PENN STATE CRISIS: View From an Alum

The following is from a Q&A I had with Ronald Hobbs, a 2010 graduate from Penn State who is an avid Penn State football fan.  He gives his take on the Penn State football scandal from a fan and alumni perspective.  I feel that it is important to know what the average Penn State fan is thinking during this tough time for the University and it's athletic department.

What years did you go to Penn State?

2006-2010

When did you graduate/what was your degree in?

May, 2010 - BA History 

How many games did you go to?

28.  I only missed 3 home games. I also went to the rose bowl. 

Did you have season tickets?

Yes. 

How passionate are you about Penn State football?

I eat, sleep, and breath it. I bleed blue and white.

What does Penn State football mean to you and your fellow Penn State friends and alumni? 

We always take pride in more than just our football team. It is important to us all but there are somethings at Penn State we just love even more. For me one of the few things I love more than Penn State FB is THON. There was a saying some of us had in my group of friends Penn State is never the Underdog. I grew up in Indiana but my father was from Pa and raised me and my brother to be fans of Penn State and taught us how great of a man Joe Paterno was. I can go as far to say that I saw (and still do) Paterno as one of my Heros. He was the reason I had the weird childhood dream of going to Penn State. So one can say I bled Blue and white at an early age.

Before the current Penn State crisis, what was your opinion of the Penn State football program?

I was critical of the 2 QB situation and thought they needed to choose. I held them to the highest standard since Penn State has almost never been subject of NCAA sanctions. 

What is your opinion of the current crisis facing Joe Paterno and Penn State football?

My opinion is unchanged. This is not exactly a football issue. Joe is involved yes but Sandusky was already retired for about 3 years when the rape issue was brought to the attention of Paterno. 

What do you think of the Penn State football program and Joe Paterno now after learning about the current crisis? 

This may seem dense but again I still see Penn State and Joe the same way as before.  You cannot see things like this coming when they are happening and like I keep saying hind sight is 20/20. 

How well do you think the media is handling the coverage of the issue?

They are not doing well at all. They are pretty much doing a guilty until proven innocent thing to Sandusky and then they are trying to make it seem like Joe knew everything and didn't do enough. When to me that if Joe did do more it would have been over stepping his position and could have brought a potential lawsuit upon Penn State for Libel.  Don't get me started on the New York times either.... 

How well do you think Penn State is handling the issue?

Personally besides the inaction of Curly and Shultz. I think Penn State is handling this well professionally. They banned Sandusky until he is acquitted or if he is handed a Conviction at his trial then I assume the ban will be permanent. The board of directors is going to be investigating this situation, though I think they should have issued a notice that they would not be forcing out Paterno since I believe Joe decided to retire because he was unsure of how they would act. Emotionally however not so much because I guarantee everyone is pretty much a wreck like I am.

What do you think the media is doing well in terms of how it is handling coverage of the situation?

They are not doing anything well in my opinion. They are stressing that Sandusky has not been convicted of anything yet, they are not defending Paterno who has become an unnecessary victim in all of this because of them. I think the only media outlets handling this well are to an extent ESPN and the ones that are directy tied to Penn State like ONward State or the Daily Collegian. 

What do you think the media is doing poorly in the coverage of the crisis?

They are basically leading a witch hunt. Its sickening that in a sense you can compare this to Casey Anthony's trial. In the sense that they are not stressing that Sandusky is not guilty of anything yet and that Joe met all of his moral and legal obligations. Especially since Gary Shultz was in charge of the Campus police. In Pa they are certified police officers and in State College they actually are directly involved with the town's PD. So again by Shultz finding out the Police were informed.

Are there any questions you have about the situation that you feel are not being addressed by Penn State?

Why are people not attacking Tim Curly, Gary Shultz, and The Graduate assistant and his father?

Are there any questions you have about the situation that you feel are not being addressed by the media?

Why are people not attacking Tim Curly, Gary Shultz, and The Graduate assistant and his father? Why Joe? Why are you not being Critical of Golden Graham ( Graham Spanier)?

Which people do you believe deserve the majority of the blame for what is happening?

The ones who have been arrested. Curly and Shultz. I also think Spanier, Mike McQueary and his father, and the custodian. Why didn't the first people to see it go straight to the cops?

