University of Virginia Library

the sports scene

Public
Relations

by bob culler

A NUMBER OF guests will be in University Hall tomorrow
afternoon for the Cavaliers' clash with Maryland. Bones Mckinney
and a bevy of tube technicians will be on hand to broadcast
the battle all over ACC land, giving the Carolinas a chance to see
how the Northern schools play the game. In living color, no less.

Virginia and Maryland don't figure to be too much of a draw.
The Terps won't be bringing their cheerleaders, and their
basketball team has yet to distinguish itself for skill or pulchritude.
Maryland's big attraction figures to be center Will Hetzel,
whose big brother Fred was an All-American at Davidson, and
who now plies his trade in the NBA. The younger Hetzel is a fine
ballplayer himself, but what really distinguishes him from the rest
of the fine players in the league is his political viewpoint.

Hetzel is an irregular contributor to the Maryland student
newspaper, and refreshingly enough, he does not write in the "all
the guys are really gonna try this year and we hope that all the
kids will come out and cheer," genre. He has written that he
would really like to be a hippie, but doesn't think that the coach
will let him grow a beard. He has expressed sympathy with
student activists, and even gone so far as to say that he doesn't
get too excited about taking the court for dear old M.U.

UNFORTUNATELY, HETZEL WILL not be giving any
speeches Saturday, and the odds are that most students will be
happier in front of the tube with a six pack than venturing over
to U. Hall in hopes that Mom will see them on the tube. It could
prove very embarrassing to the Athletic Department to have rows
upon rows of grey seats broadcast back to Carolina, where there
aren't enough seats. And there is some doubt that even the most
advanced audio equipment will be able to pick up the roar of
some 1500 fans when Virginia scores another basket, as it
probably will.

But the crafty people over in the Athletic Department are not
about to be caught with their seats empty on regional TV. Not by
a long shot. In fact, they've even figured out a way to turn what
looked like a public relations disaster into a smashing triumph.
The Athletic Department has magnanimously extended invitations
to all of the Recreation League teams in Charlottesville and
to about 25 area high school teams, who will attend the game as
guests of the University. Two Rec teams, composed of nine to
12-year-old boys, will play a ten minute game at half-time for the
edification of those who can't afford hot dogs.

Of course, the fact that the cameras will then pan over the
section jammed with wildly cheering kids, and that Bones
McKinney will undoubtedly mention that the folks up here in
Virginia have hearts overflowing with generosity for their
underprivileged young neighbors in the community, and that they
are making hundreds of little kids very happy and giving them an
experience that they won't soon forget, probably never entered
the minds of the Athletic Department.

Bones McKinney will probably never know that this generosity
is a one-shot deal, done primarily to save face on the tube.
He won't know that a better reflection of the Athletic Department's
concern for the community is the way it closed Memorial
Gym to all but students and faculty. Nobody can argue that
there's anything wrong with letting these kids in free or trying to
look good on TV, but Will Hetzel would probably say that it
seemed hypocritical to him.