Ticket Mania Week 2

Friday, Sep 10, 2010

West Virginia at Marshall Football Tickets

Section 229 | Row 17

Price: $90.00 per ticket

Saturday, Sep 11, 2010

Presbyterian at Clemson

Section Top Deck Sideline TDF Row T

Seats: 10, 12

$20.00 per ticket

Georgia Tech at Kansas

Section Corner 1Row 23

Seats: 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18

Price: $21.00 per ticket

New Hampshire at Pittsburgh Football Tickets

Section Upper Level 523 Row S

Price: $3.00 per ticket

Southern Illinois at Illinois Football Tickets

Section Horseshoe 122 Row 21

Price: $19.59 per ticket

Miami at Ohio State Football Tickets

Section Deck 14 C Row 25

Seats: 28, 29

Price: $150.00 per ticket

UNLV at Utah Football Tickets

Section Redzone N 22 Row 39

Seats: 11, 12

Price: $15.00 per ticket

Colorado at Cal Football Tickets

Section Young Alumni QQ | Row 63

Seats: 7, 8

Price: $34.00 per ticket

LSU at Vanderbilt Football Tickets

Section Sideline A | Row 47

Price: $33.00 per ticket

Looking Ahead

SEC Championship Football Game Tickets Saturday, Dec 4, 2010 at 1:00 p.m. (EST)

Section Upper End Zone 330 Row 19

Seats: 19, 20, 21, 22

Price: $349.00 per ticket

ACC Football Championship Game Tickets

Saturday, Dec 4, 2010 at 1:00 p.m. (EST)

Section Upper Premium 543 Row 18

$51.00 per ticket

Big 12 Football Championship Tickets

Saturday, Dec 4, 2010 at 1:00 p.m. (CST)

Section Upper Reserved 428 | Row 3

Price: $275.21 per ticket

A Record Low

Saturday, Sep 18, 2010

Northern Illinois at Illinois Football Tickets

Section Horseshoe 112 Row 43

Seats: 20

Quantity: 1

Price: $0.95 per ticket

Plus Fed Ex Delivery Charge $16.95

Bowling for Tickets 2009-10 #2

International Bowl Tickets (South Florida vs Northern Illinois)
Saturday, January 2, 2010 at 1:00 PM at Rogers Centre in Toronto, ON
11 ticket listings
Lower Sideline 113 20 2 $55.00 each

Insight Bowl Tickets (Minnesota vs Iowa State)
Thursday, December 31, 2009 at 3:30 PM at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, AZ
138 ticket listings
Upper Sideline 244 30 Up to 7 $23.00 each

Independence Bowl Tickets (Texas AM vs Georgia)
Monday, December 28, 2009 at 4:00 PM at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, LA
87 ticket listings
105 I 2 $40.00 each

Humanitarian Bowl Tickets (Idaho vs Bowling Green)
Wednesday, December 30, 2009 at 2:30 PM at Bronco Stadium in Boise, ID
11 ticket listings
Lower Corner 28 S 2 $49.00 each

Holiday Bowl Tickets (Arizona vs Nebraska)
Wednesday, December 30, 2009 at 5:00 PM at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, CA
252 ticket listings
End Zone View 26 7 2 $85.00 each

GMAC Bowl Tickets (Central Michigan vs Troy)
Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 7:00 PM at Ladd Peebles Stadium in Mobile, AL
No tickets listed

Gator Bowl Tickets (West Virginia vs Florida State)
Friday, January 1, 2010 at 1:00 PM at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium in Jacksonville, FL
492 ticket listings
Upper Level 415 CC Up to 13 $63.00 each



Emerald Bowl Tickets (USC vs Boston College)
Saturday, December 26, 2009 at 5:00 PM at AT&T Park in San Francisco, CA
262 ticket listingsView Level End Zone 305 7 Up to 17 $24.00 each

EagleBank Bowl Tickets (Temple vs UCLA)
Tuesday, December 29, 2009 at 4:30 PM at RFK Stadium in Washington, DC
4 ticket listings
513 10 Up to 4 $65.00 each

Cotton Bowl Tickets (Oklahoma State vs Ole Miss)
Saturday, January 2, 2010 at 1:00 PM at Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, TX
679 ticket listings
Upper Reserved 452 22 Up to 7 $95.00 each



