Going along with the theme of my posts this week, "Yahoo Groups" could potentially be another method of getting information out to the student population.
Courtesy of groups.yahoo.com...
"What's a Yahoo Group?
It's where people with a shared interest meet, get to know each other, and stay informed. Your group gives you instant access to:
Shared message archives
Photos and photo albums
Group event calendars
Member polls and shared links
And best of all, it's free."
This sounds like a great way to have another avenue to communicate using technology. The shared messages feature could be used similar to that of the blog. Answer questions, share a different perspective that studetns dont normally hear, etc. The photos can be used to post all of the photos that opur department takes. There are many events where our marketing staff takes tons of photos, yet they never make it onto to the website for various reasons. I'm sure studetns would love to see them. The group event calendar is obvious. Any reminder of when our special events and deadlines are cant hurt the cause. Menber polls can actually be very successful. The only feedback we get right now is through a survey at the playoff captains meeting. if we had accessible polls online, a lot more responses would probably be recieived.
Granted, similar to facebook, we could not make this the only way to get information. it would just be an addition to beneift those studetns who use Yahoo. Thoughts?
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Blogging
This post will discuss whether or not Blogs would be beneficial to the Recreatioanl Sports department. This semester is the first time I have ever been a part of a Blog in any capacity. I could not find a university who uses this method of communication for Rec Sports though. I think this would be agreat way to announce special events, answer questions, etc. Sometimes have questions, but are afraid to ask me. its a similar situation in class. It usually takes that one person to ask the question that everybody is dying to know, but they are all too scared.
A blog could be open to the studetns to ask questions, and the GAs could candidly talk about certain policies. Obviously, we would have to be careful to what we said as this information could come back to bite us in the butt, but I think it would be really awesome. If I was around next semester, I really think I would have a blog for my sport. I know how many people comment on my "Game of the Day" that getsposted daily. I can only imagine how many people what check out what I had to say in a Blog. Games could be talked up, talented players could get recognition (Obviously you Grant), and it would just be a fun atmosphere for those serious Intramural Participants. What do you guys think? If a blog was linked to the website would you check it out to see what was goin on?
A blog could be open to the studetns to ask questions, and the GAs could candidly talk about certain policies. Obviously, we would have to be careful to what we said as this information could come back to bite us in the butt, but I think it would be really awesome. If I was around next semester, I really think I would have a blog for my sport. I know how many people comment on my "Game of the Day" that getsposted daily. I can only imagine how many people what check out what I had to say in a Blog. Games could be talked up, talented players could get recognition (Obviously you Grant), and it would just be a fun atmosphere for those serious Intramural Participants. What do you guys think? If a blog was linked to the website would you check it out to see what was goin on?
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
This blog will discuss whether or not websites such as facebook.com and myspace.com would be beneficial to a Recreational Sports Department. There are many schools out there who are beginning to use facebook for many different aspects of their programs. For example, Washington State has an Intramural Group where they announce their special events. If you join the group, you frequently recieve messages about upcoming activities. They also have special groups for their officials, and obviously an administrator from the program would have to allow a person to join. Pictures are posted, scenarios are discussed, etc. You could potentially even send out a schedule through facebook as well. Obviously you would have to keep the normal scheduling dispersion methods as well in case people arent members.
I think UF should jump on this boat immediately. Facebook.com has become so huge and it would increase the marketing efforts tenfold without even spending a dollar. The only negative I can think of is that students might think its a little cheesy. If we post those odd flyers on the side to announce things, that might be a detriment. Would you guys join an Intramural facebook group? Thoughts?
I think UF should jump on this boat immediately. Facebook.com has become so huge and it would increase the marketing efforts tenfold without even spending a dollar. The only negative I can think of is that students might think its a little cheesy. If we post those odd flyers on the side to announce things, that might be a detriment. Would you guys join an Intramural facebook group? Thoughts?
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Changes in Football
I found a cool clip on YouTube about some technological changes in the game of football.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=cOgEN35DVOg
There are 3 examples from this video. The first is this awesome temperature pill that can catch players temperatures rising too steadily before they reach the point of no return. Any idea if our players use these after the death of a future player 5-6 years ago?
The next one is the use of shaded contact lenses. As you will see, some can be used to look through the glare of the sun, while others are used to just see the ball better (i.e. for golf). Do you think this ruins the spirit of the game if some poeple arent effected by the sun while others cant see at all looking up?
