On the Spectrum's "hotel" article

On the heels of an article which implied that the greedy Athletics Department is hurting UB's club sports and intramural events comes a harrowing tale of UB Football...

...doing what every other football team in the Bowl Subdivision does: Stay at a hotel the night before a home game!

Don't get me wrong, it's better than a piece which implied that Athletics is the reason we don't have a 40 million dollar rec center. It really is. I considered the club piece more of a hit job, perhaps at the behest of certain people in the SA. This one contains some fact and balance.

But still the story "UB football team spent more than $70,000 to stay in local hotels the nights before home games" is a 1700-plus word story which boils down to... dog bites man..

Have people at The Spectrum never heard of a dang table?

It's not news; it's just another puff piece to fill some personal or organizational 'gotcha' requirement.

Here is the 1700 words distilled down to an appropriate length:

Item	Cost
Hotel	$52.40
Dinner	$26.51
Breakfast	$18.59
Snacks	$17.85

UB spends $54 per student athlete on lodging and about another $60 or so on several meals. The Athletics department justifies this by saying it keeps the 85 football players focused and together before a game and it's something pretty much every team in the FBS does.

As UB tries to raise the Athletics fees to stay competitive they have not considered changing this practice.

On the heels of Dinki's last article I propose a new SA-funded movie... "D is for Vendetta"

What a complete waste of time. Were it not for the last article he put together this would have been a naked FanShot with no commentary. But when I see someone beating a dead horse I generally have to ask... why?

Why this anti-Athletics vendetta? It feels silly at this point to think to call it anything otherwise.

Where was all this handwringing about travel expenses when the department used to pay The Spectrum's way to road games? They were just *FINE* with the department dropping money on travel then.

A final thought, and this is important but brief.

Can someone get a fainting couch over to The Spectrum offices... STAT!