Chick-Fil-A Bowl Tickets (Tennessee vs Virginia Tech)
Thursday, December 31, 2009 at 7:30 PM at Georgia Dome in Atlanta, GA
753 ticket listings
Upper Prime 320 20 2 $58.00 each

Champs Sports Bowl Tickets (Miami vs Wisconsin)
Tuesday, December 29, 2009 at 8:00 PM at Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando, FL
120 ticket listings
Upper Level Corner 338 T Up to 6 $25.00 each



Capital One Bowl Tickets (Penn State vs LSU)
Friday, January 1, 2010 at 1:00 PM at Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando, FL
673 ticket listings
Upper Level Corner 303 W 23rd Row Up to 5 $34.92 each

Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Tickets (Air Force vs Houston)
Thursday, December 31, 2009 at 11:00 AM at Amon G Carter Stadium in Fort Worth, TX
14 ticket listings
SC 12 Up to 3 $25.00 each

Alamo Bowl Tickets (Texas Tech vs Michigan State)
Saturday, January 2, 2010 at 8:00 PM at Alamodome in San Antonio, TX
290 ticket listings
Upper Level End Zone 345 15 2 $26.49 each

Bowling for Tickets 2009-10 #1

Texas Bowl Tickets (Navy vs Missouri)
Thursday, December 31, 2009 at 2:30 PM at Reliant Stadium in Houston, TX
278 ticket listings
Gridiron Endzone 647 Front Row 1 $1.95 each
Gridiron Endzone 618 g Up to 4 $3.00 each

Sun Bowl Tickets (Oklahoma vs Stanford)
Thursday, December 31, 2009 at 12:00 PM at Sun Bowl Stadium in El Paso, TX
69 ticket listings
GA GA Up to 4 $45.00 each
20 53 2 $50.00 each



Sheraton Hawaii Bowl Tickets (SMU vs. Nevada)
Thursday, December 24, 2009 at 3:00 PM at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, HI
11 ticket listings
Red Sideline M 4 & 5 Up to 12 $45.00 each

Poinsettia Bowl Tickets (Utah vs California)
Wednesday, December 23, 2009 at 5:00 PM at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, CA
35 ticket listings
Plaza 57 18 Up to 4 $25.99 each

Papajohns.com Bowl Tickets (Connecticut vs South Carolina)
Saturday, January 2, 2010 at 1:00 PM at Legion Field in Birmingham, AL
12 ticket listings
13 A-31 23 Up to 4 $80.00 each

Outback Bowl Tickets (Auburn vs Northwestern)
Friday, January 1, 2010 at 11:00 AM at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, FL
52 ticket listings
Lower Level Sideline 106 G 2 $49.00 each

Music City Bowl Tickets (Kentucky vs Clemson)
Sunday, December 27, 2009 at 7:15 PM at LP Field in Nashville, TN
525 ticket listings
Upper Level 329 HH Up to 5 $2.97 each

Meineke Car Care Bowl Tickets (Pittsburgh vs North Carolina)
Saturday, December 26, 2009 at 4:30 PM at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, NC
140 ticket
Upper Sideline 509 6 Up to 8 $50.00 each

MAACO Bowl Las Vegas Tickets (Oregon State vs BYU)
Tuesday, December 22, 2009 at 5:00 PM at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, NV
13 ticket listings
Corner 201 11 Up to 2 $59.99 each

Little Caesars Pizza Bowl Tickets (Ohio vs. Marshall)
Saturday, December 26, 2009 at 1:00 PM at Ford Field in Detroit, MI
15 ticket listings
Lower Level Corner 134 31 2 $29.50 each



Liberty Bowl Tickets (East Carolina vs Arkansas)
Saturday, January 2, 2010 at 4:30 PM at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis, TN
48 ticket listings
Corner 116 58 2 $72.00 each

Ticket Bonanza Week #12

Duke at Miami Football at Land Shark Stadium in Miami, FL
63 ticket listings
Upper End Zone 425 16 Up to 3 $13.00 each
Upper End Zone 427 - No Alcohol 22 2 $24.00 each

Iowa State at Missouri at Faurot Field (Memorial Stadium) in Columbia, MO
76 ticket listings
End Zone 8 24 2 $27.88 each

Rutgers at Syracuse Football Tickets
Saturday, November 21, 2009 at 3:30 PM at Carrier Dome in Syracuse, NY
25 ticket listings
Lower Corner 119 B 2 $34.00 each

Ohio State at Michigan Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, MI
958 ticket listings
End Zone 34R 93 2 $100.00 each

