O’Brien: “We can count at our school” (1:40 update with Ovies commentary)

UNC Scandal53

This is a good report from a recent Fayetteville Wolfpack Club Caravan stop.  It includes an excellent quote from Coach O’Brien, perhaps directed at the recent ludicrous UNC-CH Spring Game crowd estimates:

“We can count at our school,” O’Brien said. “We are obviously the mathematicians, the scientists. We don’t have to estimate or guesstimate. We’ll give you the exact figure of who shows up.”

It is amazing that UNC-CH had enough players eligible to put on a Spring Game at all.  In the future, UNC-CH might consider consolidating their Spring Game with their Pro Day to save time and resources.

SFN readers will remember from this entry that the News and Observer and WRAL shamelessly published absurd attendance numbers for the UNC-CH Spring Game this past weekend.  The News and Observer reported:

in a 45-minute controlled scrimmage of about 50 snaps in front of a crowd UNC estimated at 15,500 at Kenan Stadium.
… one of four quarterbacks to see action in front of 15,500 fans on an overcast day in Chapel Hill.
Here are some pictures of the crowd our local media puts at “15,500.”  You will notice that both sides are pictured because we want to be totally fair.

 

Seriously, does even one person on the planet actually think anything close to 15,500 were at that game?

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1:40 update

Radio personality Joe Ovies checked in with some reasonable commentary on this topic.  Kudos to WRAL for using a picture accompanying Ovies’ article that clearly highlights the Tar Heel throng in attendance:

Ovies writes:

…attendance numbers at college football Spring games suddenly becomes a topic of interest. Well, maybe just for bored NC State fans who are constantly looking for ways to bury the North Carolina program.

I plead guilty to being bored and constantly looking for ways to bury the North Carolina program.  Joe has me nailed there.

Ovies goes on:

The Tar Heels held their scrimmage on Saturday and UNC estimated 15,500 fans showed up for the event. Pictures from Kenan that day would lead observers to lower the estimate by a few thousand.

In the grand scheme, it isn’t a big deal. We’re talking about a glorified practice that only the hardcode fan can really enjoy.

I would argue that that observers would lower the “15,500” estimate by several thousand, if not ten.  Also, if it’s not a big deal, why the media-assisted canard?

UNC Scandal

53 Responses to O’Brien: “We can count at our school” (1:40 update with Ovies commentary)

  1. PackerInRussia 04/12/2011 at 2:45 PM #

    If all this is not a big deal, then why grossly overestimate the fan attendance (and how did we know to expect it?)? We’re not blowing anything out of proportion; that’s already been done. Just makes you wonder what else the media has blown out of proportion as it relates to UNC football (like, for example, everything).

  2. El Scrotcho 04/12/2011 at 2:51 PM #

    5 minutes of figuring and google searching give the following:
    60000 capacity (my what an unassuming nice round number)
    46 blocks roughly the size of 1 lower level section (i.e. section 103)
    1304 seats per lower level section
    Looking at those two pictures I generously see 5 full sections on the club side and 3 full sections on the pressbox side, if you move the stragglers into the middle. 8 filled sections.
    8 x 1304 = 10434 in attendance

  3. PackerInRussia 04/12/2011 at 2:52 PM #

    To amend my uneditable statement, the only time we’ve not seen any overreaching when it comes to UNC football is as it relates to any possible scandals. We don’t want to jump to conclusions and see something where there is nothing. We need to let it play out, etc.
    So, yeah, it’s just practice (we’re talking about practice, man? What are we talking about? Practice?) and if that’s all it were, then maybe a few snickers and we move on.

  4. packpride_ie94 04/12/2011 at 3:12 PM #

    Anyone else loving the “Us Against the World” mentality coming from our leaders lately? The fanbase has been there for a while but it feels like we’re all marching to the same drumbeat now.

    Whether it’s DY refusing to acknowledge her “reputation” as a fact, TOB going on the offensive here, or our new coach MG saying he’s “not gonna back down from anyone”, sometimes you’ve got to make some noise to buck the status quo.

    I hope it becomes a rallying point for Wolfpack Nation in the months to come. And as the success starts to come, I hope we continue to take our digs along the way at the media/conference/rivals and anyone else that stood in our way. (queue Quiet Riot’s….”We’re Not Gonna Take It Anymore”).

  5. Old MacDonald 04/12/2011 at 3:17 PM #

    ^ Twisted Sister.

  6. newt 04/12/2011 at 3:47 PM #

    Ovies is doing his job; nothing personal. More discouraged by the fan that takes the bait and calls into the show. The best way to make the media change is to NOT give them the response they need. Call in and talk about Mike Glennon or how proud you are of the Kay Yow game and all the money it will raise or something.

  7. ShavlikLeague 04/12/2011 at 3:56 PM #

    Old school LL…theme song for the Cheaters:

  8. newt 04/12/2011 at 4:09 PM #

    The Kay Yow game raises more than $20,000 for cancer research.

  9. PackerInRussia 04/12/2011 at 4:15 PM #

    I think it would be funny if they (NC State person/people responsible for such things) put out a crowd estimate at one million people for the game this weekend.

  10. mak4dpak 04/12/2011 at 4:21 PM #

    I must admit as much as I dislike the holes we do seem to spend an extensive amount of time dwelling on the holes, though we all know how they are, and they always strive to look the best, even requiring them to lie about the attendance, but our biggest statement will be our bodies at the game on Saturday, so that we, like the holes, won’t be accused of inaccuarate attendance. And I would also like to here more on the team, expectations, and how Glennon is coming along, which hopefully I will be able to read after the game Saturday. Go Pack!

