The unofficial online home for fans of the UAB Blazers. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

(01-02-2016 10:32 PM)demiveeman Wrote:  

(01-02-2016 08:47 PM)Smaug Wrote:  

(01-02-2016 08:38 PM)CourtsideBlazer Wrote:  Senior Bowl is NOT moving from Mobile any time soon.

And UAB wasn't bringing football back any time soon. The question isn't who's going to let us. The question is who's going to stop us.

Easy answer. The Senior Bowl will stop us. They aren't going to move from Mobile to Birmingham. They have a permanent office and museum in Mobile.

Only one time in its history has the Senior Bowl NOT been held in Mobile...and that was its first year of existence.

That's fine, but there are several post-season all star games. Put on a bigger, better one than that one.

(01-02-2016 09:55 PM)the_blazerman Wrote:  Would it be possible to create an alternative to the Senior Bowl?

Bring back the Blue Gray game and have it in Birmingham!

Yep. I seemed to enjoy the Blue Gray game more than the Senior Bowl.

The original Blue-Gray game suffered from wounds that proved fatal.
It was caught up in the racial conflict in Alabama which led its administration to refuse to invite nonwhite players for several years. This was an embarrassment for the Lions Club which sponsored it as a fund raiser for its eye sight preservation programs. When they dropped it, no other sponsor would / could be found.

Another problem was its Christmas Day game date which meant that major SEC team athletes who were still playing in New Year's Day and other holiday bowls could not participate. Notice also that none of this year's bowls chose to play on that Friday leaving it to the NBA.

If the game could be moved to a later (mid-late Jan) date and maybe renamed / rebranded, it could be played in B'ham and eventually become successful on TV. It might mean accepting the same NFL dictates that the Senior Bowl had to accept.

(01-03-2016 05:59 PM)BAMANBLAZERFAN Wrote:  The original Blue-Gray game suffered from wounds that proved fatal.
It was caught up in the racial conflict in Alabama which led its administration to refuse to invite nonwhite players for several years. This was an embarrassment for the Lions Club which sponsored it as a fund raiser for its eye sight preservation programs. When they dropped it, no other sponsor would / could be found.

Another problem was its Christmas Day game date which meant that major SEC team athletes who were still playing in New Year's Day and other holiday bowls could not participate. Notice also that none of this year's bowls chose to play on that Friday leaving it to the NBA.

If the game could be moved to a later (mid-late Jan) date and maybe renamed / rebranded, it could be played in B'ham and eventually become successful on TV. It might mean accepting the same NFL dictates that the Senior Bowl had to accept.

Wow..thanks BBF

Seems to me that this day and time, a game of the sort has become too much of an actual liability or risk for players to participate in such extracurricular activity for fear of injury. They already play a complete season and in bowl games and these days it may not be recommended, for the most part.

Might be easier to get one of the other all-star games to move to Birmingham and increase the payout or whatever to elevate it to near Senior Bowl caliber...

(01-04-2016 07:05 AM)TheGORILLA Wrote:  Seems to me that this day and time, a game of the sort has become too much of an actual liability or risk for players to participate in such extracurricular activity for fear of injury. They already play a complete season and in bowl games and these days it may not be recommended, for the most part.

Getting the top tier of college players to participate is already a problem for the Senior Bowl. Players who feel they have nothing to prove often turn it down in favor of the NFL combines later. The intensity of play usually resembles that seen in the Pro Bowl in Hawai'i. Any new game would be dependent on the lesser known players who want the chance to be seen / discovered during practice by NFL scouts.

(01-03-2016 05:59 PM)BAMANBLAZERFAN Wrote:  The original Blue-Gray game suffered from wounds that proved fatal.
It was caught up in the racial conflict in Alabama which led its administration to refuse to invite nonwhite players for several years. This was an embarrassment for the Lions Club which sponsored it as a fund raiser for its eye sight preservation programs. When they dropped it, no other sponsor would / could be found.

Another problem was its Christmas Day game date which meant that major SEC team athletes who were still playing in New Year's Day and other holiday bowls could not participate. Notice also that none of this year's bowls chose to play on that Friday leaving it to the NBA.

If the game could be moved to a later (mid-late Jan) date and maybe renamed / rebranded, it could be played in B'ham and eventually become successful on TV. It might mean accepting the same NFL dictates that the Senior Bowl had to accept.

I thought the Blue-Gray game was for the Seniors who weren't playing in bowl games anyway?

(01-05-2016 06:56 AM)GreenHornet33 Wrote:  

(01-03-2016 05:59 PM)BAMANBLAZERFAN Wrote:  The original Blue-Gray game suffered from wounds that proved fatal.
It was caught up in the racial conflict in Alabama which led its administration to refuse to invite nonwhite players for several years. This was an embarrassment for the Lions Club which sponsored it as a fund raiser for its eye sight preservation programs. When they dropped it, no other sponsor would / could be found.

Another problem was its Christmas Day game date which meant that major SEC team athletes who were still playing in New Year's Day and other holiday bowls could not participate. Notice also that none of this year's bowls chose to play on that Friday leaving it to the NBA.

If the game could be moved to a later (mid-late Jan) date and maybe renamed / rebranded, it could be played in B'ham and eventually become successful on TV. It might mean accepting the same NFL dictates that the Senior Bowl had to accept.

I thought the Blue-Gray game was for the Seniors who weren't playing in bowl games anyway?

That is correct, but with the expanded list of bowl games (today it seems another world when there were only 4 bowls - ALL on New Years Day), the Blue - Gray Game had fewer and fewer "name" players to choose from and then for several years, they had to be "White" (one of the first "affirmative action" programs).
BTW, The Senior Bowl stirred up its own controversy when it openly paid its participating players about $1,200 each, making them "professionals" while still on their scholarships at school.

I had thought about the re-branding of the Blue-Grey game and hosting it in Birmingham. I think it would be a winner on another date. Just not Christmas.

I would keep it to the players that did not make bowls and FCS, DII, and DIII players.

The Royal Cup Legacy Classic and still divide them up North vs South. I would not call it the Blue / Grey though. I would make it the week of the Senior Bowl so scouts could have easy access to both. It could be the game right before the Senior Bowl. Double header.

This year Jax State is still playing (Sat.1/9) - North Dakota State - for its FCS National Championship. Add to that the number of bowls played before (began 12/19) Christmas or the day after, and you have a pool of potential players you might not want to exclude out of hand.

As for rebranding, I would propose some other definition than North vs South. The Senior Bowl still uses it, but the NFL bosses often divide the teams according to their own scouting needs, not by the location of the player's school. There has to be other less inflammatory team designations.

The FCS National Championship game is one possible addition to the list of games that might be lured to B'ham. The JSU vs NDSU game was played in Texas. Other national divisional championship games might be up for grabs in the future as well.

FCS has a new deal with Frisco for the next 3 to 4 years.

Kelly Tires sponsored the Blue-Gray game for many years through its last year in Montgomery ... 2001. I assure you the game was desegregated by that point and had been for decades.

(01-12-2016 04:27 PM)the_blazerman Wrote:  FCS has a new deal with Frisco for the next 3 to 4 years.

That's about the time frame for the new BJCC stadium.

I would go after the FCS game too. Put a nice package together. Money talks. Get the SWAC title game back. If it has a roof put a bid in for the regional finals and then work your way up to the final four.

Of course we will be hosting the C-USA Championship game soon............ ;-)