|
Post by motorcitysam on Jun 5, 2020 5:52:14 GMT -5
You called it, Rogobob. Back when they rolled out the "new" branding approach, you told me that we would continue to see more and more references to us as just "Mercy". (Actually sounds like a TV show about a public defender: "Just Mercy".) Well, at least the Mercy advocates are happy. Edit: My mistake. There was already a movie titled Just Mercy.
|
|
|
Post by Commissioner on Jun 5, 2020 9:24:37 GMT -5
You called it, Rogobob. Back when they rolled out the "new" branding approach, you told me that we would continue to see more and more references to us as just "Mercy". (Actually sounds like a TV show about a public defender: "Just Mercy".) Well, at least the Mercy advocates are happy. What a friggin' disaster. I think the damage to the athletic brand--and hence to recruitment, attendance, publicity--has been much worse than most realize. In theory, athletic participation and competition is part of a well-rounded, liberal education. It's a natural extension of that that leads students to want to compete against other schools, just as there are academic conferences and other joint programming. There isn't much about modern, big-time athletics that in part and parcel of a liberal education--indeed it is almost the opposite, since it makes such demands on the players, and increasingly too many of the players are in college not for education, but merely to play sports. At this point in time, universities sponsor D-1 revenue sports not as part of the education, but as indirect support to the educational programs--they build pride and enthusiasm amongst students and alumni (and even the community, witness non-UD guys like me and Moose and Up); they promote the school to attract applicants, money, and favorable PR for other programs; they serve as a form of entertainment and economic activity for the community. The horrific "Mercy" branding works against all of these goals. It is simply #$%^G# ridiculous that this should go on--perhaps every member of the Board of Trustees that has allowed this should wear a button that says, "I am a stubborn moron." Which isn't fair, because they're a pretty accomplished group. But the determination to destroy a respected brand, and the costs it has imposed on the enterprise for which they are rsponsible, would never be tolerated in the private companies so many of them come from.
|
|
|
Post by calihanmole on Jun 5, 2020 11:03:30 GMT -5
If people are interested in our social media campaign and petition to ask the trustees to rename the institution the University of Detroit you can PM me. Honestly, we need more people to help us stay organized and get this off the ground.
|
|
|
Post by motorcitysam on Jun 6, 2020 5:55:00 GMT -5
You called it, Rogobob. Back when they rolled out the "new" branding approach, you told me that we would continue to see more and more references to us as just "Mercy". (Actually sounds like a TV show about a public defender: "Just Mercy".) Well, at least the Mercy advocates are happy. What a friggin' disaster. I think the damage to the athletic brand--and hence to recruitment, attendance, publicity--has been much worse than most realize. In theory, athletic participation and competition is part of a well-rounded, liberal education. It's a natural extension of that that leads students to want to compete against other schools, just as there are academic conferences and other joint programming. There isn't much about modern, big-time athletics that in part and parcel of a liberal education--indeed it is almost the opposite, since it makes such demands on the players, and increasingly too many of the players are in college not for education, but merely to play sports. At this point in time, universities sponsor D-1 revenue sports not as part of the education, but as indirect support to the educational programs--they build pride and enthusiasm amongst students and alumni (and even the community, witness non-UD guys like me and Moose and Up); they promote the school to attract applicants, money, and favorable PR for other programs; they serve as a form of entertainment and economic activity for the community. The horrific "Mercy" branding works against all of these goals. It is simply #$%^G# ridiculous that this should go on--perhaps every member of the Board of Trustees that has allowed this should wear a button that says, "I am a stubborn moron." Which isn't fair, because they're a pretty accomplished group. But the determination to destroy a respected brand, and the costs it has imposed on the enterprise for which they are rsponsible, would never be tolerated in the private companies so many of them come from. I can't think of another branding effort that has gone so poorly, or an organization so determined to double down on that poor effort. It's so obviously not working and I'm not sure what the justification is for continuing down this path. Do they think that thirty years isn't long enough to see if it will catch on? Are we going to give it another thirty years and then reevaluate? In the meantime, confusion reigns and the missed opportunities get further away.
|
|
|
Post by Commissioner on Jun 6, 2020 8:54:12 GMT -5
What's unfortunate is that the brand capital is depleted every year. I find it interesting how often you see or hear tweets, comments on boards, casual conversation, and even columns in which people express a certain surprise--"Oh, that's the University of Detroit? That was a proud program with some history."
But soon enough, that won't matter. It's been nearly 60 years since Dave DeBusschere graduated, and we're closing in on 50 years since his NBA career ended Spencer Haywood played in Memorial Hall over 50 years ago. The Vitale/Gaines era ended over 40 years ago. Even Perry Watson's glory years are more than two decades past.