What are your opinions about Joe Paterno leaving the University in this fashion?

I have cried manly tears over this I will admit it. I do not think it is right that he has to go out in this fashion. I always envisioned him dropping dead on the sidelines of the first true  NCAA FB Tournament National Championship game after Penn State winning it. I fully support Joe to stay but I also will support his decision despite me not agreeing with it.  

If you could say something to the Penn State athletic department concerning your thoughts on this issue, what would it be?

I'm kidding, I'm kidding! but in a sense I do feel that way. They did not act. They chose to cover it up and what not. Why did Shultz not utilize the University PD and do more than questioning McQueary? You guys are at fault and forced out a legend and used him as a fall guy and it makes me sick. 

If you could say something to Joe Paterno  concerning your thoughts on this issue, what would it be?

Joe, I have your back 100%

If you could say something to the media covering this story, what would you say?

This isnt salem in 1692. Do not slander an innocent man's name. Present facts and nothing more and inform the moronic masses about how things actually work rather than rallying for blood or promoting ignorance.

In your opinion, what future implications does this have for the Penn State football program, if any?

There will probably be some. It won't change the team or how we play ball . The only thing is that I am afraid a new coach will change how Penn State plays. I hope they choose the right person to fill the void that Joe will leave at the end of this season. 

Do you have anything to add about this situation?

http://thatlawyerdude.blogspot.com/2011/11/strong-defense-of-joe-paterno-why.html 

Read the comments and the responses from the author of the article.

DISCLAIMER:  All opinions expressed by Ronald Hobbs are his alone and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the author of this blog.

I Got Your CONFLICT Right Here!

Some of you have suggested I write a blog entry about the NBA lockout.  I occasionally run camera for Pacers games which puts me on their payroll.  Due to conflicts of interest, I cannot talk about the NBA or it's situation by way of my blog.  But, I can talk about conflicts of interest.  The University of Texas recently started the Longhorn Network.  I would like to explore some of the conflicts of interest that came about by forming this one-school based Regional Sports Network, and the questions that arise due to the fact that the RSN is being run by multimedia juggernaut, ESPN.

ESPN is paying UT $300 million over the span of 20 years with a guarantee of $11 million a year.  CONFLICT!  Hmmm, that's a lot of money.  Questions that arise:  Will this mean that ESPN will have a bias in favor of more Texas games, player news, and coverage as a whole?  Will ESPN avoid sharing news or breaking stories that shed negative light on the university?  Will this give UT a bigger recruiting advantage?

Speaking of recruiting advantages, one of the original plans of the the Longhorn Network was to air Texas high school football games.  CONFLICT!  Man, wouldn't it be nice if you were trying to land a highly touted Texas high school football recruit and you could tell them, "Hey, if you sign to play with us, we'll show a few of your high school games on our network and give you a lot of face time.  You can be a TV star!  How 'bout it?"  Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating, but that would be possible.  But, worry not Texas A&M fans, the NCAA intervened and said absolutely not.  This conflict of interest got put to bed early.  But it makes me wonder if UT really thought they could get away with it.

The last point that I'd like to look at is how is this affecting the Big 12 Conference.  By not sharing a network like the Big Ten, the schools of the Big 12 are questioning the fairness of the UT RSN deal.  Wouldn't you?  Colorado and Nebraska both left the Big 12 and it wouldn't surprise me if one of the reasons was that they weren't generating any money from a RSN deal while their conference counterpart was going to be reaping such rewards.  I have a hunch that the recent scare of Oklahoma threatening to leave the conference had at least a little something to do with the Longhorn Network.  With Texas being the only Big 12 school making money and gaining attention from an RSN, don't be surprised if things remain contentious in the Big 12 realms. 

Before I conclude, I should state that FOX is the majority stake holder in BTN or, the Big Ten Network.  And if you are a viewer of BTN you see nothing that suggests any type of influence of FOX and you never seem to see any bias toward the Big Ten when watching FOX programming.  In fact, BTN digital rights are outsourced to CBS because FOX felt that the move would better serve the network.  So, maybe we can hope that the same positive things can be said about the Longhorn Network and ESPN relationship once they really take off.  The future will tell.

