Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Alabama Getaway - 2017 College Football Thread

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    If you ever want to come to a Penn State game, just let give me some advance notice and I can provide you with a place to stay and perhaps a tailgate party to attend to complete the experience. Tickets are expensive, but unless it's one of the really big games, they can be had.

    Comment


      A curmudgeon writes:

      A Rose Bowl without a B1G team or a PAC-12 team is just wrong

      This “Rose Bowl Game” nonsense (especially at midfield) is even worse.

      Comment


        Fine ending to the first half, lots going on in this game. I might see it through in one go.

        Comment


          Originally posted by Hot Pepsi View Post
          If you ever want to come to a Penn State game, just let give me some advance notice and I can provide you with a place to stay and perhaps a tailgate party to attend to complete the experience. Tickets are expensive, but unless it's one of the really big games, they can be had.
          Thanks, may well do. As discussed elsewhere we did the Lousiana/Texas thing in 2016 and I'd happily do a Big 10 equivalent sometime.

          Comment


            Originally posted by ursus arctos View Post
            A curmudgeon writes:

            A Rose Bowl without a B1G team or a PAC-12 team is just wrong

            This “Rose Bowl Game” nonsense (especially at midfield) is even worse.
            I think that's its real name, isn't it? To differentiate it from the stadium. It was originally played just to offset the costs of the parade. So it's acknowledging tradition, I think. Or maybe not.

            Having to see PSU finish 2nd in the polls in 1994 after going undefeated and winning the Rose Bowl, plus two subsequent losses to fucking USC in that game, means that I don't have any particular fondness for it. When PSU finished #3 nationally in 2005, after several really terrible seasons, they did it via beating FSU in OT in the Orange Bowl because the Rose Bowl was taken up by what was then the only BCS national championship game. I think that was the Texas over USC year.*

            Among the PSU fans who travel to the bowl games or want to someday, the Rose Bowl seems to be the one they like the most, but we don't have the same reverence for it that old-school Big 10 and Pac 10 fans do. And most of the fans of the other Pac12 and B1G teams care more about making the playoffs now. I suspect the people who'd be most mad about losing the Rose Bowl tie-in are fans of teams that win the conference about once in a generation - Purdue, Illinois, Washington State, etc. (other than the most recent additions to the Pac10 and B1G, only Arizona has never made it). I think it's a popular destination because LA is such a great place to visit this time a year. Everyone can find stuff to do that they'll enjoy, other than the game, to make a good trip out of it.

            While tradition is nice, I'm glad the door to a proper playoffs is finally opening up, if for no other reason than that the big bowl system is pretty corrupt. Dudes in ugly blazers making huge salaries for tax-free "non-profits." Most bowls are money-losers for the universities. And I don't like that they're almost always in warm weather cities favoring, as often as not, our opposition. And, of course, it should be decided on the field as much as possible.

            I've never been to a bowl, though. It's expensive and would require taking time away from my family during the Holidays. If and when PSU ever plays in the Citrus or Outback Bowl, maybe I could go with my brother and nephew and stay with him, but it's not really on my bucket list. I have so many fond memories of watching PSU's bowls on TV with friends and family in various locations, that to me that's what it's all about and I'm happy with that.


            *I wonder if the Rose Bowl will manage to hold onto its position as one of the bowls that regularly gets to host. It's not a state of the art stadium and Pasadena isn't really a vacation destination. The greater Los Angeles area will soon have one or maybe two zillion dollar NFL stadiums that are much more conducive to wealthy donors and corporate ticket sales. Soon, if not already, none of the players will have been alive the last time the Rose Bowl was automatically the winners of the Pac10 and Big 10. Eventually, nobody is going to care about its claim to be the most important and prestigious bowl, which hasn't been true most years for over 30 years.

            It would be a loss of one of the oldest traditions in sports, but most of that tradition disappeared years ago. Everyone with a financial stake in college football, except the blazerati, is more into the playoffs now, as are most of the fans and players. And now that just about every college football game is on TV and there are 40 bowl games, there's no mystique around a particular nationally televised game.

            It's a bit like the FA Cup, I suppose, except that they built a new Wembley. The Rose Bowl is still the same.

            Comment


              Holy fuck what a game.

              Comment


                Quite

                Comment


                  Yeah

                  Comment


                    Marvellous stuff, relentless action and incident, and I saw it through, eventually getting to bed at 2.30am. The much hyped Clemson Alabama game was an anti climax after that.

                    Comment


                      Fuck. All SEC final.
                      Go Georgia. Everything else being equal, always root for the team that hasn't won in a long while and for the team represented by a dog.

