BU success may mean bad news for its neighbors
“Valley-dation?” Hardly.
The
I’m listening to
I believe I made this point on someone else’s blog … this is the worst thing that could happen to BU. Bradley ended the season with a mediocre won/loss record. They played inconsistently throughout the season. Is the Missouri Valley Conference stronger than it usually is? Yes. Did it deserve to have six teams in the tourney, instead of the four that were invited, as Snell says. No. That’s laughable. Snell is a paid employee of Bradley and an unabashed booster. He’s not just on the bandwagon, he makes his living driving the damn thing.
Because of two tournament victories — and because of the praise the compliant local media is shoveling — fans are left with an unrealistic expectation of future success, especially next season.
I’ll wait until next year before jumping to the conclusion that the MVC deserves as many entries into the NCAA tournament as the ACC, for example.
And here’s why this year’s success is bad news for BU’s neighbors. BU wants to build a sports complex and additional parking on its campus, and it wants to do it on land now occupied by homes in Peoria’s Arbor District neighborhood. In fact, the university is busy buying up homes in the area.
It’s my understanding that wealthy alumni have even seen plans for such a facility.
Alumni are always more generous when the sports teams are successful. And winning teams always engender feelings of loyalty in the surrounding community. So it’s now going to be easier for Bradley University to raise money to build the thing and harder for the powers-that-be to say “no” to changes in the city’s “institutional use” ordinance, which is supposed to keep BU from spreading further into the residential neighborhoods than it already has spread.
It’s just hard for me to get all emotional and excited about the sports success of a powerful institution with the long-term goal of putting people out of their homes so they can attract a wealthier class of students who demand classier amenities.
Billy Dennis is a former reporter and editor at small daily and weekly newspapers in Illinois and Missouri. He comments on media, news and politics. He also owns and operates 
[...] And here’s why this year’s success is bad news for BU’s neighbors. BU wants to build a sports complex and additional parking on its campus, and it wants to do it on land now occupies by homes in the Arbor District neighborhood. In fact, the university is busy buying up homes in the area. [...]
Hi Dennis.
I am someone who
1) teaches at Bradley and
2) lives in the Arbor District (on Cooper Street)
About the basketball season: I agree that the team started poorly. But remember that the coach was hired with very little coaching experience. So, while the coach knows basketball inside and out, it took him a good long while to find out that most players simply don’t have the firey attitude that he had.
Hence, he had to learn how to coach. I think that he came of age after his team was soundly whipped by Wichita State this season; he made the proper adjustments.
What does this mean for the future? Time will tell; remember that there was a time when the previous coach was doing well.
About the Arbor District: ok, I love living there as it is close to everything and I can easily walk to work; for me it is 5 minutes from out of my door to into my office door; maybe 7-8 mintues if it is snowy.
But, the neighborhood is slowly becoming more unlivable by the semester. More and more families have moved out (being in Manual’s district is a real problem) and more and more of the houses have become student housing.
Though the students haven’t had that many loud parties, the students still make quite a bit of racket as the walk from house to house at night. Adding to this is the way the housing is constructed: sound really carries.
So, thought I really hate to say this, the Arbor district is already headed downhill anyway.
The city council memembers have tried; for example Barbara Van Auken has showed up and personally sworn out some noise complaints.
But I don’t see this trend reversing itself.
6:15 PM
bitter.
This is fun. Enjoy it
Congrats, Bill! You’re the only guy in a, say, 112 mile radius of Peoria that has shone a negative light on the Bradley basketball team success in the tournament so far! Sah-lute!
Have you and Bill Packer been emailing each other? It sounds like you’ve been getting all your mis-information from him. You do understand the tournament is based on the teams performance this year not next years or last years, right? It’s obvious your take on the MVC’s success this year is skewed by your biasness over Bradley’s Arbor District dealings. Anyway have fun rooting against local Peoria kids Ruffin and Sommerville next weekend just because of the Arbor District while the rest of us will be rooting for them.
Woah! I’m not rooting against anyone.
All I’m saying is:
1. I’m sick of the boosterism from Peoria media.
2. I’m not going to forget that BU’s administrators have been bad neighbors.
Emotionally, I’d like to see BU win. But I think the college will use it to promote an anti-neighborhood agenda.
