READ TODAY'S STORIES AND E-EDITION
SUBSCRIBE
|
CONTACT US
|
SIGN IN
news
sports
business
scene
opinion
obits
blogs
comics
multimedia
weather
jobs
autos
homes
pets
classifieds
search
OU
|
OSU
|
TU
|
ORU
|
HIGH SCHOOLS
|
THUNDER
|
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
|
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
|
NFL
|
OUTDOORS
|
GOLF
|
PROS
|
ALL
@TWSportsExtra
HOMEPAGES
OU Sooners
OSU Cowboys
TU Golden Hurricane
ORU Golden Eagles
High School Sports
College Football
2012 High School Football Preview
2012 College Football Preview
SPORTS EXTRA BLOGS
OKC Thunder
OU Sooners
OSU Cowboys
TU Golden Hurricane
ORU Golden Eagles
High School Sports
Sports Writer Jimmie Tramel
Outdoors Writer Kelly Bostian
Fantasy Football
Pro Baseball
FOR THE RECORD
Scores, statistics and standings for local and national sports.
LOCAL PROS
Tulsa 66ers
Tulsa Drillers
Tulsa Oilers
Tulsa Shock
Tulsa Talons
Oklahoma City Thunder
ALL SPORTS
Golf
Horse racing
Major League Baseball
Motorsports
NBA
NFL
NHL
Other sports
PHOTOS & VIDEOS
OU photo slide shows
OSU photo slide shows
TU photo slide shows
College football highlights
OUTDOORS
Home page
Kelly Bostian's columns
Kelly Bostian's blogs
Videos
Slide shows
FIND A STORY
Search the World's archives
EMAIL ALERTS
OU Sooners
OSU Cowboys
TU Golden Hurricane
High Schools
SOCIAL MEDIA
Sports Extra on Facebook
@TWSportsExtra
@MGPeters23
@EricBaileyTW
@MikeBrownTW
@GuerinEmig
@BillHaisten
@KellyHinesTW
@JohnEHoover
@JohnKleinTW
@BarryLewisTW
@JimmieTramel
@ThePicker
@kellybostian
@TWfantasyworld
RSS FEEDS
OU Sooners
OSU Cowboys
TU Golden Hurricane
ORU Golden Eagles
High School Football
John Klein Columns
Picker columns
CONTACT US
Editors
Michael Peters
Sports Editor
Patrick Prince
Asst. Sports Editor
Columnists
John Klein
Sr. Columnist
John E. Hoover
Columnist
Writers
Eric Bailey
OU sports, Big 12 sports
Guerin Emig
OU sports
Jimmie Tramel
OSU sports, ORU sports
Kelly Hines
OSU sports
Bill Haisten
TU sports, Thunder
Barry Lewis
High Schools, Drillers
Mike Brown
High Schools, Shock
Kelly Bostian
Outdoors
BUY PHOTOS & PAGES
Buy a published photo by clicking the "Order this Picture" link on the photo. For a full-color page reprint, call 732-8198 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday or
order online
.
ADVERTISE ON SPORTS EXTRA
Learn more about the site.
Your bookmark will appear on your Profile page. Please give it a title,
and short description so that visitors to your page will understand where
the bookmark leads.
Bookmark Title :
Bookmark Text :
Perfect Storm Crushed TU
Published:
11/16/2009 8:20 AM
Last Modified:
11/16/2009 8:20 AM
The crowd at Tulsa's Sunday night game with East Carolina was far closer to 1,700 than the announced crowd of 17,453.
There are a number of reasons why TU's footall attendance has fallen off the edge of the earth in recent weeks. It all adds up to a perfect storm that put an empty Chapman Stadium on national television on Sunday night.
All of the advantages of being on national television are the reasons why schools like Tulsa will play on any day and at any time.
But, there is a down side, too.
Tulsa is suffering through one of its worst seasons in the last seven years. Fans, spoiled by success in Conference USA, won't get excited to go out to a game for a team that is struggling to get to .500 on the year. TU, 4-6, lost its fifth straight game on Sunday night.
In addition, Sunday night is a bad night to attract football fans in Tulsa. It is church night. And, folks have to be at work on Monday morning.
Finally, add in horrible weather. It was cold and wet.
Put all of those factors together and that's when you get a crowd that resembles a Rogers-Edison high school game.
