11-05-2011, 11:41 AM
Quite long, but I'm tired of having to defend my stances with numbers and logic, especially when critics conjure their own facts.
There has been a lot of chatter lately on the message boards concerning the future of the UAB football program especially in light of the recent events associated with the UA Board of Trustees Meeting and the statement released eliminating the discussion for the proposed on campus stadium on the agenda. All of the statements and subsequent retorts quote various facts, figures and opinions from sources that are legitimate, questionable or completely baseless. The angle that has never been considered in any of this, from my perspective, is the connection that the number of students, alumni and faculty that have passed through the various academic buildings on the Southside since 1969 to UAB and how much a trivial sports program can enhance that experience.
When I first attended UAB in 1987, directly out of high school, most of my friends that attended college either went to Tuscaloosa, Auburn or Jeff State. A handful of us decided to stay local, key word decided. To illustrate the student life at UAB in the late 80’s, the UAB Arena, later to become the Bart, was well under construction, the baseball field was in its second or third year, and the other scholarship sports were soccer and volleyball. There were almost a dozen Greek organizations, fraternities and sororities, with colonies on campus. None of them had houses and all of the activities were carried out in the Great Hall, Marshall Conference Center or other spaces that were available for rent. My first homecoming was a basketball game in February and the Cascade Plunge ballroom was rented for the activities of the night including the crowning of Mr. and Miss UAB. Our homecoming parade consisted of about eight floats and our fraternity float consisted of some unlucky mascot trapped in an oversize mousetrap. There were no gurney derbies and the majority of students that were involved in the festivities were Greeks. There was a rush for students to get on campus for morning classes, parking was cramped and the campus was a ghost town after five. There were small student organizations soliciting involvement from the other students for campus sponsored activities and that was a vast improvement over the student involvement of the past, but for the most part, most students wanted to get to campus, take their classes and quickly return home in time for dinner or to hang out with their AU or UA buddies that were home during the weekend.
Twenty plus years ago there were promises form the BOT to approve things to improve the student experience, Greek Row, football team, on campus stadium, you name it. Most of us were envisioning a campus vastly different from the one we were attending within the next decade, but most of the nods were either board members falling asleep or dismissively agreeing to get the students to shut up. Fast forward 12 years, I return to UAB to complete my degree. Things are somewhat better in that there is more student participation and a football team. The Greeks are more visible on campus and Homecomings are in the fall when they are supposed to be. The team is struggling with what little facilities that they have but have some minor success. We are division I and playing established programs, but there still is no Greek Row or on-campus stadium. Fast forward another 12 years, I have graduated nearly a decade ago but have since moved on and out of state. There is, what amounts to a quad, in the center of campus, that horrible monstrosity known is the 15th street classroom building is gone and there is ample student housing on campus. There is obviously a major push to give UAB students the “college experience” but sadly, still no Greek Row and still no on campus stadium. In fact, the football program is in the same state of repair as the stadium that houses it now. Hardly as many people show up to tailgate prior to the games namely because there are fewer of them, local alumni and home games, they are scheduled at night, not the time to be at legion field, or they have kids or other obligations/excuses that would preclude them from attending. Not to mention the city of Birmingham diverting more and more money from the Department of Park and Recreation budget leading to Legion Field falling more into disarray.
I present this trip down memory lane not to come up with more reasons to groan at the state of affairs with UAB but to illustrate at how painstakingly slow improvement has occurred if at all. The story of UAB is the same as the story of other Universities and their student bodies, the “college experience” and the connection that a student and alum have to his or her alma mater and the fact that UAB students and alums are continually robbed of the “college experience” and the connection. Saturday afternoons in the fall are chances for alums and their families to get together, mingle and enjoy some sports activities. They are also chances for students to mingle with other students, put on obnoxious clothing and makeup and act like maniacs, and enjoy sports activities. The point being that the friendships and connections that you make in college are in ways more definitive than the relationships that are made during high school or after graduation. Most alumni reflect on their undergrad years with a greater nostalgia than high school or grad school. These are coming of age times and the stories that come out of them are ones that you share for years with your friends, fraternity brothers, sorority sisters, but definitely not spouses or kids. All of the things that contribute to the college experience, even for students who attend Troy, Jacksonville State or South Alabama, such as sporting events, active Greek systems or other student involvement are somewhat lost at UAB since we garner the designation of “Commuter School”. So when someone makes one of the several run-of-the-mill arguments against UAB and a football program citing attendance numbers or program accounting numbers or blasting other vitriol based on opinionated bias, what’s wrong with saying “Because we want it!”? If UNA, USA, JSU, Samford, Troy, and yes, even AU and UA have football programs with stadiums and facilities, why can’t we?
