Tulane72 wrote:Like many people in this post I'm not all that upset about the coachng and most of the play in this game. Of course I hate to lose. I hated to lose with a passion when I played. It took me 2 days to get unpissed. But I saw real effort and I felt better about this lost then I felt about many of the first game wins during the Scelfo and Toledo tenure against inferior opponents. C.J. is going to win and not going to sit on his ass expecting talent to fall out of sky. He is going to work with the talent he has and make them better. I played offensive line and it takes a few games to get use to playing college ball but they will learn the little things that allow you to get a successful block. It's not always about blowing people off the line but rather positioning you body making it impossible for the defender for make the tackle. We had a player on the team we called the Frog because he didn't have an ass but he was an expert at positioning his body. The offense line will be better next week because they will have pride. Believe me they know they're getting the bulk of the blame for the lost so they will be coming after people. Now I will list my problems and it has nothing to do with the game. One problem I have is once again with the news media. I looked at the Final Play on Benson's Channel 8 and they talked about the Saint and they talked about LSU and not one word about Tulane who plays in the Dome that Benson, at least, makes some revenue on. On Channel 6 they got mentioned but only a little. I don't expect praise in a lost but some constructive coverage is the least I would expect. My second problem and maybe AugWave can tell me what he thinks. This was the debut of an African American coach and a staff loaded with African American coaches yet I only saw a handful of African Americans at the game. I honestly think only the players families were there. I don't understand this. I felt the same way when Shan King went 12-0 and I only saw a handful of African Amercians at the games. I realize that winning is a big factor but Shan was winning and displayed true courage when he played with a broken arm most of the season. I really admire that young man at the time. I believe AugWave is your tag name because you went to St Augustine. Well did you know that when Tulane was still in the SEC about 1965 that they tried to recruit two players from St Augustine that the white principle/priest told them that they should go to Michigan State instead. I was told this by one of the people recruited. The irony of this is that that same priest was the one that fought the head of the Louisiana High School Football Association to allow St Augustine to play in the Catholic League. Anyway if Tulane would have signed them they would have been the first team in the SEC to sign African Americans. Kentucky ended up being the first in 1967. Tulane did end up signing Harould Slyvester in basketball around that time. I don't have the answer but maybe AugWave could tell me why African Americans don't come to Tulane games. Look I not getting on them I would just like know why and what can be don't to change this negative attitude towards Tulane that they seem to have. I'm interest in correcting the problem not creating a new one.
Welp, here's the truth. I was born into a Tulane family, as well as St. Augustine. St Aug is rooted in the African American community. During my years at St. Aug, there weren't many coaches coming to our school to recruit players, even though we were STACKED during my 4 years there (01-05). They had players that wished Tulane would have recruited them but many of them lived in the hood and coaches backed off from them.
The reason why many don't go to Tulane games is because they feel that Tulane doesn't care about them. Quotes I've heard: "I don't care about Tulane because they don't care about us" ... "What has Tulane done for us? They only care about white folks"... "They don't have any ballers from the inner city on their team" ... They never recruited their kids, they only got students from the Northeast and there is barely any advertisement in those lower income neighborhoods. LSU can easily get their attention due to the marketing and word of mouth. It's getting better now that CJ is there, but now we have to win in order to draw many more in. The hurricane really put a damper on the attendance. Many people weren't worried about a football game, especially with the frustration of not having any power in their homes.
Why doesn't Tulane reach out to students in the area that are academically capable of handling Tulane? I've heard that many students don't get approached like Tulane does with students from other parts of the country. It's a big problem. There are definitely more blacks on campus that when I started at Tulane (08 after I transferred from LSU, after a semester at UNO) but they need more of a presence in the community. Start throwing more events on campus and advertise them to the community, not just students. If Tulane is all about community service, why not include the community into some events? That's what other schools do. I honestly think that Cowen just doesn't care. It's not like he's from New Orleans or the surrounding area.
Also, in a touchy subject, there are a few students who wear those Jewlane shirts. I, for one, hate them. Not that I hate Jews or anything (I could careless what religion, color, etc. you are) but when I see those shirts, I cringe. When you see one shirt like that, it feels as though you are an outsider on your own campus. Black students see that, and tell people about it. When others hear about it, they avoid it. That leads to potential students not wanting to go there. Sort of the main reason I left LSU was due to the purple and gold confederate flag crap that was going on on campus. I couldn't deal with that anymore (and I wanted to get to Tulane anyway
). I told my friends about that and they decided to not apply or go to LSU. They all went to Texas, Duke, ULM and LaTech.. Bottom line is, Tulane needs to either ban everybody from wearing that religious stuff, or not allow the "Jewlane" shirts on campus. Sh*t, there was even a star spray-painted along Willow Street on the sidewalk. My girlfriend was like, "OMG is that the Jewish star symbol thing?" ... It's not out of control, but little things like that can lead to negative reactions.
Those are just some of the reasons why the African American community isn't hard on Tulane right now. With our new coach and finally recruiting local players however, it will definitely get better. Trust me, it is.. The word is getting out, slowly but surely. S**t, at work the other day, I saw two older black ladies with Tulane shirts on. I asked if they were going to the game and they said "Of course, gotta support CJ and the local kids"..
*shrug*
If I have typos, I have typos.. I was rushing.
Peace
I don't yell. I don't scream. I don't argue. I just hit 'em over the head with a bottle.