TU athletic director Bubba Cunningham needs to think long and hard before he accepts any more late-season, off-day games just to get on national television.
What can be an advantage can turn into an ugly, late-season game played in a virtually empty stadiuim.
Reader Comments
3 Total
Show:
Newest First
Learn About Our Comment Policy
Arbythree
(3 years ago)
Well said John.
GoFigure
(3 years ago)
It's not just the weather or the Sunday night scheduling, or the fact that people have to get up and work on Sunday. It's just got to be the worst fourth quarter effort by a quarterback I've ever seen. Come on, the guy gives the pirates three turnovers in less than four minutes and they return each one for a touchdown?? He three interceptions and fumbled twice leading to four touchdowns for the visiting Pirates. It was like Christmas for them in the fourth quarter I'm sure. The TU defense played hard in this one. Kept giving the inept offense a chance to win or tie. Leaving that quarterback in was just wrong. What's this coach thinking. It's sad to watch on TV and who would want to be there???? Malsalns' gone now, and it's looking like the old Keith Burns show all over again to me!!!
Lance-a-lot
(3 years ago)
Don't forget the Colts and Pats were the Sunday night game on NBC. Attendance killer for TU. Fortunately, it also served as a ratings killer so not many people saw the empty stadium and ugly football.
3 comments displayed
To post comments on tulsaworld.com, you must be an active Tulsa World print or digital subscriber and signed into your account.
To sign in to your account, go to
tulsaworld.com/signin
.
To activate your print subscription for unlimited digital access and to post comments, go to
tulsaworld.com/activate
.
To purchase a subscription, go to
tulsaworld.com/subscribe
.
Submitting your comment, please wait...
Klein's Korner
Tulsa World senior sports columnist John Klein is in his fourth decade of covering sports. He started his newspaper career at The Daily Ardmoreite in 1977 and moved to the Tulsa World in 1978. He served 10 years as sports editor for the Tulsa World before being named to his current position in 2005. He also spent five years as the Southwest Conference beat writer for the Houston Post. He has won many writing awards and is a former Oklahoma Sports Writer of the Year.
Follow John Klein on Twitter
Subscribe to this blog
Archive
Past Articles By John Klein
2/17/2013
John Klein: Intense Bedlam battle is reminder of what rivalry used to be like
2/15/2013
John Klein: LeBron, Heat show they're still the ones to beat
2/14/2013
John Klein: By cutting wrestling, IOC makes a serious blunder
2/11/2013
John Klein: Expect the unexpected in college basketball
2/10/2013
John Klein: Eddie Sutton discusses declining basketball attendance
2/8/2013
John Klein: Schools play numbers game by recruiting out-of-state
2/7/2013
John Klein: Cowboys overcome rough performance with win over Baylor
2/4/2013
John Klein: Victory at KU makes Cowboys a team to watch
2/3/2013
John Klein: Loss proves OU still short of Big 12 elite
2/1/2013
John Klein: Marcus Smart and OSU could use big win at Kansas
1/31/2013
John Klein: Big 12 at peace in 10-team structure
1/21/2013
Classic still just 'catching fish'
John Klein's Blog Archive:
2/2013
1/2013
12/2012
11/2012
10/2012
9/2012
8/2012
7/2012
6/2012
5/2012
4/2012
3/2012
2/2012
1/2012
12/2011
11/2011
10/2011
9/2011
8/2011
7/2011
6/2011
5/2011
4/2011
3/2011
2/2011
1/2011
12/2010
11/2010
10/2010
9/2010
8/2010
7/2010
6/2010
5/2010
4/2010
3/2010
2/2010
1/2010
12/2009
11/2009
10/2009
9/2009
8/2009
7/2009
6/2009
5/2009
4/2009
3/2009
2/2009
1/2009
12/2008
11/2008
10/2008
9/2008
8/2008
7/2008
6/2008
5/2008
4/2008
3/2008
2/2008
1/2008
12/2007
11/2007
10/2007
9/2007
8/2007
7/2007
6/2007
5/2007
4/2007
3/2007
2/2007
1/2007
12/2006
11/2006
10/2006
9/2006
8/2006
Home
|
Contact Us
|
Search
|
Subscribe
|
Customer Service
|
About
|
Advertise
Copyright
© 2013, World Publishing Co. All rights reserved.