Monday Morning Bytes

'09 Football Non-Revenue Site News19

Good morning!  Hope your weekend was nice.  An awful lot is going on in Raleigh right now with the ****storm that brewing and creating heat on Chancellor statusquOblinger and the results of his (lack of) leadership from Holladay Hall.  You can use Friday’s entry announcing the resignation of the Chairman of the Board of Trustees as your home base for that discussion for the time being; but, please recognize that there will be a lot more coming on these topics.  Some of the comments and perspectives in that entry are fantastic.

The following are some topics and tidbits for today:

  • We hope that you approve of our recent upgrades to the site.  A LOT more is on the way!  Please don’t hesitate to chime in with any observations and ideas that you have that may be of value to us.  This link will take you to some of the entry originally associated with our upgrade.

 

  • This site re-design is going to take a little time for you to become more familiar.  We want to call your attention to the fact that the top three ‘featured’ articles will not always be the most recent articles posted to the site.  The three (or two, or one) “Features” at the top of the page will generally be the more important entries…however, they will not necessarily be the newest entries – therefore, requiring you to scroll the entirety of the front page to insure that you are not missing anything that interests you.  We will actively manage the three “Features” between a balance of ‘newness’ and ‘importance’ and hope that you will/can grow accustomed to checking below the features for other entries of interest.  We would really like to evolve to where readers are actively participating in multiple entries at one time as opposed the community’s historical behavior of primarily focusing on one entry at a time.

 

The key challenges/items to watch for the season as follows:

  1. Secondary – Talent and depth.

  2. Defensive line – Depth and experience.

  3. Offensive line – The improving talent level of this position is very young and inexperienced; will the young talent help elevate the line play?

  4. Linebacker – Young talent that is generally inexperienced and may be pressured if we struggle at the defensive tackle position.

  5. Kicking game – New punter & a kicker who has been working on his range.

  • So, we were very pleased to see the following in Dinich’s comments:

3. Going the distance. Placekicker Josh Czajkowski could be a difference-maker this fall. He was accurate last year (16 of 19 field goals and 33 of 34 PATs), but improved his distance this spring. Czajkowki made a 52-yarder in one of the scrimmages.

 

  • Our weekend open thread focused on some of the athletics events of the weekend. The Wolfpack’s golf and baseball seasons are now officially over and our march towards another last place finish in the Director’s Cup (amongst ACC institutions) continues.  If you are a big baseball fan, then you can view the ACC Tournament pairings by clicking here.

 

  • On the positive front, congratulations are most definitely in order for Matt Hill.

Sophomore Matt Hill continued his winning ways, as he earned medalist honors at the 2009 NCAA Regional Championships, and has advanced to the 2009 NCAA Championships. Hill won his ACC record seventh tournament of the school year, and the sixth in the last seven tournaments overall.
Hill becomes the first golfer since Tim Clark did so in both 1996 and 1997 to win individual medallist honors at the NCAA Regionals. They are the only two Pack golfers to claim such honors as well.

 

  • The Carolina Hurricanes open the Conference Finals tonight in Pittsburgh against the Penguins.  We will do a better job of following the Canes than we have been doing.  Here is a link for the morning of Game One.

 

You can build a roller coaster anywhere; but, eventually they are going to want to go to DisneyLand.

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

'09 Football Non-Revenue Site News

19 Responses to Monday Morning Bytes

  1. ncsukyle430 05/18/2009 at 10:10 AM #

    So will the most recent story be at the top of the home page or just the three featured articles?

    SFN:
    (1) 95% of the time the most recent story will be at the top of the page in a featured position.

    (2) However – especially in times when multiple authors may happen to be publishing multiple stories – entries could jump from the top feature down to the bottom section in a snap in order to allow the top three features remain the most vibrant combination of ‘new’ and ‘important’.

  2. TomPack 05/18/2009 at 10:14 AM #

    Although as a life long NC State fan I am really hating the fact that the investigation makes the school overall look like college version of Tammany Hall with our chancellor being a lesser (and dumber) Boss Tweed perhaps this is just what is needed.

