flag of Marquette Women’s basketball and one for MSOE.
> They both play their home games at the Mecca. I’m
>not kidding !! I also found where the team league
>banners that we use to have at Calihan went. They are
>at the Mecca.
>
>Well a quick check on the women’s web site shows they
>draw an average of 900 fans a game at the Mecca. MSOE
>drew a high this year of 320 against Carroll College
>fans who were pumped for the opener. However after
>the Raiders fifth straight loss on 12/10/02 80, yes
>80, showed to only and MSOE go down to that basketball
>powerhouse Maranatha Baptist. Word had it that it was
>snowing that night, which kept the crowd away. The 80
>that did show were the scalpers who hang out around
>the Mecca and Bradley Center that got out of the snow.
> For what it’s worth MSOE did make the D-3 tournament
>when they won their conference tournament with a
>whopping 12-16 record. Not sure what the RPI was but
>they lost to UW-Oshkosh 78-56 in the 1st round of the
>D-3 tournament.
>
>By the way for what it’s worth, the Marquette women
>also played a home game at Wisconsin Lutheran Field
>House. Kind of weird for a Jesuit school to do that.
>But hey, 810 showed for that game.
>
>The game between Loyola and the Titans was actually
>very good. 17 lead changes. A half way decently
>officiated game. Approx. 2,000 people in a 10,000
>seat arena. Easy access to and from the concession
>stands and bathrooms. You could hear people across
>the arena. I basically felt like I was at Calihan,
>except that they had several open concession stands
>and they still had popcorn available after the first
>five-minute mark of the game. The arena had a beer
>drinking area where they served bottled beer. I
>managed to sneak out a few returnables, which I plan
>to donate to the next Titan Club function. A note to
>our good friend CigarBoy. There were plenty of press
>row seats open. I thought he would be there.
>
>After the game the University sponsored a party at the
>Holiday Inn. They served all the beer and alcohol you
>wanted for about three hours, which was very cool.
>After several cocktails and munchies we decided we did
>not have enough. So we moved the party over to the
>hotel bar. Well we run into some Butler fans that
>just got in and partied our butts off with them. We
>did several shots with various HL fans, from Butler to
>UWGB with UWM, UIC in between.
>
>Talked to several Butler fans and they went off on how
>much they cannot stand Johnnie LeLoser as well. In
>fact they had several other names for him, which are
>not printable… Think of the C word, male and female,
>and it goes something like LeC…. ucker. They place
>the blame on him for not bitching enough when Butler
>got snubbed last year. I had to remind them that the
>games they had against teams like Lipscomp did not
>help their cause.
>
>Now hold onto your Horizon League towels on this one
>Titan fans, but the Butler people had a very nasty
>rumor. They were telling us that the Mastodons might
>be coming to the HL. That would be Indiana Purdue -
>Fort Wayne, that’s right IUPUIFW for you Mid Con fans
>might be coming into the HL. They have an elephant
>for a mascot. God I wish I was making this stuff up,
>but I’m not, which is the sad part. That’s right
>another acronym team !! FX*!#& A is what I said back
>to them. I took the comment as the alcohol talking,
>but nooo. The next day when we were sober we ran into
>what looked like big donor Butler fans in a totally
>different setting, and I was egging them on about
>Johnnie. These folks in their mid 50’s told me the
>same IUPUIFW story. FX*!#& A !!!
>
>So the Saturday game is about to start. I am clearly
>expecting the same 2,000 (plus now about 500 Butler
>fans) that showed the night before to show again on
>Saturday. My reasoning was the following. 17,000
>were at the Bradley Center earlier that day for the
>Marquette game at the Bradley Center, which is right
>next door to the Mecca. Also, the Bucks were playing
>at 8 that day. The good news was Marquette women and
>MSOE did not have games that day, and there was that
>MISL All Star game the next day. Well to my surprise
>there were about 4,000 in the arena when we walked
>with about 10 minutes left in the warm up.
