Technician: Passing Out Not An Option

See our previous entry with commentary on this topic by clicking here.

As the N.C. State football team was falling to Clemson Saturday, there was an even bigger problem in the stands — dehydration. This problem was not confined to just a few people. Approximately 100 people had to be treated, with six having to be transported to Rex Hospital. Luckily, there were no serious injuries, but next time temperatures rise, the situation could be different.

Students and other Pack fans sitting in Carter-Finley had few options to cool off and hydrate on Saturday afternoon. The lone option was to buy a $3 bottle of water, which all sold out by halftime. There weren’t any other mechanisms by which fans could cool themselves off or hydrate until bottled water was replenished at the end of the third quarter. These were factors that caused fans to become dehydrated, suffer heat stroke or exhaustion.

Those that come to Carter-Finley should be provided with options of how to keep cool and hydrated. The health of those who attend games must be a high priority to game operations officials.

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'07 Football General NC State Administration

80 Responses to Technician: Passing Out Not An Option

  1. packgrad2000 09/24/2007 at 3:16 PM #

    The ONLY school in the country who makes it onto national TV despite being terrible is Notre Dame. Everyone else gets on there because at least one of the teams is ranked nationally. So if BC makes it onto national TV more this year than UNC/NCSU (which they will since they’re ranked), it’s only because of their ranking. It has nothing to do with the Boston market.

  2. RAWFS 09/24/2007 at 3:17 PM #

    “But there is this town named Boston that is the single most desirable college town in the known universe. “

    For Harvard. For MIT. Is BC on par with those schools? Just wondering.

  3. Todd 09/24/2007 at 3:27 PM #

    What makes a great college town? Boston? WTF?

    I agree that SOME people think Boston is a real nice town. (I have a good opinion of the city) But COLLEGE KIDS?? Do they have Hillsboro St? Two arch rivals with-in 30 miles? Crazy sports fans? Ooops, guess we already addressed the awsome fan base there.

  4. StateFoxer 09/24/2007 at 3:47 PM #

    packgrad2000,

    I completely agree with what you said. I live in Montana and whenever I tell people I went to NC State the first thing they say is, “You must love Philip Rivers.”

    It’s fine hearing opinions from fans of opposing schools, but chill out with the baseless digs. And here are some observations I’ve made strictly from “empirical experience”:

    NC State basketball games are televised by a factor of 200 when compared to BC games. Call my bluff, I’ll e-mail you the spreadsheet.

    When I travel the country and say Doug Flutie, the ONLY thing I hear people say is “pocket size quarterback”.

    Then they follow that up with, “Boston College? Well let’s see, Boston is a city in Massachusetts. College is where people go to school. It must be a college where people go to school in Boston.”

  5. Mike 09/24/2007 at 3:52 PM #

    I thought BC guy’s post was well thought out. At least he used facts (or supposed facts) to try to bolster his argument. The one about 5-1 National TV appearances is a stretch, but the thinking is valid. Think back a few years before almost every game was televised. NC State was rarely on NATIONAL TV. There may have been some REGIONAL games, but not national. Doug Flutie was on a quite a bit. BC played Notre Dame every year, so those were televised. The numbers are now skewed b/c ESPuNc will televise Butch Davis using the restroom and put them on ESPN47 or whatever they have available that week.

  6. noah 09/24/2007 at 4:05 PM #

    ““But there is this town named Boston that is the single most desirable college town in the known universe. “

    For Harvard. For MIT. Is BC on par with those schools? Just wondering.”

    Actually, Boston is a FANTASTIC college town. And it probably IS the single most desirable college town.

    You’ve got MIT and Harvard and Radcliffe over in Cambridge. You’ve got Tufts (great school) and BC (great school…yes, really).

    In Back Bay, you’ve got BU (great school) and Emerson College (home to Gina Gershon, Steven Wright, Denis Leary, Norman Lear, Jay Leno, Spaulding Gray, Henry Winkler, the Warchowski Bros…).

