I always thought it was weird to see the word potpourri referring to odds and ends for a writer’s piece. It reminds me of those perfume filled dried up flowers that my mom had and were so popular in the 80s. What a stupid fad that was. Now we have Scentsy, which is just flameless candle, it’s another silly homemaker’s craze. Yet I am sure it made someone a millionaire, so there’s that. Whatever happened to the old fashion room spray (sometimes confused with bug spray) or the classic lighting of the match? Anyway, on to my version of potpourri.
Texas State
There is so much excitement for the Texas State game already. For example, I have a buddy (SWT grad) coming in from Augusta, GA, a buddy in Dallas and a married couple of Texas grads coming in from Austin. It’s getting harder and harder for me to believe this won’t be a sellout. I am hopeful that the school will allow season ticket holders to buy advanced extra tickets.
Parking
So I made the decision that I wanted to park in the dome lot this year. In order to do so I had to make a minimum donation of $125 to the Roadrunner Athletic Fund and then pay the $120 parking pass fee. If you are Charter level the donation is already paid in your season ticket cost and if you are Founder or Premier level you receive parking in your higher priced ticket package. While I wasn’t crazy about being strong armed into making a donation, it is a good sign for the program. This is an obvious case of supply/demand and obviously UTSA thinks the demand is high enough to force the requirement. From what I have read, the city gets parking revenue so it’s good to know that through this model that the university is getting a cut of the action. The bigger and more popular this thing gets, the more that will have to be paid for access, that is just the way it goes.
Season Tickets
Last week there was some talk about season ticket numbers. It sounds like the program is near the amount sold last year with two months left to pimp more. New franchises usually see a lull in season tickets from a first year to the next. People are excited to see what the hype is all about and then lose interested. Even the NFL is experiencing a drop in attendance over the last few years, although I think this is more about the great home viewing options. So it is good to see that the Roadrunners expect to have a few thousand more this second season. Looking at the 2013 schedule it’s hard not to believe that there won’t be more accounts. Certainly folks want to see Oklahoma State over Northwestern Oklahoma State and Houston over Texas A&M Commerce, as well as a regional Conference USA over the WAC. Sign me up for the UTSA season ticket sales staff, time to make some commission!
Sunbelt and WAC
Being a recovering realignment junkie, I would have loved to be a fly in the wall in a commissioner’s office. Some interesting nuggets in this article from The Tennessean about Karl Benson and the Sunbelt’s wild swings during the realignment game. He attempted to woo some Conference USA teams and tried to apply pressure to both Louisiana Tech and UTSA. He also tried to work a major merger that would create a conference the size of the NFL. Obviously all these plans failed miserably. Thankfully, they had a solid backup plan as Texas State stood at the end of the bar like a sweaty, fat whore at 1:45 AM. At least the fat girl ended up getting laid. Her somewhat fatter friends weren’t so lucky. They instead went to Jims for a three course meal before going home and passing out. I am referring to the sad cases of New Mexico State and Idaho. Word on the Internets is that Idaho flirted with the idea of moving down to the Big Sky before deciding to go for it as an independent. As for New Mexico State, their options seem even more limited. Meanwhile, Boise State is holding the fate of a non-football WAC in its hands and they continue to look for a softer spot, namely the Big West.
The New BCS
So this playoff is just BCS part 2, right? Count me as one who got the wool pulled over my eyes. AQ is still there just without the term. This new system will have 12 spots, four go to the playoff and then another 5 for the big conferences. Meanwhile Notre Dame is negotiating some kind of access that would be close to an AQ bid when they finish at a reasonable record. That leaves 2/3 other spots for the have nots, which includes the Big East now. Some kind of access needs to be guaranteed to this group as the big boys already have theirs in place. I am not saying that Conference USA should have an automatic bid, but I think up to 2 slots should be reserved for the strongest teams from the Big East/CUSA/MWC/MAC/SBC. Doubt it will happen, these guys don’t seem to have any bargaining power. Now that Mrs. Hickey is around, maybe she can revolutionize things. Sounds crazy, but her balls were big enough to get UTSA into CUSA almost instantly. Just saying…
Well the room smells like a pleasant fall day in the meadow, so I guess the potpourri worked. Now onto kill that line of ants with pumpkin spice room spray.
I beg of you..comments, questions, suicide notes to @shafercc and shafer@cokerchronicles.com
