Recycling is Good for the Planet

Before the 2006 UGA vs. Colorado game, I did a "Tale of the Tape" article. I'm biased, but I thought it was one of my better pieces. For a visit to the time machine...

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Expansion Wrap Up

Let's say you throw a party for kids in the neighborhood. And let's say that kids who attend the party receive $10 million per year for the next 20 years. While kids that don't attend the party lose $20 million a year for the next 20 years. What do you think will happen?

Of course, parents are going to want their kids there. Not just one kid mind you...but multiple kids. And don't forget cousins, grandchildren and nephews.

That's among the reasons why I said last month, that I didn't see a 16-team league happening.

In the end, I think the Big 10 will expand by 1 team and the Pac 10 will go to 12. And most of the 16 team talk is brilliantly aimed at getting the Big 10 the best possible team to reach out to them for inclusion.

From there, all the leagues will take a deep breath. Because the contractual complexities of moving to 16 teams in one or more conferences are just too great. And University presidents are too risk adverse.

Regardless, Andy Katz's article about the mysterious Trilateral Coalition / Black Hand stopping the Pac 10 expansion is the best read of the entire Bay of Pigskin roller coaster ride.

Two schools who faired better than most think in expansion are:

• Iowa - The Hawkeyes and Huskers have only played six times since World War II, and only twice since Reagan's first term in office. This despite Lincoln being located only 60 miles from the Iowa state line. Right now, Iowa and Nebraska are on comparable footing in football. This is the perfect time for them to become rivals. More than likely, Iowa vs. Nebraska will become the season ending game for both programs, and that's the sort or big time match-up Iowa needs to raise demand for tickets. There's nothing like a heated border war to ignite the fan passion. Also, Iowa State can't sell area recruits on getting to face Nebraska every year. It's another hit to the Cyclones...which is also a win for Iowa.
  
  
• Colorado - They are taking a lot of heat for leaving the Big XII, but it makes total sense to me. When the Buffs were at their best, they were recruiting heavily out of Los Angeles. The rumors are that the Buffs will be in the same division with UCLA and USC which means a yearly game in LA. They are trading in division games against Nebraska and 4 teams that hardly get anyone in that part of the world excited for USC, UCLA, Arizona, Arizona State and likely Utah. That's a towering home run from a ticket sales and fan interest standpoint. TV money is great, but you have to recruit players and sell tickets to win games, and they are better positioned to do that than ever.

What's your overall thought on Expansion? Bottom line for me...I'm glad we ended up where we did at the BCS level, but I don't think we're done at the mid-major level. See next post for more info.

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It's Official: Colorado Joins the Pac 10

The Pac 10 conference announced today that The Colorado Buffaloes are joining their conference. This announcement was made moments ago. (Source: ESPN). This is on top of the likely news within the next 48 hours that Nebraska is joining the Big 10.

According to ESPN (and this was also discussed last night by Pete Thamel of the NYTimes):

Texas and Texas A&M officials are scheduled to meet [today] at an undisclosed location to discuss the future of their athletic programs and the Big 12 amid speculation the league could be raided by rival conferences and broken apart.

Things are moving very quickly. One of the big problems with expanding to 16 teams is...how do you keep fans happy when they are fewer titles to go around? Well, the Pac 10 may have dreamed up a very obnoxious answer to that question (ht - blutarsky):

The coach said it's possible the Pac-16 would push for two automatic bids to the BCS, one for each division champion. That potential bonanza could open the possibility of the two division champs from one league playing for the national title, and it would eliminate the need for a conference championship game.

"The Pac-10 doesn't believe in a championship game," the coach said. "And coaches in the Big 12 don't like it anyway."

If they move in that direction, the Pac 10 is essentially not a single conference at all. It's a modified version of the Pac 8 meets the Southwest Conference in a marriage for TV purposes only.

Imagine the SEC applying this thinking and expanding to 16. You'd have a league whereby the SEC East and SEC West champs both earned a BCS slot automatically, but there would be absolutely no "settling it on the field" in that scenario as the two division champs wouldn't meet in Atlanta. Bizarre.

See Also:
-- Texas A&M and the SEC in talks? - SI.com
-- Scrambling to save the Big XII - NY Times

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Colorado Buffalo Season Tickets on Sale

Image: Hipple
When more than 15,000 Georgia fans descended on the desert for the UGA vs. Arizona State game, the attendance was fueled by a convergence of factors including:

• $99 season ticket packages located directly adjacent to the visitors section
  
• A large stadium by non-SEC standards with more than 71,000 seats that almost never experiences a sellout
  
• Unprecedented optimism leading into the 2008 football season.
  
• The first big road game outside of the Southeast in 40+ years.
  
• Amazing tourism opportunities nearby

The dynamics of the 2010 Georgia vs. Colorado game are wildly different. However, we could still end up bringing a massive crowd to Boulder. With that in mind, I did want to let you know that season tickets for the 2010 Buffaloes season are on sale now from CU's Athletic Department. Here are the caveats you should know:

• The cheapest season ticket is $235. The seats available at that price point are located in the yellow sections on this map. Click on the section to get a view from those seats. They aren't bad seats because the stadium is so small, but they aren't very good seats for that price point. Especially, not when you can get tickets on Stubhub in Section 2 for $100 or so as of the time of this posting. View from Section 2.
  
