You Ask, He Answers In Another Edition Of “Hootie’s Mailbag”

The popular Mailbag is back with some of our readers’ questions, answered by yours truly. If you have a question, send it to the following email address:

In honor of how my old friend Bill Millsaps used to answer his readers’ when he was sports editor in Richmond, we always start ours off just like he did:

The reader writes …

Question from Anthony E in Las Vegas: Hey Jerry, when do you think the rest of the country will begin to notice Bryce Perkins?

Hootie: Tony, I think that’s starting to pick up. I was listening to Rick Neuheisel on ESPNU radio’s “Full Ride” show today (a very cool show by the way) on XM Sirius Radio and Neuheisel mentioned Perkins a couple of times and said people should make sure to watch both Perkins and N.C. State’s Ryan Finley on Saturday. If the Cavaliers can beat the Wolfpack, and if Perkins has a good game, I think even more people will take notice. Those hurdles last week over would-be Louisville tacklers caused quite a buzz in the college football world.

Question from Phil G. in Roanoke: Hootie, I noticed on your Twitter from the Louisville game that there was quite a reaction to you posting that there were only 34,000 and change in attendance. What sorts of comments were made?

Hootie: Hey Phil, thanks for your question. There were all kinds of responses, some agreeing that it was embarrassing for a Power 5 school, playing its conference opener at home in a very big early season game, before so few fans; while some had reasons/explanations why either they or other fans didn’t show.

Here are some of those reactions:

• UVa fans gotta support win or lose. Don’t call yourself a fan if you support just during the good times.
• Two unaddressed factors: big increases in youth travel sports, which crushes time and budgets with kinds 9-16. Idiots having more fall weddings.
• National university that lets in the top 10 percent of the class. The brightest students from other states probably could care less about UVa football.
• One factor I rarely see mentioned is it’s hard to plan to attend a game when you have no idea when the game will start.
• The security lines take way too long. Need to fix that.
• Students need to step up and support their team.
• Have more mass transportation to and from the game. You can catch a bus from Alumni Hall but not back.
• The VAF and the athletics department helped create this with the seating shake up a number of years ago. Chasing away loyal fans by trying to get higher donations in conjunction with having a subpar product on the field isn’t a recipe for success.
• Hey, it’s worse in Chapel Hill, Hootie.
• Drop the prices to start out. As they win, demand for tickets will increase and you can increase prices. Born and raised here and would love to go, but a family of seven, we can’t afford it.
• I worked the BC at Wake Forest game last week and was surprised to see Wake sold beer. Not that I want to see a bunch of inebriated fans, but I think it would help and would increase revenue.
• We didn’t lose fans overnight. If memory serves, decline not only was tied to weak performance on field, but very closely coded with new seating schemes and priorities.
• Sustained winning is the easy out of an answer, but at some point UVa fans need to step up and make the leap. We are good. Selling cold been could help, too.
• Need to improve the atmosphere. No intensity from the stadium.
• That walk is a hike, and on narrow sidewalks.
• It’s going to take time. I told a senior athletic department official that my economic development experience tells me the days of consistently posting 60k+ crowds are over. Bad traffic from DMV/757 is a factor. C’Ville/R’mond doesn’t have population base to do it every game.
• I am excited and hopeful about the new university leadership and would love to see more efforts like today [last Saturday] providing free tickets to military/families. I would like to see more, but it was one encouraging step and shows a willingness to workshop fan outreach to improve gameday experience.
• WiFi was available in the stadium as of Saturday’s game, so that’s a huge improvement.
• Improvements need to be made internally, video board, marketing/promotions. Also, re-entry after halftime would make a difference.

Question from Jenny in Hampton: I would like to know what it is like watching games from a football press box. Fans never get that opportunity and it has a mystique about it to all of us. What is it like, what is the atmosphere in there?

Hootie: Jenny, that’s a very good question. Well, the rule of thumb is – and the great Red Smith wrote a book entitled this once upon a time – “No cheering in the press box.” No cheering, applause, yelling allowed, and that’s a rule that everyone adheres to. Break those rules and you’re going to get tossed and have your credentials revoked, so in that respect it’s a very professional atmosphere.

Most everyone is working and paying close attention to the game, writing what we call a “running” game story that can be filed at the final whistle, or tweeting, or just taking detailed notes.

It’s not quite as rowdy as it used to be because there are fewer and fewer “characters” in the business nowadays. There’s still a little joking around, but miniscule compared to 15 to 20 years ago.

One cool thing is that each week is kind of like a reunion of writers, broadcasters, and others, that you’ve known over the years, so it’s a chance to visit and catch up.

Yes, there are meals served at all football press boxes, usually good meals, plus a halftime snack and post-game pizza, so most media leaves stadiums a little heavier than when they entered.

Postgame, after interviews, those writing on deadline are very focused and into their work, so it’s usually a fairly quiet atmosphere in that respect.