Tulane at UCF at Bright House Networks Stadium in Orlando, FL
35 ticket listings found Help
217 H Up to 2 $16.00 each

Kent State at Temple at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, PA
2 ticket listings are displayed in the map Help
Red Zone Suites Suite 90 26 $75.00 each

Arizona State at UCLA at Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA
209 ticket listings
Family 28 46 Up to 4 $24.00 each

Mississippi State at Arkansas at War Memorial Stadium (Little Rock) in Little Rock, AR
20 ticket listings
17 40 2 $82.00 each

Gator Bowl Tickets Friday, January 1, 2010 at 1:00 PM at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium in Jacksonville, FL
352 ticket listings
Field Level Sideline 142 A Up to 6 $85.00 each

Ticket Bonanza #9

Miami at Wake Forest at BBT Field in Winston Salem, NC
Sideline 2 GG 2 $30.00 each
20 ticket listings

Iowa State at Texas AM at Kyle Field in College Station, TX
Upper Level 521 20 Up to 4 $32.00 each
208 ticket listings

Rutgers at Connecticut at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, CT
Upper Corner 235 4 Up to 4 $42.00 each
34 ticket listings

Michigan at Illinois at Memorial Stadium (Illinois) in Champaign, IL
392 ticket listings
Horseshoe 112 33 Up to 3 $8.00 each

USC at Oregon at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, OR
196 ticket listings
Corner 39 59 2 $109.00 each

Mississippi at Auburn at Jordan Hare Stadium in Auburn, AL
344 ticket listings
Upper Deck Sideline 57 31 2 $30.00 each

Next Thursday
Virginia Tech at East Carolina Thursday, November 5, 2009
at 7:30 PM at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium in Greenville, NC
71 ticket listings
214 EE 2 $59.00 each

Early Bowl Pricing
Meineke Car Care Bowl Tickets
Saturday, December 26, 2009 at 4:00 PM at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, NC
Lower Premium 111 20 2 $117.00 each

Ticket Bonanza Week #7

Virginia Tech at Georgia Tech at Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta, GA
133 ticket listings
Upper Corner 207 22 2 $60.00 each

Baylor at Iowa State at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames, IA
21 ticket listings
End Zone DD 14 2 $39.00 each

Marshall at West Virginia at 3:30 PM at Mountaineer Field in Morgantown, WV
108 ticket listings
Lower Level Green Zone 132 41 2 $98.00 each

Illinois at Indiana at Memorial Stadium (Indiana) in Bloomington, IN
33 ticket listings
Lower Sideline 2 41 2 $20.00 each

Wyoming at Air Force at Falcon Stadium in U S A F Academy, CO
29 ticket listings
Corner Reserved U 13 C Up to 2 $6.00 each

UAB at Ole Miss at Vaught Hemingway Stadium in University, MS
255 ticket listings
North End Zone 102 9 3 $2.00 each

Georgia at Vanderbilt at Vanderbilt Stadium in Nashville, TN
134 ticket listings
End Zone M 34 Up to 4 $39.00 each

Northern Arizona at Portland State at PGE Park in Portland, OR
1 ticket listings
22 V Up to 12 $39.99 each

Bill Mays Lied or Vise Vice

Coercion being forced to act in a way counter to what you want by an external force is all too come a business tactic. A former Pepsi salesperson told stories punishing retailers that would not cooperate by helping local competition run Pepsi products at lower prices in an attempt to embarrass the uncooperative retailer. The plan was that the pressure would cause a change of heart and a realization that the Pepsi way was the right way.

Somewhat less aggressive, but still coercive, was (and maybe still is) the practice of General Mills that will coupon the hell out of a new product so consumers will flock to their local grocer demanding the latest variety of Cheerios. With retailer being forced to add the new product to appease customers.

Now the evil empire of sports is doing the same to push your local ISP to add ESPN360 to your cable service. Mimicking the cable model by getting a fixed payment per subscriber where Disney Sports gets one check for the ISP (saving the cost of selling the end user and collecting the fee) and hiding the cost. Some less aware people may think that ESPN360 is a free service as they do not see Disney as the reason that the bill went up rather that evil greed ISP raised the price echoing the increasing cost of cable television where the provider is blamed.

