(06-16-2015 10:13 AM)chiefsfan Wrote:  

(06-16-2015 08:45 AM)Louisiana99 Wrote:  

(06-16-2015 08:16 AM)arkstfan Wrote:  

(06-15-2015 04:36 PM)CajunFan3406 Wrote:  

(06-15-2015 04:19 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  Yeah all four Sun Belt dates suck.

Awful close to finals and my wife's family usually does Christmas the third Saturday in December to make it easier to schedule.

Maybe for you personally, but tens of thousands of Cajun fans would disagree.

Two or few hour drive. Total commitment of not more than 8 hours if you want. Last year with the brunch kickoff you could even make a family event later in the day.

AState's finals end on December 15, team has to report to New Orleans on December 15, I believe.

I have a real issue with asking players to practice during finals. Game is on graduation day, when we played the bowl in Lafayette we had three players who didn't get to walk in graduation.

It's not me personally, because I'm going, but that's a crap experience for players.

We have done this for 4 years, we have held graduation for the players at the team hotel on the Friday, cap and gown. Players love it by the way.Our graduation has been the day of the game as well. We have practiced during finals. Everyone does except the handful of games after jan 1. Basketball,baseball and softball all deal with finals during the season every year.

We did a similar thing the year we were in the Lafayette Bowl for graduation. That doesn't make it any easier. Two weeks to practice, running straight through finals, leaving during finals. All major inconveniences for us. And that's not even getting into how much that date would kill our attendance, where we're not fortunate enough to have most of our alums within an hour or less of the bowl site.

The date changes are just fine for fans who live nearby the bowl site, probably easier. But for those of us fans who have 6-8 hour drives, they are awful. I've already resigned myself that I'll have to miss our bowl game this year because of the dates. Taking off in January is easy...it's virtually impossible right before Christmas.

Not that I am too worried about the chance of it happening.....but taking off in January is almost impossible for me but right before Christmas is easier.......so maybe for everyone of you there is a one of me..........Dang that is so deep

Not everything works for everyone, but I don't see how you can say this is bad when this is the first time you would play that day in mobile, it may be bad for some of you but better for others. The december date is great for people who have use it or lose it vacation.

(06-16-2015 10:13 AM)chiefsfan Wrote:  

(06-16-2015 08:45 AM)Louisiana99 Wrote:  

(06-16-2015 08:16 AM)arkstfan Wrote:  

(06-15-2015 04:36 PM)CajunFan3406 Wrote:  

(06-15-2015 04:19 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  Yeah all four Sun Belt dates suck.

Awful close to finals and my wife's family usually does Christmas the third Saturday in December to make it easier to schedule.

Maybe for you personally, but tens of thousands of Cajun fans would disagree.

Two or few hour drive. Total commitment of not more than 8 hours if you want. Last year with the brunch kickoff you could even make a family event later in the day.

AState's finals end on December 15, team has to report to New Orleans on December 15, I believe.

I have a real issue with asking players to practice during finals. Game is on graduation day, when we played the bowl in Lafayette we had three players who didn't get to walk in graduation.

It's not me personally, because I'm going, but that's a crap experience for players.

We have done this for 4 years, we have held graduation for the players at the team hotel on the Friday, cap and gown. Players love it by the way.Our graduation has been the day of the game as well. We have practiced during finals. Everyone does except the handful of games after jan 1. Basketball,baseball and softball all deal with finals during the season every year.

We did a similar thing the year we were in the Lafayette Bowl for graduation. That doesn't make it any easier. Two weeks to practice, running straight through finals, leaving during finals. All major inconveniences for us. And that's not even getting into how much that date would kill our attendance, where we're not fortunate enough to have most of our alums within an hour or less of the bowl site.

The date changes are just fine for fans who live nearby the bowl site, probably easier. But for those of us fans who have 6-8 hour drives, they are awful. I've already resigned myself that I'll have to miss our bowl game this year because of the dates. Taking off in January is easy...it's virtually impossible right before Christmas.

Heck if Little Rock had made, December 19 works great for AState fans. It's the stretching several days and wiping out all of Saturday that makes it rough that time of year.

(06-16-2015 11:47 AM)Louisiana99 Wrote:  Not everything works for everyone, but I don't see how you can say this is bad when this is the first time you would play that day in mobile, it may be bad for some of you but better for others. The december date is great for people who have use it or lose it vacation.