The last one is the use of simulations for quarterbacks. Every team they play is embedded into the system down to the numbers and skin colors of every single player. Must be incredible to use for the QBs who break their foot during Spring drills...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=cOgEN35DVOg
There are 3 examples from this video. The first is this awesome temperature pill that can catch players temperatures rising too steadily before they reach the point of no return. Any idea if our players use these after the death of a future player 5-6 years ago?
The next one is the use of shaded contact lenses. As you will see, some can be used to look through the glare of the sun, while others are used to just see the ball better (i.e. for golf). Do you think this ruins the spirit of the game if some poeple arent effected by the sun while others cant see at all looking up?
The last one is the use of simulations for quarterbacks. Every team they play is embedded into the system down to the numbers and skin colors of every single player. Must be incredible to use for the QBs who break their foot during Spring drills...
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Football tickets
Well it here it is again...the time of year when students have to attempt to get season football tickets for next year. Fortunately/Unfortunately, I won't have to go through this process again. I'm sure you UAA kids have talked about this topic more than you ever wanted to, but I figured Id post it anyways. Is there really no better way to set the system up here than to have kids spend hours at a time on their cell phones rackin up minutes and usually not even getting through? I know we have done an online lottery for the UGA game in the past, but apparently that wouldnt work for overall tickets. After looking around this thing they call the Internet, I came across a policy that I liked.
http://www.wvu.edu/football_tickets/
As you can read, West Virginia has an online registration system.
"1.1.2 Currently enrolled, athletic-fee paying WVU students are eligible to receive one (1) ticket each to football home games.
1.1.3 Once athletic-fee paying students log-in, depending on their status, they will select a ticket in one of the following areas: Maniacs (for fee-paying Maniac members in good standing); Senior Spirit Section 121 (for students who have achieved senior status of 89 plus credit hours or who are graduate or professional students that have paid the necessary fee); or Upper Deck or Lower Deck (open to all students)."
If the demand for tickets exceeds the number of tickets offered, they immediately go to a "Loyalty Distribution" system. The year of schol that you are in and the number of games that you have attended adds to your loyalty points. it seems very simple to me. It might suck for some freshmen out there, but thats the breaks. I remember having friends who couldnt go to games their senior year after not missing a game for 3 years and it really isnt fair. I'll be interested to hear some other thoughts on what technology is out there that has been researched by UAA.
http://www.wvu.edu/football_tickets/
As you can read, West Virginia has an online registration system.
"1.1.2 Currently enrolled, athletic-fee paying WVU students are eligible to receive one (1) ticket each to football home games.
1.1.3 Once athletic-fee paying students log-in, depending on their status, they will select a ticket in one of the following areas: Maniacs (for fee-paying Maniac members in good standing); Senior Spirit Section 121 (for students who have achieved senior status of 89 plus credit hours or who are graduate or professional students that have paid the necessary fee); or Upper Deck or Lower Deck (open to all students)."
If the demand for tickets exceeds the number of tickets offered, they immediately go to a "Loyalty Distribution" system. The year of schol that you are in and the number of games that you have attended adds to your loyalty points. it seems very simple to me. It might suck for some freshmen out there, but thats the breaks. I remember having friends who couldnt go to games their senior year after not missing a game for 3 years and it really isnt fair. I'll be interested to hear some other thoughts on what technology is out there that has been researched by UAA.
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Off-season trouble
Over the last few years, our football players have been out of the news during the off-season. This was great as we got to kick back and laugh at all of our rivals struggle through. This was a sign on good team leadership and committement to the following season. This is what worries me after the last few days. Within 4 days, a possible starting linebacker and a possible starting offensive lineman have been arrested. Dustin Doe got into a fight, and met with the team's leadership committee. They decided to punish him internally, but not suspend him. I would imagine this topic was broached by the coaches earlier this week when it happened. Thats why I am so confused as to what happened early this morning. Ronnie Wilson was arrested.
http://www.gatorsports.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070405/LOCAL/70405003
"University of Florida offensive lineman Ronnie Matthew Wilson was arrested early Thursday on charges of aggravated assault, simple battery and use or display of a concealed weapon during the commission of a felony, a Gainesville Police arrest report stated" (Fisher, 2007).
The report goes on to say that he pulled a rifle out of his trunk and shot it in the air to show the other man how it felt it to be scared. Are you serious? Were you not paying attention the last few days inpractice when Dustin Doe got away lucky. Do you really not want to play this season? I only hope that these two incidents are an anomaly and we don't have to deal with this for the rest of the off-season.
http://www.gatorsports.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070405/LOCAL/70405003
"University of Florida offensive lineman Ronnie Matthew Wilson was arrested early Thursday on charges of aggravated assault, simple battery and use or display of a concealed weapon during the commission of a felony, a Gainesville Police arrest report stated" (Fisher, 2007).
