Raycom to expand web and television interaction; NC State officials dumbfounded, irate

Raycom Sports has entered into an agreement with another company to enhance its internet offerings during game telecasts starting during football season. (Link to article)

CHARLOTTE – Raycom Sports is hoping to capitalize on sports fans’ growing multitasking.The syndicator has announced a partnership with Jacked SportsTop that will begin during telecasts of Atlantic Coast Conference and Southeastern Conference football games this fall and continue during basketball season.

The Jacked SportsTop is an Internet application that allows fans to download a device on their computers that provides statistics, videos, photos, news and other interactive features, including live chats with other fans. The application will be synchronized with the game telecast and be surrounded by online ads.

The agreement hopes to capitalize on the growing number of fans who are online at the same time they’re watching sporting events.

In Raleigh, NC State officials had no idea how to handle the news. Now foolish NC State fans will have yet another internet based environment to interact with others and potentially ruin our program (if it is possible to ‘ruin’ what is generally considered to be the worst athletics program in the ACC and one of the worst BCS programs in the country).

Bobby Purcell, who used to the Wolfpack Club’s summer caravan tour to promote the idea that everything on the internet is negative and that NC State fans should not use the medium, is surely dumbfounded by this new move from the ACC’s primaria media partner.

Lee Fowler is surely wondering why Raycom would so freely embrace an approach that only enhances the platform of “fan message boards on the internet” that he feels is “the biggest challenge to NC State Athletics” (Link) for the sake of “50 fans on the internet” (a quote from Fowler in response to some fans frustration with his decision to retain Herb Sendek in 2001).

Seriously, how will the out-dated dinasours at NC State react to this move? With the tacit support of NC State’s ever silent Chancellor, Jim statusquOblinger…Fowler, Purcell, Annabelle Vaughn Myers and other NC State leaders have waged a public war against fans’ freedom of speech on the internet for years. Now the ACC’s primary media partner has chosen to expand the voice of the fan on the internet?!? Oh the insanity!!!

I wonder how every other school in the conference is going to find a way to deal with this ‘problem’? Hopefully someone in Raleigh can benchmark the strategies of other schools since somehow the issues of the internet only impacts the programs at NC State (because our fans have unique DNA that makes them built differently than everyone else in the conference and country).

In related Raycom news – Clay Travis of CBS Sports took some fun and well-deserved swipes at Raycom’s announcement that some of their would finally be broadcast in High Definition in this article from last week.

Nevertheless I’d be lying if some part of me didn’t think Raycom believes HD means physically at the Home Depot. I’m halfway expecting to turn on Hawaii at Florida and see Dave Rowe wearing an orange apron sitting underneath a covered swing-set saying, “Boy, have we got a great game to start off the 2008 season for you. Live at HD.” Guffaws and chortles will ensue before we cut back to the broadcast to see sideline reporter Dave Baker sticking his head inside Albert the Alligator’s mouth to better report on how hot it is for the mascot on an August game day on the surface of Hell.

My public feud with JP/LF/Raycom began in the halcyon days of yesteryear — way back in August of 2006 when I wrote a eulogy for Jefferson Pilot after Lincoln Financial purchased the network. The fine folks at JP/LF were nice enough to complain to my bosses at CBS about my ridicule of their broadcasts, and so I wasn’t allowed to write about them for several months lest their feelings be hurt. I was told that I “really hurt their feelings.”

So I wrote about their response to my column in my book. JP/LF cemented their status as the self-esteem-challenged sorority girl who runs through the fraternity house only to be cast aside time after time when the network changed hands again last year — Raycom purchased LF Sports, which resulted in my quiz to see if you were qualified to be a Raycom broadcaster, and now, unbelievably, in the most remarkable of all the changes, the games themselves are going to be in HD — beginning with the opener, Hawaii at Florida.

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40 Responses to Raycom to expand web and television interaction; NC State officials dumbfounded, irate

  1. highstick 06/21/2008 at 2:23 PM #

    If it were up to Lee and Oblinger, State students would be “carrying and wearing” slide rules again!

  2. wufpup76 06/21/2008 at 2:39 PM #

    N.C. State administrators:

    “But … but, if WE are not going to make money off of this then we don’t want YOU to do it!

    WE are losing control of EVERYTHING! We can hardly control our fans anymore – they don’t all act like good little sheep as they should and just give us their money!

