The Joe Paterno Bowl?
by KevinHD on Aug 7, 2009 10:45 AM EDT
in Football
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Ha ha just kidding. Joe Paterno's not a corporation, or a pizza web site, and there aren't even any exclamation points in his name. But it wouldn't be a bad title for a game that, in a just world, should get a bump in its ability to materialize.
The Big East started this thing a couple of weeks ago, as the conference's version of Rittenberg explains:
As the Big East continues to try and improve its future bowl lineup, the league is strongly considering signing on for a new game in New York City, commissioner John Marinatto said.
Options would include playing at Yankee Stadium or the new Giants Stadium.
"There are several possibilities there we've been talking about and we're open minded about," Marinatto said. "Because New York has been the home of our basketball tournament and we have a 27-year history there, that's something the membership would obviously embrace."
[...]
The Big East has three priorities in searching for its bowl partnerships, Marinatto said. Those are geographic proximity, the attractiveness of the destination and the quality of the bowl opponent. He said New York fits all three of those categories, even though the weather could present some challenges in a December or January game.
NCAA ranting after the bump...
Challenges for who? If Penn State can fill up Beaver Stadium during this:
...I think we'll be able to handle it for a bowl game.
The only downside here is that those in charge don't seem to be very ambitious. Mgoblog notes:
The article makes it sound like this would be a real rinky-dink operation, though, with the last-ish bowl-eligible Big East team versus anyone who's floating around without a tie-in. This will be a Big Ten team approximately once in a zillion years. Iowa missed out on a bowl at 6-6 a couple years ago, but I don't recall any other eligible Big Ten team escaping the gravitational pull of the Motor City Bowl.
All of this becomes a little more interesting after the NCAA snapped back when Delaware ignored their feeble threats (redundant phrase?). The details:
The NCAA will no longer hold championship tournaments in states that permit betting on single games.
Chancellors and presidents from all three NCAA divisions approved the measure Thursday, saying it applies to "any session of an NCAA championship." It does not apply to states that allow parlay betting, lottery tickets, pull tabs and sports pools.
The move came one day after a federal judge denied a request by professional sports leagues and the NCAA to halt Delaware's planned sports betting lottery until a legal challenge is resolved.
From what I can gather there isn't a ban on NCAA bowl games, and so doesn't this bringing the hypocrisy of the NCAA to a whole new level? Isn't the point to "protect amateur athletics"? And tell me again why a bowl game in the capital of sports betting is okay but a field hockey tournament in Delaware isn't?
So tell me this: How can they keep this ban on stable ground and still allow the highest of profile sports, the only one people would be betting on anyway, to continue to run in Sin City?
The bitterness about this is self serving, though: I want a prominent bowl game in the north, and I wouldn't mind driving up to see Penn State play in it from time to time. With so many Big East and Big Ten alumni I don't see how ticket sales could ever be an issue as long as we aren't talking consistent 7 win teams.
We've talked a lot about rivalry this summer and playing West Virginia, Rutgers, Maryland or (maybe someday) Syracuse could help give the Eastern Power folks a fix while not taking away from out of conference games like Notre Dame and Alabama.
What to do? Well feel free to do your own day dreaming, but I say ditch the Alamo Bowl, giving the Big East an offer they can't refuse, and let someone else play in the Meineke Car Care Bowl.
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And based on the 'related links'
we’ve never written about big east football before.
Order your copy of "We Are Penn State" The offseason is long. So is this magazine.
oh
and Brian Cook talks about how the LV Bowl made it awful hard for the NCAA to get going on any kind of legal case against the state.
Order your copy of "We Are Penn State" The offseason is long. So is this magazine.
this is just flat out stupid
Who in their right mind is going to drop a butt load of $ to travel to NY in the middle of winter to freeze their keester off watching Pitt? I know what they are trying for but that dog does not hunt!
Peter
Yeah, nobody goes to NYC around New Years.
