Running off-season CFB thread

[micropolitan guy]

I can't believe Georgia's starting placekicker isn't on scholarship.

http://www.dawgnation.com/football/...-refused-scholarship-crushing-hardship-family

But, doesn't the state of Georgia have some kind of scholarship for all HS grads that pays a large slice of their tuition costs, especially for students with a 3.74 GPA?

Also, the Cubs are talking about sponsoring a bowl game at Wrigley Field starting in 2020. With a Big Ten tie-in, this could actually draw some fans and Chicago is a great destination.

Cubs want to host college football bowl game at Wrigley Field

 

[LongTimeListener]

That's a horrible idea. They're going to be playing that game in below zero temps as often as not. There are cold-weather bowl games in Boise and Albuquerque, but not that cold.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

It can be pretty cold at the Pinstripes Bowl.

 

[Big Circus]

Doesn't Detroit have a bowl?

 

[Starman]

That's a horrible idea. They're going to be playing that game in below zero temps as often as not. There are cold-weather bowl games in Boise and Albuquerque, but not that cold.

It's certainly to be hoped.

Doesn't Detroit have a bowl?

Yeah. Usually 65 degrees.

 

[Flip Wilson]

That's a horrible idea. They're going to be playing that game in below zero temps as often as not. There are cold-weather bowl games in Boise and Albuquerque, but not that cold.

The former athletic director at Arkansas-Little Rock -- the guy who "resigned" after his comments on the physical attributes of a women's soccer player's mother were made in front of an open mic -- was trying to get a bowl game at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock. Winters in Little Rock can be brutally cold, and the city kind of shuts down if there's any precipitation and it freezes.

That bowl game was just a bad idea.

 

[dixiehack]

Lots of schools don't put kickers (or punters) on scholarship.

And it isn't the off-season yet, damnit!

 

[dixiehack]

The former athletic director at Arkansas-Little Rock -- the guy who "resigned" after his comments on the physical attributes of a women's soccer player's mother were made in front of an open mic -- was trying to get a bowl game at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock. Winters in Little Rock can be brutally cold, and the city kind of shuts down if there's any precipitation and it freezes.

That bowl game was just a bad idea.

Can't be any worse than Memphis or Shreveport.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

Can't be any worse than Memphis or Shreveport.

The 1982 Liberty Bowl between BC and Notre Dame took place in a week after a snow-ice storm. I remember driving on the main interstate into town and seeing the cars that had skidded off both sides of the road. Looked like a picture of the German Army retreat from Moscow. Locals apparently had the idea that if you drove faster over the ice, the danger would end more quickly. It was cold night of the game, like 20 or so.

 

[Starman]

I'm surprised Minneapolis has never tried to pitch a bowl game strictly as a winter sports extravaganza.

The reason that bowl games in semi-frosty locations like Memphis or Dallas or Shreveport turn into fiascos if bad weather hits is the locals don't know how to cope.

If they have a bowl game in Chicago (or New York) and a snowstorm hits, they'll know what to do about it.

 

[User 11148]

If they have a bowl game in Chicago (or New York) and a snowstorm hits, they'll know what to do about it.

Take the El or the subway?

 

[micropolitan guy]

Lots of schools don't put kickers (or punters) on scholarship.

And it isn't the off-season yet, damnit!

Yes, I know. But according to the story, the snapper and backup snapper, holder and backup holder and punter and maybe even the backup punter are all on scholarship.

Almost all of the kickers here at Microville Tech start out as walk-ons, but are scholarshipped upon winning a starting job. And they've had some awfully good kickers/punters here.

I'm not sure how often it gets below zero in Chicago. It's a lot warmer there in the winter than in Minneapolis/St. Paul.

 

[ChrisLong]

I seem to remember a game at Wrigley Field a few years ago. One of the goal posts was bolted to the right-field wall and there was about 8 inches of space behind the end line. And, of course, only bare ivy vines to cushion the players running into the wall.

EDIT: just found this story, sounds horrible.

Only One End Zone to Be Used for Football Game at Wrigley Field

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

Having just gone to the Pinstripe Bowl, I enjoyed Yankee Stadium as a venue and I think the only thing that diminished attendance was that it was play at 2 p.m. on a Wednesday. I think in time it'll be a draw for school's fans as well as NYC residents who want to see live college football.