Two games this weekend demonstrate the coercion that ESPN is attempting Marshall at Virginia Tech and East Carolina at West Virginia. Please note that coercion need not be extreme and in fact slow steady pressure may be the most effective. Neither of these game are particularly ground breaking but then neither was allowed to be broadcast as regional games rather each were on ESPN360 only. With loyal Virginia Tech and West Virginia fans becoming use over the past several years of seeing their teams every week on television (cable or broadcast) emails and phone calls were made to ISP's urging them to add ESPN360. Visit http://mattsarzsports.com/football2009.aspx look at each week for the web only games and ask why would ESPN forgo the regional television revenue if they are not looking at more money from a steady check for all the customers of every ISP whether they want to watch the CFL or not.

More reading on the subject:
Computers in Management: Case Study: ESPN new media
A nice college presentation in a Word document

ESPN's ISP discrimination shakes Net neutrality hornet's nest
For the nerdy techie college football fan.

Ticket Bonanza Week #1

Northeastern at Boston College Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill, MA

Upper End Zone WW 4 2 $5.00 each

101 ticket listings

About par for a BC home game without a big time oppenent.

Baylor at Wake Forest at 3:30 PM at BBT Field in Winston Salem, NC

Sideline 13 SS 2 $6.00 each

101 ticket listings

Not bad seats on the 20. Low price for a game with two BCS teams.

Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game: Virginia Tech vs. Alabama at Georgia Dome in Atlanta, GA

Upper Corner 301 23 Up to 12 $135.00 each

675 ticket listings

Down from $162 on August 9th.

North Dakota State at Iowa State

Thursday, September 3, 2009 at 1:00 PM at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames, IA

End Zone AA 22 2 $15.00 each

47 ticket listings

A rare Thursday afternoon game?

Louisiana-Monroe at Texas 1:00 PM at Darrell K Royal Memorial Stadium in Austin, TX

Upper End Zone 112 24 2 $35.00 each

453 ticket listings

About the price for a Texas cupcake game.

Minnesota at Syracuse at 12:00 PM at Carrier Dome in Syracuse, NY

Lower Corner 128 L 2 $45.00 each

23 ticket listings

The Paulus effect?

Youngstown State at Pittsburgh 1:00 PM at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, PA

Upper Level 522 H 2 $1.75 each

125 ticket listings

Over supply or a Pirates game?

Western Michigan at Michigan at 3:30 PM at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, MI

End Zone 12R 71 2 $35.00 each

387 ticket listings

See Texas.

Towson at Northwestern 11:00 AM at Ryan Field in Evanston, IL

Lower End Zone 117 17 Up to 6 $2.99 each

59 ticket listings

Come on! Where's the love for the mighty Towson Tigers.

Appalachian State at East Carolina 12:00 PM at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium in Greenville, NC

214 AA Up to 4 $83.00 each

27 ticket listings

Big surprise to see that high a price.

Idaho State at Arizona State 7:00 PM at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, AZ

Upper Corner 232 12 3 $5.50 each

167 ticket listings

Thankfully for the the evening.

Maryland at Cal 7:00 PM at Memorial Stadium (Cal) in Berkeley, CA

Blue Zone LL 1 2 $33.00 each

126 ticket listings

Only left turns are allowed in Berkley.

Louisiana Tech at Auburn at Jordan Hare Stadium in Auburn, AL

Upper Deck Sideline 61 24 Up to 2 $20.00 each

225 ticket

What are the fans expecting from the Tigers this year?

Southeastern Louisiana at Ole Miss at 1:00 PM at Vaught Hemingway Stadium in University, MS

North End Zone 102 10 2 $5.00 each

254 ticket listings

Too low for a top 10 team.

Oregon at Boise State

Thursday, September 3, 2009 at 8:15 PM at Bronco Stadium in Boise, ID

Upper End Zone 101 AA Up to 6 $165.00 each

42 ticket listings

Few tickets and high prices.

King Espn XVI

After watching Mike and Mike this mourning and hearing Harvey Perlman respond to Senator Hatch's comments from the prior day's show on the BCS, the truth of the matter became clear; this may look like a power struggle between Congress and the BCS but the king makers her is ESPN. And then the news that the Mountain West Conference had signed an agreement with ESPN confirmed the theory, the "Boys from Bristol" are running college football and the rest of use are just along for the ride.

This is not a new idea on this blog or for those that take a few minutes to pull themselves away from the ESPN teat long enough to realize that they are a cold mechanical business and not the warm maternal mother's milk of sports. Like a weed ESPN has woven itself into the fabric of sports to the extent that they can lay claim to stealing from King Louis XVI and say, "We are the sport".