    The “leadership” over the past decade has been a complete disaster and the university is now a shell of its former self when it comes to community and school spirit.

    I grew up in Raleigh and I cannot remember a time as a child when Hillsborough Street around campus wasn’t a hive of activity. Stores were busy, restaurants were full. students walked along the street decked out in State colors/clothing and there was an atmosphere of fun.

    Everything now just seems so dead and the people in charge bear a majority of the blame for it – at every turn it seemed like anything that could take the fun out of a situation was the choice taken by the BOT and school leaders.

    If this investigation gets rid of those at the top who have done so much to kill much of NCSU’s traditions then I am all for it.

    Yes the removal/investigation will be embarrassing but will be for the best in the end if the right choices are made after. I look at this as a necessary but painful surgery…it will be painful in the short term but eventually if all goes well the healing will make all things better.

    We need the old spirit to return. I want the old NCSU back with the tailgating, street parties, community activities and outreach that we were famous for. This is what is missing and as I said if this all leads to a change in leadership then let’s deal with the short-term pain and then focus on the long-term healing and restore this university to its rightful place in all things both academic and athletic.

    Thanks for letting me rant…sometimes you just have to let it out!

  3. choppack1 05/18/2009 at 12:28 PM #

    TomPack – To be fair, I think part of the problem that you are seeing is a direct result of well-intentioned ambition. We wanted to be a big school, we wanted to have the best research facilities and be on the cutting in terms of partnership w/ the business community and academia.

    As a result, you’ve seen a large amout of the development occur on the Western Blvd side of NC State. You’ve got apartments as far as the eye can see in that direction, as a student body has grown and grown. You’ve got the Centenial Campus – the flagship building for the NC State – which occurs – of course, on the Western Blvd side of Hillsborough.

    You have the RBC – which is off campus. I don’t know if this was the vision of Valvano – but I haven’t heard that it was not when he was envisioning this arena.

    Finally, you’ve got a landlord on Hillsborough Street and residents off Hillsborough Street, who have their own desires for the Hillsborough Street area that aren’t congruent w/ a vibrant college town.

    Believe me, I’m not giving this group a pass, but rather saying that we started transitioning to a “commuter-school” a long time ago.

  4. LKNpackfan 05/18/2009 at 12:47 PM #

    Weren’t there some odd zoning decisions made along Hillsborough also?

  5. DRW 05/18/2009 at 1:15 PM #

    Obie asks Mary to resign:

    http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/5166255/

  6. choppack1 05/18/2009 at 1:35 PM #

    LKN – there could have been – that sounds familiar…I wonder who asked for them.

    DRW – interesting. So if Obie thinks Mary should resign – shouldn’t he since he knew about this stink all along and did nothing to stop it. It’s kind of like the manager of a branch of banks knowing that another employee in one of those banks knowing that one of these employees is doing some shady accounting practices and looking the other way until an audit reveals this is an issue. Then, and only then, is said employee asked to resigned by the manager of those branches…It doesn’t exactly screan leadership does it?

  7. tcthdi-tgsf-twhwtnc 05/18/2009 at 1:51 PM #

    The death of Hillsborough Street has more to do with the change in drinking age and the neighbors complaining about the bars that once fed the students back in the 70’s and early 80’s.

    NC State is for the most part a commuter school now so I don’t think you will ever see a return of Hillsborough Street. If there was money to be made a private developer would of come in a done something much like ‘Glenwood South’. The city is going to try and bring it back but no doubt it will fail. Raleigh has been talking about fixing the street back when Glenwood South was still Pine State Milk.

    Their plan is to turn the road into two travel lanes and add a bunch of traffic circles which will ensure I never travel along the road.

  8. StateFans 05/18/2009 at 1:58 PM #

    choppack….are you really going to try to introduce the way the real business world behaves into something related to NC State?

  9. choppack1 05/18/2009 at 2:23 PM #

    Sorry, forgot about that!

