Winning Team-Losing Team would be tons better if when the yell leader first asks "Is that not a score board?" he or she could actually be shown on the scoreboard!

Jeesh - major face palm....

The hanging scoreboard key advantages are:

-Better view for EVERYONE to see the score, players on court point/fouls, stats etc., etc. And the player stats STAY on the board - unlike the 4 corners crap we got now where those stats disappear in a FLASH.

-FULL game stats on some time outs and halftime. As opposed to the pieces of paper stats that seem to randomly be available to some lower bowl/Rohr room through the game and then left lying all around after....

-Better game experience ATMOSPHERE. Visual, Audio, etc.

-A HUGE improvement to team intro's start of every game. WTH, put that Charlie Coles "and that Ozone is gonna be jumpin'" spot on there for EVERY Game!

-Instant REPLAY of big plays. Wanna pump up the crowd - well jeesh - this is so like 20 years ago! And the PLAYERS WANT THAT/LOVE THAT! (And so do recruits for those not getting that angle)

-More income opportunities - Sponsor spots on the structure, and Ads All GAME LONG. And maybe some of them with some humour and entertaining.

-Get the crowd MORE ENGAGED. Instead of prodding from Lou to "Stand for Defense" - MAKE NOISE flashing images on a screen that ALL Can See. DEFENSE, DEFENSE (yeah - like you hear everywhere else with video prompts).

-OU, Oh Yeah - Well the prompt to start is even better.

-Less inane on court/buzz kill promos.

-Kiss cam. OZONE cam. Attack Cat cam (imagine the posing and performing - sponsored by BA???). Do you know where you are cam/AKA Not In OUr house cam - showing visiting team fans - sponsored by Google maps?. Cheerleader cam (so we know we have some). Court Street cam (right after Lou announces "TWO MINUTES, TWO MINUTES"). Got lost on the way to the library cam. Should Nelsonville bypass Highway Patrol cam (or fake map of where they are hiding before you leave for the drive home and get nailed with an additional "contribution" for coming to Athens). Security cam (yellow jacket dude on ramp outside with no one in sight anywhere around him, 3 or 4 in yellow jackets at the turnstiles with no one in sight up and down the outer hall, gal in yellow jacket at a concourse entrance picking her nose with nothing better to do, etc......loads of laughs). The 110 can be playing while any of these "cams" are going......

-LAVA CAKE - LARGE and mouthwatering image.....

And that's just quick typing without thinking about it too much.......

I thought they just announced their partnership with Comcast Spectacor to start the process. That seems like a pretty straightforward way of handling things. I would expect that as a public university they would have to disclose such a decision publicly.

One of the best things about the Convo is - hearing 'Sweet Lou' over the P.A.!

"It's basketball thirty inside the Convocation Center - lets go to the starting lineups!"

Lou is the best in The MAC

I don't post often but you can put me in the "I can't stand our PA announcer" crowd. No offense to Lou (who I'm sure is a really nice guy), but when I say he's truly one of a kind, he really is... as in, not one who should be doing PA announcing for sporting events. He's too colorful and corny. I generally hear better PA announcing at high school events.

A good PA announcer could get the crowd excited without having to tell them to "get agitated." After a player scores you don't have to say "Tony Campbell for the deuce!" Just say his name. I feel like he sometimes thinks he's on the radio too? The people that hear him are there so they know he scored.

An example of a great PA announcer is Olivier Sedra at The Q. And yes, Cleveland had its share of poor announcers prior to him (IE the guy who would say "Let it Snow, let it Snow, let it Snow" when Eric Snow would score.

I hope I'm not opening a can of worms but he's bothered me since day one and if a new scoreboard(s) are on the horizon, we should transform the entire atmosphere visually and audibly when it comes to how we (as Ohio Sports) communicate to the players and fans.

I think Lou does a great job. I like his voice. I like his energy. And his willingness to sit there for hours and hours and do that job during the high school tournament is a testament to his enthusiasm for basketball in the area. I don't like stand up for defense, but I can live with it. [/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Recovering Journalist]
Of all the real and perceived problems with the Convo, Lou never even crossed my mind. I think he does a great job. The only thing I hate is "stand for defense," and I'm pretty sure he's just following marching orders from Schaus there.

If you need a PA announcer to tell you when to cheer, you should probably just stay home! Amazing that the PA announcer has enthusiasm and tries to drive enthusiasm and people complain about it.


I'll refer to my post about a pending new video board, someone on this site will complain about any and everything!

It's something that has bothered me for a long time. For the most part I lurk and entertain myself with the banter (and occasional fun fact or rumors).

I don't have a problem with the PA announcer probing for activity necessarily. It's more the way he goes about it. The colorful way in which he says things is just too corny and unprofessional. It makes the live gameday production and experience seem amateur. As previously noted, the timeout promos and activities don't help.

The PA announcer for the MAC tournament in Cleveland is also really good (I believe he was previously the announcer for the Cavs and may still be the announcer for the Browns).

- A mix of 110 and canned music is fine (more 110 preferred).

- The "stand for defense" isn't his fault.

Moral of the story: we can do much better in the PA announcer department.

Yes...Stand up for defense needs to go away. Drives me nuts. Doesn't work when half the crowd does it and the others don't, so just scrap it. It's not a big deal. It sounded like a good idea, it was flat, let it die.

I like Lou, although I may be biased because he was my high school announcer. He can be a tad corny at times, but I think the crowd overall loves him.

Been listening to these "Lou Classics" for 15 years and they never get old:

Basketball 30
TRAVELING the call
2 minutes...twooooooo minutes

It's something that has bothered me for a long time. For the most part I lurk and entertain myself with the banter (and occasional fun fact or rumors).

I don't have a problem with the PA announcer probing for activity necessarily. It's more the way he goes about it. The colorful way in which he says things is just too corny and unprofessional. It makes the live gameday production and experience seem amateur. As previously noted, the timeout promos and activities don't help.

The PA announcer for the MAC tournament in Cleveland is also really good (I believe he was previously the announcer for the Cavs and may still be the announcer for the Browns).

- A mix of 110 and canned music is fine (more 110 preferred).

- The "stand for defense" isn't his fault.

Moral of the story: we can do much better in the PA announcer department.