Shocker Madness?

[ShockerFever]

Shocker Madness will be announced a week or two before the event and it will be on a weeknight, because, hey, why the hell should WSU give a **** if anyone from out of town would like to attend?

Nailed it. Unfortunately.

[Aargh]

Shocker Madness counts as a practice. Marshall hates giving up a real practice to have a coached pickup game scrimmage.

Under Marshall, Shocker Madness doesn't take priority over getting the team ready for the season, so (apparently) it's viewed as a necessary evil. There's no need to promote the team to the public to sell tickets.

[Cdizzle]

Shocker Madness counts as a practice. Marshall hates giving up a real practice to have a coached pickup game scrimmage.

Under Marshall, Shocker Madness doesn't take priority over getting the team ready for the season, so (apparently) it's viewed as a necessary evil. There's no need to promote the team to the public to sell tickets.

I think a lot of this is pretty close to the truth. However, there can be benefits for promoting the public to the team, and potential future members of said team.

[ShockerGorilla]

Shocker Madness will be announced a week or two before the event and it will be on a weeknight, because, hey, why the hell should WSU give a **** if anyone from out of town would like to attend?

I must have missed where the Shockers play all of their games on weekends.

[ShockerEngineer]

I must have missed where the Shockers play all of their games on weekends.

Still a good point. This isn't a game, it's an event they completely control and if they wanted to maximize the number of people attending they probably should have it on a weekend.

[ShockerGorilla]

Still a good point. This isn't a game, it's an event they completely control and if they wanted to maximize the number of people attending they probably should have it on a weekend.

But they still get 10,506 people on weekday games. If people aren't coming, it's not a time of week issue--it's a content issue.

[_kai_]

Would be cool if they had it on a Saturday since we don't have football, and have a tailgate starting in the early afternoon with the festivities starting at 6 or 7.

[ShockerPhi]

But they still get 10,506 people on weekday games. If people aren't coming, it's not a time of week issue--it's a content issue.

Also if the coach and administration don't take it seriously, neither will the public. Obviously us die hard fans like to take it seriously so we can get a good look at the new guys and it just helps break the long wait of the off season. But the more casual fan probably doesn't care enough to show up because it's not advertised as a very fun ordeal.

[ShockdaWorld]

I think the other issue may be the short time between when they say it is and when it is. We know months ahead of time when games will be. This is a week or so. Makes it a little more difficult.

[ShockerEngineer]

I think the other issue may be the short time between when they say it is and when it is. We know months ahead of time when games will be. This is a week or so. Makes it a little more difficult.

Bingo.. Speaking from personal experience, I'm a lot less likely to go to something right after work, on a weekday, on relatively short notice.

[pinstripers]

I think the other issue may be the short time between when they say it is and when it is. We know months ahead of time when games will be. This is a week or so. Makes it a little more difficult.

Agree 100%. really halfassed

[SHOCKvalue]

Personally, I don't understand the correlation that has been made between Shocker Madness and regular season games by some in the thread. Totally apples and oranges, at least from my perspective.

Big time programs have big time preseason shows for their fans, almost without exclusion. I'm not sure if I would say we are "big time" quite yet (next rung down perhaps), but Shocker Madness is not even an impressive event from a non-P5 perspective. It is honestly an embarrassment to the otherwise impressive state of the program.

Sadly, I think we have a lot of people employed by the WSU AD that are simply around to collect a check. I'm not sure when AD leadership will change such that this will end, but there are several things about the WSU athletic department that are low-major style, and the WSU AD corporate status quo seems perfectly okay with that.

[ShockerGorilla]

Personally, I don't understand the correlation that has been made between Shocker Madness and regular season games by some in the thread. Totally apples and oranges, at least from my perspective.

That's my point. It shouldn't be apples & oranges. It should have the same interest as a regular season game, where the students wait outside for hours to get the best seat--much like that school to the northeast of us.

[ShockdaWorld]

-much like that school to the northeast of us.

This statement, based on it's own merits makes me think we shouldn't have it at all. The less we can be like those bubble boys, the better.

Edit: Yes, that was at least partially sarcastic.

[ArtVandalay]

I for one would like to attend Shocker Madness and have wanted to the last several years, but like the other comments, the late notice for a Thursday night at 6 or 7 event has made it difficult.

Do we want to be like the "major" programs? Maybe we don't. Everyone in college basketball has heard of Late Night at the Phog, Countdown to Craziness, Big Blue Madness, etc. These often get TV attention and attention from recruits.

We are not those programs, but to me, I ask the question, would we want potential recruits or the national media at Shocker Madness in its current state? I'd venture to guess that would be a "no." So, while we don't have the history and National Championships of the "blue bloods", I certainly think we have one of if not the best fan base/arena/atmospheres in the NCAA, and feel Shocker Madness could/should showcase this.