                      Comment


                        Originally posted by Walt Flanagans Dog View Post
                        Thanks, may well do. As discussed elsewhere we did the Lousiana/Texas thing in 2016 and I'd happily do a Big 10 equivalent sometime.
                        Not exactly Death or Happy Valley, but you're certainly welcome to stay with us in the land of the UNM Lobos -- picturesque view from the football stadium and tickets easily available and cheap. Can't say much about the football, but plenty to do in Albuquerque and environs.

                        If interested in seeing the Sooners, Owen Field is a solid, old stadium whose refurbishments don't completely destroy the college atmosphere. If you sought to go to an early, non-conference game, you could score tickets at a good price. Just wait until kickoff and there are usually a number of folks who will 'sacrifice' their tickets in order to not miss the game.

                        And, no surprise, go Georgia.
                        Last edited by Cal Alamein; 02-01-2018, 16:46.

                        Comment


                          NYC is about as far from a college football hotbed as one can get, but seeing a game at West Point is a worthwhile experience, particularly if one springs for the rather posh ferry to and from Manhattan

                          Comment


                            Originally posted by ursus arctos View Post
                            NYC is about as far from a college football hotbed as one can get, but seeing a game at West Point is a worthwhile experience, particularly if one springs for the rather posh ferry to and from Manhattan

                            Yeah, and Army is doing pretty well football-wise these days.

                            Comment


                              Originally posted by Cal Alamein View Post
                              Not exactly Death or Happy Valley, but you're certainly welcome to stay with us in the land of the UNM Lobos -- picturesque view from the football stadium and tickets easily available and cheap. Can't say much about the football, but plenty to do in Albuquerque and environs.

                              If interested in seeing the Sooners, Owen Field is a solid, old stadium whose refurbishments don't completely destroy the college atmosphere. If you sought to go to an early, non-conference game, you could score tickets at a good price. Just wait until kickoff and there are usually a number of folks who will 'sacrifice' their tickets in order to not miss the game.

                              And, no surprise, go Georgia.
                              I'd like to visit NM some time again. Don't know how it is as a place to live, but it's a beautiful place to visit. Less crowded than Colorado, but less deserty than Arizona. At least the parts I've been to in the north.

                              Comment


                                Cheers all, good ideas to work on. I always prefer to see actual games but I'm not averse to visiting places on a stadium tour where it's an option (and it means you can fit them in to midweek).

                                Comment


                                  Originally posted by Hot Pepsi View Post
                                  I'd like to visit NM some time again. Don't know how it is as a place to live, but it's a beautiful place to visit. Less crowded than Colorado, but less deserty than Arizona. At least the parts I've been to in the north.
                                  NM is geographically very diverse. Lots of forests, mountains (no 14ers like Colorado, but our highest, Wheeler Peak, is a great climb), some desert (white sands is most impressive), but mostly the state has been left the hell alone. I like living here, but worry like many in the southwest that lack of precipitation will slowly depress and kill the area.

                                  Knowing you are a Simpsons and minor league baseball fan, Isotopes Park is a quality ball park. Plenty to do here - you got a place to stay here if you make the trip.

                                  Comment


                                    Now that Navy's getting one, Army is rumored to be getting an outdoor NHL game too in the future.

                                    I've only seen parts of ABQ and Santa Fe, but I love the bits of NM that I've seen.

                                    Comment


                                      Trump is going to Atlanta for the final. (Kendrick Lamar is doing the thing at halftime. Interesting.)

                                      https://www.theguardian.com/sport/20...kendrick-lamar

                                      Why is it on a Monday?
                                      Last edited by Gerontophile; 04-01-2018, 21:10.

                                      Comment


                                        Yes, it is in Atlanta

                                        It's on a Monday so as not to conflict with the NFL Playoffs

                                        Comment


                                          Yes, sorry, I typed a question rather than a statement, which is edited.

                                          Poxy wildcard games.

                                          Comment


                                            Well, I missed it due to sleep, but it seems I missed a stone-cold classic.

                                            Comment


                                              And now that the Football season is over, it's time to consider the morality of certain aspects. Take it away, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

                                              Comment


                                                The idea that a kid goes from high school with a few bit-part appearances to coming on at HT, 0-13, in a $2 bil dollar stadium and turns the game around is mind-blowing.

                                                That Alabama got to within 30 minutes on a college season without any form of passing game is depressing.

                                                Comment


                                                  Watched it last night, top stuff again, the drama gradually building throughout the second half.

                                                  I've still got about ten of the lesser bowl games to catch up on too.

                                                  Comment


                                                    Can someone wittier and more knowledgeable than me start a new thread for 2018?

                                                    Comment

                                                    Working...
                                                    X