It's a fun day to be a Bengal

[isusuperfan]

Tell you what, riding in that parade as the Homecoming Duke, looking at all the people wearing ISU gear...that's what ISU pride is about. Homecoming parade is one of the best ways to build a sense of pride in the community. Some of my fondest memories of ISU were way before I was a Bengal. They started when I was at Irving Junior High and my family would go to the parade every year (the football games had to wait til I was in college because my folks aren't big on football or any sport for that matter). As a kid and young teen, looking at all the floats and all the people on them, with all the craziness and costumes and colors, deep down inside I knew I wanted to be a part of that someday. And I see us having the same influence on the young ones today. This is not merely a parade, it is one of the building blocks to creating the Bengal Nation, a grand staging area to foster orange and black pride in Pocatello. All those kids I waved to and interacted with, I hope to plant a little seed in their hearts. That seed is the Bengal seed and I hope we can nurture it over the years. Fans--REAL FANS--are fostered and nurtured over a lifetime.

To expand on this, I would love to see ISU get a bunch of home games in the week of Homecoming. There have been weeks in seasons past where soccer, volleyball, rugby and football all have home games and--insanely--it is not slated as the homecoming week. Why limit the festivities to just football? Make the week an insane exercise in fun and pride centered around all the sports teams, not just one day. Yes it takes a lot of work but we can really do anything if we put our hearts to it.

Anyways, I'm off the parade grounds and shall march into combat against the Broncos. I will see you all at the game today!

GO BENGALS!!!

 

[letuknow]

Superfan thanks for all that you do. You are a real Bengal fan!

 

[spudbowl]

whew, what a game, hmmmmm

 

[biobengal]

Superfan thanks for all that you do. You are a real Bengal fan!

Right. One who wouldn't support athletic improvements with student funds? No, his advocacy for no student funds is poison to ISU athletics. F' this guy.

 

[isusuperfan]

"Right. One who wouldn't support athletic improvements with student funds? No, his advocacy for no student funds is poison to ISU athletics. F' this guy."

Simple response because a detailed, polite answer apparently won't work (and rarely does on these boards)

KISS...MY...ASS

Did you see that game today, biobengal? 340 punting yards to 150 yards of total offense, according to one of my writer friends, and you want me to urge the students and get myself behind an 80-100 million dollar project??? Right, and human nature is compatible with communism. It's too much of a gamble. ISU needs to win some games first, or at least be in them. Now that doesn't mean I'm not loyal. It just means I want to see some improvement before sinking gobs of money in that portion of the empire. Otherwise, allocate it to volleyball and soccer.

I should honestly smack you for your posturing, sir.

 

[mt jack]

Superfan thanks for all that you do. You are a real Bengal fan!

Right. One who wouldn't support athletic improvements with student funds? No, his advocacy for no student funds is poison to ISU athletics. F' this guy.

Biobengal -

Wondering...do you support student funds being used for all ISU athletic team/programs (soccer, volleyball, basketball?) or just football?

I've talked to folks about this at different schools. Speaking from my local AZ interactions - ASU fans lean towards wanting this imaginary money used for football and U of A fans want it used for men's basketball. The polished, not sqeaky, wheel getting all the grease. NAU fans, all three of them (cynicism is fun), don't seem to really give a squat about increased funding for athletics because they're concerned about the state increasing tuition and academic programs getting cut. That and being more concerned with partying, drinking, toking the bong (no bad mouthing hippies from me...one of the things I loved about Flagstaff) hiking, mountain biking or following AZ Cardinals/Phoenis Suns/ASU/U of A athletics.

I really enjoy supporting my alma mater and follow Lumberjack sports religiously but sports are secondary to the educational mission that university's serve. Money's tight just about anywhere.

Superfan may be critical of decisions made re: ISU athletics but I don't think you can question the guy's support for ISU.

 

[Webcaster]

Well I think its interesting that some people want to put it on the back of the students to repair or the rebuilding of Holt. WTF as a student what do we get out of it ? Nothing !!! If the people of Pocatello do not want to improve it and their kids play football in it on Friday nights, the students of ISU should upgrade it for them. NOT!!! My idea would be to fill in the hole and make more parking spaces, at least the university would make money from it, at 150 dollars a parking spot.