    It’s OUR money! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

    Blasted Interwebs!!! This is all YOUR fault! If the fans would just give us their money and let those of us with higher intellect and authority run everything then we’d be successful. They would see then. It’s not OUR fault, afterall.”

  3. redfred2 06/21/2008 at 2:55 PM #

    The theory seems to be that they themselves, cannot say anything that even hints at raising EXPECTations and they wouldn’t dare mention any timeframes involving NC State athletics at all. Also, they truly believe NO ONE else has any right to say anything negative about NC State, regardless of how dismal the overall outlook may become.

    The administration will NOT welcome this new sounding board at all. Even so, I’d still bet that Lee Fowler will find a way to get some “LEE FOWLER” publicity out of it.

  4. StateFans 06/21/2008 at 3:01 PM #

    The problem is that most people are only speaking the truth about NC State. That truth is not ‘negative’. It is simply truth.

    They choose to interpret anything that they don’t like as ‘negative’.

  5. Rick 06/21/2008 at 3:13 PM #

    Instead of alienating this medium a smart athletic department would use it to promote themselves.

    The internet makes it so much easier to embrace our university but they have taken the “interwebs are evil” attitude instead of realizing it could led to enthusiasm.

    How can a “sports information” department be so ignorant on basic communication?

  6. redfred2 06/21/2008 at 3:25 PM #

    SFN, you’re absolutely correct. If it’s the truth, and it’s about NC State, there is no way around it, it just naturally comes out as negative. They just can’t figure out that it’s their responsibility to give us other options.

  7. redfred2 06/21/2008 at 3:41 PM #

    “How can a “sports information” department be so ignorant on basic communication?”

    I think history tells us that when any group is in control and prospering greatly, eventhough they don’t really have any idea as to how or why, then “communication” always becomes their ultimate enemy.

  8. b 06/21/2008 at 5:24 PM #

    Thats a great point redfred, and seems to sum up the athletics department policy in general.

    They don’t know which goose laid the golden egg, so any ripple (or change) is as potentially negative as it is positive. So do nothing.

    Which, as it seems to me, is the one sure fire tact that might kill that goose. Perfect bureaucracy. No one is to blame within the bureaucracy during tough times (damn internets), but the leadership MUST be the reason for any successes. And when you can define success in secondary areas like “facilities”, as opposed to graduating athletes and winning championships, you know….how our rivals do it, it isn’t hard to claim success with a dedicated long suffering fanbase writing the checks.

  9. highstick 06/21/2008 at 5:33 PM #

    Just a stupid thought, but if Lee was in Tennessee, did he collaborate on the invention of the Interweb with Al Gore???

  10. wfpk99 06/21/2008 at 10:02 PM #

    No, highstick, he organized picket lines and protests outside of Senator Gore’s office. Signs read, “The Interweb is from the Debil!”

  11. WolftownVA81 06/22/2008 at 7:41 AM #

    Anyone else get the feeling that our beloved institution is run by a bunch of ex-Soviet bureaucrates who have insulated themselves from reality and can only try to control our thoughts since they can’t control the outcome on the field/court? In regards to the interweb, I think Regan’s quote fits nicely “Tear down that wall Mr. Gorbacheve” (Oblinger). This bunch should be run out town and exiled to Cuba. They’d fit in well there.

  12. redfred2 06/22/2008 at 8:09 AM #

    ^Good job WVA81, that’s exactly what I was thinking about when I typed that earlier post.

    The difference is that they don’t really have any way to suppress what’s being said about them, so they just focus on belittling the messenger.

  13. Lunatic Fringe 06/22/2008 at 9:03 AM #

    ^^We all know that belittling the messenger is SOOOO much easier than actually solving the problem.

    *sigh* It really is simple…all the “lunatic” fans want the administration to do is meet some metrics for success on the field rather than waste their time explaining why those metrics were not met.

  14. redfred2 06/22/2008 at 9:15 AM #

    Hell, I’d be happy just to hear someone fess up and admit that they have a lot of work to do to get where they (or should I say, where their fans and $upporter$) want to be. That would be a start.

  15. highstick 06/22/2008 at 9:36 AM #

    Don’t know if anyone watched the remake of the “Longest Yard” on TV last night. I’d forgotten about this line:

    When the warden approaches Paul Crewe about gearing up for the season, Crewe, of course played by Sandler, has the following dialogue.

