2006 ORU Diamond Dinner on January 29th

[ORUTerry]

I know this is the basketball page, but I wanted everyone to know about the ORU Diamond Dinner coming up on January 29th. It is a great way to meet the ORU baseball staff and players. There are also great items to bid on in a silent and auction.

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Goose Gossage to be Featured Speaker at 2006 Diamond Dinner

12/05/2005

Rich "Goose" Gossage will be the featured speaker at the 2006 Diamond Dinner

TULSA?Nine-time All-Star Rich "Goose" Gossage is scheduled to be the featured speaker at the fifth annual John A. Ferguson Diamond Dinner Benefitting ORU Baseball, Sunday, January 29th at the Tulsa Marriott Southern Hills.

One of baseball's most colorful characters and intimidating pitchers during his 22 seasons in the big leagues, Gossage collected 310 saves and appeared in over 1,000 games while playing for the Chicago White Sox, Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Yankees, San Diego Padres, Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers, Oakland Athletics, San Francisco Giants and Seattle Mariners.

Gossage helped lead the Yankees to a World Series title in 1978 and an American League pennant in 1981, and also led the Padres to a National League pennant and World Series appearance in 1984.

Former big leaguer pitcher and Tulsa resident George Frazier will serve as emcee for the fifth consecutive year. The evening will begin with a free autograph session and silent auction for dinner ticket holders at 5 p.m., to be followed by a VIP reception at 6 p.m. The dinner and live auction is at 6:30 p.m.

The Diamond Dinner serves as the kick off to ORU's baseball season, which begins February 10th when the Golden Eagles open a three-game home series with Missouri Southern. ORU has made eight straight NCAA Regional appearances, and the Golden Eagles are the 8-time defending Mid-Continent Conference champions

John A. Ferguson was a legendary sportswriter for the Tulsa World from 1952 until just before his death in November, 2000. He covered both the 1981 and 1985 World Series and served as the beat writer for Tulsa's minor league baseball teams for 32 years.

For more information on the Diamond Dinner and table sponsorship opportunities, contact Nick Garner in the ORU Athletic Department at (918) 495-7213.

[ReallyBigORUFan]

Too bad that the athletic administration didn't nip this date in the bud. I find it pretty insentive to their immediate market to have this event (which has been very successful since its inception) on a Sunday night. There is only one night worse to have an ORU event than Wednesday night...and that night is Sunday night!!

I, for one, will not be able to attend due to (you guessed it) church. Regardless, I don't know that I would attend anyway just to make the point that there are better nights to allow this event to be held than Sunday night. I'm sure that there will be others that will attend in my place, but my guess is that this will be the first year that the Diamond Dinner does not surpass the previous year's attendance and dollar figures.

I will still be a big ORU baseball fan and rally the team at the games, but if a really big ORU fan feels this way, I'm hopeful that there are new, passive fans that will become new ORU fans for the future through this move.

[ORUTerry]

The athletic department and baseball coaches know that this is a bad night, but scheduling of facilities and guest speakers would only accomodate the 29th. The intent was certainly not to offend anyone.

[ORU Eli]

Monday nights are really underrated these days. They schould schedule more Monday night events to give everybody something to look forward to after the weekend....however....girls basketball games on monday nights...bleeeeh....not a good idea.

[MadAdder]

I always liked the women's games on Monday nights. Monday is easily my least favorite day of the week, and it made it more enjoyable.

[ReallyBigORUFan]

The athletic department and baseball coaches know that this is a bad night, but scheduling of facilities and guest speakers would only accomodate the 29th. The intent was certainly not to offend anyone.

Bad excuses (and they are excuses because there were alternatives). The facility could have been changed to the Hilton, Doubletree at Warren Place or even the Renaissance since the Athletic department has tradeout or other relationships with these places. The speaker wasn't selected until a date was set. With the number of connections that Rob Walton, Scott Brewer and George Frazier have, there should not be a problem with acquiring a "name" speaker.

I'm sure that the intent was not to be offensive, but we all have prime markets that we're trying to attract to our product. Those that have commitments (not just discretionary time) on particular nights should be taken into consideration. I realize that it is harder in the basketball world to not play on Wednesdays because of conflicting schedules (travel and spreading your games between nights) and we usually tolerate that more. I find this type of event to be one that we can control better.

You can try to sell this explanation if you want, Terry, but I'm not buyin'.

[Guest Blevins]

Since GF's schedule was a significant part of the conflict, your argument doesn't hold water.

And I hate to burst your bubble, but Gossage was asked and agreed to speak months ago. He confirmed once a solid date was selected.

If we took into account everyone else's commitments each time we scheduled an event, then we wouldn't be able to schedule any!

If you'd like to attend, we'd love to have you. I'm sure God won't mind you missing one church-related function for another.

[Dr. Cornelius]

Monday is easily my least favorite day of the week, and it made it more enjoyable.