This control of college football extend from the power to dictate the date and time of the game to having the most powerful person on the field that comes out during the commercial breaks to enforce the will network. In the need to fill up the time between games ESPN sets the agenda and molds public opinion shamelessly promote the upcoming slate of games. The $495 million comes from ESPN/Disney with the expectation that they will profit from the deal by having high profile games with match up that will deliver rating. Easy to sell rating such as Texas v. USC or Florida v. Ohio State not Georgia v. Hawaii or Pitt v. Uath.

In a game of chicken the Mountain West blinked and the rebellion has be squelched.
The Mountain West returns to an unhappy existence with a chip on there shoulder, a broadcast deal with CBS College Sports, the Mtn. cable channel, and because of this one of the lowest broadcast profiles in college football. The non-BCS school will need to stay at the outside hoping for a chance to change the system.

Parting question: "How did the Boys from Bristol get their way with the Mountain West?"

Big East Game of the Week

Conference game of the week--mark your calendars now.
Rules: Every team must make the list at least once
Guideline: The most important game is not always the most interesting

The Big East has two other issues--they are the smallest conference with eight members and with no championship game the conference has a long season with game on December 5th. Given this their may be a "none" week or an away OOC game included.

Saturday, September 5
Cincinnati at Rutgers
A Disney arranged game between two contenders for the wide open conference crown.

Saturday, September 12
North Carolina at Connecticut
East Carolina at West Virginia
Carolina comes to the Big East: Are the Pirate able to take two in a row? UNC v. UConn in football rather than hoops?

Saturday, September 19
Northwestern at Syracuse
Will the Orange look any better than one would expect with a new coach and an ad hoc group of players.

Saturday, September 26
Pitt at North Carolina State
Rutgers at Maryland
USF at Florida State
Almost half of the conference is on the road against the ACC with, "We aren't the worst BCS conference." bragging right in the balance.

Thursday, October 1
Colorado at West Virginia (ESPN)
The Buff's are one of those rare teams that will travel. This game went to overtime last year.

Saturday, October 10
Connecticut at Pitt
If there must be a game
NONE

Friday, October 16
Pitt at Rutgers (ESPN)
Make an excuse not to go to that high school game. Can? Set the DVR!

Saturday, October 17
Louisville at Connecticut
Marshall at West Virginia
NONE

Saturday, October 24
USF at Pitt
Bully?

Saturday, October 31
Rutgers at Connecticut
Are these two really rivals?

Saturday, November 7
Louisville at West Virginia
Never going to be the 2005 game.

Thursday, November 12
USF at Rutgers (ESPN)
Can Rutgers have another season where they capture a sliver of attention from the NYC Metro area.

Friday, November 13
West Virginia at Cincinnati (ESPN2)
Can the Bearcats repeat? They are winless at home against WVU. WVU leads the series 11 to 2.

Saturday, November 14
Notre Dame at Pitt
The Irish are almost always interesting the watch. Losses to Pitt and Cuse sent Notre Dame to Hawaii last year.

Saturday, November 21
Louisville at USF
Rutgers at Syracuse
Connecticut at Notre Dame (NBC)
NONE

Friday, November 27
Pitt at West Virginia
Not an elite rivalry game but near the top of the second tier.



Saturday, November 28
Illinois at Cincinnati
Miami at USF
Not one but two unusually interesting late season OOC games.

Saturday, December 5
Cincinnati at Pitt
West Virginia at Rutgers
One of these two will determine who gets the conferences BCS bid.

On Epicycles and the House of Plantagenet

http://www.astronomynotes.com/history/epicycle.htm



Part 1 March Madness is a Folly

There are 344 teams in D1 basketball with 65 + 32 going to post season tournaments or 28% far below the percentage of teams going to college bowl games. The 65 “best” included first round losers: Mount St. Mary at an RPI of #159, #147 Texas Arlington, #108 Winthrop, #98 Georgia, and #90 Portland St. While #94 San Diego and #66 Siena did win in the first round, their roll as mere March filler came in the second round. Source--http://www.kenpom.com/rpi.php

The Big East put seven teams, about 11% of the 65, into the March Folly despite the fact that these teams had already, “decided it on the court”. Worse only one Big East made it to the group of eight with Louisville losing North Carolina. For all the hype the NCCA basketall tournament is a bloated income ditribution vehicle with numerous meaningless games.

