Column:
Tiger's Lair fails to measure up this year
Published Nov. 17, 2009
Tiger's Lair really needs to get it together. With one home game left in the season, I can say with utmost conviction I have never been more disappointed in an on-campus organization.
Let me start at the beginning: I was in the Tiger's Lair student cheering section last year and loved it. The energy I felt in Tiger's Lair was so strong it was very nearly palpable. I went to every home game and always sat in Tiger's Lair. I could not imagine not being a part of what I considered to be a necessary MU athletics experience.
There was no question in my mind I would be a part of Tiger's Lair this year as well. But that was where the problems began.
It was a challenge to even figure out where Tiger's Lair signups were located. I had to search just to locate the tables in the student center. Furthermore, for some reason, this year's Tiger's Lair did not allow people to student charge the $10 fee for joining and failed to notify anyone about it. Countless people went to sign up only to be turned away because they did not have $10 in cash or a checkbook on hand. They had to come back at another time and go through the entire signup process again just to get their name on a list. How frustrating. If they had just sent out a mass e-mail, they would have saved many people plenty of time.
But do not get me started on Tiger's Lair e-mails. I was unable to go to the orientation night, so I registered and picked up my tickets at a make-up orientation time. During the registration process, I gave my pawprint and student ID number in order to be added to the Tiger's Lair listserv. This listserv was and is Tiger's Lair's only (and this year, pitiful) mode of communication between the organization and its members. I was never added to the listserv.
This was not for lack of trying. I sent multiple e-mails and also left a carefully worded letter on the conveniently unmanned desk in the student center asking to be added. They responded only once, saying I was finally on the listserv. Lies, I tell you, all lies. I have yet to receive a single Tiger's Lair e-mail. All semester, I have had to badger my friends for information I should have had at my fingertips, such as when the gates open and how to buy Tiger's Lair tickets to the KU game.
Oh, the KU game — the biggest game of the season. The game everyone wants to attend. Tiger's Lair has its own section at Arrowhead Stadium and notified all of its members of limited seating via its faulty listserv. Needless to say, I did not find out about the announcement until hours after the e-mail had been sent. I immediately sent a request for a ticket to the game, thinking surely I would not be penalized for its failure to do the simplest of tasks, adding someone to a listserv.
I have yet to receive a KU ticket. I doubt I will. Tiger's Lair failed to do its job and in its failure caused a dedicated member to lose the opportunity to go to the biggest game of the season. Way to go, Tiger's Lair. You are the worst at what you do.
I just hope next year's Tiger's Lair staff is better, which should not be hard considering the low bar this year's team has set.
Comments (9)
6:39 p.m., Nov. 17, 2009
Ha said:
Tiger's Lair members don't mindlessly complain. Besides, you probably sit down and text with your friends during the game. Do us a favor and don't sign up next year.
6:59 p.m., Nov. 17, 2009
Dora the Explorer said:
As a journalist, how can you not find the student center? There may be a lot of construction there, but there is construction every where on campus. If freshman can do it, I am sure you can as well, it isn't exactly rocket science. There were fliers all over campus. I happen to know the girl in charge works very hard, and if you had a problem, that is who you should have gone to instead of complaining about it 3 months later. Since you were in Tiger's Lair last year, you could have found out her personal email fairly easily. As a journalist, that should not have been very hard to figure out either. Good luck with your communications degree. Sincerely, A Woman who is not scared off by construction P.S. How do you find your classes?
3:23 p.m., Nov. 19, 2009
Hmm... said:
Perhaps Sami just has troubles with email. I received a few emails with All the signup information prior to signups - I'm pretty sure all the Tiger's Lair members from lat year did. (And signups were about 100 times more convenient this year.) It sucks that you feel the way you do, but extrapolation is a dangerous thing, Sami. Oh, and if you truly want to go to that kU game: http://bit.ly/1k4nIC. There you go, "dedicated member." I think that addresses most of your concerns. Except the listserv. Well, the emails contain pretty basic information. With your obvious email trouble and journalistic sleuthing skills, visiting mutigers.com seems like the clear solution. Sigh. Those who complain are often those who refuse to help themselves. Anyway, I enjoy being a part of this section & it means something to me. Perhaps it would have been more prudent to use those sleuthing skills of yours to find out who can effect change & directed your whining, I mean, concerns there.