Of course, even when all that capital of memory and tradition is past, the "Mercy" name will still be a mistake. As to paraphrase something Sam has said, to most ears, the University of Detroit belongs in a conference with Dayton and St. Louis; Detroit-Mercy belongs in a conference with Sacred Heart and Incarnate Word. And Mercy? That's a D-III program. That's what the casual fan--or recruit--hears.
|
|
|
Post by motorcitysam on Jun 6, 2020 11:16:28 GMT -5
What's unfortunate is that the brand capital is depleted every year. I find it interesting how often you see or hear tweets, comments on boards, casual conversation, and even columns in which people express a certain surprise--"Oh, that's the University of Detroit? That was a proud program with some history." But soon enough, that won't matter. It's been nearly 60 years since Dave DeBusschere graduated, and we're closing in on 50 years since his NBA career ended Spencer Haywood played in Memorial Hall over 50 years ago. The Vitale/Gaines era ended over 40 years ago. Even Perry Watson's glory years are more than two decades past. Of course, even when all that capital of memory and tradition is past, the "Mercy" name will still be a mistake. As to paraphrase something Sam has said, to most ears, the University of Detroit belongs in a conference with Dayton and St. Louis; Detroit-Mercy belongs in a conference with Sacred Heart and Incarnate Word. And Mercy? That's a D-III program. That's what the casual fan--or recruit--hears. Mercy sounds like a school in the same conference as Concordia in Ann Arbor. One of my favorite things about watching a bunch of classic basketball from the 80s this Spring has been seeing graphics identifying Long, Tyler, Cureton, etc., as having graduated from "The University of Detroit". Unfortunately, the broadcast of the Nuggets/Pistons game from 1983 was one of those modern edited "pop up" broadcasts, where they display different bits of information about the game during the action. That game had a "pop up" that claimed Dick Vitale was John Long's coach at "Detroit Mercy". This was shortly after the original broadcast graphics identified Long as "Shooting Guard, University of Detroit", on his close up prior to a couple of free throws.
|
|
|
Post by mooseguy1 on Jun 6, 2020 20:21:08 GMT -5
First of all, before I post any other comments, I need to apologize to Sam and Commissioner, and many others, for falling off the radar. The last couple of years I've been dealing with a lot of big changes in my life, a lot of it in-law related (elder fraud), including a criminal case, a civil case, and attorneys up the wazoo (sorry, Commish). My wife was beside herself when her father passed and we discovered that he'd been taken for a his life's savings. This happened over about 10 years and I knew something was wrong with the relationship the old man had with his financial advisor. The guy was really sleazy but my sheltered suburban wife (God love her) couldn't see it. Time for Moose to do an end run. I confronted the man (Geoffrey DuMahot) because I felt like being a hero/thug although most of my in-laws were majorly pissed at me for interfering with my father-in-law's "investments". Que sera sera. I forged ahead anyway. When I questioned this fine financial advisor about irregularities in my FIL's investments, he stammered and stumbled but ultimately admitted that most of the money was now invested with his daughter, and quickly swore he had nothing to do with it. It was strictly between his daughter and my FIL. "Nice work, Geoffrey," I replied, "you rolled on your kid. You must be so proud." Well, apparently I was more intimidating than I thought, because the financial advisor's heart gave out shortly thereafter and he promptly jackknifed into a coffin. Oops. So I continued trying to get to the bottom of this with the daughter. The experience really put the F U in FUN. Next thing I know, I'm appointed representative of my wife and her interests as she is the executor of her dad's estate. Time to call in the lawyers and the district attorney. Our law firm has done and is doing good work that I'm clearly incapable of doing for myself and they've been mostly great. In short, my wife and I came out of the civil case with a $2.75 million judgement in our favor. Of course, I'll be lucky to see much of that before I die of old age but theoretically I'm loaded. Still, all in all better than losing. Next up, the DA and criminal charges. I had to testify because I was the only person who had direct contact with the crooked father/daughter. The daughter claimed that I was responsible for killing her dad and threatening her family. Thankfully, the judge ruled against this ploy by saying it had no merit and was clearly fairy dust. In short,the daughter was found guilty of all charges and could've been sentenced to 5 to 20 years in the can. But, we and the ADA agreed to a deal for monthly restitution of $600 a month with the stipulation that should she miss a payment, it will be time to discover how she'll look in orange with an MDOC monogram. The judge didn't like the deal much--she wanted to sentence this woman to jail time--but finally went along with it. That kind of summed up my feelings as well but it was better than nothing. So this is still ongoing as we've yet to see any money because it's still tied up in the courts. If you want more details, and God knows why you would , PM me and I'll give you my phone number and I'll gladly discuss it in more detail. I've also been dealing with a health issue that I'll not detail here. Suffice to say, dear old Moosey has a faulty noggin and it's showing itself in a difficult way. For more info, PM me or call 1-800-HE-A-KOOK. Alright, now to the topic at hand. The last 2 posts have been spot on. These talks with strangers about our beloved Titans is filled with confusion. No one knows what the hell we are? I had one person think we played in the East Alberta Women's Curling League. Just kidding, but not much. The university has absolutely butchered this brand in a way that almost looks deliberate. It's sickening. Oh, old people like us remember Vitale, John Long, et al., but not anyone younger. In the last 3 years or so I have yet to talk to anyone outside of the Titan circle that even knows we are a D-1 school. How can this business model be sustainable. Is any decent recruit whose father doesn't coach the team going to be interested in playing for a team that has no identity left? Or worse, our name look like a JC or high school. I really like Mike Davis but do not envy him. If ever a coach was set up to fail by the administration, this is it. It's heartbreaking to me. Maybe I'm selfish, but I need this happy diversion in my life more than ever now. Personally, life is not much fun. House arrest (though I still work as an "essential"), my own peculiar life issues, and now all this racial strife and ugliness because so many people just fail to see another person's unique humanity, is depressing. Watching that poor man being murdered in Minnesota was so disgusting. And some of the aftermath of destruction (not the peaceful protests, I stress) was very sad, too. How can people be so cruel to each other? Give me back my University of Detroit Titans! Peace and good health to all.