  10. VaWolf82 05/18/2009 at 3:23 PM #

    NC State is for the most part a commuter school now so I don’t think you will ever see a return of Hillsborough Street.

    Your comment on the change in drinking age is very valid, but I don’t think that this statement has anything to do with businesses on Hillsborough St. When I was in school in the early 80’s there were enough dorm rooms to house ~5500 of the schools 20,000+ students. Have a significant number (or any) of the dorms been shut down? If not, then there are as many students staying on campus available to visit businesses on Hillsborough St as there ever was.

    As other people have pointed out, the student housing on the far-side of Western Blvd has absolutely exploded since I was in school. If there were any businesses on Hillsborough St worth visiting, then I think that someone living off of Western would patronize them.

  11. GAWolf 05/18/2009 at 4:51 PM #

    The problem I’ve seen is that student housing has progressively moved further and further from campus. There are tons of giant apartment complexes, many of which are of the highly sought after 4 bedroom/4bath with fancy aminities sort, that are going up around Trailwood and stretching out almost to Garner.

    This latest move to change the flow of traffic seems to be an effort to change what could be the downfall of Hillsborough Street (many of the off-campus students moving further and further away from the Hillsborough Street corridor) into what could be the savior by making the street more appealing to the residents (both students and non-students) who live opposite campus near Hillsborough.

    Truthfully, those neighborhoods and their long-time residents are not super-conducive to student-life… especially with the lack of land open to these new, highly-appealing apartment-style buildings.

  12. tcthdi-tgsf-twhwtnc 05/18/2009 at 4:54 PM #

    The 5,000 people on campus are for the most part 18 and 19 year olds. They can only spend so much money on pizza and can’t go to bars. The older students have many more options than the little bars along Hillsborough Street. These options didn’t exist just 10 years ago much less 20 or 30 years ago when there was a lot more activity.

    The closing of Reynolds was the last straw for the street because the games would bring in non-student customers to the area a couple times a week 4-5 months a year.

    If there is any hope for anyone trying to build a business not focused entirely on the young students and some university staff I haven’t seen it. Places come and go and no one has spent any significant personal money along the stretch in many years. Maybe since the Electric Company Mall (I think that was the name) in the early 80’s. Major investors know there is no parking and no customers, two big strikes.

    Don’t get me wrong I think it is great that the city want to spend some money there. It is overdue and NC State provides a lot of tax money to the city and it is time to give one of the major entrances to downtown a face lift. I don’t expect the change will suddenly get people to give up downtown, Glenwood South and the 1000’s of other options in local neighborhoods around the triangle.

    Not to even focus on the fact that those living in the area don’t want the street to be rockin again. They seem not to like having college kids puking and pissing in their yards and will work hard to close any loud and crowded places.

  13. highstick 05/18/2009 at 7:28 PM #

    I can see some validity with the drinking age change, but why did the same thing not happen in Chapel Hill or other college towns? I think it goes further than that, but Hillsborough Street was “crawling with students” in the 60’s and 70’s when I was there. Wish it could regain that same feeling!!

  14. choppack1 05/18/2009 at 8:37 PM #

    highstick – you may not know it, but you touched on a huge part of the problem – Raleigh is NOT a college town, and it doesn’t want to be.

    In your communities like Chapel Hill, Greenville, Clemson, Blacksburg, and Charlottesville – most of the jobs in those areas are associated w/ the university and many of those that don’t work for it chose to live in the town, to be part of the university.

    The deal for Raleigh isn’t quite the same. As the city of Raleigh has exploded, a lot of folks w/out any connection or desire to be part of NC State have moved in the area around Hillsborough Street.

    As someone else mentioned – when men’s basketball left Reynold’s – that was pretty much as she wrote.

    Player’s Retreat and Mitch’s still remain – but not too much else.

    Also, it’s worth noting, the sad fact that no one has had much of a positive reason to crash Hillsborough Street lately probably doesn’t help much.

    Is there such thing as a Hillsborough Hike anymore?