If this is the correct way to do things what would a college football playoff look like? Some might say an eight team playoff, others 16, using the same 65 out of 344 of 18.9% we need at least 23 teams or 24 just too even things up. Automatic bids: the six BCS conferences, MAC, WAC, MWC, Sun Belt, C-USA.

The challenge for those that want this is the fill in the brackets in a reasonable manner. You’ll need three play in games and then some gymnastics to avoid repeating games that have already been played.

The answer that will be arrived at will be the equivalent of using epicycle to epicycles to explain planetary retrograde motion in an Earth center solar system. Or paraphrasing Dennis Miller in his brief time on Monday Night Football, “That tournament is more complicated that the House of Plantagenet.” The BCS may not be perfect but the basketball model isn’t either.

Must See College Football

To rise above the clutter is the goal of most if not all programs in college football and while Saturday is the prime time for college football there is so much supply it is easy for even a great game to get lost. ESPN Thursday night football is a prime time only game (for the most part)on the dial. The hard core football fan has no place else to flip. Even the least of these games is better than the very predictable network sitcom, carefully staged reality show, or a repeat of MonsterQuest. Disney Sports has finished molding the Big 12 and ACC schedules giving us a look at how to plan our fall television viewing. As of 2/12/09 the plan looks like:

9/03/09 South Carolina at NC State (ESPN, 7 or 7:30 p.m. ET)
9/10/09 Clemson at Georgia Tech, (ESPN, 7:30 p.m. ET)
9/17/09 Georgia Tech at Miami (ESPN, 7:30 p.m. ET)
9/24/09 OPEN
10/01/09 Colorado at West Virginia (ESPN, 7:30 p.m. ET)
10/08/09 Nebraska at Missouri (ESPN, 9:00 p.m. ET)
10/15/09 OPEN
10/22/09 Florida State at North Carolina (ESPN, 7:30 p.m. ET)
10/29/09 North Carolina at Virginia Tech (ESPN, 7:30 p.m. ET)
11/05/09 Virginia Tech at East Carolina (ESPN, 7:30 p.m. ET)
11/12/09 OPEN
11/19/09 OPEN
11/26/09 Colorado at Oklahoma St. (ESPN, 7:30 p.m. ET)
Texas at Texas A&M TBD
12/3/09 OPEN

From a scheduling point of view the Virginia Tech at East Carolina is one of the more interesting choices for a late season out of conference match up. With East Carolina beating both Virginia Tech and West Virginia they have played there way into the Thursday night lime light.

Tickets Galore #5

Rhode Island at Boston College Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill, MA
Upper End Zone XX 4 $7.00
The XXX zone will be on pay per view if U R I are interested.

Troy at Oklahoma State Boone Pickens Stadium at Lewis Field in Stillwater, OK
Upper Corner 310 19 $35.00
High price for ticket to the other OSU. With or without windmills.

Pittsburgh at Syracuse Carrier Dome in Syracuse, NY
Upper Corner 333 Q $8.00
The right price to say goodbye to Greg?

Illinois at Penn State Beaver Stadium in University Park, PA
Upper Level Corner SKU EE $100.00
Kind of steep...the location and the price.

Central Florida at UTEP Sun Bowl Stadium in El Paso, TX
7 11 $1.99
Near the 20 yard line. Not bad seats and the price can't be much lower.

Purdue at Notre Dame Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, IN
Upper Level Corner 115 22 $94.99
3:30 PM?For ND or NBC? The 2:30 game time starts in October.

Tennessee at Auburn Jordan Hare Stadium in Auburn, AL
Upper Deck Sideline 100 33 $59.00
2:30 PM ? Regional TV only? No 3:30 kick off on CBS.

Colorado State at California Memorial Stadium (Cal) in Berkeley, CA
Gold Zone A 73 $15.00
Soon to be renamed the multicultural, rainbow, nuke free section of color.


More money coming for the other OSU?

Tickets Galore #4

South Carolina State at Clemson 1:00 PM at Clemson Memorial Stadium in Clemson, SC
Upper Sideline D V $2.99 each
If you have money to burn much better tickets are $8

Buffalo at Missouri Football Tickets 1:00 PM at Faurot Field (Memorial Stadium) in Columbia, MO
End Zone 8 38 $48.00 each
Hot ticket to see the Bulls come to town.