Place is practically a ghost town.
Except the game would be in New Jersey
most likely. Or possibly Yankee Stadium.
But if the game is at the Meadowlands, that’s not exactly an easy jaunt from Manhattan. You would need to have car, it would be a pain in the ass.
"I honestly think the "Spread HD" is going to work pretty well, and we’ll be just fine this year". - 8-27-2008
Still don't think so
Clearly there are a lot of people in the NY Metro area and the whole New Years Eve celebration in Times Square is a pretty decent draw. That said, it still will not fly for a few reasons.
1) Those folks are not going to attend the game. Think about who goes to bowl games and even college football games if their team is not involved? Practically no one. So, how many of these people who are already in NY are candidates to attend the bowl game in Yankee Stadium? Answer is very few. So you are going to have to travel specifically to go to the bowl game. Sure you could do the Times Square NY Eve deal as a bonus…but you still are traveling to go to the bowl game.
2) The Big east is one of the anchor teams. Take a look around the Big East at football attendance…not so hot to start off with. This is what your drawing from. It is not like Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Florida State, Texas, Oklahoma, etc… where you have a big draw of fan support. Most of these schools do not even fill up their own stadium.
3) They used to have a Kick off Classic game in the Meadowlands. It was not that well attended. I attended one with PSU vs. Georgia Tech (we womped em! ;-) ) and that was pretty full but PSU is huge in that area. Other than that I recall watching the game on TV and seeing a lot of empty seats. Although I am not positive that the kickoff classic games folded for financial reasons they did not do all that well and they had little competition in picking good schools to attend the games. How well attended would the game be for two lower tier programs that are not having that great a year. How many ND fans are going to get excited to go see their 6-6 Irish team play a 7-5 U-Conn team. Maybe if you get a PSU, an Ohio State, or a Michigan team but even then, the teams marginal if they are playing in this game. I love going to PSU games in the cold. One of my all time favorites was the Snow Bowl against Michigan and I would not travel the 5 hours to go to the bowl game at Yankee Stadium in January/late December.
4) It is dang cold out their in January. I hope they would not do the game at night. I saw the NY Giants in a playoff game at night a few years back and their coach had frostbite before the game was over. With all the above obstacles to overcome you have the weather. There is no one from a warm climate school who is going be chomping at the bit to plunk down a few $K to see their beloved Miami Hurricanes at 6-6 play 6-7 Cincinnati. Other than PSU and maybe Michigan and Ohio State who is going to travel to NYC in the middle of winter to go see their mediocre team play.
You show me someone who would put up the $ to bank roll this bowl game and I will show you a desperate fool who is driving to DC to see Obama about a bail out! ;-)
Peter
Well
My real point was that the weather doesn’t stop people from going there if they have a reason and its not like anyone can act like there’s no reason at all to travel there. Any bowl has the same limitations that the attendance really depends on the teams that are in it regardless of location. Last year they practically had to give Orange Bowl tickets away. If the bowl actually managed to get decent tie-ins (which it won’t because any new bowl would likely be very low on the pecking order) the real fans would show up regardless of the weather. Although, you definitely are correct that most of the Big East teams aren’t exactly going to bring in much fan support.
Preseason classics
The Kickoff Classic and all that followed were done away with when the schedule expanded to 12 games. They were criticized in some circles for being an extra bowl game for elite programs. Penn State was in four of them, going 2-2. I went to their last one, which we don’t need to talk about at all. Attendance was mixed for the KC, but Penn State games tended to have the highest attendance.
Overall, I think Penn State had something like a 9-2 record at Giants Stadium. I also went there for the last Rutgers game. Over 59,000 were there.
Blogging about D.C. Baseball since April '04. Penn State alum. Also partial to the Washington Capitals, New York Yankees and Yale football.
by WFY on Aug 7, 2009 2:33 PM EDT up reply actions
Seem to Remember
Some empty seats for the USC game (was that the last one?).