There has been a lot of chatter lately on the message boards concerning the future of the UAB football program especially in light of the recent events associated with the UA Board of Trustees Meeting and the statement released eliminating the discussion for the proposed on campus stadium on the agenda. All of the statements and subsequent retorts quote various facts, figures and opinions from sources that are legitimate, questionable or completely baseless. The angle that has never been considered in any of this, from my perspective, is the connection that the number of students, alumni and faculty that have passed through the various academic buildings on the Southside since 1969 to UAB and how much a trivial sports program can enhance that experience.
When I first attended UAB in 1987, directly out of high school, most of my friends that attended college either went to Tuscaloosa, Auburn or Jeff State. A handful of us decided to stay local, key word decided. To illustrate the student life at UAB in the late 80’s, the UAB Arena, later to become the Bart, was well under construction, the baseball field was in its second or third year, and the other scholarship sports were soccer and volleyball. There were almost a dozen Greek organizations, fraternities and sororities, with colonies on campus. None of them had houses and all of the activities were carried out in the Great Hall, Marshall Conference Center or other spaces that were available for rent. My first homecoming was a basketball game in February and the Cascade Plunge ballroom was rented for the activities of the night including the crowning of Mr. and Miss UAB. Our homecoming parade consisted of about eight floats and our fraternity float consisted of some unlucky mascot trapped in an oversize mousetrap. There were no gurney derbies and the majority of students that were involved in the festivities were Greeks. There was a rush for students to get on campus for morning classes, parking was cramped and the campus was a ghost town after five. There were small student organizations soliciting involvement from the other students for campus sponsored activities and that was a vast improvement over the student involvement of the past, but for the most part, most students wanted to get to campus, take their classes and quickly return home in time for dinner or to hang out with their AU or UA buddies that were home during the weekend.
Twenty plus years ago there were promises form the BOT to approve things to improve the student experience, Greek Row, football team, on campus stadium, you name it. Most of us were envisioning a campus vastly different from the one we were attending within the next decade, but most of the nods were either board members falling asleep or dismissively agreeing to get the students to shut up. Fast forward 12 years, I return to UAB to complete my degree. Things are somewhat better in that there is more student participation and a football team. The Greeks are more visible on campus and Homecomings are in the fall when they are supposed to be. The team is struggling with what little facilities that they have but have some minor success. We are division I and playing established programs, but there still is no Greek Row or on-campus stadium. Fast forward another 12 years, I have graduated nearly a decade ago but have since moved on and out of state. There is, what amounts to a quad, in the center of campus, that horrible monstrosity known is the 15th street classroom building is gone and there is ample student housing on campus. There is obviously a major push to give UAB students the “college experience” but sadly, still no Greek Row and still no on campus stadium. In fact, the football program is in the same state of repair as the stadium that houses it now. Hardly as many people show up to tailgate prior to the games namely because there are fewer of them, local alumni and home games, they are scheduled at night, not the time to be at legion field, or they have kids or other obligations/excuses that would preclude them from attending. Not to mention the city of Birmingham diverting more and more money from the Department of Park and Recreation budget leading to Legion Field falling more into disarray.
I present this trip down memory lane not to come up with more reasons to groan at the state of affairs with UAB but to illustrate at how painstakingly slow improvement has occurred if at all. The story of UAB is the same as the story of other Universities and their student bodies, the “college experience” and the connection that a student and alum have to his or her alma mater and the fact that UAB students and alums are continually robbed of the “college experience” and the connection. Saturday afternoons in the fall are chances for alums and their families to get together, mingle and enjoy some sports activities. They are also chances for students to mingle with other students, put on obnoxious clothing and makeup and act like maniacs, and enjoy sports activities. The point being that the friendships and connections that you make in college are in ways more definitive than the relationships that are made during high school or after graduation. Most alumni reflect on their undergrad years with a greater nostalgia than high school or grad school. These are coming of age times and the stories that come out of them are ones that you share for years with your friends, fraternity brothers, sorority sisters, but definitely not spouses or kids. All of the things that contribute to the college experience, even for students who attend Troy, Jacksonville State or South Alabama, such as sporting events, active Greek systems or other student involvement are somewhat lost at UAB since we garner the designation of “Commuter School”. So when someone makes one of the several run-of-the-mill arguments against UAB and a football program citing attendance numbers or program accounting numbers or blasting other vitriol based on opinionated bias, what’s wrong with saying “Because we want it!”? If UNA, USA, JSU, Samford, Troy, and yes, even AU and UA have football programs with stadiums and facilities, why can’t we?