Hot Weather Causes Health Problems at N.C. State Game (Updated Sun)

Raleigh — About 100 people at the N.C. State game, and 11 who played defense at Carter-Finley Stadium were treated Saturday afternoon for heat exhaustion and dehydration.

It was definitely HOT today…but, I’ve been to much hotter. However, I have never been to a game this hot with an organization where the ENTIRE STADIUM was SOLD OUT of water before halftime!!!

Absurd!!! Completely inexcusable!!! To quote NeverQuitPacker from Pack Pride’s conversation on this topic:

Simple fact is that Athletics Programs such as ours are multi, multi-million dollar business operations being run by people who do not have the experience or proven skills to run such operations. Most are former jocks or career state “webe”employees who are fine work-a-day folk, but are WAY out of their league when it comes to management of an operation this size.

Just for a moment -stop thinking of this as an indication of the inconvenience stupidity and DANGEROUSNESS of this situation.

Think about this as an indication of just how poorly mis-managed so much of the department that you never hear about must be.

We ALWAYS hear about the importance of money to Athletics Department. On a day like today they literally left tens of thousands of dollars on the table because of their ineptitude. You can only wonder where else ‘they’ fail to maximize revenue and control expenses (see any year’s woman’s basketball schedule and travel itinerary).

Heck…just a few days like today and MAYBE they could have enough money to start building the new concourse, entrance gates and bathrooms on the East Side that were promised with C-F expansion but seem to have been forgotten.

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39 Responses to Hot Weather Causes Health Problems at N.C. State Game (Updated Sun)

  1. choppack1 09/22/2007 at 9:16 PM #

    It was brutal out there today. It was also very hot.

  2. packwolf90 09/22/2007 at 9:32 PM #

    It was hot out there but the Akron game last year was hotter i think.

  3. vtpackfan 09/22/2007 at 10:12 PM #

    An absolute embarrasment. The bottled water was all gone before halftime. Everyone keeps reminding us chicken littles that Rome wasn’t built in a day, but sometimes I feel like Fowler is the Mayor of Pompeii. F-ing ridiculous!

  4. noah 09/22/2007 at 11:06 PM #

    Who is in charge of vending at C-F? Is it still the Cary band?

  5. vtpackfan 09/22/2007 at 11:26 PM #

    Someone on PP said it’s Lowe’s job to provide ice and drinking water, but I thought that pretained to athletes, participants, ect. Dunno, but it would’nt be the first time Sid got crossed on the ruled pretaining to water this summer.

  6. whitefang 09/23/2007 at 8:20 AM #

    It is inexcusable to run out of water, but State ain’t the only one. 2 weeks ago I was at the UVa-Duke game when it was hot has hell and UVa ran out of water by halftime and then sold cups of tap water for $3.50 each which made everyone really happy!
    Did they learn anything? Not much. Was there yesterday for the UVa GT game, hot again, and they ran out of cups before halftime.
    Do they get the freaking Weather Channel in Raleigh and UVa?

  7. StateFans 09/23/2007 at 10:00 AM #

    Just for a moment…stop thinking of this as an indication of how inconvenient, stupid and DANGEROUS that this was.

    Think about this as an indication of just how poorly mis-managed so much of the department that you never hear about must be. Let’s see….we hear about how important money to Athletics Department is ALL OF THE TIME….and on a day like today they literally left tens of thousands of dollars on the table because of their ineptitude. Where else do we fail to maximize revenue?

    Heck…a few days like today and MAYBE they could have enough money to start building the new concourse, entrance gates and bathrooms on the East Side that were promised with C-F expansion but seem to have been forgotten.

  8. redfred2 09/23/2007 at 10:03 AM #

    That’s great commentary from NeverQuitPack on Pack Pride!

    From the athletics department:

    “Aw shucks, we forgot to count, we had no idea there was going to be this big a crowd, and how could anyone know that it would be this hot today? It was just a bad day and not a very good ballgame either. But please, y’all come back now, ya hear.”

  9. LRM 09/23/2007 at 10:22 AM #

    My group was wondering how they’re ALWAYS out of water at halftime. This is at least the third time in the past two seasons I’ve tried to buy water and they’ve been out.

    The lines to get in were the worst they’ve ever been that I’ve seen. I waited in a pile for about 20 minutes. Someone call up Alabama and ask them how they’re at capacity at kickoff.

    I was embarrassed to have Clemson as guests yesterday.

  10. gopack968 09/23/2007 at 10:36 AM #

    C-F has nearly 15,000 more seats that it did just 5-6 years ago. But except for additional entrances, concessions and bathrooms at the north and south ends (far from the majority of stadium seats) the facilities and staffing seem about the same.

    Lines to get in on the east side (facing the largest parking areas!) have gotten progressively worse. Yesterday was a nightmare. The student entrance had literally thousands in line just 5 minutes before gametime. Sure it was a noon start and so lots of people showed up later than normal – but don’t you take that into account when staffing the gates???? One gate was funneling a huge crowd into a single lane! Who makes these decisions?

    Some concession stands were out of cups and cold drinks by the end of the first quarter. Once again – who is making these decisions?

    I hate that this great sports program is seemingly run by a group of minor-leaguers.

  11. Dogbreath 09/23/2007 at 10:42 AM #

    “..I hate that this great sports program is seemingly run by a group of minor-leaguers.”

    I would kill to have minor-league quality management. We have what amounts to rec-league t-ball quality management, if that.

  12. sautz 09/23/2007 at 11:03 AM #

    ^ I agree. Go to any Bulls or Mudcats game and compare to how we run things. Its embarrassing.

