GoPack.com proclaims graduated quarterback will help State at receiver in 2008

'08 Football General Media NC State Administration Non-Revenue52

We didn’t cover the re-launch of the ‘upgraded’ GoPack.com this past week despite the obvious opportunities they provided us to criticize the website for the minimal coverage that they provided NC State alumnus, Cullen Jones, after Jones was a part of one of the most significant moments of this year’s Olympic games.

GoPack’s insignificant vanilla coverage of Jones paled in comparison to coverage other college sites like Auburn gave their swimmers in Beijng. Jones represents EVERYTHING that is right with collegiate athletics and I just don’t understand why NC State would not want to do everything in their power to be married to him privately and publicly.

Amongst many other attractive characteristics, Jones is:

* one of the best Olympic stories possible.
* a guy talking about how much his parents mean to him,
* a guy that shows “what is right about college athletics”.
* an athlete truly breaking down racial barriers and becoming a leader at the highest level.
* a connection with Michael Phelps in Phelps’ hardest race and his quest of 8 gold medals.

There were great interviews of Jones all across the internet before and after one of the most dramatic Olympic moments that any of us will ever experience. You would think that someone at Gopack.com would be forward-thinking and link all of the info about Jones on the web the morning after the race and make it the featured story for most of the day. It took us all of five minutes to throw this up on SFN for our readers.

Let’s see…ESPN made Jones’ relay win the feature story on their website for half the day after the race. But, not GoPack.com. You get the picture.

Since we gave them such a free pass last week, it is only fair to not let the following mistake pass from the weekend —

In the article ‘Opportunties Abound For Injured Pack’ GoPack.com gives us the following

At wide receiver, sophomore Owen Spencer is now the team’s most experienced returning player. He caught five passes last year for 73 yards as a true freshman. Sophomores Jarvis Williams and Darrell Davis have also seen some brief action on the field, as well as returning junior Geron James, who was not enrolled in school last year and hasn’t played since 2006. Andrew Evans and redshirt freshmen Steven Howard and Jay Davis will also add to the receiving.

As you may remember, Jay Davis is the Wolfpack’s former quarterback who followed Philip Rivers and who graduated a couple of years ago. I *think* that they meant to reference Jay Smith, a highly-rated redshirt freshman wide receiver from Virginia.

Look…we ALL make mistakes – both big and small. But, we don’t all do this for a living. The authors who contribute to this blog are far from perfect; but, we don’t attempt to run a ‘professional’ website while getting paid to run the official website of NC State University with the luxury of editors and staff.

We certainly are NOT coming down on Tim Peeler for this minor, honest mistake. Peeler is easily one of THE BEST in the business and does a fantastic job covering the Pack. Again, we all make simple understandable mistakes, especially when rushed trying to get pieces completed; which is about 95% of the time. But, even Peeler’s fantastic work needs someone who knows what they are doing providing edits.

Maybe this is just some balance and karma for Jay Davis! I mean, GoPack.com did blame him for a huge loss a couple of years ago against Wake Forest when Marcus Stone was actually the quarterback under center. To see what we mean and for more support of this entire entry then you should click here and even take the time to click on some of those links.

Post-script – Please take a look at Dogbreath’s first comment below and feel free to also use this entry to discuss the ‘improvements’ that GoPack.com recently implemented. The site has gotten WORSE.

Roadtrips Beijing Olympics

About StateFans

'StateFansNation' is the shared profile used by any/all of the dozen or so authors that contribute to the blog. You may not always agree with us, but you will have little doubt about where we stand on most issues. Please follow us on Twitter and FaceBook

'08 Football General Media NC State Administration Non-Revenue

52 Responses to GoPack.com proclaims graduated quarterback will help State at receiver in 2008

  1. JimValvano 08/18/2008 at 2:13 PM #

    Completely off topic…but I know its of some importance to people around here.

    I read an article on GoPack that says, “Senior Courtney Fells will get a feel for a different position in these early practices. After playing his first three seasons at the two-guard, Fells will be worked in at small forward while still seeing time at shooting guard.”

    Just thought you guys might want to know.

  2. DuPack 08/18/2008 at 2:17 PM #

    I think GoPack is pretty representative of what our athletics administration has become. My guess is that someone in the business community would characterize them as maybe ultraconservative. Everything, repeat everything, they do is bland and to the point that milk toast is spicy in comparison. I have about 5 sites that I reference regularly, SFN is #1, the others order doesn’t matter because the best coverage and commentary is here. All that is wrong with the way NC State sports is managed is mirrored at GoPack.

  3. JeremyH 08/18/2008 at 2:29 PM #

    DuPack and everyone, it is natural for some folks in administrative jobs to work hard at making their jobs as low-maintenance as possible. The only ones that can really change this is their supervisors, who are also susceptible to doing the same thing, and on up the chain. Seems like just a whole lot of this going on. Is there someone to blame? Is it the BOT and their good ol’ boy policies? If so, how can this change? Perhaps like this :] I think we can all agree that the alumni deserve better.