3:42 p.m., Nov. 19, 2009
Really? Oh, dear. said:
I get it now. This is a simple case of hating/ripping on everything you have no understanding of. See: http://www.themaneater.com/stories/2009/10/20/bitter-about-twitter/ I'd jump on that bandwagon, girl. Or, never market yourself & have no future in journalism. Either way. Just a suggestion: write a positive article. Praise something. Anything.
12:01 p.m., Nov. 20, 2009
TL Alum said:
It really doesn't matter, as, due to the success of the program, as well as the switchover to General Admission throughout the section, Tiger's Lair will probably cease to exist within five years. This year's group of coordinators is OK for maintaining the status quo and holding things together. The problem is that being a coordinator for this requires energetic and loud personalities, primarily on Gameday. This is what made the section more fun before. I will say, however, that the author seems very lazy. I know what was sent out to section members and if you checked your emails regularly, you easily were in the know. Check your email and take some initiative.
12:07 p.m., Nov. 20, 2009
tl alum said:
while i think this column is slanderous and wrong i have a few issues with tiger lair as well. with the new seating requirments and the well being of the team one begins to question the idea of the section. where as it was started inorder to creat a more student intrest now that that is not a problem and the whole section is student seating is general admistion one begins to wonder what exactly the section brings to the table. the section once use to take applications of the most enthusastic fans in the school while now they take anyone until they're full. now from what i can tell from attending games is that they just keep the status quo. they bring nothing new to the table and the enthuseasum seems to be falling off the charts as well. while i know how hard the section is to run i question the effectiveness and need when all the issues it has started from are now outdated. i feel that in order to improve they need to go back to the basics of what it was before, make the section 700 seats and make people apply to get in order to prove that they are extrodenary fans other wise the section is no more useful than greek life (which really is saying something).
12:44 p.m., Nov. 17, 2009
Concerned. said:
I find myself facepalming like Jean Luc PIcard when I come across things like this Sami, did you give this a small amount of thought before slandering the administration of an entire organizing in your column? Do you have any thread of understanding to how a system such a Tiger's Lair is ran? Do you understand the sanctioning and rules of an organization of the University? Let me address a few of your concerns. Frankly, I don't have the time to go through this article and pick out the singular things where you are blatantly misinformed and tell you the correct thing, but I can give you a blanket response. There have been a substantial amount of changes (much to the dismay of the staff of the university of missouri's student life section) set by the Department of Athletics in order to fix a number of problems they have had with seating inside of Faurot Field. Many of these changes have brought upon problems directly to Tiger's Lair, and have forced the administration (university employed and VOLUNTEER staff alike) to change the policies of the club that you have grown to be used to. The groans and concerns of all of these issues have been shared between all different scopes of people dealing with this issue. As for the mass email you wish to have received before signups...dear, that is impossible. During signups, you asked to enter your pawprint which linked to your email thus GIVING access to your email account in the first place. Organizations can not simply magic up a mass email list, and spamming the entire University's inbox for an organization seating only 1900 football game viewing students is simply not acceptable. As for finding signups...if the freshmen were able to find the top floor of the new student center...(multiple signs posted all over campus) -(to address your money concern, there was an atm within 100 feet of signups...) It is blatantly obvious that you have done no kind of journalistic sleuthing in order to come to any sort of conclusion. The amount of libel in your column is astounding, and it is directed at a volunteer group of your peers. I hate to insult anyone, but your article is full of inexperienced slander that was rushed to meet some kind of deadline (by the looks of it). If you are seeking any kind of career with written word, I heavily recommend that you pay attention very well in Communication Law, and take very very very many notes. If you expect anyone to take you seriously beyond college, please reassess this column (for your own good). This quote is simply not acceptable: "I just hope next year's Tiger's Lair staff is better, which should not be hard considering the low bar this year's team has set." You have failed miserably in your journalistic research, and have put forth zero effort on any front other than the slandering of others for views. Hopefully, when you have taken a few more classes that deal directly with your sequence, you can and will stop acting like a child with access to a blog.