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

(06-28-2013 11:04 AM)BAMANBLAZERFAN Wrote:  

(06-28-2013 07:29 AM)Matrix Wrote:  I remember when the city, for lack of a better term, kicked the high schools out of Legion Field and outside of the "Classic", HBC access was limited substantially, to my knowledge, when the "Updykes" ruled the roost and played regularly/often there, all of a sudden, that grass was considered "sacred ground" & anyone other than bammer playing/walking/standing on it, "gridiron infidels"...Not long after the "red elephants" migration to their own private watering hole to the west, the city chose to "invite" the high schools back, as if they were doing them a favor or something...For as long as I can recall, the city's had this "take it or leave it" attitude about "Lesion" Field when it came to the HBCU's & local high schools, but time has a way of stripping down what lies beneath the surface, & IMO, that time has been at hand for the city of Birmingham and its' "icon" (really?!) since 1994. It's not even viable for high schools (note the Super 6 departure and the recent inclusion of on-campus football stadiums thruout parts of the inner city, good for them!!!) anymore, and now the city politicians find themselves reaching out to those that they had at one time or another, turned a blind eye to when it came to that place.Incredulous how so many other cities like Pittsburgh, New York, Seattle, Boston, St. Louis, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Baltimore (need I go on?) have leveled their obsolete stadiums & built anew without so much as blinking an eye, but Birmingham continues to flounder like a political fish out of water when it comes to what has been a routine occurrence on a national scale? To have to settle for the likes of Legion Field is not an honor or privelege anymore...It's a sentence....UAB is not a tenant...It's a hostage...

The local high schools did not want to play @ Legion Field any more than UAB and for the same reasons. The size of the stadium and the level of services provided made the rent they had to pay almost a total loss. If the city could have gotten the replacement facility built, Legion Field would have been treated like Pittsburgh treated Three Rivers Stadium, Atlanta is about to treat the GA DOME and Seattle treated the Kingdome. However, one does not jump from even a sinking ship as long as there is no safer place to land. All of the "former tenants" of Legion Field have found that "safer place to land" and abandoned ship. Legion Field is left with those who have no "safer place to land" at this time. Welcome to the TITANIC - stadium equivalent.

Why did you have to go TITANIC on us? Now that awful Celine Dion song will be playing in my head for the rest of the day.

(06-28-2013 01:13 PM)backyardblazer Wrote:  

(06-28-2013 11:04 AM)BAMANBLAZERFAN Wrote:  

(06-28-2013 07:29 AM)Matrix Wrote:  I remember when the city, for lack of a better term, kicked the high schools out of Legion Field and outside of the "Classic", HBC access was limited substantially, to my knowledge, when the "Updykes" ruled the roost and played regularly/often there, all of a sudden, that grass was considered "sacred ground" & anyone other than bammer playing/walking/standing on it, "gridiron infidels"...Not long after the "red elephants" migration to their own private watering hole to the west, the city chose to "invite" the high schools back, as if they were doing them a favor or something...For as long as I can recall, the city's had this "take it or leave it" attitude about "Lesion" Field when it came to the HBCU's & local high schools, but time has a way of stripping down what lies beneath the surface, & IMO, that time has been at hand for the city of Birmingham and its' "icon" (really?!) since 1994. It's not even viable for high schools (note the Super 6 departure and the recent inclusion of on-campus football stadiums thruout parts of the inner city, good for them!!!) anymore, and now the city politicians find themselves reaching out to those that they had at one time or another, turned a blind eye to when it came to that place.Incredulous how so many other cities like Pittsburgh, New York, Seattle, Boston, St. Louis, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Baltimore (need I go on?) have leveled their obsolete stadiums & built anew without so much as blinking an eye, but Birmingham continues to flounder like a political fish out of water when it comes to what has been a routine occurrence on a national scale? To have to settle for the likes of Legion Field is not an honor or privelege anymore...It's a sentence....UAB is not a tenant...It's a hostage...

The local high schools did not want to play @ Legion Field any more than UAB and for the same reasons. The size of the stadium and the level of services provided made the rent they had to pay almost a total loss. If the city could have gotten the replacement facility built, Legion Field would have been treated like Pittsburgh treated Three Rivers Stadium, Atlanta is about to treat the GA DOME and Seattle treated the Kingdome. However, one does not jump from even a sinking ship as long as there is no safer place to land. All of the "former tenants" of Legion Field have found that "safer place to land" and abandoned ship. Legion Field is left with those who have no "safer place to land" at this time. Welcome to the TITANIC - stadium equivalent.

Why did you have to go TITANIC on us? Now that awful Celine Dion song will be playing in my head for the rest of the day.

I'm so glad that I have not seen that movie!

Don't worry. I'm sure his heart will go on.

(06-28-2013 01:39 PM)Matrix Wrote:  

(06-28-2013 01:13 PM)backyardblazer Wrote:  

(06-28-2013 11:04 AM)BAMANBLAZERFAN Wrote:  

(06-28-2013 07:29 AM)Matrix Wrote:  I remember when the city, for lack of a better term, kicked the high schools out of Legion Field and outside of the "Classic", HBC access was limited substantially, to my knowledge, when the "Updykes" ruled the roost and played regularly/often there, all of a sudden, that grass was considered "sacred ground" & anyone other than bammer playing/walking/standing on it, "gridiron infidels"...Not long after the "red elephants" migration to their own private watering hole to the west, the city chose to "invite" the high schools back, as if they were doing them a favor or something...For as long as I can recall, the city's had this "take it or leave it" attitude about "Lesion" Field when it came to the HBCU's & local high schools, but time has a way of stripping down what lies beneath the surface, & IMO, that time has been at hand for the city of Birmingham and its' "icon" (really?!) since 1994. It's not even viable for high schools (note the Super 6 departure and the recent inclusion of on-campus football stadiums thruout parts of the inner city, good for them!!!) anymore, and now the city politicians find themselves reaching out to those that they had at one time or another, turned a blind eye to when it came to that place.Incredulous how so many other cities like Pittsburgh, New York, Seattle, Boston, St. Louis, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Baltimore (need I go on?) have leveled their obsolete stadiums & built anew without so much as blinking an eye, but Birmingham continues to flounder like a political fish out of water when it comes to what has been a routine occurrence on a national scale? To have to settle for the likes of Legion Field is not an honor or privelege anymore...It's a sentence....UAB is not a tenant...It's a hostage...

The local high schools did not want to play @ Legion Field any more than UAB and for the same reasons. The size of the stadium and the level of services provided made the rent they had to pay almost a total loss. If the city could have gotten the replacement facility built, Legion Field would have been treated like Pittsburgh treated Three Rivers Stadium, Atlanta is about to treat the GA DOME and Seattle treated the Kingdome. However, one does not jump from even a sinking ship as long as there is no safer place to land. All of the "former tenants" of Legion Field have found that "safer place to land" and abandoned ship. Legion Field is left with those who have no "safer place to land" at this time. Welcome to the TITANIC - stadium equivalent.

Why did you have to go TITANIC on us? Now that awful Celine Dion song will be playing in my head for the rest of the day.

I'm so glad that I have not seen that movie!

That's OK - You don't have to have seen the movie to comprehend the metaphor.

(06-27-2013 06:46 PM)Matrix Wrote:  It didn't take long for the city to exact a "response" to the SWAC leaving...Bring in the SIAC...Good move, or simply another act of extreme embarrassment and desperation on the city's part?

Wishful thinking by the city. The SIAC title game will draw well if Miles or Tuskegee are involved. If not the game will be small enough to play at any high school stadium.