  4. tcthdi-tgsf-twhwtnc 08/18/2008 at 3:57 PM #

    Isn’t Gopack run by Wolfpack Sports Marketing which is a private entity and not part of university athletics?

  5. whitefang 08/18/2008 at 4:03 PM #

    Well this thread at least made me visit the GoPack site which is something I haven’t done in so long I cannot remember the last time. Probably not this year. SFN is the only Wolfpack athletic site I visit everyday with a weekly or so visit to RWFS and Section Six. I have no desire to read what the NCSU athletics dept. WANTS me to read.

  6. GoldenChain 08/18/2008 at 4:08 PM #

    What I’m not seeing SFN, is how Burke can disappear from the team, and Beck not even getting mentioned in the depth chart in this NAO article yesterday:
    http://www.newsobserver.com/734/story/1181198.html
    An it gets no mention on SFN, my #1 source for inside information as to what’s REALLY going on.
    But if it makes you feel better to take shots at another website’s coverage….go ahead.

    FWIW, I don’t read GoPack.

  7. howlie 08/18/2008 at 4:33 PM #

    BRM wrote: “The paradox of the State athletics marketing strategy has always seemed to be that in its vast, unyielding attempt to market a national product, it ignores its natural, loyal fan base …”

    Serious question: IS there an athletics department marketing strategy?
    If so, what is it?

    The only ‘strategy’ I’ve seen is for the AD to supplement his own income by getting Capitol Sports to pay him an undisclosed amount for his own TV show–which NO ONE in the fan base wants to see.

    Now… is he getting “supplemental income” for his “blogging contributions” at GoPack?

    I ask the original question because I’ve seen no evidence of any strategy for marketing whatsoever.
    I’ve been told, supposedly, that Capital Sports has been “hired” to MAKE THE DECISIONS about what THEY believe our “strategy” should be.
    To whom is this communicated?
    How is it measured and evaluated?
    How does SOMEONE [AD or Capital Sports] believe we have done according to those undisclosed objectives?

  8. DuPack 08/18/2008 at 7:08 PM #

    I got to believe if the person who is responsible for the new “wolfpack logo” is probably pretty shocked by all our negativity. How could nobody have ever thought of an actual wolfpack in the logo before? I hate to tell them, it ain’t new it just never took. Tuffy on the other hand…

  9. JeremyH 08/18/2008 at 7:23 PM #

    yes, it’s terrible. I would prefer a group of submarines surrounding and attacking a vessel.

  10. DFMo 08/18/2008 at 7:43 PM #

    GoldenChain and sons,

    “Pack’s Burke to transfer” … Louisville that is.
    http://blogs.newsobserver.com/accnow/packs-burke-to-transfer

    Discuss amongst yourselves …

    Wait, Burke transfers, Evans is out of eligibility, Beck graduates and potentially goes NAIA, Wilson decides to focus on baseball or maybe gives you one more year. No more of that pesky 5 QB battle.

    Everett Proctor from Jack Britt (3 star) has verbally committed.

  11. redfred2 08/18/2008 at 8:28 PM #

    Somebody please drop Jimmy Oblinger and Lee Fowler a line, telling them that NC State definitely needs a lot of help in many areas, but that it is not “trying to find itself” by way of a new logo with THREE WOLVES, or the sculpture of a SINGLE, SOLITARY, pigdog, surrounded by plasta-boulders.

    We don’t want a new logo because some of us already know exactly what NC State IS, and IS ALWAYS supposed to be. It’s just too bad that the people who are running it (into the ground) apparently don’t have a clue about what it’s tradition means at all.

  12. redfred2 08/18/2008 at 9:09 PM #

    ^The folks in Raleigh don’t have it in them to try to figure out what NC STATE once meant to many people around here, and they aren’t capable of making mean more to people right now.

    I’ll site Jimmy V as a past example of what I’m talking about, and, The Olympics/Cullen Jones, as the most recent example. If the academic numbers were soaring, then maybe, but…

    For some reason, the words “OVERPAID” and “USELESS” come to mind here.

  13. LRM 08/18/2008 at 9:17 PM #

    Or…how about after decades of doing the slow clap to the fight song before games, they now feel the need to direct us to do it by announcing it over the intercom. Feel the tradition!!

    If only we had a song we could all sing in unison after the third quarter…

  14. PackerInRussia 08/18/2008 at 9:45 PM #

    I know it may just be a matter of quarterback-style, but it is interesting that the QB that the last coaching staff was so big on can’t make it on the new team. Again, it may just be the type of QB they want. Obviously going to Louisville isn’t the same as transferring to some cream puff. I think TOB handled it well in offering to help out Burke and Beck. Much different than the Bobby Washington incident.