    You’ve got the Berklee School of Music, Merrimack, N’Ern, Wellesley (in Wellesley), Suffolk, Wheaton (in Norton), Umass (Amherst) and about a hundred other good schools.

    It is a FANTASTIC college town. Hillsborough Street? Are you serious? They have about eighty streets a hundred times better.

    BUT….BUT…….!!!BUT!!!….

    As I have said (and countless others have also said), it’s a miserable college sports town. It’s about the Sawx and the Celtics and the Patriots and the Bruins. NO ONE gives a damn about college sports in that town. Okay…there are about four people who care…but they don’t count.

    Sports are cultural things that get passed down from one generation to the next. We grew up with our fathers talking about Roman Gabriel or Dennis Byrd or DT and you tell your kids about Holt and Rivers and Corch and Monroe and Bailey and Lowe and Whitt.

    Kids in Boston grew up hearing about Teddy F-ing Ballgame and Dom Dimaggio and Tris Speaker and Larry Bird and the snowblower game against the Dolphins and Parrish and McHale and whoever the hell played for the Bruins.

    Any attempt to try and cast Boston as anything other than a pro sports town is a laughable effort.

    But, give credit where it’s due. It really is a great college town.

  7. ncsukyle430 09/24/2007 at 4:09 PM #

    I just asked the people at the concession stands for a cup of tap water. I did have to pay a dollar for the cup but they kept filling it up for me when I ran out. I don’t see what the problem was, unless you elitists can’t drink tap water and have to have the bottle stuff. While this is a big deal, how much of it was really cause they sold out of water, and how much of it was because people drank themselves stupid or just didn’t want to get water? There are what, 30,000-50,000 people at a game each week. You would think if they ran out of water more than 100 would have been treated. I think this is another case of the Technician not having anything to write about.

    I do agree however that the fact we ran out of beverages shows a lack of planning on the part of administration, and hopefully they won’t drop the ball next time.

  8. LRM 09/24/2007 at 4:15 PM #

    Reminds me of a time when my grandfather — one of the last truly great men that generation is defined by — observed how people will bitch to no end about $2 gas (years ago, obviously) but will pay $2 for a bottle of water.

  9. Elrod 09/24/2007 at 4:17 PM #

    stathis – that post was somewhat entertaining until your closing paragraph. You lost any possible credibility by referring to Boston as ‘the single most desirable college town in the known universe’. I fully agree there are several great colleges there, but that has absolutely nothing to do with being a great college town. Shoot, Raleigh lost its college town flavor long ago. Heck, I’d take most SEC or ACC towns as good college towns over Boston.

  10. noah 09/24/2007 at 4:32 PM #

    “Heck, I’d take most SEC or ACC towns as good college towns over Boston.”

    That means you’d take 13 of the following 22 towns over Boston:
    Auburn, AL
    Tuscaloosa, AL
    Fayetteville, Ark.
    Starkville, Miss.
    Oxford, Miss
    Athens, Ga
    Columbia, SC
    Knoxville, TN
    Baton Rouge, LA
    Athens, Ga
    Nashvegas, TN
    Lexington, KY

    (Nashvegas and Athens are the only ones I can see even being remotely desirable as destination cities)

    Raleigh, NC
    Durham, NC
    Chapel Hill, NC
    College Park, MD
    Charlottesville, Va
    Atlanta, GA
    Miami, Fla.
    Tallahassee, Fla
    Boston, MA
    Clemson, SC
    Blacksburg, Va
    Winston-Salem, NC

    If you can find 13 cities on that list that are as nice a destinations as Boston, you’re an awfully tolerant individual.

  11. noah 09/24/2007 at 4:32 PM #

    And yes, that ought to be “13 of the following 24” towns…

  12. tvp 09/24/2007 at 4:39 PM #

    Noah, I have to disagree.

    I’m going to posit that without big-time college sports, one cannot be a great college town. Especially if no one even gives a crap about college sports.

    Boston may be a great city…it’s not a great college town. That’s the distinction I’d draw. I might rather live in Boston than Blacksburg, but I’d rather go to college in Blacksburg than Boston.

