Cleveland State Fandom

[valpo84]

Interesting piece about the apathy of CSU constituencies to its sports and men's basketball team. Those who were at the Valpo-CSU game for all the HL marbles last year know that Valpo fans turned out, but CSU fans don't. It's a sad situation and short of a merger with KSU or Ohio Polytechnical err Akron U, it won't get any better. Plus the play in the white elephant known as the Wolstein.

http://cleveland.morethanafan.net/2015/state-of-the-cleveland-state-fandom-2015-is-it-really-the-worst-ever/

[vu72]

Interesting piece about the apathy of CSU constituencies to its sports and men's basketball team. Those who were at the Valpo-CSU game for all the HL marbles last year know that Valpo fans turned out, but CSU fans don't. It's a sad situation and short of a merger with KSU or Ohio Polytechnical err Akron U, it won't get any better. Plus the play in the white elephant known as the Wolstein.

http://cleveland.morethanafan.net/2015/state-of-the-cleveland-state-fandom-2015-is-it-really-the-worst-ever/

Wow!  And we want to get rid of YSU!  Perhaps we should add CSU to the "drop list".  They perform well is several sports but with zero fan base they won't go on for many more years.

[wh]

This situation reminds me of a restaurant I once visited.  Every day before they opened up they went through the same routine they'd followed for a million years - flip on the lights, turn on the grill, light the table candles, and turn up Light FM.

As I walked in I noticed a sign to my left that said "section closed." To my right I saw only 1 customer - an older gentleman sitting alone in a booth in a far corner, sipping coffee and reading the paper.  After waiting to be seated, a waitress popped out from the back carrying her 1 customer's order and yelled out from the distance "sit anywhere you want." 

Out of the boredom of waiting for a menu to arrive I began to glance around the room.  My gaze stopped at a large picture hanging on the wall only a few feet from where I was sitting. Lo and behold, it was a picture of the inside of that very same restaurant from a time gone by.  The room was full of life - customers of all ages laughing and talking, waitresses attending to tables and carrying orders, busy bus boys, and still other customers waiting to be seated.

My mind rushed to explain the contrast between then and now, but nothing obvious occurred to me. The fact that the food I ordered (the purpose of my visit, after all) was well prepared and very tasty only added to the confusion. Moreover, I later learned that the restaurant's current GM had previously run a very successful restaurant operation in another city for many years, and chef was highly regarded, as well.

So, how did this once vibrant enterprise lose its way?  Good leadership, good chef, good food, same location. 

And thus is the story of Cleveland State basketball...

[usc4valpo]

wh,

Restaurants are a strange business. It has recently frustrated me that some excellent non-chain restaurants I visit, with great food, service and usually well attended, go out of business. I also get frustrated why some below par chain restaurants like Olive Garden, Red Robin and Red Lobster continue to draw customers - but perhaps that should be a general topic.

That being said, it is kind of sad seeing what is happening at Cleveland State. This school has had success in the past and some great players to watch like Franklin "King" Edwards, Darren Tillis, Clinton Smith and Mouse McFadden. They also had some questionable coaches not in their knowledge but what they did off the court. Regarding support, CSU always had apathy, but not at this level. They are in a similar situation as UIC or DePaul.

My question is -- what can Valpo learn from this? This could be the best team Valpo has ever had, and I think the student body, community and alums need to better support them.

[wh]

My question is -- what can Valpo learn from this? This could be the best team Valpo has ever had, and I think the student body, community and alums need to better support them.

Good point. It has been mentioned many times how we squandered the interest and good ill generated from the sweet 16 run. Thankfully, we have an another opportunity. That said, I remain puzzled as to why there isn't more community interest. All the ingredients are there - excellent mid major program with high quality student athletes led by a local athletic hero.     

[StlVUFan]

My question is -- what can Valpo learn from this? This could be the best team Valpo has ever had, and I think the student body, community and alums need to better support them.

Nit: I think you mean that Valpo needs better support from them.  The student body, community, and alums are in charge of how much they need to support the team.

