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Instead of getting depressed over UAB's treatment or planning provocative demonstrations that won't accomplish anything, I've been thinking of how can UAB still get out of Legion Field and save D1 football.

The best thing I can come up with is to continue our cooperation with the city of Birmingham. I know the dome deal is dead, and I suspect that UAB was never completely on board with a dome because UAB had its eyes on its own stadium.

Is there anyway that the city can build a stadium now that UAB is willing to be a full partner? I know there are all sorts of political hurdles, but the spot is already selected and the land is already to go. Some of the 15 million would probably still go toward this stadium. If the city was to build a stadium next to the baseball park, with UAB as a full partner, we would get our new stadium. It wouldn't be on campus, but would be close to it and there is nothing the BOT could do about it.

Legit question.

The board didn't just screw us in this cluster****. They also screwed the 'ham. I bet Billy Bell would at least be receptive to the conversation.

Meanwhile, I wonder how he feels about the $EC offices taking up such nice digs at such a low rental price.

i had a similar thought...as i mentioned in another thread, why in the world would uab go through with the land swap the city needs if there really isnt anything in it for us?

Nowhere in the BOT statement did they indicate any level of support for UAB athletics. That tells me that the ultimate plan is to end athletics at UAB. As such, I have no doubt that if the city did step up the BOT would throw a monkeywrench in it, such as forcing UAB to drop down to FBS. They have a single goal and that is to end athletics at UAB and this applies to the UAB sacred cow - basketball. They are determined to make sure UAT will be the only game in the UA system. They take UAH's signature sport (which I think they will resurface on the UAT campus as they upgrade their club team) and they are making a push with UAT basketball. If we take what they are trying to do, basketball is next.

If they wanted to end athletics, its obvious they would have done it by now, as they have surely proven that they can do whatever they wish.

Let's tone down the rhetoric. It is not accomplishing anything.

(11-01-2011 07:33 PM)WesternBlazer Wrote:  They are determined to make sure UAT will be the only game in the UA system. They take UAH's signature sport (which I think they will resurface on the UAT campus as they upgrade their club team) and they are making a push with UAT basketball.

Excellent point. And I think it would be worth our time to engage our sister institution in Huntsville and try to work together. We won't win much support for our cause if we bemoan our treatment by Tuscaloosa on one hand and then leave Huntsville out in the cold.

I brought this up in my first sermon (more are coming) - Birmingham got it worse than we did, there is no comparison.

That stadium is/was the western anchor to what is simply a brilliant plan: to turn Railroad Park into a greenway linking our campus to Sloss, flanked by new private developments all along it. It's within the city's means and it harnesses UAB's needs to those of the city in an admirable synergy. Chuckie Faush did an incredible job.

And Paul Bryant Jr. destroyed it.

If I know Chuckie - and I have since we were 14 - he is not letting this go without a fight. Knowing that is a huge reason why I am committed to this revolution.

(11-01-2011 07:38 PM)58-56 Wrote:  I brought this up in my first sermon (more are coming) - Birmingham got it worse than we did, there is no comparison.

That stadium is/was the western anchor to what is simply a brilliant plan: to turn Railroad Park into a greenway linking our campus to Sloss, flanked by new private developments all along it. It's within the city's means and it harnesses UAB's needs to those of the city in an admirable synergy. Chuckie Faush did an incredible job.

And Paul Bryant Jr. destroyed it.

If I know Chuckie - and I have since we were 14 - he is not letting this go without a fight. Knowing that is a huge reason why I am committed to this revolution.

And that is honestly what finally shook me from my complacency. Too much for the city is riding on that plan for us to take this lying down. And as a Birmingham resident, I fully intend to press our leadership on that point.

(11-01-2011 07:17 PM)Smaug Wrote:  Legit question.

The board didn't just screw us in this cluster****. They also screwed the 'ham. I bet Billy Bell would at least be receptive to the conversation.

Meanwhile, I wonder how he feels about the $EC offices taking up such nice digs at such a low rental price.

This! As to latter part of your dialogue about the Society of Evil Corruptants (SEC), I have put this question in writing to both Mayor Bell and Councilman Roderick Royal months ago about that headquarters for a dollar a year debacle...I have yet to recieve a response/answer.