Just got back from a crazy 36 hour turnaround. But very glad I made the trip. 8" of snow up here in Dayton when I left yesterday morning, but by the time we arrived in Charlotte it was a beautiful 52 degrees and sunshine. The route through WVa was easy since there was no snow in Chillicothe or beyond. A little up in the trees through Beckley but the roads were fine. Made it in just under 7 hours.

FanFest was small and had the school bands play in a parking lot adjacent to the Fest that was behind chain link fence. Weird. Decent turnout to see Lady Antebellum, but the main attraction was....



Met Mrs. Ono and her daughter there, as they walked by. Very nice and outgoing. She said Santa was still pretty sick. Thought it was great she made the trip anyway.

Sat in front of the UC football staff suite. TT and family were inside it most of the game. He did wear a sweater-vest, so subflea you may have to talk to someone about that choice of clothes.

About 10,000 UC fans in a crowd of 35,000. However, you could tell that there were rows of folks that didn't make it to the game. Two rows behind me were filled, two rows in front were mostly empty. Duke fans were very pleasant, surprised how big UC is in terms of enrollment, and were knowledgeable of our hoops program. Most all Dookies that I spoke to eventually turned the conversation to basketball.

Weird game, but the Cats pulled it out. Watched Stewart coaching the defensive huddle on the sideline and similarly Luallen with the offense. People that spent the season as fans were now wearing headsets and helping out on the sidelines. Incredible, but hats off to the kids.

Anyone else glad to see Trenier Orr back on the field? After he went down against Syracuse, I didn't expect him back on the field this year. Glad to see he has recovered and able to contribute last night. We'll need him to step up big time next year.

(12-28-2012 08:01 PM)Ragpicker Wrote:  He did wear a sweater-vest, so subflea you may have to talk to someone about that choice of clothes.

I like it. I own an adidas UC sweatervest.

(12-28-2012 08:01 PM)Ragpicker Wrote:  Just got back from a crazy 36 hour turnaround. But very glad I made the trip. 8" of snow up here in Dayton when I left yesterday morning, but by the time we arrived in Charlotte it was a beautiful 52 degrees and sunshine. The route through WVa was easy since there was no snow in Chillicothe or beyond. A little up in the trees through Beckley but the roads were fine. Made it in just under 7 hours.

FanFest was small and had the school bands play in a parking lot adjacent to the Fest that was behind chain link fence. Weird. Decent turnout to see Lady Antebellum, but the main attraction was....



Met Mrs. Ono and her daughter there, as they walked by. Very nice and outgoing. She said Santa was still pretty sick. Thought it was great she made the trip anyway.

Sat in front of the UC football staff suite. TT and family were inside it most of the game. He did wear a sweater-vest, so subflea you may have to talk to someone about that choice of clothes.

About 10,000 UC fans in a crowd of 35,000. However, you could tell that there were rows of folks that didn't make it to the game. Two rows behind me were filled, two rows in front were mostly empty. Duke fans were very pleasant, surprised how big UC is in terms of enrollment, and were knowledgeable of our hoops program. Most all Dookies that I spoke to eventually turned the conversation to basketball.

Weird game, but the Cats pulled it out. Watched Stewart coaching the defensive huddle on the sideline and similarly Luallen with the offense. People that spent the season as fans were now wearing headsets and helping out on the sidelines. Incredible, but hats off to the kids.

Yes, I also noticed Stewart looking very coach-like decked out in coach's clothing with a cap and headset, giving instructions. At the risk of beating a dead horse, I thought it would have been a much more compelling story for ESPN to cover how UC was using this skeleton staff filled out with grad assistants and injured players stepping into the breech to get the team ready for it's bowl game to achieve another 10 win season in year 125 of the program. Almost something out of Hollywood like the movie Varsity Blues. Instead they focused on how Dook's crappy team finally made it to a bowl with a mediocre 6-6 record. Oh well.

(12-29-2012 02:43 AM)subflea Wrote:  

(12-28-2012 08:01 PM)Ragpicker Wrote:  He did wear a sweater-vest, so subflea you may have to talk to someone about that choice of clothes.

I like it. I own an adidas UC sweatervest.

Yeah, but he had a black leather blazer of it, pretty horrific.

(12-29-2012 09:46 AM)Kenyon#4 Wrote:  Yeah, but he had a black leather blazer of it, pretty horrific.

I saw that blazer. You think that's adidas gear :)? I think it was a parting gift off a steer in Lubbock. I don't care how the guy dresses - he can coach and recruit and I'm really happy he's our coach. But the blazer was kind of bad.

Ryan Koslen ‏@Koz_UC
Wrapping up Belk Bowl meetings in Cincinnati. #Bearcats turnout in Charlotte was confirmed at 15,000+, continuing our bowl travel tradition.

Cincinnati Bearcats ‏@GoBEARCATS
Thanks to #Bearcats Nation for your continued support. Charlotte the latest city to be impressed by our outstanding fan base.

(01-31-2013 02:23 PM)Bearcat2012 Wrote:  Ryan Koslen ‏@Koz_UC
Wrapping up Belk Bowl meetings in Cincinnati. #Bearcats turnout in Charlotte was confirmed at 15,000+, continuing our bowl travel tradition.

