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

I upped my donation amount. Next.

(07-12-2013 09:44 AM)the_blazerman Wrote:  Funny how the local media reads more into this than is there.

Just because it isn't a top strategic priority doesn't mean it isn't being addressed.

They know the gump retards go ballistic when they see it in the headlines.

Can't get them all stirred up, you know what happens when they blow a gasket, dogs get kicked, TV & windows get smashed, wives get beaten up, beer sales skyrocket and trees get poisoned...Ambition is a 4-letter word whenever UAB Athletics gets kissed on the lips by it.

(07-13-2013 03:15 PM)rook360 Wrote:  Read this thread. My neigh saying is only reflecting the words that others have post. If I didn't care I wouldn't have bought season tickets last year knowing I couldn't make one game. And bought again knowing I'll only make 2 or 3 home games.
"Why?" You ask. Well Ill tell you my good fellow. Because I know one of the stipulations is/was season ticket sells. Then donate to athletic schalorship.
Don't be mistaken, I'm gonna ALWAYS support my guys, my school. But this thread is showing how "the nothing" is covering the whole OCS idea. (A lil' "Never Ending Story" right there for you)

I think you may have missed my sarcastic point

Come to think of it MemphisBlazer, you are right. We might as well all forget about an on campus stadium for at least another four more years. We might as well not even reconsider it or even think about it. It is a total waste of time. It simply is not a top priority on "their list".

(07-13-2013 06:33 PM)LairDweller Wrote:  

(07-13-2013 03:15 PM)rook360 Wrote:  Read this thread. My neigh saying is only reflecting the words that others have post. If I didn't care I wouldn't have bought season tickets last year knowing I couldn't make one game. And bought again knowing I'll only make 2 or 3 home games.
"Why?" You ask. Well Ill tell you my good fellow. Because I know one of the stipulations is/was season ticket sells. Then donate to athletic schalorship.
Don't be mistaken, I'm gonna ALWAYS support my guys, my school. But this thread is showing how "the nothing" is covering the whole OCS idea. (A lil' "Never Ending Story" right there for you)

I think you may have missed my sarcastic point

I figured it was sarcasm, but for some it's for a better understanding.

I understand what 58-56 is getting at as far as putting out the cat box.
Personally, I know for me, the whole stadium thing is more about the audacity of the BOT and how they have treated UAB and its supporters.

We are getting into the catch 22 again.
Football is being supported by funds from the school and needs to be financial on its own.
But we are told that its better to fund the medical school and that in turn will help out football.
But we are told again that football shouldn't pull from the medical school. Ok where is the capital gain fundraiser for the stadium.
Don't worry about the stadium capital fund because if you really love your school you'll support the medical and educational side. o_0
Because it's been reported on here many of times, the medical and educational side cares little for the athletic side, especially the football team.

Ooook, back to NCAA 14 and Ratcliff Memorial Stadium.

(07-13-2013 06:42 PM)TheGORILLA Wrote:  Dr. Watts is 59 years old. If he is President at UAB for at least six years, I would assume that he can retire with some sort of pension. I would also assume that if he is to remain safely and gainfully employed as President, it would be much safer for his own good to not mention an on campus stadium as a top priority. That would "definately" irk the Board of Trustees.

Just sayin'.

My understanding of retirement under the state TRS is that one must be in "the system" at some level for 10 years to be "vested" and then your retirement benefit is based upon longevity of service and the best paid 3 years of the last 5 years served. For most in education, this is the most recent 3 years before retirement.

(Since the recently voted 2% pay raise is to be instituted over the next 3 years, May of 2016 or 2017 could be a crisis year in regard to keeping senior experienced teachers for Alabama public schools if there are no more raises on the horizon by that time)

(07-13-2013 06:42 PM)TheGORILLA Wrote:  Come to think of it MemphisBlazer, you are right. We might as well all forget about an on campus stadium for at least another four more years. We might as well not even reconsider it or even think about it. It is a total waste of time. It simply is not a top priority on "their list".

10 years to get a pension, he's been around for a while already. But, here's a dirty little secret: Carol Garrison is still drawing down her $500,000 a year salary as of June 28th, I think in order for her to be eligible for her pension. Also of note, Ray Watts is making less money than Carol Garrison (she was paid $42k and change, he was paid $35k and change in June of this year)

Some things are constant in this world. One of those is the fact that by about the 5th page of any BT thread regarding any large undertaking on campus some are bound and determined to get as close to the ledge as possible. Breathe people.

What Watts said was utterly, completely and absolutely the right thing to say. Because it's the truth. Even if we broke ground tomorrow on a new stadium it WOULD be a low strategic priority given the scope of what we're about to undertake. If we built a new stadium with all the bells and whistles AND gave the rest of athletics the facilities they need it would still constitute less than 10% of this campaign. This is about an academic arms race. Competing for the best minds and the biggest portion of research we can get. Think big picture and long term.

With that said I can tell you that there will be an opportunity to designate our contributions to any department or no department. That includes athletics.

Like I said, UAB is bigger than the ******* football team.

And this from as big a football fan as any.

Then it's agreed the stadium is reasonably put on hold. For now support the school like true fans and alum and the stadium will present itself in time.
So no more belly aching about the BOT this and the BOT that.
What use is a brand new shiny stadium when your school is not worth crap when compared to other institutes of "higher learning" not institutes of "national championships".