  15. aPACKadeez 08/18/2008 at 10:36 PM #

    That’s funny…a friend and I were just talking about how we can’t believe Burke hasn’t transferred as of two days ago. Could he really truly have been that much worse than Evans AND Beck that he couldn’t get on the field? I mean he was Mr. Kentucky…yeesh, Evans and Beck are some kind of horrible too.

  16. DuPack 08/19/2008 at 5:45 AM #

    We will probably never know the full story on Justin Burke. He certainly put up impressive numbers in HS. I saw Marcus Stone play as a jr and sr in HS and was ecstatic when he announced for State. We all know the full story on him. This perhaps settles it for me: Evans and Wilson will QB this season, Glennon will redshirt and be the QB come spring. With some luck perhaps he will do for State what Matt Ryan did for BC.

  17. LRM 08/19/2008 at 7:40 AM #

    Forget Ryan. Personally, I’d rather Glennon do for State what Philip did for State!

  18. PackerInRussia 08/19/2008 at 7:58 AM #

    Forget Ryan and Rivers, we need him to do what Jesus did for Lazarus.

  19. DuPack 08/19/2008 at 8:02 AM #

    Amen. For me we are so far removed from Rivers that it is hard to see that ever happening again, much less in the next 2 to 3 years. Philip was such a talent that he almost (maybe did) transcend the program. It can’t be gaged but, I believe that in his first 3 seasons PR singlehandedly won cames that we probably should have lost. He, by force of will drove his teammates to win. Even as a senior when the W-L record was not good, it was evident that that was due more to the program starting to unravel than a dimunition of his ability. As a professional we continue to see what a special person we enjoyed for 4 years. His performance in last season’s AFC championship was incredible. It has been said on this site that Philip Rivers is the gold standard of quarterbacks at NC State–without question.

  20. Noah 08/19/2008 at 8:19 AM #

    I didn’t see Stone in HS, but I had a former co-worker who was a football writer in Pee-Ay. He told me that Darrell Blackman was going to be a big-time star, Ray Brooks would be a solid contributor and that he was skeptical about Stone. He said that Stone looked the part and had a great arm, but kept pointing to his completion numbers. His direct quote was, “He can throw a football through a brick wall…provided it was a really big wall.”

    While my natural tendency is to squat and crap directly on Amato for taking Burke, I have to be fair and remember that the list of high school all-american quarterbacks who didn’t pan out is a lengthy one. You go back and look at any old top-100 list that someone like Tom Lemming or Mickey Plyler puts out and half the QBs on the list have disappeared into complete obscurity.

    I don’t know who was responsible for scouting QBs during the Amato years, but whoever did it in the early days was much than whoever did it in the latter years.

    In Amato’s first two classes, the QBs we scouted and recruited heavily (that I can recall) included guys like Graham Harrell, Seneca Wallace, and Ryan Hart. In the latter classes…ehh, you get a different caliber player.

  21. wufpaxno1 08/19/2008 at 10:27 AM #

    PackerInRussia, That was priceless, but forget Ryan, Rivers, and Glennon. If we could get an offensive line to do to defenses what Moses did to the Red Sea, we wouldn’t have to worry about the play of our quarterbacks.

  22. WolftownVA81 08/19/2008 at 11:35 AM #

    Why is it that the alumni have no say in the mascot or logos used? Instead, they want us to vote on some useless song. Way to fix what isn’t broken. I’ve started a new tradition this year myself. It’s called I don’t give anymore money until Fowler is gone.

  23. DuPack 08/19/2008 at 1:28 PM #

    Noah, what paper did your PA co-worker work for? I followed Stone for 2 years while working for the Carlisle paper. Carlisle High and Bishop McDevitt were in the same league Stone’s jr and sr year, that is why I saw as much of him as I did. McDevitt is a perrenial power in south central PA so, he always had alot of help. But, I must confess we in the sports dept at the Sentinel did not see it like your friend. He really had (what we thought at the time) was a gift for the deep ball. If your friend worked for the Harrisburg paper that would explain why there was not much yowling when Stone chose us over Penn State. Those guys covered every game he played, we only covered him when he played one of the teams we covered and as I recall that would have been just 2 games a year.

  24. Noah 08/19/2008 at 1:43 PM #

    I don’t remember what paper he worked at during Stone’s senior year. But he was with the Passaic daily (yes, I know that’s in New Jersey), the Pocono Record, the Scranton Times Journal and he works in Buffalo now.

    He did a lot of the profiles as a freelancer for several recruiting publications, which is where we met.

    As I understand it, Blackman and Ray Brooks were the big losses for Penn State. Stone chose us over Florida and Michigan.

  25. tcthdi-tgsf-twhwtnc 08/19/2008 at 3:01 PM #

    Is Stone still with Chicago?

1 2 3

Leave a Reply