  13. LRM 09/24/2007 at 4:43 PM #

    Gawd, we’ve got to start winning again.

    We’re arguing over which cities are best.

  14. primacyone 09/24/2007 at 5:00 PM #

    I had the fortunate pleasure of making a trip to Tallahassee back in the day. It is a whale of a better college town than Boston. Now that I am an adult, I hope I never go back to Tallahassee, but WOW, What a College town. Southern Bells Baby.

    As an adult, I am a huge fan of Boston, but best college town – Nah!

  15. Todd 09/24/2007 at 5:07 PM #

    tvp – pretty much what i was saying. Boston is a nice town, but i wouldn’t have wanted to go to school there.

    Ofcourse Bostonians will say NC has no pro sports flavor. Pretty much true, sure no history. But i prefer college sports anyway.

  16. noah 09/24/2007 at 5:11 PM #

    “I’m going to posit that without big-time college sports, one cannot be a great college town. Especially if no one even gives a crap about college sports.”

    You’ve just articulated what separates southerners from the rest of the planet. Considering how much people grouse about the lack of watering holes in Raleigh and how so-and-so killed Hillsborough Streets bar scene, I’m sort of amazed that someone would shun Boston. It’s the greatest bar town this side of Dublin.

    I wouldn’t rather do anything in Blacksburg other than figure out where I’m going…because apparently, I’m horribly, horribly lost. It’s not on the way TO anything and it certainly isn’t some place fit for human life.

  17. PAPacker 09/24/2007 at 5:24 PM #

    BC poster guy, welcome to SFN. I know you love your school and your college town, good for you. You’ve got a ridiculously aggrandized sense of the place and of the BC football program. As for SFN posters, we tend to like BC and have respect for the school’s football legacy, such as it is. When you make statements comparing the school’s o-line reputation to the big boys, you devastate your credibility. The worst thing is to get so carried away with your sense of injustice that you write something so long and so wracked with exaggerations that few of us decide to finish reading it. Some of what you say about TOB may be right, none of us knows now. We congratulate you for being so devoted to your school. Many of us are rabid, cradle to grave fans as well. So good luck on your next blog and welcome to the fray.

  18. roandaddy 09/24/2007 at 5:27 PM #

    Sorry.. but Noah you are starting to sound like UNC snob than a lover of college football. Remember.. we are talking towns to watch college football! If were to agree with you.. than NC has really blown in the college world, b/c the best college town would be CHARLOTTE!!

    Again.. the comment was about college towns. You would be lucky to find a guy in Boston with a BC sweatshirt on. Cross the border to SC, and you will be lucky to find a car that doesn’t have some identification to either USC or Clem’s son.

    Personally.. bars don’t make a college scene.. colleges do!! Rabid fans especially. To me the sign of how good a college town is the number of flags, sweatshirts, grills, and screaming idiots you see on Saturday… not whether they have somewhere to get a beer or not.

    Again..not saying I will plan the family vacation to Tuscaloosa or CLemson.. but sure as heck wouldn’t miss a game there!

  19. noah 09/24/2007 at 5:35 PM #

    “Sorry.. but Noah you are starting to sound like UNC snob than a lover of college football. Remember.. we are talking towns to watch college football!”

    Okay, you’re talking about two different things. I think the BC guy was talking about general college towns. For instance, Madison, WI is a GREAT college town. Even when the football team sucks, it’s a great college town. Boston is a great college town.

    A great college SPORTS town? Yeah, everything’s better than Boston.

    “To me the sign of how good a college town is the number of flags, sweatshirts, grills, and screaming idiots you see on Saturday… not whether they have somewhere to get a beer or not.”

    So, according to you, “good college towns” only exist on a handful of Saturdays in the fall.

    I don’t think most of the world would agree.

  20. tvp 09/24/2007 at 5:50 PM #

    ^So how is Madison different than Blacksburg or Tuscaloosa? I’m not taking a vacation to Madison either.

