Too much leads to not enough for Hampton U

David Squires, Daily Press

HAMPTON - When league foe Morgan State scored on its opening possession of the second half Thursday night to tie Hampton University, the Pirates' night of Hip-Hop and hash marks was brewing into a perfect storm.

Lackluster attendance at the home-opening football game for the three-time defending conference champion Pirates.

Lackluster attendance at the concert across the parking lot at the HU Convocation Center, featuring Young Jeezy, Rick Ross, USDA and Eve.

An uninspired performance on the football field by the Pirates, who jumped to a 17-0 lead, then found themselves in a 17-all tie and eventually overtime ď before winning 24-17.

A slight drizzle at kickoff and for part of the first quarter didn't help.

Was this promotions genius, bad planning or related to an interesting conspiracy theory regarding the separation of town U from towns' folk?

As it turns out, it might merely have been the unintended confluence of a couple of rescheduled events -- with HU officials hoping to make the best of the situation.

The game was scheduled for 6 p.m. Saturday, but when it became a televised game, it was moved to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, according to HU athletic director Lonza Hardy.

The concert, hosted by local promoter Fred Wills, originally was scheduled for July 20, but was rescheduled to Thursday night at 8:30, according to HU Convocation Center marketing director Jewel Baker.

Attendance at the game was announced at 5,360, and Hardy said he expected some students would attend both events.

Hardy anticipated that some of the concert's main acts would not perform until after the game.

In fact, Rick Ross and Young Jeezy were said to have attended the game in the first half.

Hardy also said that he expected attendance to build from Thursday's game, with the next home games featuring perhaps HU's toughest foes of the year: Delaware State on Sept. 29, and South Carolina State for homecoming on Oct. 20.

Meanwhile, Baker, at the concert venue Thursday, was expecting "3,500 to 4,500" at the Convocation Center.

Hardly anyone was in line for the opening of the doors at 7:30 p.m.

Foot traffic began to pick up around 8:45.

"We're expecting to have a good concert," Baker said. "We're expecting a good crowd. We're expecting to have a good time."

No, this was not an attempt by the private HU to become more welcoming of the larger community. Some believe it was just the opposite.

"I feel like they didn't want too many students and other people in the same place at the same time," said Cecil Chaniel, 25, who lives in Hampton. "So they had the game for students and football players at the same time as the concert."

Chaniel, who plays for the Virginia Crusaders, a Hampton Roads-based semipro football team, says he was torn between going to the game and the concert.

He picked the concert because he is a native of Cordele, Ga., and "Jeezy is from Atlanta, so I had to support him."

"If they had this (concert) on Friday, it would have sold out," Chaniel said. "So they're taking away money from the artists who've come to perform."

To add another damper to the evening, Eve came on the video screen at about 11:35 p.m. and announced that because of personal issues she could not perform. The crowd, not surprisingly, was not pleased.

But the main course, Jeezy, hadn't performed yet. And the night's other highlight came moments before Eve's announcement, when Pirates quarterback T.J. Mitchell hit Justin Brown for the game-winning score.