Game Cancelled

[Chief00]

Rentschler Field has been the designated USNG staging area for years. It's such a freaking shame and disgrace that they couldn't schedule this Hurricane for a more opportune time for UConn Football.

Why don't you go ahead and tell them they should wait to get supplies so we can watch the 3rd unit play Fordham in the second half on Thursday night.

 

[Chief00]

Just because you have done the same dumb thing for years isn't an excuse for lack of flexibility toward change or using some creativity when the unexpected happens. People deserve and can get water elsewhere. The reason there has been no job growth in this state for over 20 yrs is the dumb attitudes of many voters who tolerant some ineptitude.

 

[BlueMAB]

Just because you have done the same dumb thing for years isn't an excuse for lack of flexibility toward change or using some creativity when the unexpected happens. People deserve and can get water elsewhere. The reason there has been no job growth in this state for over 20 yrs is the dumb attitudes of many voters who tolerant some ineptitude.

There has been plenty of job growth.....in the public sector.

 

[uconnbill]

why not use the Yale bowl which is more centrally located to the area's worst hit by the storm damage. If you look at north central Connecticut they have the best situation for power and the least amount of damage.

Didn't happen? Please tell the folks in Southern CT and Western CT it didn't happen, because it would be a big shock to them.

Mail them a letter. Since they don't have any power. That's if the letter even gets there, since the roads are impassible.

 

[Chief00]

The last high profile time someone used a stadium as a disaster site - we had the Katrina disaster - and the Super Dome debacle. So amazingly our brillant Gov Malloy pulls out Bush 43's Fema Director Brownie's playbook and repeats it. Unbelievable.

 

[HuskyBandDad]

The Rent is absolutely not the best place to do this. No sleeping areas for guardsmen - they were sleeping on cots in the concession area.
They should have used the State guard armories for distribution and we have a national guard rifle range that they just upgraded in East Haven 1 mile from I-95 with plenty of room to do what they are doing and much closer to the hardest hit areas on the shoreline. They also need to investigate the rumors that the the power companies are not letting the guys work any overtime and the crews that came from out of state do not have any supervision and do not know what to do.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

Some people on this thread disgust me.

 

[junglehusky]

DAN MALLOY DOES NOT CARE ABOUT BLACK PEOPLE.

 

[metsfan2323]

Anyone know if Cabelas had to close down for the disaster relief effort? I'm assuming they would as customers would only get in the way.

 

[CL82]

"What happened here was someone pulled out a plan and never thought about a $4 million net revenue event that the state could desperately use right now. How do I know that? Because they didn't cancel the game until 6 pm two days before it was supposed to be played. It wasn't any one's decision to pick commodity storage at Rentschler over a very profitable night for the state university, it just happened. Any by the time anyone realized there was a conflict, it was too late to do anything about it. "

Spot on a lot of levels. If the Rent is the only location to get people life saving help, then of course the game takes second place, but that isn't what's going on. There are plenty of places from which to stage sending water to municipalities. Cancelling a major revenue event at a time the state is struggling is incredibly short sighted.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

A few things.

First, God bless the men and women serving our state and our country in the armed forces. This has nothing to do with their efforts. It was not their decision to use the Rent as their staging area.

Secondly, I fully recognize that some in this state have lost their homes, a few people have lost their lives, and thousands upon thousands have lost power.

With that being said, the decision to deploy the CT National Guard, at this particular location, is just asinine. If this was a matter of life and death, and there wasn't ANY OTHER LOCATION IN THE ENTIRE STATE OF CT available, I could care less if they cancelled the game. And despite zls and few other's attempt to demogouge those who dared to question the decisions here, the fact that a 7 figure payday to the state's flagship university is entirely relevant here.

This is a decision that defies all logic, both financially to the state and for those in need. Until zls or someone else can tell me why a unit of 100 soldiers cannot use another location that will not cost the state over $1 million, this will be my prevailing opinion. I will listen to these reasons with an open mind. For Pete's sake an operation of this size and scope can be staged in a high school parking lot closer to the actual areas of need. My God this is such a stupid decision.

