Thursday, December 4, 2008

David Boclair Thinks We're Headed to Music City Bowl...And That's a Bad Thing?!?

In today's Nashville City Paper, David Boclair penned an article stating his belief that Vanderbilt's first bowl berth since 1982 will take the Commodores...downtown. The article seems to contend that a Music City Bowl berth would be a disappointment for Commodore fans because there is no travel involved. I think this argument is both flawed, and misses the point. For one thing, Vanderbilt is a national school with fans nationwide. Our fan-base is not concentrated in Nashville, so the argument about the "lack of travel" is somewhat dubious. Only those fans that live in Nashville (granted, a large percentage) won't be traveling. For one thing, Vanderbilt fans are just happy to be playing in a bowl. While the bowl we end up with will be disappointing given the 5-0 start, it's been a long time since we've even had this chance at all.

It's also worth mentioning that a bowl game in Nashville could be a huge alumni gathering, (perhaps the largest other than homecoming) over New Year's no less, with people flying in for the festivities. I would argue that Vanderbilt would "travel" better (and certainly sell more tickets) in Nashville than Memphis. I personally (and granted, I have a huge interest in going to the Music City Bowl - it won't be during my wedding rehearsal and rehearsal dinner) think given Vanderbilt's 6-6 record, the Music City Bowl is the best we can hope for. As such, a Vanderbilt appearance in the Music City Bowl is not a loss for either the bowl or Vanderbilt.

I also find fault with the argument that Kentucky would prefer the Liberty Bowl over the Music City Bowl because they've been here the last two years. UK and their fan base is closer to Nashville than Memphis, and it's arguably a better bowl.

What do you think?

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Liberty Bowl's payout is double the Music City Bowl's. I think the Commies earned Vandy the bigger payout by beating Kentucky.

Stanimal said...

Actually, that's not correct. The Music City Bowl's payout is 1.6 million and the Liberty is 1.35. These may be expected figures, but over the past two years the payouts have only been within 100K of each other.

http://ncaafootball.com/index.php?s=&url_channel_id=34&url_article_id=12281&change_well_id=2

Anonymous said...

For what it's worth, Bobby Johnson wants his team to travel and get a real bowl experience and has said he'd prefer the liberty bowl. Not that I agree with him, but...

Seamus O'Toole said...

OK, CBJ may have his own reasons that relate to the players, but David Boclair's article is pretty much strictly focused on what the fans want. Given that premise, I can only guess that David Boclair is certifiably insane.

Is he honestly telling me in this article that Commodore fans would rather make the 3-hour (stunningly gorgeous, let me tell you) drive west down I-40 to a smaller stadium, in a game with a lower payout, to play a team from the POWERHOUSE Conference-USA (those C-USA games really pack the seats and drive up the TV ratings, I tell ya), on a day when most people will just be getting over the NYE hangovers and many of them will have to go to work...INSTEAD of packing Titans Stadium on New Year's Eve to cheer us on against an ACC opponent that might actually have fans watching and (dare I say it?) ATTENDING the game, then walking back across the bridge to Broadway and 2nd Avenue after the game to bask in the glory of a bowl victory, a winning season, and a brand new year?

David Boclair shall from this moment until the bowl game's conclusion be known as Davey Downer, Boclair the doctor of despair, Boclair the blower of hot air, or some other such nickname that appropriately captures how badly misguided this article is.

Aaron said...

Students would come back to this game. And they would be able to stay in their dorm rooms. Students can register to access their dorms online, with a simple click of the mouse. I dont understand the concern there.

Music city bowl is a great fit.

Would we play Va Tech or Boston College?

Unknown said...

I'm definite pro-Music city bowl. And playing an ACC team would much sweeter. I think theyre projecting UNC or UConn since va tech/BC is going to be in the ACC championship and a better bowl as a result.

Stanimal said...

Hear Hear Seamus! Hear hear!

Anonymous said...

Amazing, Seamus, truly amazing

Anonymous said...

i'd love to see vandy-unc in music city. that's my dream game.

Anonymous said...

Seamus, you had me at "certifiably insane." I was prepared to give you an A, but the lack of an entertaining, witty, or alliterative nickname drops your grade to an A-. Excellent work, though, and seeing as the only nicknames I could think up was, "DumBoclair," I am bumping your grade to a solid 94.

Anonymous said...

Instead of just using your imagination on which bowl has the bigger payout, check some facts. Liberty is expected to pay out more than the Music City Bowl. Here's one of many links:
http://www.sportprojections.com/group/ncaa_college_football_bowl_projections

Stanimal said...

Sorry about that Anonymous, didn't realize the full link didn't get put in. This is the expected payout according to the NCAA. Payouts are also reported for the last couple of years on the site.

http://ncaafootball.com/index.php?s=&url_channel_id=34&url_article_id=12281&change_well_id=2

I didn't exactly cook this up out of thin air, it's been that way for the past two seasons.

Stanimal said...

Still won't let me do the whole link, but if you just add a 2 at the end of that whole thing it will go to the page I'm talking about.