I liked it when the season started a week earlier. Would love for it to start on the 29th this year, by that time I’ll be thoroughly sick of pre-season NFL.
Bowl games vs. tournaments
Big difference between bowl games and tournaments like the final 4. The NCAA has nothing to do with bowls. They don’t run the BCS, they don’t run the Alamo Bowl, etc. Those are private enterprises that stage a game in exchange for money. This is also why there is a M before MNC, since it is awarded by a poll and not the NCAA.
So, the NCAA can make no threats wrt bowl games, but they can pull the lacrosse championship or basketball regionals, for example.
They still have authority over bowl games.
You’re right in that bowl games aren’t “run” by the NCAA, but for example:
The NCAA is requiring bowl games to ban the “hostile” or “abusive” use of American Indian nicknames, mascots and logos beginning next year.
So they are still approving these things on some level, and that’s my problem.
Order your copy of "We Are Penn State" The offseason is long. So is this magazine.
With so many Big East and Big Ten alumni I don’t see how ticket sales could ever be an issue as long as we aren’t talking consistent 7 win teams.
I really don’t think this is correct. The potential for cold weather is very damaging to attendance and since this isn’t likely to be a BCS/NYD type bowl, you are talking about teams down in the pecking order. Big East teams don’t draw all that well anyway to bowls, so unless you have Rutgers or UConn or maybe Syracuse involved — teams who would have fans drive in for the day — I think you’d suffer because tends of thousands of people aren’t going to fly in from Kentucky or Ohio to spend an uncomfortable day at an outdoor stadium.
Comparing it to regular season games liek PSU-MSU is silly because that is driven by season tickets. If you scheduled a random PSU game in Beaver Stadium in December against some 7-5 opponent, you’d have a damn tough time selling those tickets as well. People have to actually want to buy a ticket to that specific game and would have to make that decision in early December when it’s already in the front of their mind that “yeah, it’s kinda cold out now”.
Well feel free to do your own day dreaming, but I say ditch the Alamo Bowl, giving the Big East an offer they can’t refuse, and let someone else play in the Meineke Car Care Bowl.
Can’t say I agree. San Antonion is a cool place to visit and the Big Ten’s only Texas bowl game (unless they pick up the Cotton). I wouldn’t ditch that one. I’d dump the one of the Orlando bowls or the Insight before the Alamo. IMHO.
Agree
I’m biased because I live here, but SA is a lot of fun and everything is within walking distance of the many affordable hotels downtown. Plus, Southwest flies here cheap.
El Paso is a blast too, if you like an authentic city. It depends on your taste though, I really haven’t found much I liked in Florida, once you’ve seen one beach town you’ve seen them all. South Texas is much more fun for a weekend in January.
I had a conversation
If you HAD to have bowl tie-ins, what would be the best possible schedule? No more trips to Detroit, this would be my set up:
- Rose Bowl
- Cotton Bowl, Dallas
- Holiday Bowl, San Diego
- New Orleans Bowl: Biggest waste of a bowl ever—they actually have a Sun Belt/Conference USA tie-in. I think a Big Ten/SEC game here instead of the scary Citrus Bowl would be way more entertaining.
- Outback Bowl, Tampa
- Las Vegas Bowl
- EagleBank Bowl, DC: Added bonus of watching a Big Ten team play against Navy’s triple-option.
If there was a bowl game in Austin, it would go in there somewhere.
I really wish we would schedule a Home & Home with Texas
I would love to go down to Austin for a game
by The JuggerNitt on Aug 7, 2009 12:07 PM EDT up reply actions
In the New Orleans Bowl's defense
It’s a perfect bowl for both the Sun Belt and C-USA. New Orleans is pretty much the best/only major city that fits both conferences for the game (based on the East/West divisions).