Miami (Ohio) at Cincinnati Football Tickets Nippert Stadium in Cincinnati, OH
Bearcat Lair End Zone 131 11 $20.00 each
Firm price for Bearcat tickets. Price may be helped by the flood of Miami fans.

Ball State at Indiana Football Tickets Memorial Stadium (Indiana) in Bloomington, IN
Upper Sideline 111 36 $34.45 each
It's the $.45 that makes the deal. Not bad seats.

Marshall at Southern Mississippi Football Tickets USM MM Roberts Stadium the Rock in Hattiesburg, MS
Lower Sideline H 32 $38.00 each
Only seats (up to 7)listed.

Wyoming at BYU Football Tickets LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo, UT
144 30 $38.00 each
And how long a drive is it from Wyoming?

LSU at Auburn Football Jordan Hare Stadium in Auburn, AL
Upper Deck Sideline 114 31 $115.00 each
Not for those that get nosebleeds. Total score over under is?

San Jose State at Stanford Football Tickets Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto, CA
Lower Goal 130 I $8.00 each
General admission tickets $4. Bad times in Silicon Valley?

Murray State at Western Kentucky Football Tickets Houchens Industries-LT Smith Stadium in Bowling Green, KY
108 C $32.00 each
Not sure where section 108 is but given the small size of the stadium you should be able to find your place.
Future renovations canbeseen here.

Tickets Galore Week #3

Missouri State at Oklahoma State Boone Pickens Stadium at Lewis Field in Stillwater,OK
Lower Corner 101 12 $25.00

Virginia at Connecticut Rentschler Field in East Hartford, CT
Lower End Zone 132 9 2 $58.00

Louisiana-Lafayette at Illinois Memorial Stadium (Illinois) in Champaign, IL
Horseshoe 118 65 $4.50

Air Force at Houston Robertson Stadium in Houston, TX
121 A $49.00
Only tickets still available

Ohio State at USC Los Angeles Sports Arena and Coliseum in Los Angeles, CA
Upper Corner 2 92 $270.00

UAB at Tennessee Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, TN
Upper Level Corner ZZ12 10 $23.00

Nevada at Missouri Football Tickets Faurot Field (Memorial Stadium) in Columbia, MO
Sideline FF 75 & 76 $39.95

Chattanooga at Florida State at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, FL
Sideline 15 75 $9.00

Look Out for Pirates

Which ACC Bowl game should East Carolina go to? Should a 13-0 record put them in the Orange Bowl? Can they do a worse than the ACC teams in recent memory? Or let’s imagine that ECU goes 11-2 losing in the C-USA Championship game, but winning their three games against Virginia Tech, Virginia, and NC State. Is it fair that the Pirates will go to the GMAC Bowl while a lesser team from the Atlantic Coast Conference goes to the Chick-fil-A, Gator, or Champ Bowl by virtue of the conference membership?

Much has been made of the “BCS Busters” where a deserving team from a lesser non-BCS conference gets the dream of a life time and is allowed to sit at the big money table. That’s nice and makes good PR but this still leaves the Mountain West, WAC, and C-USA thin on their slate of bowl games. With the current bowl ties the casting director for the bowl games hands are tie to what they have already signed up for.
Keeping with ECU (but there may be several other teams that could fit this bill) might a match up of the Pirates and Alabama (using the projections from Scouts.com) make for a more interesting Chick-fil-A Bowl that a 8-4 Boston College?

As stated before on this blog bowl game are all about bring people to your city to fill hotel and restaurant during the slow holiday season. Organizers are then keen on lock in the best chance of bring people to town for the game and not particularly interesting in the most intriguing games at the end of the season.

Maybe we need a second tier bowl to become a free agent and be willing to gamble on presenting the fans with a interesting game rather than the current locked slate of “if there is nothing else on” games.

Note: When thinking of a tile for this post I remembered a book that I read in 2nd or 3rd grade and putting the title into Google found that you (and maybe me) can buy at copy from Amazon. At $48 cherished memeories are getting expensive.

Tickets Galore Week #2

Most college football games will be better than this movie.


Game of the week
Georgia Tech at Boston College 12:00 PM at Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill, MA
Lower Sideline U $13.00
Corner endzone seats to one of the weekends more interesting games. With the leading teams in the ACC stumbling during week #1 the conference may be wide open.

Richmond at Virginia Football Tickets 3:45 PM at Scott Stadium in Charlottesville, VA
Upper Sideline 504 $2.50
Tickets are up from a mere $1.99. These tickets are on the 30 in the upper deck.

