Tuesday, April 03, 2012

Should BC football barnstorm in the Spring?

Many ACC bloggers (BCI & TN) are talking about the doom and gloom that followed Miami's second scrimmage. Overlooked in the Cane talk was that the scrimmage was held in Fort Myers. They used one of their precious Spring practices to reach fans and more importantly recruits two and half hours away from their campus. Now this wasn't all forward thinking from Al Golden and Company. They couldn't use their own stadium because of Wrestlemania. But still you have to admire their ability to turn lemons into lemonade. Even in the best of years, BC Football's springs are dull. Holding a scrimmage outside of Alumni might be a nice change of pace and a chance to reach our fans and recruits outside of Boston.


Because this is still BC, we would have to do it with a tight budget and no more than a bus ride away. It would also have to be accessable to enough fans and media to make it worthwhile. I recommend the following:


1. Don Bosco Prep. The BC-connections to Bosco are well known. Holding a scrimmage there would only strengthen those ties. We know they have facilities capable of hosting one practice. The campus is in Ramsey, New Jersey and relatively accessible by car for most of our Alumni in the Tri-State area.


2. Timex Performance Center. The New York Giants' practice facility could certain handle one measly BC scrimmage. It is located in the Meadowlands complex, so location and transportation is not an issue. The rub with an NFL franchise certainly wouldn't hurt our perception with recruits. What would be an issue is letting fans all over the complex. As much as the Giants love BC, I don't know if they want to let a few thousand random BC fans onto their complex.


3. Randall's Island. This complex in the middle of the East River is probably the biggest stretch. There are hundreds of New York City groups lined up to use the property at different times. It's location would probably curb some fans from attending and wouldn't draw much media interest. However, I still think it would be cool. And I think our city based fans would turn out for at least one event.


Those are my thoughts. Where would you like to see BC practice?

20 comments:

Joe Gravellese said...

Wouldn't this require people wanting to watch BC football spring practice? Don't we get like 900 fans for our spring game? Not sure if having it even further away from where most season ticket holders live is going to improve that, though I can see the potential recruiting benefit if that's the main goal.

Knucklehead said...

Gillette Stadium.

Big Jack Krack said...

Go BC - beat the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

Squid said...

I second Gillette Stadium. I'd actually like it if they held one home game a year there for no other reason than it would give everyone a chance to really tailgate.

John said...

I don't really have an opinion on spring training barnstorming.

I have been looking over the roster.

Did I hear or read somewhere that Okoroha was back on the team?

EL MIZ said...

i would go to a game within 90 minutes of NYC. this is a great idea; like another home game.

Business Plan Writers said...

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Tim said...

BJK's comment is the only thing in this post worth reading.

Our hockey team plays for the national title this weekend, and you guys want to talk about holding a football practice in New Jersey someday?

mod34b said...

John, roster is interesting. No O returning on roster

But Did you know BC found a new walk-on TE jogging around the Res. He is Carmen Dello Ianco

click here

Apparently, he is from MA and was not recruited out of HS and now made BC team. Congrats to the kid, but is this the kind of recruit Spaz is getting now?

Quite a few other new names in roster

mod34b said...

Zachary Wolf is apparently another walk-on

Who is he? Also not recruited out of high school but now on BC roster

But aready He is on the spring depth chart as #2 DB.

lbkjj said...

This blog has a difficult time covering BC Hockey, the only sport where we are consistent national contenders. I don't understand why.
BC Interruption does a much better job.
The blogger should note the number of similar responses to this totally unrelated article.

mod34b said...

Jeffrey Jay, soph WR from CT????

Another mystery

EL MIZ said...

why is it so perplexing to some why ATL doesn't follow hockey. just going to go out on a limb and guess that he doesn't follow hockey like the vast majority of sports fans in the US.

if he has nothing to add in terms of insight or analysis, why should he put up "GO BC HOCKEY" posts? what would that really add to the conversation? this blog is run by one guy who is a BC fan, and his football/basketball insight are great -- come for that. otherwise, its silly to complain about lack of hockey coverage.

Tim said...

Miz,

I agree that this is ATL's own blog and by golly he can write (or not write) about whatever he pleases.

But even though, as you observe, hockey is not as popular nationally as other sports, it remains very popular at BC. Just compare the attendance at BC hockey games (regular sellouts) with BC hoops games (cricket...cricket...[rolling tumbleweed]) and you'll see what I mean.

Thus, a blog that claims to cover BC sports should probably discuss BC hockey on the eve of the Frozen Four, rather than speculating about holding a football practice in New Jersey some day so 14 fans can show up.

CatabEagle said...

This may be a random stretch, but Zack Wolfe's HS Coach is the brother of Will Muschamp (HC of Florida). Walk-ons usually only get a spot on the team with a strong recommendation from their HS coach. Could this a reflection of Spaz trying to get recruiting inroads to the South, or is that expecting far too much.

mod34b said...

bostonfoodie --

I did notice the word 'muschamp' on Zach's BC bio. It caught my attention and I was wondering why BC chose to emphasis the HS coach of a walk-on. I appreciate your follow up point.

Hope your thoughtful guess is right. Could it be that the BC recruiters are starting to make some inroads in the south? Sounds like the best way for BC to get Southern talent is to employ the classic BC strategy of finding sleepers that are not heavily recruited and then develop them into stars -- e.g., Montel

Big Jack Krack said...

Maybe it's because I never paid too much attention to the spring roster, but I don't recall this many walk-ons in the past. What do the coaches tell these guys - we just need you for the spring, but you can tell your grand children that you played for BC?

Am I correct in assuming that once the freshmen report and we get back our injured players, the list of walk-ons will shrink dramatically?

Also, did we have more injuries this spring than usual?

Lenny Sienko said...

I would love to have a BC visit to Bosco. What a great idea!

The BC folks could meet a HOF coach who thought enough of BC in years past to send two of his sons there.

They'd also see a two-peat National Championship program which plays any and all comers, priding itself on tough defense.

They do all of this while still maintaining the highest academic standards. Bosco also espouses discipline; e.g., their 2004 loss against St. Joe's of Montvale was a result of the entire offensive line being suspended the day before the game over a rules infraction. Ruined my 40th reunion.

Bosco alos has managed to keep its traditional rivalry (Bergen Catholic) going strong.

Hell, I'd even drive down the 150 miles to see BC at Bosco.

Don Bosco Prep '64

***

Go Eagles, Beat the Gophers.

Scoop said...

Rather than practice at DB, let's just hire their coach, Greg Toal. This discussion belongs on a slow news day in June or July, not when the hockey team is going for a NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP.

I suppose tomorrow's post will be about the new woman's hoops coach with a lame link to the hockey game being shown on ESPN2.

To add insult to injury, the Frozen Four will be played closer to ATL than to most of us. I wonder if BC makes it to the finals, if ATL will make the trip to Tampa to support the team, like he does when BC plays football and b-ball games in the Stand Your Ground State.

It's his blog and he can write about what he wants, but the indifference to the only sport BC will ever win a national championship in is very disappointing to me.

GO EAGLES, bring back the trophy.

Tim said...

"I suppose tomorrow's post will be about the new woman's hoops coach"


Ha! You nailed it.