|
|
|
Post by upbasketballfan on Jun 6, 2020 22:13:53 GMT -5
First of all, before I post any other comments, I need to apologize to Sam and Commissioner, and many others, for falling off the radar. The last couple of years I've been dealing with a lot of big changes in my life, a lot of it in-law related (elder fraud), including a criminal case, a civil case, and attorneys up the wazoo (sorry, Commish). My wife was beside herself when her father passed and we discovered that he'd been taken for a his life's savings. This happened over about 10 years and I knew something was wrong with the relationship the old man had with his financial advisor. The guy was really sleazy but my sheltered suburban wife (God love her) couldn't see it. Time for Moose to do an end run. I confronted the man (Geoffrey DuMahot) because I felt like being a hero/thug although most of my in-laws were majorly pissed at me for interfering with my father-in-law's "investments". Que sera sera. I forged ahead anyway. When I questioned this fine financial advisor about irregularities in my FIL's investments, he stammered and stumbled but ultimately admitted that most of the money was now invested with his daughter, and quickly swore he had nothing to do with it. It was strictly between his daughter and my FIL. "Nice work, Geoffrey," I replied, "you rolled on your kid. You must be so proud." Well, apparently I was more intimidating than I thought, because the financial advisor's heart gave out shortly thereafter and he promptly jackknifed into a coffin. Oops. So I continued trying to get to the bottom of this with the daughter. The experience really put the F U in FUN. Next thing I know, I'm appointed representative of my wife and her interests as she is the executor of her dad's estate. Time to call in the lawyers and the district attorney. Our law firm has done and is doing good work that I'm clearly incapable of doing for myself and they've been mostly great. In short, my wife and I came out of the civil case with a $2.75 million judgement in our favor. Of course, I'll be lucky to see much of that before I die of old age but theoretically I'm loaded. Still, all in all better than losing. Next up, the DA and criminal charges. I had to testify because I was the only person who had direct contact with the crooked father/daughter. The daughter claimed that I was responsible for killing her dad and threatening her family. Thankfully, the judge ruled against this ploy by saying it had no merit and was clearly fairy dust. In short,the daughter was found guilty of all charges and could've been sentenced to 5 to 20 years in the can. But, we and the ADA agreed to a deal for monthly restitution of $600 a month with the stipulation that should she miss a payment, it will be time to discover how she'll look in orange with an MDOC monogram. The judge didn't like the deal much--she wanted to sentence this woman to jail time--but finally went along with it. That kind of summed up my feelings as well but it was better than nothing. So this is still ongoing as we've yet to see any money because it's still tied up in the courts. If you want more details, and God knows why you would , PM me and I'll give you my phone number and I'll gladly discuss it in more detail. I've also been dealing with a health issue that I'll not detail here. Suffice to say, dear old Moosey has a faulty noggin and it's showing itself in a difficult way. For more info, PM me or call 1-800-HE-A-KOOK. Alright, now to the topic at hand. The last 2 posts have been spot on. These talks with strangers about our beloved Titans is filled with confusion. No one knows what the hell we are? I had one person think we played in the East Alberta Women's Curling League. Just kidding, but not much. The university has absolutely butchered this brand in a way that almost looks deliberate. It's sickening. Oh, old people like us remember Vitale, John Long, et al., but not anyone younger. In the last 3 years or so I have yet to talk to anyone outside of the Titan circle that even knows we are a D-1 school. How can this business model be sustainable. Is any decent recruit whose father doesn't coach the team going to be interested in playing for a team that has no identity left? Or worse, our name look like a JC or high school. I really like Mike Davis but do not envy him. If ever a coach was set up to fail by the administration, this is it. It's heartbreaking to me. Maybe I'm selfish, but I need this happy diversion in my life more than ever now. Personally, life is not much fun. House arrest (though I still work as an "essential"), my own peculiar life issues, and now all this racial strife and ugliness because so many people just fail to see another person's unique humanity, is depressing. Watching that poor man being murdered in Minnesota was so disgusting. And some of the aftermath of destruction (not the peaceful protests, I stress) was very sad, too. How can people be so cruel to each other? Give me back my University of Detroit Titans! Peace and good health to all. Welcome back Moose. Looking forward to seeing you again.