  21. MadWolf92 09/24/2007 at 5:51 PM #

    Great college towns are towns where it’s great to go to college. If you like college sports, that’s obviously not Boston. If you like bars, great night life, smart women, pro sports and living in a run-down tenament because it’s all you can afford, then it *is* Boston.

    I think there are many (me included) that would choose to live in Boston if I had tons of money, but as it is (and as I remember myself as a college kid,) I’d be pretty happy in Blacksburg.

  22. highstick 09/24/2007 at 5:53 PM #

    I was in Birmingham this past weekend and it must be the “place to find a motel” after a football game. Fans from Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Ole Miss, South Carolina, and my old Wolfpack butt were in the same motel on I-65. I-20 from Atlanta to Birmingham were packed with cars bearing the flags of their respective schools late Friday afternoon.

  23. roandaddy 09/24/2007 at 5:54 PM #

    Ok…. this conversation is sort of starting to spin off in its own direction. Here are my thoughts:
    I will say Boston is a great SPORTS town.. Red Sox, Celtics, Bruins.. and uh BC. But I will say its a great COLLEGE sports town. I find BC to be located in a good sports town, but will not give BC the satisfaction of turning it into a college town. Make sense?

    To me.. a great college town is one that comes alive on Gameday. I have been to Knoxville, Athens, Happy Valley on game day, and you can’t helped but be pumped up. The towns are filled with fans and literally alive as everyone is singularly focused on one event. To further clarify.. I would say these are great college football towns, and to me personally, there is no better sports climate. No other sport comes close to matching the excitement and anticipation level. So yes, my ideal towns will be smaller.. b/c in Boston you will never experience that “alive” feeling, except for maybe the Red Sox.

    Most of the world would disagree.. b/c the world’s sport is soccer! J/k.. but I think any true football school will tell you they want that alive feeling.. and its not measured by bars, but by fans!! Hope that helps..

  24. MadWolf92 09/24/2007 at 6:02 PM #

    ** tenEment

    (That’s what I get for looking it up on *urban*dictionary.com)

  25. noah 09/24/2007 at 7:30 PM #

    I don’t think anyone alive would argue that Boston IS a great college sports town. I was IN Boston in November of 1993 when BC beat Notre Dame (#1 in the nation and coming off that great win over FSU the week before).

    You know who cared?

    No one.

    We went out that night and it was just another night.

    For me, great “college towns” have the following things going for them:

    Attractive architecture – You don’t want it to be some rust-belt used-to-be-a-mill-here town. (This eliminates New Haven, Pittsburgh, Morgantown, Huntington, Starkville, and a couple of thousand others)

    Good academic institutions/research facilities – Sorry, Greenville.

    Decent student population and a good mix of male/female demos as well as black/white/other demographics – College is about expanding horizons and if you’ve got a good, healthy mix, it keeps the peace and you get some good hybrid-vigor and cross-pollinization going on.

    Solid economics – You don’t want the restaurants all failing (or worse…we’ll get to that in a minute)

    Good theaters, music venues, coffee-houses, bookstores and used CD shops – What else is there to spend money on when you’re in college??

    Solid nightlife – Doesn’t have to be bars, but it usually is. This is where the rest of your money goes.

    Solid transportation – You gotta be able to either drive through the town and park your friggin’ car…or you have to have a good mass transit system. Chapel Hill, I’m talking to you!

    Solid student/town relationships – This goes back to the solid economics. It SUCKS when the town is suddenly divided into camps. Fights and worse ensue.

    I’m southern, so I love college sports…but I can’t fairly require that when it’s simply not a big deal for most American college students. It screws up your evaluation system….suddenly Durham becomes a good college town. Or Los Angeles.

    From experience, I’d list great college towns as:

    Boston, Madison, Ann Arbor, Athens (GA…sorry Bobcats), Columbus (OH), Oxford (OH), Seattle (the area around Yoo-Dub is great), Boston, Austin, and Eugene.

    That’s just my list. I’ve never been to Gainesville Boulder, but I’m told that they meet these criteria.

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