I wrote about this a couple of months ago
prior to the talk of an NYC Bowl. I would love to see that slide in place of Las Vegas (and move up on top of the Alamo). In the #3 non-BCS spot, the bowl would have had its choice of every school in the Big Ten at least once in the past ten years.
The Rivalry, Esq.
The quintessential Big Ten smoking room.
Ditch the Alamo Bowl?
No way. I just moved to San Antonio.
Stadium is within walking distance of nice, affordable hotels. Cheap air fare. You can stumble over to the Riverwalk afterwards.
NYC? Ridiculously expensive and traffic getting out of jersey is horrible.
What kind of reward is playing in NJ in January? How is that going to help recruiting?
Las Vegas? Most overrated city in America. Unless you are a gambling addict, like white tigers and magic shows, the place has all the authenticity of a Friday’s at the airport.
The Alamo Bowl will be the only game on January 2nd this year and is moving up.
Agreed
Plus, having a bowl in Texas is a good thing.
The Rivalry, Esq.
The quintessential Big Ten smoking room.
bowls
Hmmm, well I agree with keeping the Alamo Bowl, which I think has been a great partnership for both the Big Ten and the bowl itself. It routinely does well in both TV ratings and attendance compared to similar bowls.
Idon’t agree with Las Vegas, though, which is a great place to visit. It’s not for everyone, sure, but I think most people who go can have a great time there even without walking into a casino — shopping, shows, clubs, relaxing by the pool, fine dining. And on the topic of gambling, if you like college football then being there with te sports books that time of year could be a hell of a blast.
Furthermore, I find it funny that you talk about San Antonio as being “authentic” since the Riverwalk and that area is what makes it such a nice place to visit and that’s about as artificial as any tourist area.
There’s probably very few bowl locations that can sell themselves on culture or history or authenticity. Virtually all are destinations based on weather and tourist attractions and maybe nightlife.
Agree Basically
I found Vegas to be the most boring city I’ve ever visited, but I’m not interested in any of the things they have. I had more fun in Indianapolis.
But that’s me. I like cities with some sort of local character and gambling occupies me for 30 minutes. I hate shopping, I can’t stand shows and it was hard to find anything other than casino bars. I can bet on sports on the Internet. You’re right though, Las Vegas is a pretty popular city with most people, i just didn’t find anything there to be interesting other than Hoover Dam.
The Riverwalk itself is touristy, I agree, but there are a lot of great places around here if you look. It’s like being in Mexico without the beheadings, etc.
I don’t think a move to a Las Vegas Bowl over the Alamo, would make any sense. It’s already here and I like beating Big 12 teams. And the promoters have been proactive enough to put it by itself on a Saturday, I think it would be a shame to lose it.
Wait a sec ... is the Gator Bowl up for grabs?
Big East Rittenberg’s report is based on what if the Gator doesn’t work out, so that seems to be likely.
If the Big Ten is serious about moving out of the Citrus Bowl games (Capital One & Champs Sports), the Gator would be a good get for the following reasons:
- It’s a traditional game (founded in 1946) that still has its original name.
- It’s in Florida; the Big Ten should keep two games there for recruiting purposes, if nothing else. (There would only be the Outback if they drop the two Orlando bowls.)
- We regain the ACC matchup from the Champs Sports, but with a better opponent.
- There’s at least a $2.5M payout, which is nice.
I don’t know, but I think the conference should be looking into this.
Gator Bowl
Not based on any info, but I get the feeling that the Gator Bowl is going to end up replacing the Big East with an SEC team rather than a Big Ten team.
I also feel like the Big Ten will end up dropping one of the Orlando bowls, but keeping the other.
Matt Hinton (Dr. Saturday) linked to this the other day:
Gator Bowl is “very interested” in joining SEC
Absolutlely, that’s what the Gator Bowl wants, but …
Catlett said the Gator could only join the SEC if the Capital One Bowl does not retain its window of TV exclusivity on New Year’s Day, and if the Gator acquires a top-5 pick of SEC teams. That would mean jumping either the Capital One, Outback, Cotton or Chick-fil-A in the SEC pecking order, all bowls that Catlett acknowledged are “awfully good partners” for the SEC.
