King Rial Has Spoken!

[GrizWhiz]

There was a column is the Missoulian yesterday by Rial Cummings in which he sarcastically describes the decline in GRIZ basketball attendance and then encourages people to attend the games. That much is fine. However, this is the same Rial who spent the last 2 years beating up on the GRIZ Mens' program while constantly criticizing Hogan and Kennedy. What a hypocrite! I guess it's only OK to support the GRIZ when Rial says it is. :-?

 

[bill breen]

I am pleased he wrote the column and view it as a positive attempt to get fans back to Griz basketball (mens & womens). Hopefully this is JUST THE BEGINNING in addressing basketball attendance.

His point, out of 98,000 people (Missoula county population), 1 in 33 people are attending home basketball games assuming the average attendance is 3,000 or less. Making the assumption that only Missoula county fills the football stadium, thats 1 in 4 people supporting football.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe there are more Griz fans in attendance when football plays in Cheney or Portland than when basketball plays AT HOME.

Besides, selling out basketball would be another avenue to getting the deficit paid off sooner.

 

[Sweetwyne]

I thought Cummings' article was right on. His analysis is of Hogan and Kennedy was also right on.

I am glad there is one sports writer that actually does what a columnist is supposed to do at times, give a truthful analysis.

 

[slyder]

I've gone to the games. I don't have season tickets. I've acctually gone by myself and the best seat left in the stands was row 15, 16 ish, and on the end. I like the 8 minute dash thing, but shouldn't the people who buy the season tickets go to the game instead? Who suppose to be sitting in all those "sold" seats?

How about this???. If you are a season ticket holder, if you go you get to keep your seats. If you are a no-show you get moved back each game you miss, until you get the seats I bought as the best left.

I think you also have to calculate in the Title 9 ruling. (I think it was someone from Missoula that was in the middle of that?) These smaller shools have had some major issues with having enough gym time for all the teams. So anyhow, yYou have high-school basketball games girls and boys all over the place. I guess we shouldn't go to our kids games as the Griz games are more important.

 

[BARN BALL]

There was a column is the Missoulian yesterday by Rial Cummings in which he sarcastically describes the decline in GRIZ basketball attendance and then encourages people to attend the games. That much is fine. However, this is the same Rial who spent the last 2 years beating up on the GRIZ Mens' program while constantly criticizing Hogan and Kennedy. What a hypocrite! I guess it's only OK to support the GRIZ when Rial says it is. :-?

I agree with Rial. The point is we no longer need to punish the present for the past. I think Hogan and Kennedy are missing or at least do not care and the folks guiding the program now are not responsible for Hogan or Rial. I enjoy it when Rial has a different view of things. He may have some things right.

 

[GrizWhiz]

My point is that Rial spent 2 years punishing the present for the past and now he is preaching do what I say, not what I did. Since he is done with the punishment phase, he now says everyone else should be too. He is right. However, I think he would have more crediblity had he not been such a negative critic of the Men's BB program the last 2 years. He certainly did not help attendance, or the players, with his negativity.

 

[BARN BALL]

My point is that Rial spent 2 years punishing the present for the past and now he is preaching do what I say, not what I did. Since he is done with the punishment phase, he now says everyone else should be too. He is right. However, I think he would have more crediblity had he not been such a negative critic of the Men's BB program the last 2 years. He certainly did not help attendance, or the players, with his negativity.

I do see your point after you clarified. I am not as familiar with Rials basketball escapades. I have enjoyed his pokings at some of the football situations. Although it would not be wise to admit it in a town where some of us take our football very serious.

 

[BozoneCat]

Most of Rial's article was well-written, not too harsh, and pretty damn accurate... right up until the end, where he states that UM has the best arena in the conference. Seriously, is he kidding?!?! Don't get me wrong, Dahlberg is a nice place, definitely in the top three arenas in the Big Sky. However, Weber's Dee Events Center is heads and tails above every other place in the conference the same way that Washington-grizzly Stadium is heads and tails above every football stadium. Personally, I would call it a tie for 2nd place between MSU and UM. I like how Dahlberg is more enclosed than the Brick, but it lacks the atmosphere and feel that the Brick has - Dahlberg just kind of feels like a white-walled institution, with no personality. I would like to see MSU make an effort to really enclose the Brick to make it a basketball-specific stadium, but I don't see that happening any time soon.

 

[BWahlberg]

I like how he "called out" Griz supporters, if you're really a Griz fan attend some more events, from time to time, than a football game!

I think our football success has landed a lot of football bandwagon fans who could care less about BBall, which is really too bad.

 

[Potomac Griz]

While I agree much of what was in THIS article from Rial Cummings, he really has done his best to badmouth the Griz basketball program over the past 2 years. The last 2 seasons the Missoulian's coverage of the Griz Basketball team was pathetic. Many times in the sports section on the day of a Griz BB game there were not even any articles on the game. Just the little box of who's starting & their avg points per game, etc. When there WAS a article written by Rial, it was ALWAYS slamming the team. Maybe he's changed now..but I really can't forget how he (in my opinion) played a part in the lack of fan support over the past couple years.

Think of it this way...if the Griz FB team was having a pretty mediocre season, or even a bad season, and all you read in the Missoulian was how this was the worst season in 20 years, and that this coaching staff is awful, the AD is awful for hiring this coach, we should bring back the old coach, & several cheap shots aimed at the team that don't even belong in a newspaper, would you be all fired up to attend the games? I know many of you still would attend the games..but there would be quite a few that wouldn't.

I'm glad to see the coverage in the Missoulian is better so far this year, and Rial hasn't taken any cheap shots at the Griz BB team so far this year. Maybe he's changed...

If you want to get a good idea of the types of articles he's written about the Griz BB program, I would be more than happy to dig them up on the Missoulian's site.. I'm sure I'll be able to find the one where he took a shot at the Griz BB program in a very mean spirited article making fun of a BB player from Florida who mispoke and instead of saying Manhattan (who florida just played in the NCAA tournament) he said Montana. Rial went on to bash away at the Griz BB program in a article that had no business even being in a newspaper. He in my opinion is one of the worst sports writers I've ever read articles by. I'm sure there are worse...but none that I've seen so far.

By the way, IF Rial Cummings just did give a truthful analysis I'd have no problems with him. Unfortunately he takes cheap shots at the BB program whenever he's given the chance..even when the Griz BB program isn't playing anymore (Last year's NCAA tournament). How is that good journalism?

Anyway, I hope this is a actual change in Rial, and that he wont revert back to his overly negative, mean spirited articles.

 

[Grizbeer]

Dexter pretty much said everything I wanted to say about this.