PSU Talk on 1080 The Fan

[ManOfVision]

Who else listened to 1080 The Fan last night during the 5 o'clock hour? They were talking about PSU basketball, and eventually PSU football, and whether or not they were poised to take a step up in the public consciousness. I didn't get to hear the whole discussion, so I was wondering what other listeners thought about what they heard.

 

[martymoose]

I caught it... The consensus seemed to be that PSU should move up in football for relevance and needs to make a couple of tourney appearances in a row in men's basketball to get on the map. Basically that it's a pac 10 town and PSU really needs to put some effort into those two sports to get into the hearts and minds of the City of Portland. Also, I got the feeling that people seem to think that PSU basketball is the way to get attention since we are a D1 team and don't have the baggage of the D1AA status like football. The old 'commuter' school label was dropped a few times.

 

[forestgreen]

Only caught 5-10 minutes of it, but Martymoose describe the discussion accurately from what I heard. I do think the university needs to make on campus housing a priority and I believe of few large developments are in the plan.

 

[ManOfVision]

I caught it... The consensus seemed to be that PSU should move up in football for relevance and needs to make a couple of tourney appearances in a row in men's basketball to get on the map. Basically that it's a pac 10 town and PSU really needs to put some effort into those two sports to get into the hearts and minds of the City of Portland. Also, I got the feeling that people seem to think that PSU basketball is the way to get attention since we are a D1 team and don't have the baggage of the D1AA status like football. The old 'commuter' school label was dropped a few times.

I've been saying that for years. If PSU wants to build its reputation as a sports school, basketball offers the path of least resistance - no "I-AA" stigma, costs way less money in scholarships and facilities, potentially only takes 1 or 2 good recruits to see a sudden surge in wins, already have a history of beating Pac-10 schools at least once in awhile, etc.

 

[ManOfVision]

I was thinking more about the parts I heard, and my big problem with the discussion was with how they conceptualized "success." There seemed to be an unstated assumption that to be a success, PSU had to eventually become Pac-10 quality in football and Gonzaga quality in basketball. However, I don't think most PSU fans would view it that way, since comparing PSU to those schools (private schools and in some cases, state flagship schools) is really unfair. In my wildest dreams, I envision PSU's long term trajectory to mirror schools like Memphis, Cincinatti, Louisville, Boise St, or San Diego St. Let's think big, but let's ensure that outsiders aren't judging us by an unreasonable standard.

 

[Pounder]

How do you ensure that outsiders not judge us by unreasonable standards?

Glory hunters are glory hunters. What a large number of those folks are really saying is that they only pay attention to the big boys. They'll likely find another reason not to care.

It's going to take time and effort to pick off others who aren't inclined to be glory hunters.

 

[ManOfVision]

How do you ensure that outsiders not judge us by unreasonable standards?

Glory hunters are glory hunters. What a large number of those folks are really saying is that they only pay attention to the big boys. They'll likely find another reason not to care.

It's going to take time and effort to pick off others who aren't inclined to be glory hunters.

All fair points. I guess I just mean that as a fanbase there's something to be said for figuring out what our message is and sticking to the talking points when the time arises.