Apparently, there aren’t enough SEC teams for every single bowl.
I also feel like the Big Ten will end up dropping one of the Orlando bowls, but keeping the other.
I thought the only reason the Big Ten wanted out was because the Citrus Bowl itself is a dump.
I suppose if they keep the Capital One and lose the Champs Sports, there would be room for the Paterno Bowl in the middle of the Big Ten bowl list.
Citrus Bowl
The Citrus Bowl is a dump and the big Ten wants it to be improved, but I think they’ll deal with it for one game just because Orlando is a fantastic vacation spot for snowbirds around New Years. Also, having it be only one bowl there lessens the chances of a team going to the same location often (especially since the Outback Bowl/Tampa is relatively close as well). I suspect 2 bowls in central Florida would be preferred for the confererence.
If the Citrus Bowl itself ( refuse to use corporate names) continues to be the highest paying non=BCS bowl, I don’t see how the Big Ten or SEC walk away from it, dump or no. But there’s nothing particularly keeping the Big Ten in the Champs Sports.
So, here’s my guess: the Big Ten will drop the Citrus if they get a berth in the Cotton and keep the Champs Sports. If the Big Ten does not get the Cotton berth, they’ll keep the Citrus and drop the Champs Sports in favor of a bowl in Texas or Atlanta or NYC. Either way, I don’t see them going with the Gator — it’s somewhat prestigious, but the Big Ten ten has really been emphasizing destinations in the bowls (that’s why the dumped the Sun and El Paso) and Jacksonville doesn’t pass the sniff test in that regard to me (it also can be kinda chilly there that time of year).
Is the Cotton Bowl really a possibility for the Big Ten?
I don’t know if we can snatch a slot from the SEC or the Big 12 this year.
Then again, Jim Delany could bring in the big dog and pull that off:
Cotton Bowl
Who knows? It’s been rumored and there’s an argument that a top Big Ten school would bring a lot more people to Dallas as tourists who will spend money, as opposed to SEC and especially Big 12 schools that will tend to have more local alumni/fans.
That said, I would think the Big Ten would replace the SEC rep, were it to happen, and it would probably have to be the #2 Big Ten school (i.e. after the BCS picks). The SEC rep right now is sort of the #3 rep — #1 goes to the BCS, #2 to the Citrus and both the Cotton and Outback pick simultaneously, with the Cotton getting first dibs at SEC West teams and the Outback getting first dibs at SEC East teams. [So, if the Cotton wants a team from the SEC East, they would have to wait until after the Outback Bowl picks and essentially get the #4 team in the SEC.] So, I could see the Cotton go for getting the #2 (or #3 if two BCS teams) Big Ten school over the #3/4 (or #4/5) SEC team.
We need a bowl game in the cold, and I will Christen it as the....
Paulie Walnuts Bowl
Bring those SEC pu$$ies up to the Big Apple and see how those mint juleps fare in the snow…where REAL football is played.
by Mr. Rosewater on Aug 7, 2009 2:49 PM EDT reply actions 2 recs
Clearly, Emerald Nuts needs to get involved here.
--
Order your copy of "We Are Penn State", like, now. One team, 128 pages.
by Run Up The Score on Aug 7, 2009 4:03 PM EDT up reply actions
Oh. Hell. Yes.
A Rec for you, Rosie.
The trick is to make it lucrative enough that you’d actually draw something between the third- and fifth-place SEC team. Watch the dipshits at ESPiN try to explain how the vaunted SEC gets their ass handed to them by the second-place Big East or fourth-place Big Ten team year in and year out…
"I thought the kid we were using had the potential to be a good quarterback, and I blew that one." - Joseph V. Paterno
Bada Bing Bowl?