  15. wolfprof 05/18/2009 at 9:22 PM #

    Those who work and go to class in the Hillsborough Street area are pleased with the redevelopment. It is not unusual for pedestrians to be hit crossing the street by speeders oblivious to the fact that they are bordering the campus. These drivers should move to Western, which was designed to be a throughway. The traffic circles and two lanes will slow things down and the median and wider sidewalks will make the Street both more user friendly and pleasant to be on. But as previous posts note, the campus has a huge footprint now with Hillsborough being only a small part of it.

  16. VaWolf82 05/18/2009 at 9:54 PM #

    The 5,000 people on campus are for the most part 18 and 19 year olds. They can only spend so much money on pizza and can’t go to bars.

    There were never that many bars across from State. Ed’s Grocery, My Apartment, Mitch’s….any others? Changing the drinking age certainly killed bars (like Ed’s and Zack’s) that depended on college age kids for business. However, pizza and beer are not the only things that college kids will spend money on.

    The older students have many more options than the little bars along Hillsborough Street. These options didn’t exist just 10 years ago much less 20 or 30 years ago when there was a lot more activity.

    Oh BS! We went all over town 30 years ago. Anywhere with free finger food and 2 for 1 drinks was good enough to draw business.

    The closing of Reynolds was the last straw for the street because the games would bring in non-student customers to the area a couple times a week 4-5 months a year.

    Sorry, but once again I don’t buy it. 15-20 home games a year (many of which would draw less than say 8000 people) would hardly be the difference between business success and bankruptcy.

  17. highstick 05/18/2009 at 10:36 PM #

    You’re forgetting the other end of Hillsborough near the Belltower where the PR is and was, also Darryl’s was there, preceded by the Wolve’s Den. But, as VA Wolf said, we hit bars all over town from the Windmill, Jim Thornton’s, Frog and Nightgown, the Keg. Granted, these stretch over 2-3 decades in historical significance. Lot’s of private parties down Avent Ferry Road at the apartments where it was easy to get a keg.

    I’ve just got a feeling that the atmosphere has been “done in by the PC crowd” and the eggheads living near campus.

  18. choppack1 05/18/2009 at 10:53 PM #

    Here were the bars during the 88-94 time I was in Raleigh.

    You had Bourbon Street, PR, Darryl’s, Sadlacks, Bullwrinkles, the Rathskellar, Barry’s 2, ACC Tavern, Mitch’s, the Lookout, some place in the basement, the 5-0, the Keg, Spike’s, the Cantina, the Comet, East Village, Pantana Bob’s, PB’s pool hall.

    Sadilack’s, Mitch’s, PR and East Village have survived – I think maybe the Comet has too. Bullwrinkles, the Rat, Barry’s, ACC Tavern, the Lookout, that place in the basement, the 5-0, the Keg, Spike’s, PB’s and PB’s Pool hall are kaput I believe.

    When I was there, we occasionally hit the old bar or the Longbranch in Raleigh, but that was about it. Heck, w/ the 1.00 Tuesday’s and Saturday’s – it was hard to keep us away for extended period’s of time from Pantana’s.

    Now, I’m sure kids are warming up elsewhere but hitting the downtown Raleighwood bars and 5 points.

  19. Gene 05/19/2009 at 8:03 PM #

    “why did the same thing not happen in Chapel Hill or other college towns”

    College towns I’ve been to in the last 10 years, which have nice areas off campus, such as Ann Arbor and Princeton, aren’t just catering to college students.

    There are your college student oriented record stores and stuff, but you have nice places where non-students and students (when they can splurge) will visit.

    The last couple of times I’ve been to Franklin Street, the last few years, weren’t to student oriented restaurants / bars.

    The parking ban on the roads behind Hillsborough street, which started in 1995-1996 are one of the biggest culprits for killing businesses and hindering further business development across from Main Campus, because of the limited parking.

    I don’t think going to Five Points or Moore’s Square really is going to hurt student life, as long as there are places to go not too far away. A good bus service to hook these places up to NCSU would do wonders to improve campus life and probably revitalize Hillsborough street.

Leave a Reply