Case of the Mondays?

[MadAdder]

Case of the Mondays?

You know it. It's the busiest day at work.

[ReallyBigORUFan]

Since GF's schedule was a significant part of the conflict, your argument doesn't hold water.

And I hate to burst your bubble, but Gossage was asked and agreed to speak months ago. He confirmed once a solid date was selected.

If we took into account everyone else's commitments each time we scheduled an event, then we wouldn't be able to schedule any!

If you'd like to attend, we'd love to have you. I'm sure God won't mind you missing one church-related function for another.

Blevins, thanks for making my points for me. If, of all the nights in January, GF's schedule is only open on Sunday (what night is he doing the OU baseball dinner?), then we're making the participants more important than the market we're trying to attract. If Gossage's schedule is flexible to meet most any date, then we know that he was able to make most any date and that Sunday was not a requirement - again, we need to meet the market instead of the participant's needs.

As for everyone's commitments, we DO know that the school is based on Christian principles and that our immediate market is not only baseball fans (some that don't even like our God, much less love Him), but Christians that believe that athletics are the "front door" to reaching those that need Him. Sunday is the only day that those that follow Jesus can count on to teach and connect with those that are attempting to follow His teachings. People are actually coming to church and knowing what they are coming there for - to learn about Christ and to interact with others that also want to learn about Him (yes, we're getting deep here).

And I don't mean to burst your bubble, but if you find the Diamond Dinner a church-related event, I have yet to hear an invitation to follow Jesus at any of the previous Diamond Dinners or to hear scripture read from the Bible. I do find it inspiring to hear how Mike Moore found Christ as a student at ORU and to see how we're producing great baseball graduates, but I'm not expecting that type of talk from Goose. Personally, I'd rather hear from Dennis Bigley on how his years at ORU made him grow spiritually and as an athlete, but i realize that won't attract people that are baseball fans (see definition above).

If the athletic department becomes cavalier with its market, when we have a downturn in our programs, it will be harder to attract the market we would like (just look at what the Ken Hayes firing did for us). Christians and non-Christians will perceive us as not holding to our principles.

I do hope that this is a great event and that the fall off is unnoticeable. I also hope that this is the last time that the ORU Athletic department puts on an event that is controllable during a Sunday evening.

[Guest Mount Baldy]

Really Big, you should be called Really Misinformed. Based upon your previous postings, you have no idea what hotels the athletic dept. has relationships with and what parameters are needed to stage an event like this. I know several folks in Athletics who agree that all things considered, Sunday Jan. 29 was the only date they could book. Nobody is prioritizing baseball over the Lord. Your right to attend church that night has not been infringed upon. Fine, go to church. But get off the athletic dept.'s and everyone else's back with your holier than thou blather about not considering everyone's church schedule. ORU fans are more diverse than you think and believe it or not, not everyone has church services on Sunday night, even Christians. People will choose what they want to do and those choices should be respected - whatever they are. Finally, you want to see a low turnout? Have Mike Moore preach instead of talk about baseball. This is a baseball event for the entire city - not just for ORU fans who have Sunday night church services.

[Guest Blevins]

Here's why the event is on a Sunday:

Frazier said he wouldn't MC on nights his son plays high school basketball, which excludes Tuesday and Friday; since he's the one who helped start this we owe him that muh

We can't have it on Thursday, Saturday or Monday becuase our basketball teams have games on those nights and we won't have conflicting events

So that leaves Sunday and Wednesday... Sunday, for obvious reasons, is the best night.

Believe me, every effort was made to have it on any night other than Sunday, but that wasn't possible. I wish things were as easy as the all-knowing people on message boards like to think they are.

[oruvoice]

Hey Blevins...just make sure you keep count of assists, rebounds, and a fresh supply of popcorn in the media room and leave the important stuff to us.

Heck, you're probably the one in charge of flights to Cancun and floor preparations for all we know. You better watch your attitude or we'll have to bring CR back and demote you to 'Wendy's Ball Kid'.

[MrsSmith]

Last I knew ORU is still a Christian university. Core values from the ORU webpage state:

"Christian Distinctiveness

We are a God-centered Christian university with a charismatic emphasis, devoted to living in the power of the Holy Spirit, with Jesus as the center. We practice a Biblically-based lifestyle and prepare our students to go into every person?s world with healing for the totality of human need."

Biblically Sunday is declared a day of rest. Agreed this means different things to different people. I'd like to think that we would do things differently than the rest of the world. I thought the article in the TW the other day about the Mercer athlete who won't play on Sundays spoke volumes about taking a stand for what you believe.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/NewsStory.asp ... Relig38311

I for one applaud those who have the convictions that God is more important than athletics. This may seem silly to those of you who don't have those convictions. I'm sure you'll let me know.