[classof2014]

The issue isn't alumni or student support, it is the local support that needs to increase. Outside of the City of Valparaiso there isn't much interest in Valpo basketball. The city accounts for 30-40 thousand residents, while the region of Lake, Porter, and LaPorte counties alone is around 3/4 of a million people. The university needs to do a better job marketing in Northwest Indiana, that's the immediate fan base. Go to place like Merrillville, Portage, LaPorte, Hammond, heck even Gary and market Valpo as Northwest Indiana's team. People hold a sense of pride of where they grew up and where they live. Only a fraction of Northwest Indianans call Valparaiso home, you need to reach out to the rest of the region and get them on board as Valpo not just being the City of Valparaiso's team but Northwest Indiana's team as a whole.

[bbtds]

The issue isn't alumni or student support, it is the local support that needs to increase. Outside of the City of Valparaiso there isn't much interest in Valpo basketball. The city accounts for 30-40 thousand residents, while the region of Lake, Porter, and LaPorte counties alone is around 3/4 of a million people. The university needs to do a better job marketing in Northwest Indiana, that's the immediate fan base. Go to place like Merrillville, Portage, LaPorte, Hammond, heck even Gary and market Valpo as Northwest Indiana's team. People hold a sense of pride of where they grew up and where they live. Only a fraction of Northwest Indianans call Valparaiso home, you need to reach out to the rest of the region and get them on board as Valpo not just being the City of Valparaiso's team but Northwest Indiana's team as a whole.

We have had this discussion before in other threads. The rock solid, working class, Sox fan, Region Rat doesn't identify with the students at Valpo U in any way. I think they see Valpo as a "good" entity in the Region but they can't cheer for a Valpo team because they see that as supporting a kind of "opposite" class. "Those students at Valpo will never be the kind of working class guy that I am."

Maybe this should go to another thread.

[wh]

I realize that those who don't live here locally are probably bored stiff with our never ending attendance discussions, but as a "local" it's something that always intrigues me. Valpo basketball is hands down the greatest sports entertainment value in NWI.  It's exciting basketball in a great atmosphere at a reasonable price. It has provided untold hours of pure fun for me and my family. I think there are a lot of sports-minded people like us that if they tried it just one time, they would get hooked like we did. Unfortunately, how to make that happen remains the $64,000 question.       

[ValpoFan]

The population of Cleveland has been steadily decreasing. The population in 2013 was 390K for the city and around 2.2M for the metro area.
The economy in that area isn't particularly booming either, so a lot of those folks aren't able to go to the stadium to watch basketball. But even those who are basketball fans, and are able to shell the $$, the competition for their attention is crazy high. You start with the Cavaliers and Lebron James that absolutely dwarfs any other basketball played around. Second comes the OSU Buckeyes who are amazingly popular in a city that is 3 hours away from Columbus. And yes, people would rather watch the Buckeyes on TV rather than going to watch their hometown team in the stadium.
 
Now we're down to the very few local fans who want to go watch a college bball game in the stadium. To those who live in the Cleveland metro area (mostly south or East sides) it maybe a shorter drive for them to go to Akron, Kent State, or Youngstown State than going to downtown Cleveland. That is a lot of competition!

[Valpower]

We have had this discussion before in other threads. The rock solid, working class, Sox fan, Region Rat doesn't identify with the students at Valpo U in any way. I think they see Valpo as a "good" entity in the Region but they can't cheer for a Valpo team because they see that as supporting a kind of "opposite" class. "Those students at Valpo will never be the kind of working class guy that I am." Maybe this should go to another thread.

Maybe we could, like, bring back the "Northern Indiana Normal School" name, you know, brahhden the geographic appeal so it's not just about Valparaiso.  'Cept insteada "Normal" we call it "Regular".  Or, like, "Regular Guy" or sump'n.

[blackpantheruwm]

Cleveland State has a major advantage compared to every school in D-I, people just don't know it. In addition to their traditional programs, they have what is essentially "Build-a-major," where their students can pick their own way. There's no specific track in the major, so you can put together a bunch of classes of requisite level and call it what you will.

It's pretty fantastic for recruiting. It makes selling the academic side of CSU very simple. I've spoken with plenty of recruits who have considered CSU for that specific reason.