RE: Tribe Basketball- old school highlight (from 1984)
Wow -- thanks to you both for the insight. As a recent alum, I can honestly say that this does not surprise me. I think that several current students would do the same (protest sports, when given the right opportunity -- see recent example: Griffin statue). But with many of the athletic programs' improvements coming from private funding, we're safe from a lot of the scrutiny (keep those donations flowing!).
With that being said, I do personally fear for the future of W&M sports with a seemingly increasingly academics-first student body. I like to make the joke, you can spot W&M students in backpacks walking through Zable's lot on gameday en route to the library.
Obviously, this is hyperbole (to a certain extent...), but as a co-founder of the Blog, I've found that the WMSB's "most passionate" fans tend to be alums -- and not typically recent alums (think, at least 10 years back).
Winning now becomes paramount, in order to attract as many eyeballs and "butts in seats" as possible, as does overall fan experience at the games themselves. It's no longer, "just about the game."
In an increasingly fast-paced, always-connected world, it now takes far more effort to attract the younger generation to sports, with so many other entertainment options out there, and increasingly at their fingertips via smart phones (think Netflix, video games, social media, etc). These are actually alarming macro-level trends that the four major U.S. professional leagues (NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA) are dealing with as we speak, and trying to solve at headquarters.
I believe in Huge, and think that she's made incredibly strong progress over just a year's time. The future is bright, but there's a lot of work still to be done in this new world.
(This post was last modified: 11-16-2018 06:04 PM by WMSportsBlog.)
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