>SHOCKED?!?! Yes we were. I’m thinking where did
>Johnnie find all these people. It was so freakin
>funny watching him as people came in… He is turning
>his head around like an owl. We’re thinking, he must
>be saying you know that idea I had to tell people that
>there was going to be an MISL skills competition
>followed by an autograph session and Brads idea of a
>garage sale of old MSOE uniforms idea really worked.
>
>Made a quick couple laps again around the arena, and
>AGAIN all I could find were those towels again. Yep.
>I filled out another application in you know whose
>name.
>
>Ok the Butler game. First we see our pal Lamont
>Simpson, Eugene Crawford and that bastard of a ref Sid
>Rodehegger !! Well after the first 10 minutes of the
>game and the Titans up 16-8 we are feeling pretty
>good. Then I swear Sid looks over at Johnnie and he
>just starts blowing the whistle. Went back to the
>stat sheet and it was Titans 5 fouls and Butler none,
>the rest of the half. Trust me folks Butler was not
>playing perfect. Roger Miller, who had the flu, was
>coughing on Willie and others, which in my Titan mind
>should have been a foul right then and there.
>
>Perry and the Titan coaching staff could not believe
>what was going on. However, to the coaches and teams
>credit they played over all the BS of the refs and
>laid their Titan hearts out on the court. Butler
>played their slowed down style and frustrated Detroit.
> Willie finally just got pissed after a time out and
>said, “I’m taking over”. He basically did. As you
>probably heard Diesel call the game they almost pulled
>it out and almost won. We were proud of their effort,
>however, were just so pissed that we ran out in the
>snow to chuck some ice balls at Sid. The UWM and UIC
>fans came up to us after the game and said that they
>cannot believe how the Titans were just screwed over.
>In fact two different sets of fans bought us beers.
>
>Well what was really interesting after the game was
>the handshake between Johnnie and the AD of Butler.
>What the F ! I see big Brad hanging out with the two
>of them. I swear I saw an envelope change hands. I
>hope it was the beer I had, but then Father Mark walks
>over. I’m thinking he is going to offer confession to
>the three wise men right then and there. No. I see
>his face getting red over something, and then he just
>calmed down like a good levelheaded Jesuit would, and
>walked away. I pray for Johnnie, the BU AD and Brad
>for what prayer Father said. Guess to no ones
>surprise there were a number of foul calls in the
>second game.
>
>After the game we go to a good Irish bar to drown our
>sorrows. We run into Marquette people and beg them
>for help to create an All Catholic conference. We
>talked MU women’s hoops for fun. We also see several
>UWM players. They were cool in that they came up to
>us and said that Willie and the team deserved a better
>game. They are confident to play Butler and did not
>want any part of the Titans. They said they know how
>well Detroit can play and recall vividly the butt
>kicking they took last year at Calihan.
>
>Next morning we stopped off at the Klotsche Center to
>check it out. After giving our ID to a person so we
>could get in, and the person telling us we need to get
>back in 15 minutes since we are not UWM students we go
>around the building for 10 before we find the gym. I
>said to my buddy are you Fin kidding me?!?! UWM plays
>here?!?! No wonder the Titans can never win here…
>The ceiling is very low and I believe I could tell
>where Willie has touched the ceiling. They did have
>league banners though and as we got lost again on our
>way out we found a pool. Pool / Pond – The Pond would
>be good for you. We saw some hot UWM swimmers and the
>girls told us they would luv to come to Calihan to
>swim and dive against the Titans some day. I told
>them once the Mastodons come into the conference the
>league intends to build the Titans a pool. Oh by the
>way, UIC has a swim team. An inner city HL swim team,
>go figure. Also, the swim pool has league banners as
>well. As we made our way out they told us they were
>going to be putting $5 mil into the building. I told
>them they might want to start with arrow signs to the
>gym.
>
>All in all a great time at the HL tourney. However, I
>concur with Perry’s quote “It was a Joke. Joke.
>Something I never experienced.” Raise your sights
>Titan fans, the Mastodons are coming!
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