  
• Enthusiasm for Colorado football is incredibly low, and they are hosting a truly pathetic home schedule. The best game on the docket is UGA. The second best game is Texas Tech. Your ability to unload your unused CU season tickets will be incredibly limited. Unlike the ASU season tickets two years ago where you could dump the UCLA and Oregon tickets and get some of your cash back.
  
  
• I researched last year's stubhub.com fees for CU home games. You could get dramatically better seats than what is marked in yellow on that map for less than $235 each.
  
  
• Individual game tickets go on sale roughly August 2nd. Last year, they didn't sell out the Nebraska home game in advance, and they were much more optimistic about the 2009 season than the 2010 season.
  
  
• Folsom Field only seats 53,000 people. That's smaller than Bobby Dodd Stadium. So if UGA brings 10k or more, there will be some interesting demand for tickets in the aftermarket.

Bottom line...do what you want. But I'll either buy them from the CU athletic department in August or I'll buy 'em off Stubhub.


Obviously, I have a referral relationship with Stubhub. So, I'm hardly unbiased. But I will definitely still post the link to buy single game tickets to their games when they go on sale directly from CU. I want as many Dawg fans as possible there one way or the other.

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Georgia vs. Colorado: 2010 Travel Info

Image: Hipple
The Colorado Dawgs have put up a blog for distributing information about the 2010 road trip to Boulder. The site includes hotel information, RV information and more.

See Also:
-- GSB Info on UGA Game

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UGA vs. Colorado 2010 Hotel Info

Image by Jim Hipple
One of the things we try and do here at the Georgia Sports Blog is help out with road game travel plans when we can. With that in mind, I wanted to let you know that many Boulder Hotels for the 2010 Georgia Bulldogs vs. Colorado Buffaloes game are now open for booking.

The game is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 2, 2010 according to the UGA Media Guide. Here's a sampling of some of the hotel rates I've found along with distance from the stadium per Google Maps: (UPDATE: All the prices have changed. Call the hotels)

Boulder Marriott - $239/night
2660 Canyon Boulevard
15 minute walk to stadium (Per Google Maps)
Originally listed at $189. Price jumped a few days later.

Courtyard Boulder - $99/night
4710 Pearl East Circle
2.3 miles from stadium
Exceptional value at that price.

Residence Inn Boulder - $139/night
3030 Center Green Drive
2.5 miles from stadium

Homewood Suites - $107-139/night
4950 Baseline Rd.
2.5 miles from stadium
Rate varies based on pre-payment as well as # of occupants.

Holiday Inn Express Boulder - $135-149/night
4777 North Broadway
4.9 miles from Stadium
Rate varies

Quality Inn & Suites Boulder Creek - No Rate
2020 Arapahoe Ave.
15 minute walk to stadium.
Appears booked (or they haven't opened reservations yet)

There are other places that are fairly close, but I gave you recommendations (except for the Quality Inn) for the types of places I stay when I'm on the road with the Dawgs.

I travel a lot for work, and I don't like staying in 2 star hotels. If you want to stay at the Best Western or Ramada Inn in a college town, you're more than welcome. But I'm not. There's actually a Best Western very close to campus, but I didn't research it. I typically stay at a Hampton Inn for personal travel. In fact, there is a Hampton Inn in Boulder for about $110, but it's located about 6+ miles away so I didn't bother to link given the other properties nearby.

This trip, I'm staying at the Boulder Marriott because I love walking to the stadium for road games. The trip to Tempe spoiled me in regards to walking to the game. I only listed the Google Map distances from the stadium. A search from whatever bar district (if any) they have would likely also be useful, but I didn't check into that. The rates were based on my best efforts as of Monday, Oct. 19.

The team hotel is unlikely to be in Boulder. They usually stay further out than that, but I didn't bother checking.

As for air travel, I'm going to wait until the NFL announces the 2010 Football Schedule before booking anything. I wouldn't mind sticking around Sunday and watching Knowshon and Champ play if the Broncos have a home game that weekend.

Hope that helps.

See Also:
-- UGA vs. Colorado: Tale of the Tape - From 2006 (GSB)

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To Dome or Not to Dome

Image: AJC
Tim Tucker caught up with Gary Stokan of the Atlanta Sports Council for an update on the possibility of UGA playing a game at the Georgia Dome. He basically says what I suggested earlier....the idea of UGA giving up its 6th home game for a match-up at the Dome is NOT on the table for 2010 or any other year.

The options on the table are:

A. Push out or cancel '10 non-conference road game (ie: Colorado)
B. Play only 6 home games in '11 (ie: push out opener vs. Lville)

I've seen an uproar on this site about not wanting to move the Colorado trip in 2010. I don't get it. It won't be like the ASU trip last year. Arizona State has a 76,000 seat stadium that rarely sells out. UGA fans got their hands on a near unlimited supply of cheap tickets to the game, and 15,000-20,000 of us turned into a de facto bowl game complete with a side trip to Sedona, the Grand Canyon and/or Vegas. Plus, ASU was a pre-season Top 15 team.