"If you let the men in you've got to let the women in. I don't want a bunch of women walking around in my locker room when guys take showers". Joe Paterno
Oooh, whale tie on JoePa.
--
Order your copy of "We Are Penn State", like, now. One team, 128 pages.
by Run Up The Score on Aug 7, 2009 4:08 PM EDT reply actions
Is it me...
…or is he flipping off the press? :)
by Dr Screenpass on Aug 7, 2009 10:53 PM EDT up reply actions
Whats the big deal with playing in “the south” on New Years Day? Years ago it was a big deal, now you can fly to Fla for $69 Southwest Air.
This is why the Big Ten so called has “fallen behind”. It takes a different team to play in the North in Nov/.Dec./Jan. You have to run the ball among other things.
The road to the Superbowl is thru Green Bay/Pittsburgh/New York/Boston/Phila/Balt/Chicago, etc… in January and the fans love it.
The highest level of the game is played in the north in January, get over it, lets get some Bowls put together in the north on New Years and see how the Big Ten competes then.
resp,
Who cares about Dec and Jan?
This is why the Big Ten so called has "fallen behind". It takes a different team to play in the North in Nov/.Dec./Jan.
Almost no college games have ever been played in winter-related bad weather. The regular season is always complete by the 2nd Saturday after Thanksgiving, which can’t be after Dec 9. And all but a handful of bowl games are played in domes or in warm-weather sites.
The road to the Superbowl is thru Green Bay/Pittsburgh/New York/Boston/Phila/Balt/Chicago, etc… in January and the fans love it.
Winter weather in NFL late-season and playoff games is another matter, but it’s becoming less common.
These days the NFL breaks down by weather like so…
cold weather (13) – New York Giants, Philadelphia, Chicago, Green Bay, New York Jets, Buffalo, New England, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Cinci, Cleveland, Denver, Kansas City
dome (9) – Dallas, Minnesota, Detroit, Atlanta, New Orleans, Arizona, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Houston
warm weather (4) – Tampa Bay, Miami, Jacksonville, San Diego
borderline (6) – Washington, Carolina, Seattle, San Fransisco, Tennessee, Oakland
… meaning that as likely as not a playoff game will be in warm weather or a dome, with an outside shot at a borderline city where it may well be cold and rainy but snow is unlikely. Only the AFC North is composed entirely of teams from cold-weather cities that play outdoors.
Agree with your..
line of thinking, but:
Almost no college games have ever been played in winter-related bad weather.
is just flat out wrong. Sadly, I don’t have any proof, but I personally attended a PSU-Pitt game on Thanksgiving day in Pittsburgh, in a HEAVY snowfall (was late 80’s or early 90’s.) I also have vivid memories of playing pee-wee football in October in the snow (and even a few Halloweens trudging through a few inches of snow.) And this was western PA, southeast of Pittsburgh.
I’ll certainly grant you that you haven’t seen anything like it, weather-wise, in the last decade, maybe 2, but there most certainly HAS been college football played in inclement winter weather!
Let me rephrase that
… an absurdly small percentage of college games are played in winter-related serious bad weather. Even teams that expect cold weather on their home field and most of their conference opponents probably average less than one such game a year. I mean, yes, every once in a while we’ll go to Pitt or Rutgers or WVU or BC or UConn late in the season and there will be snowflakes blowing around (or even worse than it on the ground in Syracuse, but since the game’s inside the Dome, that doesn’t matter much). But winter wather bad enough to disrupt a game is about as common as high winds or extremely heavy rain in various other parts of the country.
Even better
Just watch the youtube vid attached to this post, from LAST YEAR. It’s clearly visible how cold it was that day, not to mention the sporadic snowfall throughout the game.
FWIW
DC in the winter is definately a cold weather area, on the same par as Baltimore and Philly at least.
After looking up Dec/Jan average temps...
