Guest Blog: Interviuesday - Fire Glen Miller's Staff Writers

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On December 5, 2008, the blog Fire Glen Miller was born.  As an inheritor of the provocative turn of phrase employed by websites such as Fire Ron Zook and Fire Joe Morgan they stirred up controversy.  Now, a little over two months into their blog life, they've truly made it to the big time, an interview with The Buzz.

Join us after the jump as we discuss the Red and Blue crew, Penn Athletics and of course, Glen Miller.

The Buzz: At various times through the life of the blog you've described it as "a hate blog," "an inside joke between Penn basketball fans to blow off some frustration," and you claim that "the intention of this blog was not to start a campaign for Miller's removal," so what is your ethos, what is your goal, what do you actually want to see happen to Penn basketball?

Magnum: Quite honestly, the blog really did start out as a big joke between student fans. There was naturally a tendency among the students (whether fair or not) to blame the most visible figure, Coach Miller, for the problems and losses of our team. The blog was only supposed to stay between close friends. I mean, really, how serious could you take a site that equates Miller with Darth Vader? We ended up choosing the name “Fire Glen Miller” as a play off of similarly named sites, and because we thought the name was enough of a “shock” that it would get attention.

But there was some real frustration behind the blog. We wanted change in the direction of the program, and that one goal has been the only thing that has remained constant these two months. The transition toward being a more serious site came after the initial wave of publicity and criticism, because we saw that fans really cared about our message, regardless of whether they agreed with it. The comments and feedback we get on the blog is what keeps us going.

Ethos-wise, we aren’t journalists or Penn basketball insiders, so our goal is to try to write from the student’s perspective to provide a more unique story. A lot of alumni and older fans are interested in what the current incarnation of the Red and Blue Crew is up to, and we get a lot of e-mails from alums suggesting rollout ideas and ways to increase student attendance. So we’ve become sort of a de facto sounding board on the student fan side of Penn basketball, and the key now is to use that to increase the appeal of Penn basketball on campus.

Sebastian: In the end, we’re all students, and all we want is for the program to be successful. That requires success on the part of the team and the coach, and for basketball to remain an important cornerstone on campus. Since that success has deteriorated over the past two years, we just want change to happen.

Buzz: One of your most commented on posts is about how to fix the Red and Blue crew. You've also spoken about a power vacuum in the Red and Blue crew. Are you trying to fill this vacancy that you see or just commenting on it?

Magnum: There is definitely a power vacuum in the student section. All you need is couple of students coordinating the entire section to be successful. That was possible in the past, and a few diehard students have tried to organize this season. A couple of Line Leaders have repeatedly e-mailed the [athletic] department asking for a mailing list of Crew members to try to coordinate game events, rollouts, road trips, etc., and Penn Athletics has not responded. If Penn Athletics wants more students to go to games, the least they could do is listen to them.

Sebastian: Penn Athletics could be doing so much more to get students more involved. They should be offering discount tickets to away games, organized trips to away games, events where the Red and Blue crew comes out to different sporting events. They wanted to charge us 15 bucks to get a ticket to the La Salle game, it’s a good thing we went on our own because we were able to buy one there for 6 bucks. They just aren’t very student friendly.

What they don’t seem to understand either is that the leadership has to come from the students themselves. Sure it’s great that Penn Athletics wants us to come out to a wrestling match by giving us double Quaker Rewards points but so many more students would turn out if the Red and Blue Crew had some student leadership that coordinated things.

Finally, everyone was legitimately disturbed by the change in student ticket policy. The Line announcement was looked forward to by students all over campus and was a Penn tradition like throwing toast at the football games. Last year people were running down Walnut Street to secure their place in The Line, this year people trickled into Pottruck for two hours; the entire scene was depressing. Penn Athletics tried to cling to The Line while changing the ticket policy, claiming there were still benefits to being a season ticket holder. The reality is they effectively got rid of any benefit to getting tickets. They need to make a decision to either maintain general admission and let any Penn student in who buys a ticket, or go back to The Line format everyone knew and loved.

Ralphie: I speak on behalf of the other dedicated fans when I say that I would rather have a student section packed into one section, than half our fans having to sit up top … even if I get a free taco before every game.

Magnum: There is a core group of about 10 or 12 students who show up to every home game early (foreign concept, I know) and they are the biggest Penn fans I know. We use the blog to comment and criticize student apathy; but in real life, we’re really trying to change it. In the end, it’s the only part of our basketball experience that we can change.

Buzz: All of your contributors write with pseudonyms or incomplete names, yet you list your Penn basketball seats. Is there any specific reason for the online anonymity? Do you think it affects your credibility? Do you want/think you have credibility?