Me personally, December 23 works great as long as I make sure to not mess around and expect to find an open gas station in some of the little bitty towns on the way back. My youngest is 21 in a few weeks, we are well past worrying about being home or at some specific place on December 25. I take the last couple weeks of the year off any way. But people with younger kids or enough living family that wants the holiday on their day, 12/23 will be hard on them.

(06-16-2015 10:50 AM)Buzz Lightyear Lite Wrote:  

(06-16-2015 10:13 AM)chiefsfan Wrote:  

(06-16-2015 08:45 AM)Louisiana99 Wrote:  

(06-16-2015 08:16 AM)arkstfan Wrote:  

(06-15-2015 04:36 PM)CajunFan3406 Wrote:  Maybe for you personally, but tens of thousands of Cajun fans would disagree.

Two or few hour drive. Total commitment of not more than 8 hours if you want. Last year with the brunch kickoff you could even make a family event later in the day.

AState's finals end on December 15, team has to report to New Orleans on December 15, I believe.

I have a real issue with asking players to practice during finals. Game is on graduation day, when we played the bowl in Lafayette we had three players who didn't get to walk in graduation.

It's not me personally, because I'm going, but that's a crap experience for players.

We have done this for 4 years, we have held graduation for the players at the team hotel on the Friday, cap and gown. Players love it by the way.Our graduation has been the day of the game as well. We have practiced during finals. Everyone does except the handful of games after jan 1. Basketball,baseball and softball all deal with finals during the season every year.

We did a similar thing the year we were in the Lafayette Bowl for graduation. That doesn't make it any easier. Two weeks to practice, running straight through finals, leaving during finals. All major inconveniences for us. And that's not even getting into how much that date would kill our attendance, where we're not fortunate enough to have most of our alums within an hour or less of the bowl site.

The date changes are just fine for fans who live nearby the bowl site, probably easier. But for those of us fans who have 6-8 hour drives, they are awful. I've already resigned myself that I'll have to miss our bowl game this year because of the dates. Taking off in January is easy...it's virtually impossible right before Christmas.

Not that I am too worried about the chance of it happening.....but taking off in January is almost impossible for me but right before Christmas is easier.......so maybe for everyone of you there is a one of me..........Dang that is so deep

I block my work schedule from the Friday before the first bowl game past the last non-CFP bowl. Last thing I want to do is some weird swap take place and not be able to go.

(06-16-2015 01:12 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  

(06-16-2015 11:47 AM)Louisiana99 Wrote:  Not everything works for everyone, but I don't see how you can say this is bad when this is the first time you would play that day in mobile, it may be bad for some of you but better for others. The december date is great for people who have use it or lose it vacation.

Me personally, December 23 works great as long as I make sure to not mess around and expect to find an open gas station in some of the little bitty towns on the way back. My youngest is 21 in a few weeks, we are well past worrying about being home or at some specific place on December 25. I take the last couple weeks of the year off any way. But people with younger kids or enough living family that wants the holiday on their day, 12/23 will be hard on them.

Well maybe now the fans who can't ever go in January can now get a chance to go in December. Leave after work on the 22nd..game on 23rd, most people have off on 24 and 25th then you have the weekend. You could conceivably have 5 days off with only using 1 day vacation. Like I said earlier for every person who can't go, there is likeky someone who now can. How do you know yall won't bring 5k more now than you did before?

(06-16-2015 11:47 AM)Louisiana99 Wrote:  Not everything works for everyone, but I don't see how you can say this is bad when this is the first time you would play that day in mobile, it may be bad for some of you but better for others. The december date is great for people who have use it or lose it vacation.

I think one reason you are seeing AState fans complaining is that most of us have gotten used to the January Mobile Dates. Most businesses in the area allowed workers off that Monday after the game without any real issue, and schools offered kids excused absences for attending. For many families it was the perfect date because Christmas celebrations were over, it was the last game, and it was a city that had a lot of activities around the bowl that fans enjoyed.

Trying to mess with a December 23rd date significantly changes things, especially for younger families who have young kids at home and are traditional Christmas travelers. The 3rd Saturday in December is always difficult because of final exams the previous days, but the 23rd messes with Christmas, which just doesn't happen in Arkansas. We'll have a lot of fans pull out from a trip to Mobile simply because of that.

There will be decent numbers who will go, but nothing remotely close to what we've sent the last 4 years. It will be very similar to what we would send to New Orleans (Estimate about 5K) any other year.