I think I’d agree on moving DC to cold (Seattle’s average highs aren’t much warmer, but the lows are much higher), but I think I’d kick SF/Oakland to ‘warm’ with nearly-60 degree average highs in Dec/Jan. Which leaves the low-50s/high-40s winters with almost no snow ‘borderline’ cities down to just Nashville (Tennessee), Charlotte (Carolina), and Seattle.
As a bonus
You get to see a game in RFK, which looks like Three Rivers did in about 1975.
Lovely neighborhood too.
I mean, I love DC, but where RFK is located, is not most people’s idea of DC. Unless your idea of DC is being down with Marion Berry.
Down with Marion Berry
So in other words there is crack and a lot of undercover hookers around that area?
lol, j/k
that place used to ROCK for Skins game
I was lucky enough to watch a game on the field, in 1992, when my company collected toys for Toys for Tots. We stood behind the Giants bench, pissed off LT by cheering for the Skins and I got my picture with Jeff Hostettler. The stadium actually moved when the fans jumped up and down. One of my best days ever. Oh, and the Skins won the Super Bowl that year.
"If you let the men in you've got to let the women in. I don't want a bunch of women walking around in my locker room when guys take showers". Joe Paterno
I attended HFStival at
RFK for several years and I remember having thoughts of the stadium crashing down as huge sections moved under the weight of 10’s of thousands of concert goers jumping.
One man doing the work of 100's for the good of 1000's
me too! I loved the HF Stival.
"If you let the men in you've got to let the women in. I don't want a bunch of women walking around in my locker room when guys take showers". Joe Paterno
RFK
RFK is a dump and its in a bad part of the DC to some extent. But the stadium itself is surrounded by parking lots and the walk from the metro is fairly short — most people attending games there would never walk through or encounter any bad or dangerous areas. In fact, given that the stadium is on the orange/blue lines of the metro, it is easy to spend the day at the Smithsonians/National Mall/monuments and hope on the metro and be at the stadium in 10 minutes or so.
Dan Snyder
Well, when Dan Snyder ditches that crappy FedEx Field, they’ll tear down RFK and return the Washington Redskins to DC.
Then it will be a first-class stadium.
In a run down neighborhood with nothing to do, before or after the game.
The weather in SC/Ann Arbor/Iowa/madison/Chicago, etc in October/November is very different than that in Fla/Phoenix/SC on Jan 1. Resp,
Is it though?
We act like we’re playing all of these games in brutal conditions, but more often than not the conditions are just fine. For every Michigan State game there is a Wisconsin game where is 70 degrees at kickoff.
Is cold and worse than the monsoon that Florida State and Florida played in last year. How is 60 degrees in State College appreciably different from 70 in Arizona?
"I honestly think the "Spread HD" is going to work pretty well, and we’ll be just fine this year". - 8-27-2008
It's not different-
But every conference stands a reasonable shot at having to play at least a couple of mud wrestling matches every year. Maybe the zOMG ESS EEE CEE has a couple more than average, but they never have to worry about playing a game in extreme cold. And yeah- you might not see a 10-degree game every year in Michigan or Pennsylvania, but you’re never going to see one in Florida or California.
"I thought the kid we were using had the potential to be a good quarterback, and I blew that one." - Joseph V. Paterno
by leeharvey418 on Aug 10, 2009 3:01 PM EDT up reply actions
To be honest
California was fairly cold during the Rose Bowl trip. I think the day of the game was the only time I took off my sweatshirt the whole trip. It definitely wasn’t the three pairs of shorts to one pair of long jeans I packed kind of weather. Granted it wasn’t SC January weather, but it was upper 40s, 50s all week, along with breezy and wet. Definitely not what I expected So. Cali. to feel like, even if it was January.
yes, and that was, according to people I know who live there,
“unseasonably cold”. It was basically overcast, drizzly, and chilly the whole week I was down there, but the week before and the week after were both sunny and in the 70s.
