DuqBlue wrote:

Styles1229 wrote:

DuqBlue wrote:

Tremendous publicity. On ESPN front page. Complete with the head coach making disparaging remarks about Duquesne.

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/35533170/duquesne-reviews-safety-policy-food-delivery-prank

anyone who thinks this is bad publicity does not know anything about marketing

Using your logic it would have been better if the prankster stabbed someone. That would have made the front page of every paper. Not just the sports section.

Yes, there is bad publicity.

The US does not live in a world of “Eat Me” cakes anymore. Children get shot in school. Old people in the grocery store. The athletes and fan’s safety at sporting events is not a joke. And should not be treat like one.

Please explain to me how does this benefit the University. How is one benefit going to come to the university because of this?

I didn't say "there is no such thing as bad publicity."  I said "anyone who thinks THIS is bad publicity does not know anything about marketing."

All day long yesterday people around the country were talking about Duquesne.  It was a fun story.  Any pundit or morning tv personality who talked about it did so with a smile on their face.  nobody nationally drilled down to the safety concerns - they just told the story with a smile on their face and 100s of thousands of people were thinking about Duquesne - maybe clicking on the website, or learning about the school.  I do things like that when a national news story mentions a college i'm otherwise unfamiliar with.  that is good publicity.  No one around the nation thinks Duquesne's shoddy security is so bad that they would be afraid to send their kid there.  And in 8 months they'll likely forget all the details about what happened but they might remember the school.  AND, if we make it to the Tourney you can bet this story will resurface and we can be the underdog team everybody roots for.  How about that for a possible benefit?

Last edited by Styles1229 (1/27/2023 10:53 am)

"There's no such thing as bad publicity" is attributed to P. T. Barnum, who made a few bucks in the entertainment industry. Oscar Wilde said: "There's only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." 

That said, I understand the official DU response about tightening up security. There are a lot of guns out there. What I can't figure out is how food was brought in. When I go to a sporting event, they won't let me bring in a Life Saver or Luden's Wild Cherry cough drop. They want me buy expensive ones inside.

Last edited by scduke (1/27/2023 4:32 pm)

luckymcd wrote:

As others have said I’m publicly being asked about Duquesne for the second time since I graduated in 2004. I’m hoping against the odds that the next time is actually something I want to talk about. If we can agree there is a such thing as bad publicity I think this one qualifies.

Pretty much everyone who has asked me about it their first question is “how does that happen?” I’ve assumed the “delivery guy” was a student and if so used his ID to get into the game. That’s been my answer to questions about how he even got in.

As for bringing the food in the middle of winter he could have very easily tucked it in his jacket. Back before Palumbo started serving beer my circle would regularly bring 3 liter bottles in under someone’s jacket and pass it around during games. Sure security is a lot tighter now than it was then, but most events I go to simply do meta detectors. Obviously nothing in a bag of food would set that off.

The fact of the matter is this could happen at countless arenas around the country. How many arenas have fans right off of the court with no barricade? I’d guess far more than don’t. The perception that comes out of this though is that nobody goes to Duquesne games and those that do aren’t secure. So I’d say that qualifies as bad publicity.

Not to mention, we had half our team shot up once by crazy kids and lax security.