(06-16-2015 08:28 AM)Buzz Lightyear Lite Wrote:  Face it the Belt does not have a large carrot to wag in front of the horse....so we sort of walk behind it.....None of our bowls are great dates and they are early enough in the bowl saga to at least have a few bars and fans starting to watch.....AND THIS IS just my opinion but I always thought the GoDaddy spot was a bit anti-climatic after the News Years Bowls etc.....but when the Belt does produce a team that pushes for that Big New Years Bowl.....things will start to look up........Until then we are at the back of the parade.....after the horses.... watch your step

Oh you are right, there is nothing we can do about something that ESPN ultimately controls. But that doesn't mean we can't complain about it, and doesn't mean we can't continue to complain about it in the hopes that one day someone will listen...

(06-16-2015 01:21 PM)chiefsfan Wrote:  

(06-16-2015 11:47 AM)Louisiana99 Wrote:  Not everything works for everyone, but I don't see how you can say this is bad when this is the first time you would play that day in mobile, it may be bad for some of you but better for others. The december date is great for people who have use it or lose it vacation.

I think one reason you are seeing AState fans complaining is that most of us have gotten used to the January Mobile Dates. Most businesses in the area allowed workers off that Monday after the game without any real issue, and schools offered kids excused absences for attending. For many families it was the perfect date because Christmas celebrations were over, it was the last game, and it was a city that had a lot of activities around the bowl that fans enjoyed.

Trying to mess with a December 23rd date significantly changes things, especially for younger families who have young kids at home and are traditional Christmas travelers. The 3rd Saturday in December is always difficult because of final exams the previous days, but the 23rd messes with Christmas, which just doesn't happen in Arkansas. We'll have a lot of fans pull out from a trip to Mobile simply because of that.

There will be decent numbers who will go, but nothing remotely close to what we've sent the last 4 years. It will be very similar to what we would send to New Orleans (Estimate about 5K) any other year.

But you are also opening the door for a whole section of your fans that maybe can go now, depending on where you work you could possibly go and only use 1 day vacation. You might not even be in mobile. You might have the same numbers it might just be different people. While it is closer for most... We have played right before Christmas at 10am,11am,7pm and 8pm, all record breaking crowds. I doubt it was the same exact people every time. Every fan base has a group that will be there no matter when and where, the remainder is whoever can make it work.

(06-16-2015 01:42 PM)Louisiana99 Wrote:  

(06-16-2015 01:21 PM)chiefsfan Wrote:  

(06-16-2015 11:47 AM)Louisiana99 Wrote:  Not everything works for everyone, but I don't see how you can say this is bad when this is the first time you would play that day in mobile, it may be bad for some of you but better for others. The december date is great for people who have use it or lose it vacation.

I think one reason you are seeing AState fans complaining is that most of us have gotten used to the January Mobile Dates. Most businesses in the area allowed workers off that Monday after the game without any real issue, and schools offered kids excused absences for attending. For many families it was the perfect date because Christmas celebrations were over, it was the last game, and it was a city that had a lot of activities around the bowl that fans enjoyed.

Trying to mess with a December 23rd date significantly changes things, especially for younger families who have young kids at home and are traditional Christmas travelers. The 3rd Saturday in December is always difficult because of final exams the previous days, but the 23rd messes with Christmas, which just doesn't happen in Arkansas. We'll have a lot of fans pull out from a trip to Mobile simply because of that.

There will be decent numbers who will go, but nothing remotely close to what we've sent the last 4 years. It will be very similar to what we would send to New Orleans (Estimate about 5K) any other year.

But you are also opening the door for a whole section of your fans that maybe can go now, depending on where you work you could possibly go and only use 1 day vacation. You might not even be in mobile. You might have the same numbers it might just be different people. While it is closer for most... We have played right before Christmas at 10am,11am,7pm and 8pm, all record breaking crowds. I doubt it was the same exact people every time. Every fan base has a group that will be there no matter when and where, the remainder is whoever can make it work.

I wanted to go to Montgomery last year because the late kick meant if people couldn't get off Friday they could come on game day

I guess we will just have to go 11-1 and get a New Year's Day Bowl Game.

(06-16-2015 02:22 PM)GoBigRed26 Wrote:  I guess we will just have to go 11-1 and get a New Year's Day Bowl Game.

Or 5-7... Then none of your fans will be bothered