  11. DFMo 04/12/2011 at 5:23 PM #

    So Ovies just said on 99.9 that often times writers are just “filling space” since there isn’t much to write about, someone says 15,500 and they just take it and run with it and add it to their articles. While I agree this topic is overblown, I would think that most sports writers want some degree of accuracy and that information passes the “sniff” test. If any sport writer was in attendance and told 15.500, I’d say that would have failed the test. By his logic, if it fills space when news is slow, its ok to report, accurate or not, since its not really that important a detail to “most people”.

  12. Lunatic Fringe 04/12/2011 at 5:30 PM #

    For me, it is not even about the “number” during a spring game, but the fact they don’t care enough to get it right. Honestly, is it too much to ask a journalist to actually be accurate on what they are reporting.

    The worst part is that they knew this question would be asked by NC State fans and that we would even have people take pictures as proof, but clearly don’t care.

  13. Wolfy__79 04/12/2011 at 5:56 PM #

    the part that the numbers do lie is what gets me on this subject. it’s just more of the same.. and that is the problem.

    if it was 8 or 10,000 people then so be it.. since it’s just a “glorified practice” and all.. just put the number out there.

    they just don’t get it in chapel hill… you DON’T GET A PASS ON EVERYTHING.

    i suggest a block party welcoming all alumni, fans, athletes, staff, faculty, especially the coaches when the sanctions finally do drop!!

  14. greatballsoffire 04/12/2011 at 6:05 PM #

    Love what you guys do, but this post reiterates that you are grasping at straws.

  15. packalum44 04/12/2011 at 6:36 PM #

    There are closer to 8,000 than 15,500. How about we double our attendance…let’s say we get 25,000 – can we claim to have 50,000?

    Since it is no big deal, I’m sure no one would mind. Not like ESPN ranks these things or recruits notice…

  16. Wolf74 04/12/2011 at 7:13 PM #

    This is soooooo funny. The pictures are everywhere on the internet and now, besides being “liars and cheats”, they look like a bunch of idiots because they cann’t even count!

    This bunch of cheats need to learn that sometimes it is best to just keep your mouth shut and look like a fool than to open it and remove all doubt!

  17. Pack78 04/12/2011 at 7:18 PM #

    Ah, the tarholes; first they have fake crowd noise and now they have fake crowds!

  18. Wolfy__79 04/12/2011 at 7:53 PM #

    kind of like letterman last night ragging the masters for the added bird sounds…

  19. PackerInRussia 04/12/2011 at 11:12 PM #

    “The worst part is that they knew this question would be asked by NC State fans and that we would even have people take pictures as proof, but clearly don’t care.”

    The question was asked even before the game. There was a thread on the message board predicting inflated numbers and suggesting that pictures would be needed to back up any numbers thrown out there. That’s why this is more than a minor mistake. We all knew it would happen because it’s been done that way for a while. So, the question for a lot of people is, “Why can this type of thing continue for so long? Why can’t they even get the small things right?”

  20. JeremyH 04/12/2011 at 11:51 PM #

    They have taken that “perception is reality” a little too far. It gives you a sneak peak of what they really are about. And by the handling of the football fiasco, it goes right to the top.

  21. Wufpacker 04/13/2011 at 4:00 AM #

    ” Love what you guys do, but this post reiterates that you are grasping at straws. ”

    When any entity plays fast and loose with the truth and the rules, from minor issues like this one to more serious issues like (hypothetically speaking, of course) a college team cheating and/or paying players; and when the PTB and MSM choose to look the other way 97% of the time and give said entity a pass over and over; and when the entity in question basks in the glory of their success (and rubs your nose in every chance they get) while dismissing anything negative as being the product of obsessed rivals who are jealous….

    Then someone, somewhere is going to try to shine a light on the truth for those willing to see truth, which admittedly not everyone is. When there is a double standard employed and other entities are held to a different standard –entities perceived to be less glamorous by the PTB and MSM– then there is going to be some degree of venom and even obsession which is warranted.

    These things don’t occur in a vacuum, and if you think this is “grasping at straws” then you haven’t been paying attention for the past few decades. If they don’t wish to be called out for stupidity like this, there is a very simple solution.

  22. Wolfy__79 04/13/2011 at 9:14 AM #

    ^yeah, what he said..

  23. adwomack 04/13/2011 at 11:50 AM #

    I read thru most comments, and did not see anything about this. O’brien’s comment about us being mathematicians and scientists was funny, but honestly, I think we DO estimate the spring game attendance. We don’t sell tickets, so I’m not sure what else we could do to determine how many people are at the game. Someone might be at the gate counting the people that go thru, but I don’t remember that happening when I went a few years ago.

    We’ll obviously be much better at it, and we’ll definitely have more people at the game than the ACTUAL number of people at the carolina game, but it will be an estimate.

  24. choppack1 04/13/2011 at 12:29 PM #

    Here’s the reason to get this stuff right: credibility.

    If u can’t get something this simple right why would anyone believe you? If you want to prove you don’t have a bias how can u print this?

  25. JeremyH 04/13/2011 at 3:20 PM #

    “and when the entity in question basks in the glory of their success (and rubs your nose in every chance they get) while dismissing anything negative as being the product of obsessed rivals who are jealous…”

    well, they probably think that we are jealous of the fact that they can usually lie and cheat without any repercussions, while we cannot. I have to admit that I am jealous of that.

    But that stat coupled with that picture really crystallizes what many of us understand. There is no camera around to verify other potential lies that are on the table at UNC, there is (as yet) no accountability for providing truth.

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