 

[TMB4405]

Absolutely 100% correct. Can't add much more except that given 48 hours notice this whole thing could have been moved anywhere within 100 miles. I trust our National Guard could orchestrate such a move and probably could have been out of there by tonight.

I am angered the game is postponed, however the inflexibility of our state govermnet coupled with a lack of abilty to think outside the box drive me absolutely insane. If this game is not played at some point this weekend it will be an absolute absurdity.

 

[BlueMAB]

despite zls and few other's attempt to demogouge those who dared to question the decisions here, the fact that a 7 figure payday to the state's flagship university is entirely relevant here.

This is a decision that defies all logic, both financially to the state and for those in need. Until zls or someone else can tell me why a unit of 100 soldiers cannot use another location that will not cost the state over $1 million, this will be my prevailing opinion. I will listen to these reasons with an open mind. For Pete's sake an operation of this size and scope can be staged in a high school parking lot closer to the actual areas of need. My God this is such a stupid decision.

You're late to the party. I don't know who else you are accusing besides zls, but I was one of the first to propose an alternate location down the street with the caveat that I didn't know what it took to move operations.

After hearing it's only 100 men and women, I don't understand why they can't move it with a few days' notice, either and this is clearly a screw up.

I'm still amazed that people are literally insulted by zls' opinion, but not the mets fan who said the hurricane never happened. Who essentially argued that 400,000 people without power is nothing more than an inconvenience, but 35,000 people having to change their plans from Thursday to Saturday is an unforgiveable act of treason.

Also, people keep arguing the game is being canceled and the state is losing money. What part of "postponed" is so confusing? There is the possibility the game gets canceled, but they are attempting to reschedule, and as of now, the game is postponed, NOT canceled.

 

[metsfan2323]

Listen Wingnut, I never said the Hurricane didn't happen. I said the government prepared for a level of disaster that did not take place. We were spared from a Katrina like disaster. I'm very sorry about the three people who died in CT, but three people die every day in CT in car accidents. Maybe you think we should cancel all sports forever because someone might die on the way to the game. Do you think the sport of football should be banished because of what happened to the Rutgers player last year?

And if you think losing power for a few days is a disaster, then you don't know the definition of the word you idiot.

 

[Samoo]

- for those who think there are other alternatives to stage: They do exist, but not as suitable as the Rent's centrally located large parking area close to various links at an unfloodable elevation with no trees to fall and get in the way. Those vacant warehouses can't be used in planning because they may become occupied down the road. And just like a large company needs distribution warehouses to send products to the field, the NG needs a distribution site to send supplies to smaller satellite sites. I know some the hate government, but their are experts who do put some forethought into siting these things.
- as to lost revenue: $4 million the school/state is losing is minor compared to the overall revenues that the state has and will lose due to the hurricane and clean up.
- bad press from canceling the game? - turn it into good press (and maybe get the NG out of there a little faster) by having the team (who now have a free Thursday) head down to the Rent on Thursday and helping the NG out. It should make ESPN and will certainly make the local news if played correctly. The state bonds with the team and even more CT kids grow up thinking UCONN is the right school for them.

 

[UCDaveD]

- bad press from canceling the game? - turn it into good press (and maybe get the NG out of there a little faster) by having the team (who now have a free Thursday) head down to the Rent on Thursday and helping the NG out. It should make ESPN and will certainly make the local news if played correctly. The state bonds with the team and even more CT kids grow up thinking UCONN is the right school for them.

I think that would be a really cool idea. Don't know if it's feasible though. They probably have class, no?

 

[husky91]

Please. This is beyond idiotic. NJ was hit harder than CT and somehow Giants Stadium isn't shut down, nor is Fenway, Citi Field or others.

This idea that this is a higher purpose is lunacy. Just simple coordination. I agree, another failure of many from Malloy.

Leas

Some people on this thread disgust me.[/quot

 

[husky222]

Please. This is beyond idiotic. NJ was hit harder than CT and somehow Giants Stadium isn't shut down, nor is Fenway, Citi Field or others.

This idea that this is a higher purpose is lunacy. Just simple coordination. I agree, another failure of many from Malloy.

