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I didn't go to the bowl game but have travelled to B'ham many times. The city and its' people are very friendly and welcoming. IMO I can think of other bowl games that are in lesser locations.

We had a good time there. Of course we spent all our time in the hotel bar, so maybe I am not the best judge.

we loved going last year. I can think of 20 places worse for a bowl. Including Ft Worth.

gostangs wrote:we loved going last year. I can think of 20 places worse for a bowl. Including Ft Worth.

Meh...you suck...lol

Which current bowl locations are worse? Just curious. BHam is an okay place but I looked through the list of bowl locations and BHam is definitely bottom of the list as far as a fan destination.

I went last year and would go again, but don't particularly care for the location. I would prefer going to most other bowl game locations ahead of Birmingham. Not particularly scenic, not much to do, too far to drive, no cheap airfare.

I would say Shreveport, Detroit and Boise offhand as worse places to play than Birmingham.

I disagree, there are casinos in Shreveport.... I'd say Albuquerque, NM or Boise, ID would be less fun than Shreveport.

Of course any bowl/city might get boring after 3 years in a row, unless it is a big time bowl.

Treadway21 wrote:Of course any bowl/city might get boring after 3 years in a row, unless it is a big time bowl.

I think part of the problem is Pitt's fans bad feelings about the last two bowl games there. Before both bowls, they lost their coaches and were in a down mood prior to getting there. Last year, I think they were down to 1/2 their staff b/c Graham took much of the staff with him to ASU.

I had a good time. The people were very nice, the city has really recovered and unlike Dallas the downtown appeared to be revitalized. A city with a bad past, steel (polution) and civil rights violations (the death of the young children in the church bombing), but they seem to have recovered nicely and moved on with a more diversified economy and an inclusive society.
The bowl people made it nice for the visiting schools, the pep rally venue and courtesy buses to the various venues.

Call me crazy but I actually like those old-fashioned, traditional older stadiums like the Birmingham Iron Bowl, Rose Bowl, even the Cotton Bowl. They are fast-disappearing but to my thinking something is missing by watching a football game in a place like Jerry-World or some of the other newer especially indoor stadiums.

Paladin wrote:Call me crazy but I actually like those old-fashioned, traditional older stadiums like the Birmingham Iron Bowl, Rose Bowl, even the Cotton Bowl. They are fast-disappearing but to my thinking something is missing by watching a football game in a place like Jerry-World or some of the other newer especially indoor stadiums.

You aren't crazy. In particular, the older stadiums don't have multiple layers of luxury boxes and club seats b/w the UD fans and the field.

But, many old stadiums have serious sightline/distance problems that make them poor places to see games. When I was at UT for grad school (before they redid the stadium), many of the seats in the lower rows were actually obstructed by the players. Furthermore, the track placed lower row seats a good distance from the field. Often, our student seats were on the East Side, around the goal line, in lower rows. Because of the crown on the field (Astroturf), we couldn't see the far corner of the field at all.

In addition to expanding the stadium and building luxury boxes, UT sank the field below grade and eliminated the track.

Best non-BCS and non-SMU bowl experience I have had was the pinstripe bowl. It was very, very cool

NY Pony wrote:Best non-BCS and non-SMU bowl experience I have had was the pinstripe bowl. It was very, very cool

I cannot believe that the Pinstripe Bowl passed on having WVU face off against Pitt. That game would have had a huge crowd and a lot of animosity.

I know Syracuse is probably the closest thing NYC has to a "local" team, but the choice did surprise me.

Digetydog wrote:

NY Pony wrote:Best non-BCS and non-SMU bowl experience I have had was the pinstripe bowl. It was very, very cool

I cannot believe that the Pinstripe Bowl passed on having WVU face off against Pitt. That game would have had a huge crowd and a lot of animosity.

I know Syracuse is probably the closest thing NYC has to a "local" team, but the choice did surprise me.

I'm sure it wasn't a "choice." BE wanted to screw both Pitt and Cuse by putting Pitt in bham again and placing Cuse in a game where they have no chance of winning.