-- First (as speculated) BC will wear their red bandanna inspired uniforms. BC will also hand out red bandannas to the first 25,000 fans in attendance.
-- The 6 PM ET SportsCenter will focus on the game and have at least one ESPN reporter outside of Gate E. I have no idea if this will be a set with a stage or just one reporter with a camera crew. Regardless, all you students, makes signs, make noise and get on TV. We are unlikely to get GameDay this year, so this is it. BC clever and be respectful. Earlier in the day First Take will broadcast live from Gasson. Make noise there too. [Update: First Take cancelled]
-- Tim and Elisabeth Hasselbeck will be honored during the game.
-- Finally, TOB and members of the 2005 team will also be honored. This will be TOB's first football game in Alumni since his retirement. I will be very interested to hear the crowd reaction.
Of course, this being a Friday night game and with a significant portion of our fanbase in the New York area, attendance will be an issue. While the last-minute marketing might add a few thousand more people, I don't expect a sellout. But doing all this for a Friday Night Game is good long-term planning. Make all Friday Night Games an event. Then when people see the schedule months in advance they will make an effort to get back to Boston just for a Friday game.
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23 comments:
ATL. Right on. Good post. Ga Tech owned Thursday nights and it became a recruiting/selling point for their program. You know this living down here now. Welcome, by the way. Just kidding. How could this not be a sellout on a Friday night? Ooh. A high school game? Traffic? This has to sell a whopping 44,000 tickets, yes? Please?
This game is winnable. Stop Cook.
Any idea why First Take backed out?
TOB should get a standing ovation. He graduated players, recruited and developed NFL talent, produced ranked teams, beat quality opponents (Georgia, Notre Dame, Virginia Tech, Clemson, Penn State, BYU, Florida State, etc.), and gave more than a decade of his life to the program. You'd be hard pressed to name a more successful BC football coach since Frank Leahy.
Tim - agree with the TOB support. i would be embarrassed if he and his players did not get a standing O.
CT - agreed RE: the ticket sales. there has to be 44,000 people in the BOS area who are willing to go to this game. if its not sold out that is an indictment of Bates and his sales team.
...why are we honoring Tim and Elisabeth Hasselbeck?
Piling on with the TOB support. Who wasn't totally frustrated when he left? We were on the cusp of doing something great with the program in Matt Ryan's final year. Whatever happened, don't know...don't care. He navigated us out of turmoil and made our program relevant again. Plus, I think we were 2-0 or 3-1 against TOB at NCState, so all is forgiven.
**Side note-- I sat next to TOB at a BC/BU hockey game in Conte in 98 or 99. He certainly wasn't a hockey guy, but we had a nice little chat. I always thought he got a bad rap for being a no charisma a-hole. When we were hitting on all cylinders with TOB, Skinner and JY, I thought we had 3 damn good coaches. If I was still in college I'd tip my glass to that era--but alas it's 8AM on Wed and I have a wife so morning drinking is out of the question.
Let's give them hell on Friday. Call me delusional, but I think we can win this game.
Some are trying to rewrite history when it comes to TOB. He didn't produce boring 8-4 teams. His last three years were 9, 10 and 11 wins( Jags first year had all TOB players and should count towards the prior coach's record.) Eight straight bowl wins, six straight over ND, about the best non conference record in the country his last six years. His bowl wins were over Georgia, Boise St. and Mich. St. Not bad. He even beat Toledo. Something a certain SEC team couldn't do. BC 19 FSU 17.
Love all you're comments about TOB, my favorite is that streak against the Fighting Crybabys!
Perc
Yes that was some era, all flushed down the toilet by that idot GDF, except for JY of course.
Looking forward to Friday's Sportscenter. The campus always presents well this time of year.
TOB = right guy at the right time. Critcizing him is ironic to the extent that we pretty much judge subsequent coaches by his record. Just be competitive and every once in awhile challenge for something bigger, right? Don't agree with it but it seems to be the prevailing sentiment.
Yeah, other than putting up with the inanity of her co-hosts, why either Hasselback? Would think a reminder of the two dozen or so alums who were murdered on 9/11 would be appropriate. They probably did that last week, though? National TV this week.
Good post.
