Sunday, September 18, 2016

Should I Have Hustled The Group For Money?

As I suspected/feared, since my alma mater got trounced two weeks ago, the pretty good crowd we had dwindled for this game last (Saturday) night, though not by as much as I thought.  We actually had a decent turnout for a team that already will fail to reach the lofty expectations we traditionally have for it.

It didn't start out that way.  First of all I was afraid no one else was going to show up.  Then one did, then another.  Then a couple came in, and they were new, which is great.  So I was more than overjoyed with five.  But then two other people, someone I know and her friend, came in the first quarter.  And so all seven us -- wow, seven!!! -- were in downtown Minneapolis to watch our team lose yet again.

And so I was faced with a question.  As president, I need to find ways to raise money for our scholarship fund.  One way to do this is to conduct a raffle at our watch parties.  But I have been reluctant to do it in the past if there wasn't enough people.  But I faced an internal crossroads last night: Is seven people enough to pull off a raffle?

In the end, I decided against it.  I didn't want to freak out the new couple by hitting them up for money the first time I saw them.  But I did it two weeks ago with at least a couple people.  Maybe I hesitated because the two who sauntered in in the first quarter didn't seem to be the raffle ticket-buying type, so why bother.  But did I really know?

Or maybe I should just face facts: I was afraid to hustle money for the fund because I didn't know whether I would lose face.  I didn't want to think of a money-grubber, and so I abdicated on one of the main functions of my job.

Or maybe I did the right thing because otherwise I would be too pushy?  Dammit, I don't know.

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