  13. tcthdi-tgsf-twhwtnc 09/23/2007 at 12:20 PM #

    “Someone on PP said it’s Lowe’s job to provide ice and drinking water”

    Seems like Sidney could of negotiated a little better deal for himself.

  14. Texpack 09/23/2007 at 12:47 PM #

    Perhaps the performance on the field will help to balance the supply and demand for water. That is probably Uncle Jed’s “master plan.”

  15. BoKnowsNCS71 09/23/2007 at 1:30 PM #

    I was at the game. It was cloudy in the AM and I made the bad choice of wearng Jeans instead of shorts. I arrived about an hour before the game. Just walking around I was sweating. Then it took over 30 plus minutes to get through gate 7 because everyone had to empty their pockets. That was through the gates the students say we get to “stroll through” Fact is most people don’t smuggle in the mini botttles in their pockets so this was idiotic.

    Anyway I was on the West side in the full sun and it was brutal. Student Section 15 was 5% full at kickoff. At about the 11:06 point it was at 50% and it was full near the end of the first quarter. Something is seriously wrong with the way CF is being run. Students are now using their paper tickets but are branded on their hand with their Section gate and seating like “14/15” Sort of looked like a scene from a concetration camp.

    Notable quote overheard: Clemson fan saying “The security at this place is insane.”

    After sitting through the game, sweating and drinking water — I finally gave up near the end of the third quarter and left for home for a shower and more water and was able to feel better by 5 PM. Most of the people in my area had departed. The game was pretty much over by then.

  16. LRM 09/23/2007 at 1:47 PM #

    I asked one of the Event Staff (the guy was acting like the boss so I treated him like the boss) why there were three gates closed by the Will Call entrance, where the all of the Clemson fans were picking up tickets. He told me I should’ve come in earlier. My response was that I pay almost $1,500/year to come to football games and tailgate & socialize with friends I don’t see very often — I’ll go into the stadium whenever the hell I feel like it.

    That’s been the biggest point of my discontent with the entire athletic administration; we exist at their leisure. There’s a sense that we “owe” them something.

    I’d rather they stopped asking me for money to buy band uniforms and start treating me like the valued customer I am and fix the problems.

  17. crackdog 09/23/2007 at 1:49 PM #

    Noah: “Who is in charge of vending at C-F? Is it still the Cary band?”

    Whoa… The Cary Band Boosters had one concession stand back when I was in High School- they have NEVER done concessions for the entire stadium. Each volunteer group that works concessions receives their salable goods from a Carter-Finley stadium concessions manager, so it’s not the concession workers fault when they run out- it the concessions managers fault.

    The volunteer program is a valuable (and viable) way to provide fund raising opportunities and staff concessions; and it’s run successfully that way at MANY stadiums across the country. The problem lies not with the volunteer groups but with the way they are managed.

  18. BoKnowsNCS71 09/23/2007 at 1:56 PM #

    Ironic but after posting my message here, I was called by the NCS Alumni Association to see if I wanted to donate again this year. Told them sorry. Some of that goes back to the Jimmy V days. But today its about the shoddy way CF is being run. I know they aren’t the same but I’m fed up.

  19. statered 09/23/2007 at 2:16 PM #

    In the real world screw ups like this get you fired. If it happens more than once departments get reorganized.

  20. LRM 09/23/2007 at 2:30 PM #

    The WPC needs to take a break from fund-raising and spend some time focusing on customer service and fixing the many obvious problems in our program. Bottom line, it’s embarrassing.

  21. 66pack 09/23/2007 at 2:42 PM #

    in the real world people do not get fired in state gov’t or quasi-gov’t organizations they get promoted.

  22. gopack968 09/23/2007 at 3:27 PM #

    Javi Gonzales underwent surgery for a torn thumb ligament. Out 10-12 weeks.

    Ouch.

  23. noah 09/23/2007 at 6:33 PM #

    “so it’s not the concession workers fault when they run out- it the concessions managers fault.”

    Just asking. I never buy anything at C-F so I had no idea.

    I guess I’m just getting old. When I was younger, I pretty much went to as many football and basketball games as I could. Likewise, I went to as many jazz and rock concerts as I could. These days, I don’t think you could drag me to either event.

    The games are on TV, I don’t have to deal with 60,000 drunks, there aren’t any lines to get food or drink or lines for the bathrooms and I don’t have to deal with security goons.

    I see the same set of problems at both sporting events and concerts. My brother was telling me about the last concert he went to at the amphitheater in Cary and the trouble he had just buying a single beer. Same problems they had with water at C-F….so it’s not like the private sector has this thing figured out either.

    Ultimately, I believe that the venues and the people providing the services have become so limited that those in charge no longer believe it’s worth the time to provide the best possible experience for the people buying the tickets.

    The concert venues are all owned by the same company, they are the same people who handle the concert management business and the ticket sales…so what are you going to do? Go somewhere else?

    That’s no different than State assuming that there will always be 60,000 people willing to buy a football ticket or 20,000 willing to buy a basketball ticket. No one’s proven them wrong yet.

  24. GAWolf 09/23/2007 at 6:38 PM #

    Anybody else notice that the cups smelled terrible? I thought someone in our section had pooped their pants and we finally figured out it was the plastic cups we were smelling. It was so foul that had it not been blazing hot I wouldn’t have drank out of it.

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

  1. Textile Bowl Liveblog / Open Comments at 850 & 620 THE BLOG - 09/22/2007

    […] It was hotter (and humid) today, but I didn’t realize it was THAT hot. 100 people were treated for heat related issues at Carter-Finley. […]

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