So no more talk about the stadium then. Work with what you have. I have one question, can we come up with our own nick name for lesion field? The Pitt, Lease-us Field?

What drama queens.

UAB's quest for an OCS is no better or worse off than it was three days ago.

My personal choice is the Greymont Ruins

The Old Grey *****.

"The Ruins" does sound pretty cool.

(07-13-2013 04:01 PM)58-56 Wrote:  I've always wondered: did y'all's faces learn their lesson after you chopped off your noses?

Football is not the top strategic priority now. Keeping UAB from falling back into the status of a 13th grade diploma mill given the title "university" as a courtesy only is the priority. My degrees are valuable, and I do not want them stained by my school becoming an embarrassment to higher education like Tuscaloosa, memphis or East Carolina.

THAT is what a reduction in research funding means: we become a planetary laughingstock like memphis, where they're about to grant a degree to an illiterate football player whose goal in life is to give people rides in his car. And I can absolutely guarantee you this: if UAB becomes an urban equivalent to Troy "yeehaw we done beat Kaplan in academic quality" State, then we will never, ever see an on-campus stadium. Volker, Hill and Garrison had a vision of a world-class university that would be the pride of its alumni and of the people of Alabama. The Watts plan carries that vision forward.

UAB is in real danger of not only stalling, but falling backward. Our house is on fire with our children inside and some of y'all are whining because the firemen won't turn the hose on the goddamned catbox instead.

Stockholm syndrome

So what you are saying is that you agree with the bot, UAB can't do two things at once. I believe your rant was full of hyperbole, over-exaggeration, and some bs. We all agree that UAB needs to maintain and grow the research and medical aspects of the university but to say that an OCS is in conflict or jeopardizes that is ludicrous. Your diploma isn't lessened if we decide that we want to be a first class athletic department. I would submit that it would increase in perceptual value. Having a successful athletic department enhances the brand of any university, increases enrollment, and adds to the overall student experience.

58-56 is correct that the academic reputation of UAB may be in danger of being diluted, but by circumstances beyond its control. The state's public education system (K through grad schools) is suffering through its second half decade of funding stagnation (or cuts, the greatest amount in America - 2008 to 2012) so it is very serious when federal and private grant funding is cut. When any college must increase its revenue from greater tuition levels, it can't always depend upon getting the likes of Merit Scholars and high school valedictorians to fill its freshman classes. It may have to compromise its desire to be an elite scholastic institution for purely economic survival reasons (and not just for athletic team reasons). If the Accountability Act is amended as presently is being proposed to increase the number of tax payers who get the suggested $3500 tax credit, we may see SETF funding cuts by mid-decade that surpass the wildest estimations. If state SETF funding continues to decline as it has the past 5 years, UAB may be challenged to do ONE thing really well on the level of revenue it gets to work with.

(07-14-2013 10:31 AM)UAB?IAB Wrote:  

(07-13-2013 04:01 PM)58-56 Wrote:  I've always wondered: did y'all's faces learn their lesson after you chopped off your noses?

Football is not the top strategic priority now. Keeping UAB from falling back into the status of a 13th grade diploma mill given the title "university" as a courtesy only is the priority. My degrees are valuable, and I do not want them stained by my school becoming an embarrassment to higher education like Tuscaloosa, memphis or East Carolina.

THAT is what a reduction in research funding means: we become a planetary laughingstock like memphis, where they're about to grant a degree to an illiterate football player whose goal in life is to give people rides in his car. And I can absolutely guarantee you this: if UAB becomes an urban equivalent to Troy "yeehaw we done beat Kaplan in academic quality" State, then we will never, ever see an on-campus stadium. Volker, Hill and Garrison had a vision of a world-class university that would be the pride of its alumni and of the people of Alabama. The Watts plan carries that vision forward.

UAB is in real danger of not only stalling, but falling backward. Our house is on fire with our children inside and some of y'all are whining because the firemen won't turn the hose on the goddamned catbox instead.

Stockholm syndrome

So what you are saying is that you agree with the bot, UAB can't do two things at once. I believe your rant was full of hyperbole, over-exaggeration, and some bs. We all agree that UAB needs to maintain and grow the research and medical aspects of the university but to say that an OCS is in conflict or jeopardizes that is ludicrous. Your diploma isn't lessened if we decide that we want to be a first class athletic department. I would submit that it would increase in perceptual value. Having a successful athletic department enhances the brand of any university, increases enrollment, and adds to the overall student experience.

The undergraduate side is a disaster, to be perfectly honest about it. This isn't "can UAB do medicine and other stuff at the same time", it's can UAB do two things that don't make money at the same time. I want a football stadium as bad as the next guy, but I want a school that I can be proud of first, and it's slipping.

If posts are going to be re-written here, I'd just as soon not post.

I've enjoyed Blazertalk until now.

The most embarrassing part about all of this is that UAB is probably the only Division One Football program in the nation that plays its home scheduled games in a rusty, crumbling, ninety year old stadium four miles away from campus in the middle of the hood.

HOW EMBARRASSING!

(07-14-2013 01:36 PM)58-56 Wrote:  If posts are going to be re-written here, I'd just as soon not post.

I've enjoyed Blazertalk until now.

Wait. Somebody edited your post? Not cool.