[EasyTELGuy]

Last I knew ORU is still a Christian university. Core values from the ORU webpage state:

"Christian Distinctiveness

We are a God-centered Christian university with a charismatic emphasis, devoted to living in the power of the Holy Spirit, with Jesus as the center. We practice a Biblically-based lifestyle and prepare our students to go into every person?s world with healing for the totality of human need."

Biblically Sunday is declared a day of rest. Agreed this means different things to different people. I'd like to think that we would do things differently than the rest of the world. I thought the article in the TW the other day about the Mercer athlete who won't play on Sundays spoke volumes about taking a stand for what you believe.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/NewsStory.asp ... Relig38311

I for one applaud those who have the convictions that God is more important than athletics. This may seem silly to those of you who don't have those convictions. I'm sure you'll let me know.

Y'know...part of "...going into every man's world..." is to meet the community where they're at. One of my concerns about your post MrsSmith & for ReallyBig's post, is that it reads awfully similar to the legalism of Jesus' day that he didn't think too fondly of.

The whole thing behind Sabbath is to have a weekly time when you break from the action & rest/worship our Lord! You've gotta appreciate that if the event is on a Sunday night, there's a lot of good reasons behind it. ORU is smart enough to understand that they'll miss out on a few crowd members because of church conflicts - but that doesn't make the meeting "wrong" because it IS on a Sunday evening.

It's fine to have an opinion about things, but to be dogmatic about an event being on the same evening as a church night doesn't mean ORU is getting away from its purpose. IMO, it helps fulfill that call by drawing in the Tulsa working crowd that normally may not come on a weeknight, does NOT go to church at all, and would possibly get a bit closer to Jesus just because they're around the ORU environment!

If Jesus broke the boundaries for healing people, "eating and drinking", and other violations on the Sabbath, then we can certainly seek to draw people in on a Sunday evening and not have it be an issue. I normally don't opine on issues like this, but MrsSmith's and ReallyBig's posts are not looking at the broader target market of indeed reaching out to the Tulsa community who could care less about the concept of Sabbath & rest/worship day unto the Lord! JMO, but I think a good way about this is let's not put God in a box or limit the power of His Holy Spirit to a conflict on a Sunday evening!

[MrsSmith]

EasyTel you make some good points. I don't think that anyone said that it was a sin to attend this event on Sunday. However, since a large part of ORU's market is Church attending people, some will not be able to come. I expect the world to not care about Sunday and Wednesday nights, but I expect something different from ORU.

That's my point.

[EasyTELGuy]

EasyTel you make some good points. I don't think that anyone said that it was a sin to attend this event on Sunday. However, since a large part of ORU's market is Church attending people, some will not be able to come. I expect the world to not care about Sunday and Wednesday nights, but I expect something different from ORU.

That's my point.

I hear ya'...but a point I would like to make clear is that I WANT ORU to reach a really BROAD crowd with its athletics programs marketing message. I think non-church people think it's weird if church people are inflexible on something (in their minds) that is non-material - namely, as to when ORU puts on an event. It's the whole "be-in-the-world-but-not-of-it" topic. Sometimes we have to embrace people where they're at and Sunday is not a bad day for many people as I pointed out previously. Blessings, ETG.

[ReallyBigORUFan]

OK...I leave for a week and come back to see a "long-and-winding" road to this post than I never thought would transpire. Mrs. Smith, thanks for the admirable job of stating some very good points. You are very much on point. EasyTel, I agree that you also have very good points and am wholeheartedly in agreement that we need to attract the non-believers to what we as Christians, and ORU specifically, have to offer. I want, just like you want, to reach a really broad crowd because we can do that with athletics unlike the churches - but I still want to bring our own along for the ride, too.

My attempt was to state the following in what has turned out to be a not-so-eloquent way: 1) I am disappointed that I am not able to attend due to this being on a Sunday night. 2) I am of the opinion that I am in THE target market that ORU is attempting to attract to their events, sporting or otherwise (that market being the Christian market). 3) There are two nights that we know that a concentration of Christian church events go on - Sunday and Wednesday. Whether that is due to traditions, first-come, first-serve or whatever, it is how our society is.

I am hopeful that the event does well although I don't know that it will be as well attended (and therefore attain the same money mark) as in previous years. I'm hopeful that the athletic department exhausted all other efforts to have this on another night regardless of location, speakers (including MCs), etc. as no one thing is bigger than the Diamond Dinner itself. It is a combination of items that creates the whole event.

I appreciate what GF has done for the Dinner. He and Kaye are great people and he attracts many of the named attendees. I don't know that the show "wouldn't go on" if he weren't there as has been alluded to previously.

Many of you will attend this event and I hope that you will take the time to write about it on this board so that others that aren't able to attend can get a flavor for it. Spend lots of money and support the team as it deserves to be supported. I still hold to the fact that I hope we will not hold events on Sunday and Wednesday nights when there are controllable alternatives available.

As Mrs. Smith stated, we should expect something different from ORU.