The report goes on to say that he pulled a rifle out of his trunk and shot it in the air to show the other man how it felt it to be scared. Are you serious? Were you not paying attention the last few days inpractice when Dustin Doe got away lucky. Do you really not want to play this season? I only hope that these two incidents are an anomaly and we don't have to deal with this for the rest of the off-season.
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Neutral Sites
http://www.gatorsports.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070404/GATORS04/704040368
Last night, our baseball team (19-13) decided to bring the A game and absolutely pounded FSU (29-3) with a score of 16-7.
"The game was played before an overflow crowd of 12,280 at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville - the largest crowd to watch a college baseball game in this state's history. The mark shattered the previous record of 8,277 set by Miami on Feb. 9, 1996 against Texas" (Zimmerman, 2007)
The issue I wanted to bring up was the playing of rivalry games at neutral sites. I bet some players would rather play all the UF-FSU baseball games at this stadium because it would draw so many fans. Others might want to continue to play the home and home series because those are our most electric atmospheres of the season at our stadium.
My opinions on neutral sites is that the site should be about an even distance of each school so the fans have a fair chance of filling the stadium. The UF/UGA football game is probably unfair because we have to drive less than 2 hours and they have to drive 6. To their credit, they always fill their part of the stadium. In baseball game, I wonder if the fans of FSU traveled the 4 hours compared to our 2. If we dominated the fan base, this wouldnt be a good site for future games. There are pros and cons to neutral sited games, but then who's to decide which rivalries get that option? Should we meet Tennessee half way next year and play in a random stadium? Just seems odd. Thoughts?
Last night, our baseball team (19-13) decided to bring the A game and absolutely pounded FSU (29-3) with a score of 16-7.
"The game was played before an overflow crowd of 12,280 at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville - the largest crowd to watch a college baseball game in this state's history. The mark shattered the previous record of 8,277 set by Miami on Feb. 9, 1996 against Texas" (Zimmerman, 2007)
The issue I wanted to bring up was the playing of rivalry games at neutral sites. I bet some players would rather play all the UF-FSU baseball games at this stadium because it would draw so many fans. Others might want to continue to play the home and home series because those are our most electric atmospheres of the season at our stadium.
My opinions on neutral sites is that the site should be about an even distance of each school so the fans have a fair chance of filling the stadium. The UF/UGA football game is probably unfair because we have to drive less than 2 hours and they have to drive 6. To their credit, they always fill their part of the stadium. In baseball game, I wonder if the fans of FSU traveled the 4 hours compared to our 2. If we dominated the fan base, this wouldnt be a good site for future games. There are pros and cons to neutral sited games, but then who's to decide which rivalries get that option? Should we meet Tennessee half way next year and play in a random stadium? Just seems odd. Thoughts?
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Keep Billy D
Check out this site that went live on Sunday... http://keepbillydonovan.com/ After seeing this as the main part of the article "Gators, there's only one way to let the University of Florida know where Gator Nation stands on this critically important issue...tell the administration! The University of Florida Athletic Association phone number is #(352) 375-4683". I truly hope you guys have to answer that phone number! lol Seriously though, as much as I want Billy to stay, websites like this are a little ridiculous if you ask me.
Its one thing to have the ole fireronzook.com page because then the administration can see how much everybody truly wasnt happy with him. On the Keep Billy site, this isnt the case. It has 2 small paragraphs and the site is pretty much useless after that. Who does this guy think will be answering the phones?! "Good morning, this is Jeremy Foley, how can I help you?" Dont think so. I guess the only hope is for some poor UAA interns or whoever answers that intiial phone call will get so crazed that they will bust through Foleys door and force him to do whatever it takes to keep him. Interesting people I tell ya...
Its one thing to have the ole fireronzook.com page because then the administration can see how much everybody truly wasnt happy with him. On the Keep Billy site, this isnt the case. It has 2 small paragraphs and the site is pretty much useless after that. Who does this guy think will be answering the phones?! "Good morning, this is Jeremy Foley, how can I help you?" Dont think so. I guess the only hope is for some poor UAA interns or whoever answers that intiial phone call will get so crazed that they will bust through Foleys door and force him to do whatever it takes to keep him. Interesting people I tell ya...
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