Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Another Razorback Comment

GVH has left a new comment on your post "Razorbacks":

NW ARKANSAS HAS ITS OWN GEOGRAPHICAL , POLITICAL, CULTURAL, AND ECONOMIC IDENTITY WHICH IS PERFECTLY FINE. I AM A NATIVE ARKANSAN (LITTLE ROCK) AND SEE NO PROBLEM IN THAT REGARD. I NOW LIVE OUTSIDE OF ARKANSAS BUT FOLLOW THE HOGS CLOSELY AND VISIT THE STATE FREQUENTLY. ARKANSAS WAS, IS, AND ALWAYS WILL BE 'RAZORBACK COUNTRY' FROM THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER TO THE OZARKS. I AM ALWAYS IMPRESSED BY THE PASSIONATE INTEREST AND THEIR DEVOTED FANS STATEWIDE (THIS IS NOT THE CASE WITH MOST OTHER STATES OR SCHOOLS). THE FANS (AS EVERYWHERE) ARE MORE CRITICAL THAN 1960S 1970S DURING THE KAAY/COACH BROYLES ERA, AND ARE CONSTANTLY CRITIQUED BY THE SATURATED MEDIA (ESPN, BLOGS, ETC.) COVERAGE. I RECALL THE DAYS OF EVERYONE WEARING RED, AND GETTING THOSE 'BEAT TEXAS' OR 'BEAT SMU' BUTTONS FROM KAAY OR A LOCAL BANK. YOU LISTENED TO GAMES ON RADIO AS THEY WERE RARELY ON TV. EVERYONE WAS LISTENING TO FOOTBALL AND THE HOGS. FANS HAD LITTLE IF ANY INTEREST IN OTHER SCHOOLS NATIONALLY (NOTRE DAME MIGHT HAVE BEEN SOME EXCEPTION) AND ARKANSAS STATE AND AIC FOOTBALL WERE 'SMALL COLLEGE TEAMS'. BUT OF COURSE ARKANSAS WAS AN ELITE SWC TEAM THEN(USUALLY 2ND TO TEXAS) AND IS NOW A RESPECTABLE BUT MEDIOCRE SEC TEAM SINCE MOVING TO THAT CONFERENCE. LOSING IS NOT SO FUN, BUT I THINK COMPLAINTS ABOUT THE UA ATHLETIC PROGRAMS ARE MOSTLY A REFLECTION OF OUR INTOLERANT, IMPATIENT, CRITICAL SOCIETY OF THE YEAR 2008. YES, I DO MISS THE OLD DAYS OF LISTENING TO RAZORBACKS ON KAAY (BUD CAMPBELL) - MAYBE I MISS THE OLD DAYS MORE THAN THE FOOTBALL GAMES.
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Thanks for the thoughtful and right on comment. I hadn't thought of Bud Campbell in years. Maybe you have touched on the reason there seemed to be more support in the "good old days". With the games only on radio, escept for an occasional bowl game, radio did more promotion than they do today, because the were the center of attention and you had multiple stations in a market carrying the same game. Therefore the stations tried to out promote each other.

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