Leas

 

[EdgewoodNHV]

I'm torn on this.

On one hand, I think half the people posting to this board are a bunch of ungrateful brats with absolutely no sympathy except for themselves and their own interest in football. All this talk about other locations and the Governor and how the National Guard should just pick up and move so we can watch some football is just childish whining.

On the other hand, this situation could've been handled better, certainly. If this was a possibility, it probably should've been discussed much earlier. The extremely late notice is an obvious disappointment to us all.

However, a bunch of die-hard UConn fans trying to make the case that they are in a better position than government officials to make these calls with a trivially small amount of information from the media, and acting like it's in the best interest of the state because UConn makes a bunch of money, is laughable.

I'm as disappointed as anybody else (well, maybe not anybody, but severely disappointed), but some of the comments in this thread are disturbingly selfish and childish. At the end of the day, it's a game. Even if The Rent is only 10% more efficient than the next best location, who the heck am I to presume my entertainment is more important than delivering an efficient, timely response to the state?

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

Loop - there's 100 soldiers. It's not legitimate to question this? We're all selfish? The government knows best? I wonder who you voted for?

 

[EdgewoodNHV]

Loop - there's 100 soldiers. It's not legitimate to question this? We're all selfish? The government knows best? I wonder who you voted for?

No, but people are acting like this is some black and white situation, like relocating 100 soldiers and however many vehicles and other equipment is somehow no big deal and anybody who disagrees is some kind of idiot.

I bet if you polled the entire state of, "Which is more important: playing football on Thursday or delivering supplies in as efficient a manner as possible?", I sincerely doubt the UConn football would win.

We may be the majority on Internet message boards, but there's 3.5 million people in this state, and not all of them think moving an entire base of operations is no biggie in comparison to making sure a football game goes on as scheduled.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

And for the record, I don't object to your opinion or anyone else's for that matter. But I do object to your sanctimonious self righteous bullcrap.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

No, but people are acting like this is some black and white situation, like relocating 100 soldiers and however many vehicles and other equipment is somehow no big deal and anybody who disagrees is some kind of idiot.

I bet if you polled the entire state of, "Which is more important: playing football on Thursday or delivering supplies in as efficient a manner as possible?", I sincerely doubt the UConn football would win.

We may be the majority on Internet message boards, but there's 3.5 million people in this state, and not all of them think moving an entire base of operations is no biggie in comparison to making sure a football game goes on as scheduled.

False choice and a strawman argument. Not one poster in these 8 pages, not one, even hinted that was the case.

 

[businesslawyer]

The anti-government crap that follows all disasters is mind numbing. If Katrina happens, everyone screams about government incompetency for looking impotent when the worst occurs. If Irene's effect on Connecticut, which other than power loss was not as bad as feared, doesn't appear life threatening, people criticize government for planning for the worse (picking the absolute best site for an operation regardless of the site's normal uses) when it turns out less is necessary and any site would have done (which, in this case, is certainly true).

Basically, you simply want the government to know the exact effect of the disaster before it happens and plan exactly for that. Hypocritical crybabies.

And if the game does not occur Saturday, shame on UConn for having no contingent plan. What if the Earthquake last week rendered the Rent unusable until a thorough inspection? Or if East Hartford was hit by a hurricane? UConn needs the game, and the win, under its belt. Play at Willowbrook Stadium. Play it at Strong. Absorb the financial hit (which is not material, by the way, to the total damage caused the the storm) and get the game in so we're ready for Vandy.

 

[gars44]

Loop, I don't think that's a valid argument. You could poll the state on a lot of issues, like, should there even be a football team? Should Jim Calhoun make what he makes? Should the state have spent so much money on Rentschler Field when people are starving in Bridgeport? On and on. You can get almost any result you want in a plebiscite. What we needed here was a rational decision by our leadership, a decision that easily could have been made to accommodate both interests. It would not have been that difficult. Just because many people in the state don't care about football does not prove your point. Many people in the state don't believe in Aid to Families With Dependent Children either. Many people don't believe that the tropical storm victims should be bailed out by the state at all. This is why we have leadership.