Sticks & Stones May Break My Bones, But Words Get Stadiums Torn Down.

A few years ago in Fort Wayne, Indiana, there was a controversy over moving a minor league baseball team from the north side of town to a brand spanking new ball park that the team's ownership wanted to be built smack dab in the middle of downtown Fort Wayne.   Many of Fort Wayne's publics were outraged at the idea for a variety of reasons.  One such reason was that the team's north side home, Memorial Stadium, which was dedicated in 1993 would be torn down and turned into a parking lot if the team were to move.  Many people didn't understand why the team could not just stay at memorial stadium, let alone why they had to demolish it if the team were to leave.

The team and it's ownership indicated that some of their reasons for moving the team downtown were to re-vitalize the relatively "dead" downtown and give the fans a better overall experience by building the new and more modern baseball stadium which would be so much better than the "old" stadium.  While those reasons were to some extent true, I am going to try to answer some of the questions of what the Fort Wayne team and it's ownership were really trying to accomplish by switching stadiums.

If you haven't figured this out yet, money is the name of the game.  Where is the money in building a new stadium?  Nowadays a big chunk of change is tied up in the naming rights.  Look at Lucas Oil Stadium, home to the Colts, future Final 4 games, and this years Super Bowl. (I hope I can use those words w/o getting fined)  Lucas Oil's naming rights are huge money.  Lucas Oil is paying the Colts over 6 million dollars a year for 20 years for the naming rights.  In case you are bad at math, that is over 120 million dollars in guaranteed money for the Colts.  Not to shabby.  Why would Lucas Oil pay so much to put their name on something?  ROI is why.  According to an article in Sports Business Journal, Lucas Oil's return on investment over the course of two years (2010/2011) is estimated to be 73 million dollars, just from the stadium naming deal.  That's right, essentially they are spending 12 million dollars and getting 73 million in return.

How does this relate to the stadium in Fort Wayne?  Well, Memorial Stadium did not have a naming rights deal for one.  That means the teams ownership group, Hardball Capital, was losing money every year they kept the team at Memorial Stadium.  In my opinion, the owner's desire for a naming rights deal that would guarantee the team more money was one of the key factors in the move.

Enter Parkview Health, a well known and respected hospital and health group in the Fort Wayne area.  Heck, my sister and I were both born there so of course I have to speak well of it.  Hardball Capital and Parkview made a naming rights deal, the park was built, and Parkview Field was born.  The money involved? Well of course a Midwest League Single-A baseball team in Fort Wayne isn't going to pull as much money as the Colts, but they still agreed to a 10 year 3 million dollar deal with Parkview.  $3,000,000 they were not getting in the previous ten years.  That $300,000/yr should come in handy, especially now that the novelty of the new stadium has worn off and attendance has fallen off with it.  Don't get me started on that.

VIDEO: News segment about the brand new Parkview Field

How DARE you do what you did before I met you!

Over the past few weeks, there have been many things going on in the sports world that have stood out to me as far as how they pertain to public relations.  Let's take a look at this one.

Jim Tressel's 6 game suspension with the Colts
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/6932597/ex-ohio-state-buckeyes-coach-jim-tressel-start-indianapolis-colts-job-seventh-game

Jim Tressel, the former head football coach of The Ohio State University who resigned after it was revealed that he had knowledge of NCAA violations involving some of his players, was recently hired by the Indianapolis Colts as a replay-game consultant.  Tressel met with Colts management and decided that it would be best for him to sit out six games based on the fact that some of his former players will be suspended a number of games this season in the NFL, namely Terrell Pryor.  The commissioner of the NFL, who had a part in handing down Pryor's suspension, said that if the Colts would not have suspended Tressel, the NFL would have.

After learning of this I was left with a couple of questions.
1.  Why is the NFL handing down punishment to people for misconduct in a former job?
2.  What public relations implications does this have?

I think you will probably find plenty of opinions and answers to the first of these questions out there in the webosphere (it's a word, look it up http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Webosphere).