 

[bengalharley]

ISU Superfan, just a quick message from all of the girls who play sports at ISU. "Your Great! and thanks for your support!"

 

[isusuperfan]

Well I think its interesting that some people want to put it on the back of the students to repair or the rebuilding of Holt. WTF as a student what do we get out of it ? Nothing !!! If the people of Pocatello do not want to improve it and their kids play football in it on Friday nights, the students of ISU should upgrade it for them. NOT!!! My idea would be to fill in the hole and make more parking spaces, at least the university would make money from it, at 150 dollars a parking spot.

Nail on the head, right there. Bio, why should the students be forced to cough up all the money when Pocatello uses Holt far more than we do?

Simply put, it's too big a gamble to sink that kind of money in a program that can't even get past the 50 yard line half the time. Have you ever read "The Ugly American"? Do if you haven't, you may learn a thing or two.

Bengalharley-

You guys are welcome love you all

 

[spartan]

super - to allude that the current thread has any similarity whatever to the plot lines in 'the ugly american' suggests:

1. you are joking
2. you haven't read it
3. you have read it and just don't get it (but somehow think it fits here)

trying to teach people by 'faux' allegorical interpretation usually doesn't work

 

[isusuperfan]

Spartan-

Not only have I read Ugly American, I own it. I also own its little sequel, "Sarkhan". Both are on my bookshelf and well-worn through countless readings and re-readings as I type this.

The gist of my argument:

In the Ugly American, the Americans are funding massive projects such as hydro-electric dams, military highways, airports and the like, believing that building all this crap will actually make the natives pro-American because it's modernizing the country and it's "what the people need" (Massive project with the intent to modernize in a hurry because they "need it": Bengal Village)

One problem...

Despite the heavy amounts of aid and financing, the natives, who originally admired the Americans for their Constitution and advocacy of freedom, begin siding with the Communists because the Americans are acting boorish and uninterested in the problems of the natives (no real allegory here for this particular argument, but it is a key point)

So while official American policies are somehow not working (YOU ACT SURPRISED), there's a few freelance Americans who decide to take matters into their own hands. Take the Martins for example. They decide to live in the Shan states of Northern Burma, and their really simple farm advice (growing bigger foodstuffs) compounded with a canning device (for storing and selling said food) ends up benefitting the Burmese far more than a military highway and makes the Shan states very pro-American.

Allegory: simple stuff (scoreboards, locker room renovations, a new weight room) over time does much more good than massive projects.

That's what I was getting at.

 

[spartan]

super,

i believe you still miss the point... in this case focusing on the 'simple stuff' (all of the things you mention) still leaves idaho state with the financial albatross of holt arena....... the longer the wait, the worse the facility needs repairs, and the costs (real and perceived) continue to rise ($20/30/40 million? - the latest figures i can find suggets that isu's operating budget is just north of 200 million - you think someone really wants to throw 20% of a total budget at a team that wins 1 game a year?)..... the facility will not be funded by student fees (as it was originally) and the state is not going to foot the bill. unless i'm mistaken, any spud bowl modifications are not likely to happen either.... so, idaho state cannot continue to 'slap paint on the simple stuff' while its main facility fails further into disrepair.... the school is faced with a huge bill to fix it/bring it up to code (or certainly there will be a time in the not so distant future where the dome is unsafe for events), forcing students to pay for it (your views on this are clear - ain' likely to happen when one of the programs most ardent fans says 'no'), political 'tricks/funding' (not likely in this economy), dropping down a division/dropping the football program might solve the money problem but the arena will still be there waiting to be dealt with...

so.. i believe your analogy was a bit off mark

 

[isusuperfan]

OK OK fair enough

I think the analogies were spot on in a literal sense, but I DIDN'T take an aging Holt Arena into consideration so props to you for explaining that one...not sure how the hell I missed it.

There is an anology for the Holt situation but it ties too much into SE Idaho culture and I don't feel like starting a culture war on here or a flaming session.