Oh come on! Boosterism from Peoria media? Ummm…. Isn’t that really what they are supposed to do? Home town team does well, everybody is happy for them? Dave Snell aside, the other radio guys are there to be boosters of the team as well, and they aren’t on the BU payroll. And besides… Dave Snell usually tells it like it is. When Bradley is down, he says so.
As for the Arborless district… You are talking about one street of houses near the fieldhouse and Haussler Hall. Not a whole freakin block! BU is not going to build a 10000+ seat arena on campus. Even if they had the room (they don’t) there would be absolutley no place to park, and in this day and age they aren’t going to rely on street parking as a solution.
Like I said… The 10-15 year vision that was posted shows a campus that includes one street of property that they don’t already own, and an “Arena” that is about half the size of the Fieldhouse, with a small parking deck. This complex would not be big enough for men’s basketball.
I bask in the glow of your adoration.
I have to admit that I can’t stand the Bradley basketball radio announcers. Of course, that is a non-factor when I get to catch a game live or if the game is on TV.
But they are so grating: “sing to me Tony” was cute, the first 10 times. “a TRI-FECTA” was cute, the first 10 times. and “KABOOM” for a routine play (dunk), well…
They are so CORNY!!!! I told my wife to turn them off so I wouldn’t turn against the team…:-)
But yes, they are popular and that is the point.
I’m sure I’ll get kicked out of blog-land for this, but I like hearing Dave Snell call the games. The TV announcers are boring and tend to favor the higher-seeded teams. I like hearing someone from Peoria, a Bradley fan, call the game and root for Bradley with excitement in his voice. You call it corny; I call it genuine.
Never have been a Bradley fan, but I love seeing them win.
Listening to the game yesterday, though, I couldn’t stand listening to “The Coach.” Sorry, I don’t know his name, but that’s what they called him all afternoon.
I know he’s the patron saint of Bradley basketball, but I couldn’t understand a freaking word the old guy had to say. Has he had a stroke or something? And when I did understand him, nothing he said offered any real insight or value to the listening experience. Mostly, it made me wish I was near a TV so I could turn off the radio.
Snell did fine. Nice job. But the coach sucked.
How exactly has Bradley been a bad neighbord?
They keep up their properties better than the average person.
They provide jobs.
They provide entertainment.
They legally buy properties that are accross the street from their current institutional boundary, and operate it as a landlord until they have a better use for it.
What has Bradley done that makes the neighborhood so nervous?
They are buying property on the open market, not seeking it through eminent domain.
For once could people look at the larger good, rather than worry about losing a few blocks of housing.
Most neighborhoods would be lucky to have Bradley as a neighbor.
Same as I do for Cub games, I turn off the tv volume, and turn up the radio! Kaboom!
Bill, you’re such a buzz-kill.
I had the same thought though while watching the game. Yes, they certainly will use this to their advantage. What better time to rally the boosters to open up their wallets than now? They’d be stupid to wait until another mediocre year.
Yea, the Arbor district is shrinking, and this will certainly hasten it’s demise.
And don’t forget… Dave Snell is one of the most talented play-by-play announcers out there. He stays at Bradley because that is where he wants to be.
Why would you get kicked out of blogland for saying that? Different people like different styles.
I happen to be a natrual “stick in the mud”; if everyone were like me, the world would be rather boring.
You might want to check out:
http://www.bringbacktrack.com/About/Sport_Giving_Non-Correlation.asp
Money given to a university is not really strongly corrolated (if at all) with the success of its athletic programs.
So Bill can feel free to cheer with a clear conscience.
Let’s go Braves!
Watch it before you start to make sense. In PeoriaPunditLand, any time something bigger succeeds it MUST be through evil and abuse of the rest of us.
Especially something as evil as Bradley University.
[...] Sometimes I’m so smart I scare myself. A week ago, I predicted that Bradley University was going to use it’s surprising victories in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament to raise money for new facilities on campus, and this was bad news for neighbors in the nearby Arbor District. I took a huge amount of criticism for not jumping on the BU bandwagon. [...]