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

(10-08-2015 09:40 PM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  He must be filling in for Cajun in policing everyone's fandom.

Are you stalking me again?

(10-09-2015 05:30 AM)rook360 Wrote:  

(10-08-2015 09:40 PM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  He must be filling in for Cajun in policing everyone's fandom.

Are you stalking me again?

No more so than you stalking me.

You know, the way UAB keeps expanding, in 15 years, a BJCC stadium might become an OCS.

This always tends to be a testy conversation because stadiums have some permanence and every fan wants the best for their school. I know in our situation everyone has been excited at the prospect of getting the Turner Field property and then our President at the Kickoff Luncheon a few weeks back injected the possibility of tearing down the Ted and possibly building a stadium on the north part of the property. That clearly divided the fan base between those who want to se the Ted renovated for football and those who prefer a football stadium from the ground up. Realistically for you guys with no major league sports, having your own Liberty Bowl is not the worst thing ever.

(10-09-2015 08:54 AM)panama Wrote:  This always tends to be a testy conversation because stadiums have some permanence and every fan wants the best for their school. I know in our situation everyone has been excited at the prospect of getting the Turner Field property and then our President at the Kickoff Luncheon a few weeks back injected the possibility of tearing down the Ted and possibly building a stadium on the north part of the property. That clearly divided the fan base between those who want to se the Ted renovated for football and those who prefer a football stadium from the ground up. Realistically for you guys with no major league sports, having your own Liberty Bowl is not the worst thing ever.

Memphis would prefer to play in their own OCS instead of the Liberty Bowl.

(10-09-2015 08:54 AM)panama Wrote:  This always tends to be a testy conversation because stadiums have some permanence and every fan wants the best for their school. I know in our situation everyone has been excited at the prospect of getting the Turner Field property and then our President at the Kickoff Luncheon a few weeks back injected the possibility of tearing down the Ted and possibly building a stadium on the north part of the property. That clearly divided the fan base between those who want to se the Ted renovated for football and those who prefer a football stadium from the ground up. Realistically for you guys with no major league sports, having your own Liberty Bowl is not the worst thing ever.

It's not that those of us who support the BJCC plan don't want the best for UAB, or think that a UAB-owned, on campus facility isn't the best. It's just that some of us live in the real world and understand what is possible to do today, and some of us live in fantasy land and think that we live in a movie and if we just wish hard enough good things will happen and we'll all get what we want and good will triumph over evil and live happily ever after.

Bingo! Well said. I would love to build an OCS but it simply is NOT happening. We have been trying to soften the blow on this for a couple months now. If Clark is fine with it (he is per face to face) then I am good as well.

I seem to remember when many of you were living in a fantasy land at the thought of UAB Football never being shutdown. Wait, there is more. Many thought once the football program was killed it would never see the light of day again. Well that was proven to be a fantasy as well. Why wasn't a defeatist attitude taken towards reviving football but this attitude is prevalent regarding an OCS? Futhermore, no valid reason has been given as to why an OCS can't happen. Just Watts and the BOT saying it won't happen......I guess. Watts says no more football, many of you spit in his face and said hell knaw! Watts says no OCS, and y'all are like well ok.

I'm not against a downtown stadium. I'm disappointed that many of you are ready to accept UAB not having an OCS now or anytime soon. My fear is becoming a reality, many of you are just happy to have football back. Hopefully the FreeUAB movement continues to march forth.

Some here are privy to some things and all I can say is we can protest to the point of burning the town to the ground and the OCS is not happening. I think most in the know knew we could get the program back. We have two choices here. We can play in the new stadium or we can play at LF.

I suggest following Coach Clark's lead.

Right now we need to build on campus facilities for football. That is the next hurdle. The FreeUAB movement is alive and well but we know when to pick our battles.

& the next battle where we can do something may come next legislative session.

In the meantime, take what you can get.