Colorado won't be like that. Folsom Field only seats 53,000 people. Their tickets aren't as accessible, and the Denver area's strongest suit is the Winter. Not early October. Their program is also in rebuilding mode, and the female talent will most certainly not be comparable to the Sun Devils. It's extremely unlikely that we're going to face a Top 15 team. (Granted: ASU had started tumbling before we got there, but we were booking flights and hotels based on the assumption that they wouldn't lose to UNLV the week before)

I'm looking forward to the trip to Boulder. Hell, Dawgnoxious and I actually saw UGA play hoops in Boulder. But I don't see what the fuss is about or what the problem would be with pushing the game out a bit. Especially, if we could replace that game with a more logistically manageable, less expensive game in Atlanta versus a much bigger name team. What am I missing?

Also, Georgia's best seasons since 1964 (when Vince Dooley arrived) usually began with a game that caught the player's attention and forced them to work harder all off season.

2007 vs Oklahoma State (#2 final ranking)
2005 vs a hyped Boise State (SEC Champs)
2003 at Clemson (SEC East Champs)
2002 vs Clemson (SEC Champs)
1997 vs Ark State (10 wins. Top 10 Finish) -- EXCEPTION
1992 at South Carolina (10 wins. SEC East Co-Champs)
1983 vs UCLA (10 wins. Cotton Bowl Champs)
1982 vs Clemson (SEC Champs)
1981 vs Tennessee (SEC Champs)
1980 at Tennessee (SEC Champs)
1976 vs California (SEC Champs) -- See Update*
1971 vs Oregon State (11-1 team) -- EXCEPTION
1968 at Tennessee (SEC Champs)
1966 at Mississippi State (SEC Champs)

Update: SpartanburgDawg sent me a note -- "Total speculation, but I’m guessing the 1976 Cal Bears had our undivided attention, as well, given that they were co-Pac 10 champs in 1975 and had won 8 of their past 9 games. A year later, they opened the season by whipping Tennessee’s ass in Knoxville." (touche)

That's 11 12 of 14 seasons that we've won 10 or more games and/or won the SEC East or better that began with an attention getting game. Compare that to Richt's seasons in which we've underwhelmed or underachieved '01 (Ark St.), '04 (GSU), '06 (WKU) and '08 (GSU).

I don't want to screw the Buffs. I'm just saying....do what it takes to get us a quality opponent in Week 1. If that requires a game at the Dome. Fine. It doesn't ensure greatness to play those tough openers, but not playing big opponents immediately sure does seem to lead to lackluster seasons.

See Also:
-- UGA ponders the Dome - Blutarsky

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UGA considering game in the Georgia Dome?

Georgia is in preliminary discussions with the Georgia Dome about participating in their new kickoff classic style season opening game in 2010 (source: Athens Banner-Herald). Per the article:

"Richt said somebody currently on Georgia's schedule would have to agree to come off the schedule to make the deal work, and he wasn't optimistic that would happen."

When you look at the 2010 schedule, Georgia currently has only four home games scheduled with two open slots left for home games. In even numbered years, Georgia only gets three SEC home games due to "hosting" the Cocktail Party in Jacksonville. For a variety of financial and political reasons, Georgia needs six home games.

In other words, Mark Richt is likely alluding to the possibility of moving or cancelling the Colorado game in Boulder which is currently scheduled for 2010. Georgia has schedule flexibility to play a road or neutral site game vs. the Buffs in 2011; however, UGA's available dates are likely either Week 4 or Week 5 of that season. Colorado already has four non-conference games for 2011, and it would be extremely difficult to move their games around.

Basically, Georgia would need Colorado to look at their 2010 schedule and think that playing UGA is just too much competitively, and let us out of the deal.

It's very possible that Richt is referring to UCLA as the team that the Dawgs might play in the Dome next year. The Bruins tried to book a game with Auburn to open next season in the Dome, but the Tigers couldn't/wouldn't do the deal.

I think the much easier option for getting into the Georgia Dome season opener would be in 2011. That would require talking to Louisville about moving the season opening game with them to 2010, moving it later in the season in 2011, or canceling the entire series against what is now a glorified cupcake.

At the end of the day, Richt is right. Playing in the Dome in 2010 is a long shot.

See Also:
-- Dawgs to play game in Dome - AJC
-- UGA vs. UCLA Game Recap from '83 (Life After Herschel) - SI
-- Auburn walks away from UCLA - FanBlogs

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Ralphie Doesn't Take Mess off Nobody

The Colorado Buffalo got loose and trampled one of his handlers. This was Ralphie V's first run of her career at the CU Spring Game. Can you imagine if this had happened in Athens?


Better video from YouTube:


See Also:
-- Ralphie Gone Wild - EDSBS
-- All our Ralphie Articles - Georgia Sports Blog

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