Frost Arena

[JACKGUYII]

Re: Frost Arena

I think the checkerboard would look good in the endzone at Coughlin too. Now spice up mid-court, replace the south bleachers, put in the new scoreboards/video replay boards and add 8000 screaming fans and we will have a rocking DI venue.

[89rabbit]

Re: Frost Arena

My dad sent me a picture of the newly-painted Frost Arena floor. I really like the checkerboard thing. I haven't seen that anywhere else. It's the sort of thing (like Indiana's clown-outfit warmup pants) that could become sort of a trademark SDSU thing.

Love it!   8)  Thanks for posting the picture OK_Jackrabbit!  Add me to the list of supporters of the Giant Running Rabbit at mid-court idea.  

Go State!  ;D


P.S. Jackguy II, the endzones at Coughlin already have the checkerboard.

[OK_Jackrabbit]

Re: Frost Arena

Yes, the Summitt has checkerboard endlines.  As you note, it's a Tennessee thing both for basketball and football.

Add me to the list of people who'd like to see a 30-foot Running Rabbit at mid-court.  It makes me smile to even think about it.

You're right. Tennessee added the checkerboard to their basketball arena in 2002. Here's a picture:



I prefer it in yellow and blue. I've never been a big fan of orange.

[JACKGUYII]

Re: Frost Arena

Love it!   8)  Thanks for posting the picture OK_Jackrabbit!  Add me to the list of supporters of the Giant Running Rabbit at mid-court idea.  

Go State!  ;D

I knew it looked familiar!

P.S. Jackguy II, the endzones at Coughlin already have the checkerboard.

[CatchEmAll]

Re: Frost Arena

Gonna go out on a limb here and say that as long as one member of the Athletic Administration is still there you won't see an oversized running rabbit anywhere near Frost Arena ;D

The floor looks great though. I'm guessing our facilities director for the HPER and his crew dreamt up the new paint scheme. They were creative at CAS and did a fine job painting and maintaining the CAS field, Frost should be a little easier to maitain.

[jackrabbit1979]

Re: Frost Arena

I think the checkerboard would look good in the endzone at Coughlin too. Now spice up mid-court, replace the south bleachers, put in the new scoreboards/video replay boards and add 8000 screaming fans and we will have a rocking DI venue.

Sounds Great!

Add the 30' running rabbit (Is there distaste for the logo in HPER Catch Em?) Remove the current Jacks logos on the sides and replace them with "Scott Nagy Court" (to ensure that Coach Nagy can never leave  ) then bring in some D1 schools off next years schedule so we can show them what basketball crowds are all about.  

[bub94]

Re: Frost Arena

Don't think the scoreboards are in the works. Doesn't sound like it gets too far along in the contract process. Members of the athletic department took tours within the last year so I am surprised nothing has come from it.

[89rabbit]

Re: Frost Arena

bub94,

How long does it take to go from contacts being signed to scoreboards being put into place? Is it too late for new scoreboards for this upcoming season?

Go State! ;D

[OK_Jackrabbit]

Re: Frost Arena

bub94,

How long does it take to go from contacts being signed to scoreboards being put into place?  Is it too late for new scoreboards for this upcoming season?

Go State!  ;D

I worked at Daktronics during grad school and had friends who worked there. They operated then on a surprisingly quick turnaround schedule, sort of a just-in-time manufacturing scheme. I'm betting it's not too late.

[JackTwice]

Re: Frost Arena

The scoreboards are a done deal. The floor in frost won't be available until the end of May because of refinishing and then there are a few weeks of basketball camps. That's at least a month before the boards can go in so it is highly likely that Dak hasn't started building them, beside the fact that they don't need to be in until the end of August.

As far as the Jackrabbit goes, I thought there was an issue with Warner Brothers because of the likeness to another Rabbit they own. I don't know if this is true or something that was invented. Any one here ever hear that?

[filbert]

Re: Frost Arena

(snip)
I prefer it in yellow and blue. I've never been a big fan of orange.

Ooh, don't let my Snookums hear that, she's a Vol you know.

At least it's not that horrid burnt orange stuff Texas wears.

[filbert]

Re: Frost Arena

The scoreboards are a done deal. The floor in frost won't be available until the end of May because of refinishing and then there are a few weeks of basketball camps. That's at least a month before the boards can go in so it is highly likely that Dak hasn't started building them, beside the fact that they don't need to be in until the end of August.

As far as the Jackrabbit goes, I thought there was an issue with Warner Brothers because of the likeness to another Rabbit they own. I don't know if this is true or something that was invented. Any one here ever hear that?