Cincinnati Bearcats ‏@GoBEARCATS
Thanks to #Bearcats Nation for your continued support. Charlotte the latest city to be impressed by our outstanding fan base.

Awesome. Maybe the Big12 will take note of our traveling fanbase.

(01-31-2013 02:23 PM)Bearcat2012 Wrote:  Ryan Koslen ‏@Koz_UC
Wrapping up Belk Bowl meetings in Cincinnati. #Bearcats turnout in Charlotte was confirmed at 15,000+, continuing our bowl travel tradition.

Cincinnati Bearcats ‏@GoBEARCATS
Thanks to #Bearcats Nation for your continued support. Charlotte the latest city to be impressed by our outstanding fan base.

That's pretty good when you consider:

1- UC lost their coaching staff prior to the bowl
2- Many people couldn't make it due to storms across the country, particularly Ohio.
3- Mid-week game on a night when UC also had a home game against a Top 25 opponent in basketball.
4- Let's face it, Duke is not a sexy opponent in football.

(01-31-2013 02:43 PM)CliftonAve Wrote:  

(01-31-2013 02:23 PM)Bearcat2012 Wrote:  Ryan Koslen ‏@Koz_UC
Wrapping up Belk Bowl meetings in Cincinnati. #Bearcats turnout in Charlotte was confirmed at 15,000+, continuing our bowl travel tradition.

Cincinnati Bearcats ‏@GoBEARCATS
Thanks to #Bearcats Nation for your continued support. Charlotte the latest city to be impressed by our outstanding fan base.

That's pretty good when you consider:

1- UC lost their coaching staff prior to the bowl
2- Many people couldn't make it due to storms across the country, particularly Ohio.
3- Mid-week game on a night when UC also had a home game against a Top 25 opponent in basketball.
4- Let's face it, Duke is not a sexy opponent in football.

I think weve developed a core group of fans (10,000-15,000) that have made the UC bowl their holiday vacation tradition, as long as its a reasonable travel distance . Opponent , day of the week , conditions dont seem to matter. Great job!

(01-31-2013 02:26 PM)bctn8n Wrote:  

(01-31-2013 02:23 PM)Bearcat2012 Wrote:  Ryan Koslen ‏@Koz_UC
Wrapping up Belk Bowl meetings in Cincinnati. #Bearcats turnout in Charlotte was confirmed at 15,000+, continuing our bowl travel tradition.

Cincinnati Bearcats ‏@GoBEARCATS
Thanks to #Bearcats Nation for your continued support. Charlotte the latest city to be impressed by our outstanding fan base.

Awesome. Maybe the Big12 will take note of our traveling fanbase.

I sure hope at least the ACC does.

(01-31-2013 02:51 PM)Bearcat2012 Wrote:  

(01-31-2013 02:43 PM)CliftonAve Wrote:  

(01-31-2013 02:23 PM)Bearcat2012 Wrote:  Ryan Koslen ‏@Koz_UC
Wrapping up Belk Bowl meetings in Cincinnati. #Bearcats turnout in Charlotte was confirmed at 15,000+, continuing our bowl travel tradition.

Cincinnati Bearcats ‏@GoBEARCATS
Thanks to #Bearcats Nation for your continued support. Charlotte the latest city to be impressed by our outstanding fan base.

That's pretty good when you consider:

1- UC lost their coaching staff prior to the bowl
2- Many people couldn't make it due to storms across the country, particularly Ohio.
3- Mid-week game on a night when UC also had a home game against a Top 25 opponent in basketball.
4- Let's face it, Duke is not a sexy opponent in football.

I think weve developed a core group of fans (10,000-15,000) that have made the UC bowl their holiday vacation tradition, as long as its a reasonable travel distance . Opponent , day of the week , conditions dont seem to matter. Great job!

It's funny that our group always has at least a couple people want to come to the bowl game with us who rarely make it to a home UC game. People in this town will turn out for an "event." Although the Belk wasn't a sexy bowl and Duke isn't a sexy opponent, we still had a few people who wanted to get away for a couple days, see a different city and go to the game. We've definitely just made going to a bowl game part of our holiday plans every year.

(01-31-2013 05:54 PM)Racinejake Wrote:  It's funny that our group always has at least a couple people want to come to the bowl game with us who rarely make it to a home UC game. People in this town will turn out for an "event." Although the Belk wasn't a sexy bowl and Duke isn't a sexy opponent, we still had a few people who wanted to get away for a couple days, see a different city and go to the game. We've definitely just made going to a bowl game part of our holiday plans every year.

I have to agree with you, I run into people at bowl games all the time that dont go to regular season games.

The next step seems to be to get those people to Nippert.

(02-01-2013 12:48 PM)BeerCat Wrote:  The next step seems to be to get those people to Nippert.

Yup

Gott think the nip upgrade will do this (and keep winning)

I think for ad campaign i'd market the heck out of Tuberville as coach to the public.

I know six people from my hometown who were at the bowl game. Three are just football fans whose son is considering UC. Don't think they went to a regular season game. The other three are the family of a former UC player who went to 1 or 2 games (the weekend of the Bengals-Browns game, as they are huge Browns fans).

Never going to be any season ticket holders in the group, but they do enjoy the occasional Bearcats' experience.