What no one has talked about is how many fans BC may lose because of the new Shea policy. AS you know, each tailgate gets 20 tickets... this includes the people driving in! So really, all in all we get about 16-17 friends to invite to games. For the smaller ones, that not a big deal, but for these huge ones, it is.
I get keeping things calm. And the rule of keeping a certain # of people in and then giving wristbands didnt work, but I know that Shea can handle if each parking spot got 30 tickets for big games vs 20 they give now and BC paid a tad more for security. Doing this I honestly think we'd most likely get an extra thousand people to go to the game. My tailgate alone has 4-5 people that may not go because they cant tailgate with us pregame! Its a disgrace.
I admit to being one of those cretins who was ready to see TOB go somewhere else. Now I hardly remember why, other than those annual WTF losses and what seemed like unfulfilled promises of greatness (sustained goodness, but not quite greatness). I suspect I was spoiled, unreasonable, whatever. I met him in an airport after his first or second season. I (clumsily, no doubt) expressed my appreciation for the job he was doing. He clearly couldn't be less interested in anything I had to say, so it was a very brief "conversation". So, I experienced the "charisma free" TOB. That said, there's no arguing facts. I acknowledge the error of my ways, and I'm glad he's getting the recognition. I'll be one of the fans giving him that standing O at Alumni on Friday night.
There are a TON of tickets left to buy on the website. Don't think we're getting anywhere near a sellout. Maybe 35k
Mod10
When was your class?
Allot of the TOB Skinner like didn't like has to do w/ how far back you go. Those of us who've been around for a while and experienced some real down periods, Ed Chlebek, for instance, tended to appreciate TOB more. Those who had just come on board had higher expectations. Now that we've been through Spaz, and Onahue We're all in the same boat.
Virginia Tech "owned" Thursday night not Georgia Tech
Hoib,
Not sure I buy your premise, but I've been around a while, since the Joe Yukica days, anyway. Got to watch Joe Mullen in McHugh Forum and Smooth Carrington in Roberts Center. I remember the day we first saw freshman Fred Smerlas strut through McElroy like Paul Bunyan; not even Chlebek could derail that train. It wasn't a football field anymore, but the dust bowl definitely was dusty. The Mods were long overdue for demolition, even then, but they were the best on-campus housing in the country, probably still are. Cleveland Circle still had "Smutty's" and Aegean Fare, and BC was half commuters. So, yeah, I've been through enough ups and downs to know the difference. TOB and Skinner both eventually wore me out for variety of reasons, but I've come to appreciate what they accomplished at BC. Not because their successors were bad, but because their records are good.
When the NFL wanted to originally ad a day to their Sunday lineup, they chose Friday. Gerald Ford, who was President, told them no way in hell. Friday was for high school football.
It is not as much a big deal in Massachusetts, but it is awful when ESPN has Friday night games in states that are hotbeds of both high school and college ball. Having a collegiate Friday night game deprives high schools from that state (and possibly the visiting team's)of desperately needed revenue.
Anyways, excuse me while I go chase those damned kids from my lawn.
Mod10
I guess I'll go back to the drawing board. Sounds like we were there at the same time for a year or two. I wish someone back then could have gotten me into hockey, boy did I miss the boat on that.
Yes I believe they're one and two for appearances. Both make it a point for their programs would be the (my) point, especially wrt the Friday night schedule and BC and the potential there. Though you wouldn't understand, Friday night college games don't fly down south. College coaches don't want to recruit at high schools crushed by a college game. Sort of a bad vibe after absconding with gate receipts.
Va Tech has a tougher commute for many of its fans and faces more negative feedback from the older generation (those sympathetic to emotion) when it comes to weekday travel. Ga Tech decidedly does not.
Hoib,
I'm class of '78 (the year BC lost to BU in the national championship game in Providence). Hockey was far and away the most fun sport to follow and attend; sorry you missed it. McHugh forum was so "cozy", you felt like you were on the ice. Hockey players lived in 10B, including Mullen. It made for an interesting year, for sure.
Hope some significant portion of the red bandana sales on the school's web site go to a 9/11 or related charity.
Mod10
I was 76, nice reminiscing w/u. Let's hope some good memories are created tomorrow night!
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