Did you hear that Warner Brothers was thinking about "futurizing" the Looney Tunes crew before their fan base, lead by an 11 year old Oklahoma kid, caught wind of it and went ballistic? (Shameless plug for my web site follows):
http://www.medary.com/article.php/20050504073946952
Follow the links there to catch up on the news.

It's true that there are some similarities between Bugs BunnyTM (BB) and Running RabbitTM (RR):

Both are stylized representations of lagomorphs;
Both have long floppy ears with pink on the inside;
Both are gray on top with a chest of white (IMHO RR should be blue and yellow, respectively).

The two images have a longer list of differences:
BB is an animated character, RR is a static logo;
BB has two visible teeth, RR has five;
BB has whiskers, RR does not;
BB's tail is gray and white, RR's is just white;
RR's cheek ruffs are more pronounced than BB's;
RR's nose and pupils are much larger than BB's;
BB has a vertical chest line, RR does not;
BB's favorite food is carrots, RR prefers bison

There have been other cartoon rabbits in the public:
Trix cereal ("silly rabbit, Trix are for kids"
The Nesquik Bunny;
Roger Rabbit;
blue-rabbit.com (ring tones for phones)
etc., etc.

Despite what you may think at first glance, I don't think that it's at all obvious that that Warner would win over SDSU if it ever came to trial.

The trademark law addresses "likelihood of injury to business reputation or of dilution of a mark . . . notwithstanding the absence of competition between the parties or the absence of confusion as to the source of goods and services."

If anything, it could be argued that BB infringes on the Jackrabbit identity and trademarks because 1) SDSU had the "Jackrabbit" identity before BB came up in 1938, and 2) this discussion clearly reveals that BB constitutes a potential dilution of that identity.

Interestingly, there is a line of thought that believes that BB himself is a derivative character from a Disney character "Max Hare" which appeared in a short that won a 1935 Academy Award.

RR is already on the Frost Arena floor, twice, in the "Jacks" logo. I really don't think there is any trademark issue with putting the full RR on the floor.

Frankly, getting into a legal spat with Warner Brothers over the Running Rabbit might actually be worth it (i.e. there's no such thing as bad publicity). At worst, SDSU would need to modify RR (change the colors, etc., which we may want to do anyway). At best, RR would beat BB in court. Wouldn't that be an amusing headline?

(For those of you who are lawyers, it should be obvious by now that I am not one . . . *shrug*. Sometimes, I regret that SDSU doesn't have a Law School. Not often, but sometimes :-) )

Whatever happens, I think it's a good bet that we won't be changing our nickname to the "Gold." Heh heh.

"Of course you realize this means WAR!"

[OK_Jackrabbit]

Re: Frost Arena

Keep in mind that Time Warner has kind of a lot of money. It's only the biggest entertainment company in the world. That kind of money can buy a lot of lawyers. It's one of those cases where the threat of years of expensive litigation would probably be enough to 'win' the case, even if there is no legitimate copyright infringement issue. If there was a challenge, SDSU would have no choice, I'm sure, but to retire the running rabbit rather than spend gazillions to litigate ownership of the thing.

Why not get ahead of things and have a graphic artist create a new set of bunnies? We've had this discussion here before: Hate USD all you want, but their new coyote and 'U' logos are very nice and create a strong identity for USD athletics. SDSU has the 'flying SD' which is great, but a new set of bunnies would no doubt spur merchandise sales and give State a logo that is theirs alone, with no superficial resemblance to anything else.

The single most unique thing about SDSU athletics is the Jackrabbit. I'd like to see it featured more than it is now.

[bub94]

Re: Frost Arena

Depending on the size of the displays. For the football stadium, if they were to only get one color display for one end zone and a scoreboard at the other end, you would be looking at maybe 2-3 weeks. It all depends on what else we have going through and which contract has a quicker 'need' date. I'm interested to see what the board for Frost would be. Can't really see a full color display on a center hung (I don't consider Frost as having a very high ceiling). They could go with one of the east end of Frost.

When the boards go through, we would push the football out first then the basketball later (only because when the season take place).

[89rabbit]

Re: Frost Arena

Here is the latest on the scoreboards. I was at the Stan Marshall in Brookings this past weekend and I saw the drawings for the new scoreboards, and they look great. They had a video board that will be used in one of them behind the podium and it looked like my TV at home only much BIGGER. According the the Jackrabbit Athletics 2004-05 Annual Report, and I quote:

"The game-day experience for Jackrabbit football, basketball, volleyball and wrestling fans will never be the same again.

The department will be teaming up with Daktronics, Inc. to enhance the look and feel of the Stanley J. Marshall HPER Center and Coughlin-Alumni Stadium. This project will include the installation of state-of-the-art technology, new scoring systems and the integration of graphic design elements throught those venues in time for the 2005-06 school year. . . ."


Go State! ;D