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2019-Whenever Misc. Grab Bag Thread

jeffbear said:
BTW, State and Purdue would make terrible rivals. They're basically the same school and the fans know it. Lots of amiable chatting.
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One of my cousins is a Purdue engineer. The texting has been amiable.

One of his brothers is a Pack ME, so that branch of the family is covered tonight.
 
OK ... first Final Four in a football stadium and I've got thoughts.

1. The fan experience during game time isn't actually that bad. We moved around a lot during the UConn/Bama game and while it's nothing like watching a game in a proper basketball arena, even from the top of the lower bowl it isn't really that bad. Unless you're deep in the corners and then the angles get tough. The sheer volume of noise generated by those extra people is stunning.

2. The numbers game impacts absolutely everything else in a bad way. Airlines, car rental companies, area hotels, restaurants ... all absolutely overwhelmed. And because of the nature of the beast, most fans can't make firm plans until the last minute without risking real money. The lengths people went to simply get there, have a place to stay and get home was stunning as I was collecting stories on the way home. We're talking fly into LA, renting a car and driving 6-7 hours while searching for Airbnb options on the highway being a fairly common game plan. If you didn't pull the trigger pretty much as soon as you thought you could get tickets, convoluted was your only option. Some of that is specific to Phoenix, but it's the volume that causes the real problem.

3. Speaking of volume ... those extra 10,000 or so seats they put in for basketball mean that the concessions and restroom facilities in the stadium are an absolute quagmire. You couldn't freaking turn around on the lower level concourse in State Farm Stadium between the semi final games. Getting something as simple as a hotdog and a Coke was an 45-60 minute long process.

4. The Coyotes had everything that Dundon wants to develop at the Canes arena area. Ample parking, lots of hotels ringing the area, plenty of bars and restaurants, a casino ... all right there at the arena so fans can make a day or a weekend of it and funnel passive secondary revenue into the team's pockets. The scale of the idiocy and utter incompetence of their ownership groups since that Glendale move is just spectacular.

Bottom line ... look, we had fun. The games were cool even if the results weren't what I was hoping for. Getting there and getting back was straight torture though. I'm glad I did the Stadium Final Four thing, but having done it once I'm done.
 
LJG said:
I found the eclipse here in Raleigh to be somewhat underwhelming.

I hope the next one is more entertaining.
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Big difference from the 80-whatever percent we got this time and the nearly full on eclipse we got the last time we had one. Still, the light quality is just so weird and unsettling even if it's not the big fireworks show version.
 
LJG said:
I found the eclipse here in Raleigh to be somewhat underwhelming.

I hope the next one is more entertaining.
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I hope to be around to see the next one. The next one will be similar to this at only 80% and it will be in about 20 years. The next total eclipse visible in Raleigh and Fayetteville will be in 2078 when I’ll be a spry 106 years old
 
If you want to experience night time conditions in the middle of the afternoon, just live in central Illinois for a summer. I about crapped my pants the first time I ever saw the street lights come on at 3:00 in the afternoon. About a month later, I was used to it.
 
jeffbear said:
3. Speaking of volume ... those extra 10,000 or so seats they put in for basketball mean that the concessions and restroom facilities in the stadium are an absolute quagmire. You couldn't freaking turn around on the lower level concourse in State Farm Stadium between the semi final games. Getting something as simple as a hotdog and a Coke was an 45-60 minute long process.
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sounds like my own living hell.
 
An NC business court judge this morning mostly denied Florida State’s motion to dismiss the ACC’s lawsuit. The judge tossed one of the ACC’s claims but let the rest go forward. Maybe more importantly, the judge denied FSU’s request to stay the case in favor of the action in Florida.
 
bagopux said:
An NC business court judge this morning mostly denied Florida State’s motion to dismiss the ACC’s lawsuit. The judge tossed one of the ACC’s claims but let the rest go forward. Maybe more importantly, the judge denied FSU’s request to stay the case in favor of the action in Florida.
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I mean ... no surprises there. FSU's motions were childlike. Clemson's are too. This will eventually end in a negotiated split, but make no mistake ... FSU and Clemson aren't winning those cases in court. They just aren't. They'll blow up the ACC either way though. It's a matter of when and how much it will cost. That's all.
 
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