    Warden Hazen: “…well I thought an old pro like yourself might have some training camp tricks, drills, inside stuff to offer up to give us a competitive edge.”

    Paul Crewe: “Allright…relatively simply, you need a ‘tune-up game’.”

    Hazen: “Tune up game?”

    Crewe: “Yeahhh, in college we’d start every season against Appalachian State or some slack Division II team…kick the living * crap* out of them. Get their confidence up.”

    Maybe Lee’s been watching too many movies!

  16. redfred2 06/22/2008 at 10:03 AM #

    I mean seriously, if they weren’t in the all-out job protection, as well as donation$ protection mode, then what would be the harm in some administrator stepping up and clearly stating that NC State has a great tradition, and saying that WE (the administrators, the coaches, etc,…) want to get back to that level once again. There’s really nothing adverse about saying that. That is, unless you have no interest, no plan of attack, and no intentions of ever attempting to do it.

    If athletics aren’t important, then what is? It isn’t academics, because they aren’t exactly setting the world on fire in those areas either. It must be construction, masonry, and interior decorating. Anybody got a graph, or a pie chart, showing where NC State University ranks nationally in those three areas?

  17. redfred2 06/22/2008 at 10:23 AM #

    I didn’t think that new version of “The Longest Yard” was very old.

    I guess whoever wrote the script wasn’t from Michigan.

  18. wufpup76 06/22/2008 at 10:51 AM #

    “If athletics aren’t important, then what is?”

    money
    money
    money
    money
    money
    money
    money
    money
    Give us more please!
    Don’t use the interwebs! 🙂

  19. BackdaPack87 06/22/2008 at 12:16 PM #

    It is a terrible truth but the results don’t lie. Lee Fowler and the powers above only care about keeping NCSU athletics in the black while our neighbors down the road are keeping their departments in the black AS WELL AS bringing home hardware. The internet should be used as a tool not only for communicating but also for recruiting. I wouldn’t say that we are on par with Miss. State in which nobody cares but I would say that we are more along the lines of Texas A&M and Michigan State. All of 3 of us really hate our big rivals (UNC, Texas, Michigan) more than they hate us. What keeps all of us from being hated is the fact that we haven’t been relevant in so long in our primary sports that it is hard to get excited about sports season at all. I come here more than anywhere else to get level headed, straight shooting NCSU fans/alumni. Until Lee Fowler and the powers that be see that the internet is not a bad thing and should be used for promoting the school instead of swiping at the fans we will always play 2nd or 3rd fiddle in the conference. Sorry for the rant 🙂

  20. smithdl4 06/22/2008 at 6:08 PM #

    I visit alot to read here as this is the absolute best blog I’ve found on any sports team anywhere. State alum from the mis 60s. I seldom need to write because someone usually expresses my opinion before I can get it typed out. However, I felt that this article found in the Daily Press of Hampton Roads VA was pertinent to any discussion of State’s recent state of affairs in athletics. Its actually being used to support an article on the benefits seen by Va Tech by joining the ACC. Its the overall standings in all sports for the ACC teams since VA Tech joined the ACC. Note the position of almost all of State’s teams. Bottom 1/2 of the league. Pretty telling and disgusting. URL is below. There is little text so the best thing is to just view it. Thanks for listening. http://www.dailypress.com/sports/dp-vtaccsportbysport.0622,0,6936618.htmlstory

  21. redfred2 06/22/2008 at 6:16 PM #

    Dissemination of information spells trouble for a slack administration.

    And no, I came up with that one all on my own. I swear, I had no help at all from my forth grade daughter.

  22. redfred2 06/22/2008 at 6:26 PM #

    Thanks smithdl4, great link! and it just further confirms that

    W E
    S U C K ! ! !

  23. redfred2 06/22/2008 at 6:36 PM #

    BackdaPack87, good post, except for…

    “…we will always play 2nd or 3rd fiddle in the conference.”

    Only in their wildest dreams could the duo of Oblinger and Fowler attain that level of success in the ACC.

  24. choppack1 06/22/2008 at 8:36 PM #

    If you’re keeping score. When it comes to the team/head to head sports played by VaTech and NC State. VaTech – the newcomer – has a better record in 8 of 13.

  25. choppack1 06/22/2008 at 8:41 PM #

    Against Wake Forest, it’s 7-2.(Wake doesn’t field wrestling, softball or swimming teams.)

    Oh, there I go again, just being negative as hell.

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