|
|
|
Post by Rogobob77 on Jun 8, 2020 14:45:21 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by motorcitysam on Jun 17, 2020 16:34:31 GMT -5
Per my observation of social media the past couple of days, the "University of Detroit" has offered five players in the class of 2022. Going by Twitter, "Detroit Mercy" hasn't offered anyone. Neither has "Mercy".
At least one player posted himself that he had an offer from the University of Detroit. Maybe that's the way the coaches are phrasing it.
|
|
|
Post by motorcitysam on Sept 6, 2020 12:50:54 GMT -5
Per the ESPN article on the death of Coach Gaines, he coached at "Detroit-Mercy".
|
|
|
Post by nctitan on Sept 6, 2020 21:51:54 GMT -5
The school is educating players on the name. Bloggers and outlets, not so much. Here are the most recent postings for 2021 and 2022. When the prospects tweet an offer, they are consistently using Detroit Mercy:
This week our 6’9 Forward/Center Dominic Cooks ( @dominic_cooks ) has been in contact with GA Tech, Cincinnati, western Kentucky, Richmond, Detroit Mercy, Appalachian state, Collage of Charleston , Uab, Tulane, East Tennessee, and Mercer. #GameElite2022
Shun Williams @ontheradarhoops Tennessee State, Georgia State, College of Charleston, University of Richmond, Appalachian state, Grambling State, University of Detroit Mercy, UAB, Cincinnati, Western Kentucky, have all been in touch with Game Elite 2022 guard Asher Woods @asherwoods22 @coach4franny
malcolm @malcolm_Flaggs
Beyond blessed to receive a division 1 scholarship from University of Detroit Mercy
Damarcus Thompson @damarcusthomps7
Blessed to receive a offer from the University of Detroit Mercy
Jalon Moore @jalonmoore3
Blessed to receive an offer from Detroit Mercy after a great talk with Coach Mike Davis
|
|
|
Post by motorcitysam on Sept 7, 2020 6:31:52 GMT -5
30 years after the merger, and four years after the rebrand, we're finally seeing a majority of recruits refer to the school by the official name.
Progress!
|
|
|
Post by Rogobob77 on Dec 5, 2020 11:16:59 GMT -5
The branding of the University got the real mixed-salad treatment for yesterday’s BTN broadcast of the game against Michigan St. Sometimes it was “Detroit,” sometimes “Detroit Mercy,” for both screen images and announcer verbiage.(I even recall at least one instance where both variations could be captured in the same screen shot.) Izzo called us “U of D” in the post-game interview, as did the 11 o’clock television news sports wrap guys. On the MSU fan message board, it was a lot of “Mercy” and “UDMercy” but also “U-D” and a dozen other variations. When I asked my Alexa for the score of the Michigan State basketball game, the voice-robot gal referred us as “Detroit.” Let’s go Titans!
|
|
|
Post by motorcitysam on Dec 5, 2020 12:23:27 GMT -5
The branding of the University got the real mixed-salad treatment for yesterday’s BTN broadcast of the game against Michigan St. Sometimes it was “Detroit,” sometimes “Detroit Mercy,” for both screen images and announcer verbiage.(I even recall at least one instance where both variations could be captured in the same screen shot.) Izzo called us “U of D” in the post-game interview, as did the 11 o’clock television news sports wrap guys. On the MSU fan message board, it was a lot of “Mercy” and “UDMercy” but also “U-D” and a dozen other variations. When I asked my Alexa for the score of the Michigan State basketball game, the voice-robot gal referred us as “Detroit.” Let’s go Titans! Even Alexa knows what our name shouldn't include the word Mercy! The DetroitNews.com game article today includes a 32 photo gallery of last night's action. Each picture has a caption, and in those captions we are referred to a couple of times as UDM, once as the Titans of Detroit, once as Detroit Mercy and many times as "the University of Detroit". The Free Press photo gallery referred to us exclusively as Detroit Mercy.
|
|