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

(09-02-2014 11:00 PM)cb4029 Wrote:  

(09-02-2014 09:09 PM)blazers9911 Wrote:  If we had an ocs, we already would have moved during realignment. I seriously have zero doubt about that. Tulane got the AAC invite over us, and that is the only thing they had going for them.

I'm glad we missed the AAC train wreck.

Never know. As fans we say one thing, but the AD may have another idea or agenda. Even if we got invited to the ACK, you don't think the administration would take it?
Personally if we got picked up by a money conference, I would hope for the ACC or Big 12. ACC for ease of travel and the Big 12 for the teams. But thats why it's called a wish list. Put wish in one hand and....well I'm sure you heard it before.

(09-02-2014 09:09 PM)blazers9911 Wrote:  If we had an ocs, we already would have moved during realignment. I seriously have zero doubt about that. Tulane got the AAC invite over us, and that is the only thing they had going for them.

The timing of the BOT smackdown regarding the OCS was not by chance.

The conference realignment writing was on the wall several years ago. We knew that we needed to get our facilities in order if we wanted to have a chance at a seat at the big boy table. The BOT knew it too and intentionally cockblocked us.

(09-02-2014 11:00 PM)cb4029 Wrote:  

(09-02-2014 09:09 PM)blazers9911 Wrote:  If we had an ocs, we already would have moved during realignment. I seriously have zero doubt about that. Tulane got the AAC invite over us, and that is the only thing they had going for them.

I'm glad we missed the AAC train wreck.

You say that but you don't mean it. For the foreseeable future, uconn Memphis temple and cincy are in the AAC. We are a basketball school, and that's where we want to be if we want to keep our basketball program competitive.

Out of 11 AAC teams, 9 are former C-USA members. 6 in one hand, half dozen in the other. Changing from one C-USA to another one with less name recognition would not have been worth the trouble.

Are we switching conferences?

So, I'm listening to JERX this morning, and I hear this guy call in, country as cornbread, lifelong Bama fan who wants to talk about UAB attendance. I start to reach for the button that would switch this clown to AC/DC's Back in Black when he says, "I can't take my family to a Bama game. Times are hard. At $15 a ticket, I can take my family of 4 to a UAB game. We had a great time. It was my first UAB game, but it won't be my last."

Great story to hear.

I just had a Bama guy hit me up for two tickets.

Your moneys green as far as I'm concerned. And the more bammer fans we get, the more eyes in the BOT when they pull some more tom foolery.

It is hard to get reliable information as to why UAB was passed over during realignment, but personal opinions abound. Mine is that the ability of the BOT to make major decisions for our own athletic programs (like building the OCS) gives other conferences reason to doubt UAB's control of its own destiny. It's like the "500 lb gorilla" in the family picture. Those who wish to can disregard its presence and influence but it remains there nonetheless. The BOT has been forced to operate more subtlely (in recent coaching hires), but they still block UAB's athletic progress where they can (like making sure the swimming pool was not quite Olympic size). As far as I know, UAB is the only D1 school (PRACTICALLY) dominated by a BOT so obviously primarily loyal to another school. I don't believe the reality of our relationship with the system BOT has gone unnoticed by other conferences.

I dit no dat.