Magnum: We removed our actual names from the site after the initial criticism from the DP and other sites, because a lot of us were uncomfortable with being in a negative spotlight. We were also legitimately worried that Steve Bilsky would try and ban us from the Palestra. Now that our blog has been around and people have gotten used to it, there’s not really much need to remain in the dark, but we still do it because it’s cool to have an alternate identity.

As far as credibility goes, people who read us should just know that we are students. We aren’t a news source, and as far as we know, we haven’t gotten Glen Miller fired yet. If you journey down into the student section and manage to figure out who we are, we’ll tell you that we write for FGM. More than a few students and alumni have figured it out, and personally tell us that they enjoy our writing and encourage us to keep going. But I mean, its not hard to figure out, because only 20 students show for the games anyway. So you’ve got like a one in four chance in finding us.

Buzz: Has running the blog been more difficult than you've expected?

Magnum: Yes, much more difficult. We started the blog during final exam season, so that presented its own challenges as we tried to deal with the initial wave of attention that hit us while studying yield curves and T-accounts. We are not writing bland press releases, so it takes time to come up with creative ways to present news in a way that is creative to Penn students and fans ... I thought that a blog would allow me to freely write my opinion on my own time without deadlines and editors over my shoulder. But I’ve discovered that blogs have their own challenges, because our readers directly interact with us. If I stop writing, people stop reading. The blog’s kind of turned into a part-time job, except that I get no work-study out of it.

Buzz: Did you expect the early rush of attention you received?

Magnum: No. Like I said, the blog was just a big inside joke. One of the writers leaked the site out to several people, including the DP sports editor, and it just so happened that we had written an entry “inspired” by a DP writer. We were just finding our voice, and many readers, including the DP, misread our satire. I wasn’t sure if I wanted the blog to be more public at the time, but the decision was made for me. We were very fortunate to have pissed off Andrew Todres, because he drew Penn fans to us, bad publicity was definitely beneficial.

Buzz: What did you think of the attention?

Magnum: We were very surprised by how much positive feedback we received. Many people liked the idea of a student blog, if only to reassure them that there were still students out there that cared. A lot of the attention to our blog was negative at first, but some of our readers stayed and started to agree with us as the season went on. What really legitimized our blog in the eyes of many fans was Stephen Danley’s guest post. He might not have agreed some of our writing, but I think he really wanted to help us whip up student interest.

Sebastian: It seems, however, that anyone can have the negative attention we get by yelling at Miller during a game. He has taken up challenging fans, both students and others, who he hears yelling disparaging remarks at him during the game. This is just unprofessional behavior. The reality is Miller is a coach who is paid to win. When he doesn’t win, he isn’t doing his job and is subject to removal. We don’t feel sorry for the guy who gets laid off because he isn’t making any money for his company, so why the violins for Miller?

Buzz: What is the most misunderstood aspect of the blog?

Magnum: Being called a “hate blog”. I know we were the ones who coined it, but now I think readers now take our word in the context of our extreme passion for Penn basketball. If you’re crazy enough to be a Penn basketball fan in these times, you’re going to be pissed off after some of the garbage we’ve seen this season. Actually at this point, we probably have a pretty moderate tone compared to some of the alums leaving the Palestra after games this past weekend.

Buzz: Do you watch/listen to the road games other than the games you viewed in person?

Magnum: Not really. I just read the ESPN recap, the Penn Athletics recap, and the DP article, in that order. That would explain my tendency to focus more heavily on home games. But I think that’s fine for our blog, because we are a student blog and a lot of our discussion focuses on the lack of student attendance at the Palestra.

Ralphie: Speak for yourself, Magnum. I listened to the North Carolina game online, and watch any Penn game that is shown on TV (which isn’t many because the Penn Video Network doesn’t get Comcast). I have great memories of sitting in a sports bar with my dad and watching Penn play Princeton or any other Ivy League foe. True fanaticism means traveling to every road game … and though we aren’t the band, we have set a goal of attending every away stadium at least once over our four years at Penn.

Buzz: Who should be the head coach of the Penn men's basketball team next year?

Magnum: I knew this would be the last question. I wish I could say “not Glen Miller,” but I actually do want to see how the season ends up and then let it go from there. The Ivy season has just started, and we’re really not in a rush to judgment now that our championship hopes are gone. The paradox is that we’re really enjoying writing for the blog, and if Miller is ultimately fired, our blog goes as well. We might be able to continue it, however, as Penn fans won’t soon forget the Glen Miller era. In the meantime, we’ll just continue blaming Miller for anything that goes wrong on campus.

Ralphie: Whether it is Miller or it is not, I just want to win. There is nothing more frustrating than going to a game and leaving with your head down … especially at a school with Penn’s basketball tradition. I am not expecting another run to the Final four, but I don’t want to be the first graduating class since 1992 to go through Penn without an Ivy League title.

Sebastian: Bob Knight would be pretty cool.