(10-09-2015 11:45 AM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  I seem to remember when many of you were living in a fantasy land at the thought of UAB Football never being shutdown. Wait, there is more. Many thought once the football program was killed it would never see the light of day again. Well that was proven to be a fantasy as well. Why wasn't a defeatist attitude taken towards reviving football but this attitude is prevalent regarding an OCS? Futhermore, no valid reason has been given as to why an OCS can't happen. Just Watts and the BOT saying it won't happen......I guess. Watts says no more football, many of you spit in his face and said hell knaw! Watts says no OCS, and y'all are like well ok.

I'm not against a downtown stadium. I'm disappointed that many of you are ready to accept UAB not having an OCS now or anytime soon. My fear is becoming a reality, many of you are just happy to have football back. Hopefully the FreeUAB movement continues to march forth.

We are willing to accept that because those are the cards we have been dealt. We will be at the Games, no matter where they are, and we will support the team. Are we thrilled to have a stadium 3 miles from campus? No. Are we going to throw a fit that it is our only other option than legion field right now? I'm not.

We need a lot of football improvements on campus. Those cost a lot of money. I don't believe anybody has quit on the use of an ocs, it's just dealing with the current situation the best we can.

(10-09-2015 12:14 PM)ATTALLABLAZE Wrote:  I think most in the know knew we could get the program back.

I believe it was much closer-run than that. Stuff doesn't just happen. Any single Blazer's contribution to the fight, no matter how small, could have been the difference.

There are a couple of key issues I think are being overlooked:

1. Sometimes you have to accept that your allies' needs might be close to your own, but not identical. If our friends downtown want this, it would be boorish and ungrateful - bammerish, even - to fight them over it.

2. The BJCC Authority is not a committee of the UAT Board of Trustees, nor is it an arm of UAB. Finis, Joe III and their little crimson-faced pumpkin-headed lying, deceitful and badly-dressed bastard have no formal say in how they choose to build and spend, nor does their bumbling hench-puppet Fumbles.

It's not the best option, but it ties UAB Football and the city and county firmly together. Through the BJCC, local government now has serious skin in the UAB Football game. The 2-mile walk is well worth binding them to us.

I don't think that any of you ever accused me of being satisfied with whatever Pumpkin Head and the BOT thought was best for UAB and I don't think that anyone has ever accused me of being "complacent and content", but......

I for one am going to be thrilled to watch UAB playing in a brand new state of the art stadium and leave rotting Legion Field with it monument to Bryant behind once and for all.

I am going to be thrilled the we don't have to pay for the construction costs and/or get the BOT's permission to build it because I don't see us raising that much money and/or getting the BOT permission to borrow that money for many years to come.

I am going to be thrilled if we use the money we have and will raise to build the fantastic on campus football offices and training facilities which are Coach Clark's first priorities.

I am going to be thrilled to experience the boosts that both the new on campus football facilities and the new BJCC stadium will provide for our football recruiting.

I am going to be thrilled that all of this may someday, maybe years in the future, help to build the football program which will allow us to build our campus stadium, costs and the BOT be damned.

I am a realist who refuses to let perfect to be opponent of great and I am selfish enough to wish that everyone had that same mind set.

And oh, let the record show that another booster/fan and I met with Coach Bartow long before he retired as UAB's AD to try to push for an on campus stadium. Coach told us that he too dreamed of an OCS, but at the time it was not our first priority. He said we needed first build new coach's offices and new training facilities. In some ways nothing has changed; in other ways everything has changed, but anyone who thinks I have given up on Coach Bartow's dream is a fool.

(10-09-2015 01:01 PM)blazers9911 Wrote:  

(10-09-2015 11:45 AM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  I seem to remember when many of you were living in a fantasy land at the thought of UAB Football never being shutdown. Wait, there is more. Many thought once the football program was killed it would never see the light of day again. Well that was proven to be a fantasy as well. Why wasn't a defeatist attitude taken towards reviving football but this attitude is prevalent regarding an OCS? Futhermore, no valid reason has been given as to why an OCS can't happen. Just Watts and the BOT saying it won't happen......I guess. Watts says no more football, many of you spit in his face and said hell knaw! Watts says no OCS, and y'all are like well ok.