 

[HanSenSE]

I seem to remember a bowl game at Wrigley Field a few years ago. One of the goal posts was bolted to the right-field wall and there was about 8 inches of space behind the end line. And, of course, only bare ivy vines to cushion the players running into the wall.

That was the Illinois-Northwestern game a few years ago. Over fears of players running into the wall, both teams went the same way on offense. Also, as it was when Da Bears played there, a corner of the end zone was suspended over a dugout.

The game now known as the Foster Farms Bowl was played at AT&T Park in its first few years, with one of the end zones butting up against the left field wall. They also played the last few Shrine games in San Francisco there before shifting it to Florida.

 

[LongTimeListener]

I'm not sure how often it gets below zero in Chicago. It's a lot warmer there in the winter than in Minneapolis/St. Paul.

In 2014, Chicago set a record with 26 days at or below zero.

Chicago winter had most days at or below zero ever

Historically it ranks second in the nation for below-zero days among major cities, though well behind Minneapolis (an average of 23 vs. an average of seven).

Coldest Cities in United States by Number of Annual Below Zero Temperature Days

 

[Batman]

The 1982 Liberty Bowl between BC and Notre Dame took place in a week after a snow-ice storm. I remember driving on the main interstate into town and seeing the cars that had skidded off both sides of the road. Looked like a picture of the German Army retreat from Moscow. Locals apparently had the idea that if you drove faster over the ice, the danger would end more quickly. It was cold night of the game, like 20 or so.

Told this story before, but since we're on the subject ...
I covered the 2000 Independence Bowl in Shreveport between Mississippi State and Texas A&M. Made it out there fine, about a two-hour trip, but just before kickoff it starts snowing pretty hard. By the end of the game there's two or three inches on the ground.
Since it's a relatively short drive, we hadn't planned on it being an overnight trip. And, for a number of other reasons, I couldn't have found a hotel room if I wanted one. So, I hit the road and started heading down I-20.

Between Shreveport and the Mississippi line, it looked like your trip from Memphis. Cars in the ditch almost every mile. At one point, I looked up in the rearview mirror and saw a guy's lights cut a hard left into the median. His truck was stuck, but I gave him a ride home to Ruston (about 10 miles). Almost wiped out myself a couple of times, whenever I tried to push it past about 20 mph. Every 50 miles or so I stopped at a gas station, grabbed the squeegee and used the butt end to knock about 6 inches of accumulated ice and slush out of the wheel wells.
Pretty early on I realized that if I just took it slow and steady I'd be fine. So I just plodded along at 10-20 mph for the entire 200 miles. Made it home around 9 a.m., the return trip having taken around eight hours. The closest I came to wrecking the entire trip was when I hit the brakes too hard making the turn into my apartment complex and almost skidded off the road and into somebody's front yard.

 

[Neutral Corner]

My little brother went to the 1979 Cotton Bowl, between Houston and Notre Dame, the chicken soup game. It was played during the worst ice storm in Dallas in thirty years. He had to chip the ice off of his seat before he sat down.

This was Joe Montana's final game as QB at Notre Dame. He had the flu, and basically had hypothermia at the half. Houston led 20-12. The training staff did not allow Montana to come back out for the third quarter. Instead they kept him in the locker room and warmed him up. They fed him chicken soup. UH was up 34-12 when Montana came back out with seven minutes left. In true Comeback Kid fashion, brought the team back and hit the final TD pass as time ran out. The kicker hit the PAT, but there was a penalty. He hit it again for a 35-34 win.

After enduring that, my brother had to drive home from Dallas to Houston down I-45 at 15-20 MPH on glaze ice. He does not say fond things about that game.

 

[Steak Snabler]

I was in the stands for the 2000 Iron Bowl, which was the first played in Tuscaloosa in almost a century and was played in freezing rain.

I had paid $100 for two tickets (which was blood money in my mid-20s), so I refused to leave even when the freezing water began to pool around my ankles.

At halftime, I went into the bathroom to take a leak, and steam was rising off the urinals. I laughed out loud when the old man next to me said "I'm just glad I could find it."

I'll leave it up to your imagination what "it" was ...

 

[Donny in his element]

His War Eagle?