We did spend 2 days down in San Diego, though, which was nice.
by The JuggerNitt on Aug 10, 2009 4:35 PM EDT up reply actions
San Diego
That’s funny, we went down to San Diego (which in Spanish means a whale’s vagina FYI) for a few days too. I’m guessing you didn’t go down there to go to the zoo like we did, right?
that's the reason we went
girlfriend is a zoologist, and had always wanted to see the zoo. All my friends bailed on going to the Rose Bowl with me (one of them had the lame excuse of having to report back to the Army on the 2nd so he could go on vacation in Iraq or something…psh), and so I convinced the GF to go with me to the game (on her birthday, which is practically a religious holiday for her) and in return I offered to bring her to the Zoo and the Wild Animal Park.
The zoo was really nice (and she even got to see some animals that had been transferred there from the zoo she worked at), but I think I enjoyed the Wild Animal Park a bit more (less animals, but the exhibits are really nice).
by The JuggerNitt on Aug 11, 2009 4:19 PM EDT up reply actions
Nice
Yeah, they have one of the best zoo’s in the country. Maybe it’s childish, but I will never pass on an opportunity to go to the zoo, and I’ve been to SD three times now, and it’s still one of my favorites (Philly is probably still my favorite, though I haven’t been there in a while). I wanted to go the zoology route when I was younger, but then I found out how interesting molecular and cell biology was to me.
We didn’t go to the Wild animal park this time, just the main zoo, but I’ve been there twice before, and it’s nice, but like you said, less animals, better exhibits.
Is it the weather or is
it the unbalanced travel.
Bowl games are “neutral” site games, but when one team has to board a plane, stay in a hotel, find practice facilities, while the other practices at their own facilities in their comfort zone – there is no sense of neutrality.
One man doing the work of 100's for the good of 1000's
I'm sorry.
This is an excuse. We got beat by USC fair and square.
"I honestly think the "Spread HD" is going to work pretty well, and we’ll be just fine this year". - 8-27-2008
Nonsense...
No mention of USC in my post – I certainly wasn’t throwing it out there as an excuse for PSU losing the Rose Bowl.
I was actually thinking of Miami pretty much owning the Orange Bowl for years. However, USC and the Rose Bowl applies as well. LSU & Alabama seem to like the Sugar bowl.
Sure these teams were loaded with talent during their “ownership” of said bowls, but sitting at home gives what, a 7 point uptick over the visitors?
One man doing the work of 100's for the good of 1000's
3 point sway from neutral site
6 point sway from one team’s home to the other team’s home
by The JuggerNitt on Aug 11, 2009 1:12 PM EDT up reply actions
Also, on a side note
I was actually a bit surprised, but since PSU travels so well it wasn’t a complete shocker, that we may not have had the majority in the Rose Bowl, but we had a great showing, so it wasn’t like they had an overwhelming home game majority for the RB. I took this pic while I was there, we were in the alumni section, so the solid PSU fans went on for probably another forty seats to my right to about the halfway point of the endzone, but you can see we probably occupied ~40+% of the stadium, so despite location, definitely not a home game for U$C:
home game/field advantage
is more than just having the majority of fans. As rahpsu points out, there is the ability to spend the week in the comfort of your own home, practice in familiar places, not have to take a bus an hour+ (or whatever it was) to the practice fields, etc. You just are a lot more rested and relaxed.
It is kinda how like when you go on a vacation, it is oftentimes more exhausting than going to school/work (unless you really are just sitting on the beach all day).
By the way, my seats were about the same row, but behind the left upright of the goalpost (and last section before the USC sections started).
by The JuggerNitt on Aug 11, 2009 4:26 PM EDT up reply actions
I know they still had the overwhelming advantage
My point was it’s just not the “home” game advantage everyone makes it out to be, especially when you’re facing a team that travels as well as PSU does. But, yes, they still have the advantage even if it’s not in their own stadiium.
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