I'm not against a downtown stadium. I'm disappointed that many of you are ready to accept UAB not having an OCS now or anytime soon. My fear is becoming a reality, many of you are just happy to have football back. Hopefully the FreeUAB movement continues to march forth.

We are willing to accept that because those are the cards we have been dealt. We will be at the Games, no matter where they are, and we will support the team. Are we thrilled to have a stadium 3 miles from campus? No. Are we going to throw a fit that it is our only other option than legion field right now? I'm not.

We need a lot of football improvements on campus. Those cost a lot of money. I don't believe anybody has quit on the use of an ocs, it's just dealing with the current situation the best we can.

My fear is that the UAB faithful will be complacent and content. And not just with an OCS but every other issue that stands in the way of UAB growing. But we'll see.

What I find humorous is that four or five years ago, there were some people who thought the OCS was a pipe dream and could not be done. There were many people here who blasted those people for not having the dream of playing on campus. Those same people are now blasting people for not living in reality and accepting the BJCC proposal because the OCS is not going to happen.

I am for playing anywhere that does not start with Legion and end with the word Field.

(10-09-2015 01:11 PM)58-56 Wrote:  

(10-09-2015 12:14 PM)ATTALLABLAZE Wrote:  I think most in the know knew we could get the program back.

I believe it was much closer-run than that. Stuff doesn't just happen. Any single Blazer's contribution to the fight, no matter how small, could have been the difference.

There are a couple of key issues I think are being overlooked:

1. Sometimes you have to accept that your allies' needs might be close to your own, but not identical. If our friends downtown want this, it would be boorish and ungrateful - bammerish, even - to fight them over it.

2. The BJCC Authority is not a committee of the UAT Board of Trustees, nor is it an arm of UAB. Finis, Joe III and their little crimson-faced pumpkin-headed lying, deceitful and badly-dressed bastard have no formal say in how they choose to build and spend, nor does their bumbling hench-puppet Fumbles.

It's not the best option, but it ties UAB Football and the city and county firmly together. Through the BJCC, local government now has serious skin in the UAB Football game. The 2-mile walk is well worth binding them to us.

Well stated 58-56.

(10-09-2015 10:58 AM)ATTALLABLAZE Wrote:  Bingo! Well said. I would love to build an OCS but it simply is NOT happening. We have been trying to soften the blow on this for a couple months now. If Clark is fine with it (he is per face to face) then I am good as well.

Is it safe to assume the hold up is more BOT intransigence?

(10-09-2015 03:02 PM)BirminghamBound Wrote:  

(10-09-2015 10:58 AM)ATTALLABLAZE Wrote:  Bingo! Well said. I would love to build an OCS but it simply is NOT happening. We have been trying to soften the blow on this for a couple months now. If Clark is fine with it (he is per face to face) then I am good as well.

Is it safe to assume the hold up is more BOT intransigence?

No assumption is needed. The administration and the board have publicly said they will not approve a stadium on campus and paid for by UAB, nor will they issue any bonds for any football facilities period.

(10-07-2015 11:14 PM)hooverblazer Wrote:  The city spends about $250k each year PURCHASING those tickets.

Then their handlers sells them on the corner for $5 while the ticket staff is looking out the window with a $15 for sale sign.

The whole model is a cluster. It F's up demand which F's up any kind of annual giving program.

(10-09-2015 03:43 PM)mixduptransistor Wrote:  

(10-09-2015 03:02 PM)BirminghamBound Wrote:  

(10-09-2015 10:58 AM)ATTALLABLAZE Wrote:  Bingo! Well said. I would love to build an OCS but it simply is NOT happening. We have been trying to soften the blow on this for a couple months now. If Clark is fine with it (he is per face to face) then I am good as well.

Is it safe to assume the hold up is more BOT intransigence?

No assumption is needed. The administration and the board have publicly said they will not approve a stadium on campus and paid for by UAB, nor will they issue any bonds for any football facilities period.

If at first you do not succeed, try, try again.