I'd like to expound upon the second question.  The Colts were obviously being proactive in this case.  They new about the Pryor situation, pun intended, and knew that by hiring Tressel they would need to make a similar move.  What would this do for them from a PR standpoint?  Well, I believe that it would show the fans that they are a proactive and well managed team who is in line with the operations of the league of which they are a part.  It also shows fans who are questioning the hire that they are aware of the transgressions of their staff, albeit at a previous organization, and they will take appropriate action when action is needed.  The Colts, and more so the NFL, are showing that they are the professional sport that will not tolerate misbehavior.  I think this fits the clean-cut branding image that they are so strongly trying to put forward.

What do you think?  I'd love to hear some of your opinions on the whole NFL/Colts suspension of Pryor and Tressel.

Fight!...For Your Right!...To Play Sports in China?

So can I just tell you that I have really lucked out on the list of text books I have to buy and read this semester?  I have!

My Intro to PR class used to have a text book, but as soon as the price of the text book hit $125, the professor decided not to use it anymore.  SCORE!  Notes, lectures, and topical current event assignments are a great way to replace the text book.

One of the current events that we had to relate to public relations was that of the brawl between the Georgetown men's basketball team, and a professional Chinese basketball team.  In case you didn't hear about it, here is the gist of what happened...

A brawl broke out in the fourth quarter of the highly physical contest.  The fight was triggered when a Chinese player fouled a Georgetown player and the officials did not call the foul.  Georgetown, by the way, had been called for over 20 fouls at this point in the game.  The Chinese team had been called for somewhere around 10 fouls.  The Georgetown player, in a moment of frustration, shoved the Chinese player.  The Chinese player then retaliated by throwing kicks and punches which caused both team’s benches to clear and then chaos ensued.  At one point a Chinese player was seen in the video sitting on top of a Georgetown player and unleashing right handed jabs to his face.  Another Chinese player, channeling his inner Bobby Knight, was seen throwing a chair into the back of another Georgetown player.  When some order was restored, Georgetown's team exited the court while spectators threw litter at them.  Video and reports of the fight made their way onto the World Wide Web.  Check out the video below.  

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wk9dNsfDhYs

This incident could be considered an international PR nightmare.  Originally meant to be a good will game between two countries trying to maintain good relations, it turned into an international relations headache for some of the active public involved.  China, in an attempt to avoid embarrassment from the incident, blocked any video of the event from being seen in their country.  That's pretty much their MO on matters like this.  "NOTHING TO SEE HERE!  PLEASE MOVE ALONG!" That's another subject I will leave for the political blogs.

Have a nice three day weekend.

Cheers!

A Few Words

Just wanted to check in and let you know that I am extremely busy with school and work the first half of this week, but I am hoping to have my next REAL blog post finished and posted by Friday.  Have a great week everyone!

Brent

A reason to Blog - Starting a Masters Program

My friend Cary Knauff started a blog when he went back to school to become a German teacher, you can view it here: http://onbecomingagermanteacher.blogspot.com/ .  I think he started the blog because he had to, but he seems to have gotten something out of it.  So, I am totally copying him.

I recently began classes in pursuit of my MA in Public Relations Management from IUPUI.  More specifically, SPORTS Public Relations Management.  Having had my last college course in 2002, I am extremely excited to be harnessing my inner Rodney Dangerfield by going BACK TO SCHOOL!  Does that reference age me?  Perhaps.

I began my two classes this past Monday.  The first of the two classes is a pre-requisite undergraduate class; Introduction to Public Relations.  I take it at Purdue University which is extra convenient seeing as I work at Purdue, and live in Lafayette.  This class allows me to start from the start.  It will give a general overview of PR, obviously.

The other class is a graduate level course offered at IUPUI entitled Business of Sports Media and Promotions.  I have always had a strong interest in the sports business, and been involved with sports on various levels since I was a youngster.  Professionally I have worked in sports video production for the NBA, WNBA, NCAA, IHSAA, and others.  The experiences of being involved with sports on various levels is what ultimately lead me to the decision to pursue a career in the sports business.  Business of Sports Media and Promotions class promises to be a very intriguing and interesting learning opportunity for me and I can't wait to get deep into the curriculum.

So, now that I have made it through matriculation, please check in occasionally to be updated on my findings, learnings, and musings as I embark on this Sports and Public Relations journey.