Eastern Washington at Colorado Football Tickets 1:30 PM at Folsom Field in Boulder, CO
Lower End Zone $9.00
The low price game for the Buff season.

Minnesota at Bowling Green Football Tickets 1:00 PM at Perry Stadium in Bowling Green, OH
No tickets listed. Is no one selling or more accurately did no one see a value in this game prior to the BG win over Pitt. When was the last time a MAC school had two wins in a season against BCS schools.

The Citadel at Clemson Football Tickets 3:30 PM at Clemson Memorial Stadium in Clemson, SC
Upper Sideline C $5.00
In row Z of the top of three decks.

Mississippi at Wake Forest Football Tickets at 3:30 PM at Groves Stadium in Winston Salem, NC
Sideline 9 $15.00
See a rising star in the ACC?

Scalper's special (buy these and turn them for a profit)
West Virginia at East Carolina Football Tickets 4:30 PM at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium in Greenville, NC
215 $69.00
Good location for a hot game as Pirate fans are looking for their long sought treasure.

Stanford at Arizona State Football Tickets at 7:00 PM at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, AZ
Upper Corner 214 $4.75
Bad seats good price. Just waiting to cash in on the Dawg visit.

Oregon State at Penn State Football Tickets 3:30 PM at Beaver Stadium in University Park, PA
Lower Level Sideline EH $50.00
Surprisingly goo seats for watching the Ducks come to town. Very good supply of PSU tickets.

Southern Mississippi at Auburn Football Tickets 12:30 PM at Jordan Hare Stadium in Auburn, AL
Upper Deck Sideline 47 $15.00
So why do LSU (9/20) tickets cost $139?

Central Michigan at Georgia Football Tickets 3:30 PM at Sanford Stadium in Athens, GA
Upper Level Sideline 336 $74.00
Price is up from two weeks ago. These are not good seats.
Price survey taken 8/31/08

Big 12 Game of the Week 2008

Big 12 Football Stadiums - 3D Map Tour

---

Game of the week rules: looking for the most intriguing (not always the most important) game, home conference games only, every team must appear at least once.

Saturday, August 30
Wake Forest at Baylor --Three games in one weekend. Wake Forest is looking for consistency that will translate into national respect. A BCS win, even against Baylor would be could be another step on the road to national notability and a lose against the Bears would be two steps backward.


Colorado vs. Colorado State (Denver) A rivalry game to begin the season. As Martha Stewert would say, “It’s a good thing.”


Illinois vs. Missouri (St. Louis) The most important of the three games with the two upstarts of their respective conferences facing off at a neutral venue.


Saturday, September 6
Cincinnati at Oklahoma --The Bearcats are no longer a push over. If the Sooners are looking for the BSC Championship invitation, they need to take this game seriously.


Saturday, September 13
Iowa State at Iowa—With all the problem at IU, State has a good chance of narrowing the 36-19 series. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/wire/chi-ap-fbc-isu-iowagame,0,866139.story

Thursday, September 18
West Virginia at Colorado—Will the Mountaineers be slowed down by the Buffs or the Rockies?

Saturday, September 20
Miami at Texas A&M—Can this game be as intriguing in 2008 as is was years ago when it was planned.
Massachusetts at Texas Tech—UMass has hopefully locked in the airfare for this trip. Texas Tech could not find a closer cupcake?

Saturday, September 27
Virginia Tech at Nebraska-- The Hokies are expected to win this game but it will give Husker fans a measuring stick of how far the need to progress

***The TCU game has some potential but the rest are for true fans only.
TCU at Oklahoma
Troy at Oklahoma State
Army at Texas A&M
UL Lafayette at Kansas State

Saturday, October 4
Missouri at Nebraska--Again Husker fans are looking for hope in saying, "Wait 'til next year."

Saturday, October 11
Oklahoma vs. Texas (Dallas)--Classic match up for dominance in the south.

Saturday, October 18
Missouri at Texas--The Longhorns are looking a couple of real tests here.

Saturday, October 25
Oklahoma State at Texas--Possible key game for the Longhorns. If they are winning this could be a trap game while some key losses will have this game acting as a character test.

Saturday, November 1
Kansas State at Kansas--It is a cliche but rivlary games are just more fun.

Saturday, November 8
Oklahoma at Texas A&M--Will the 12th man be a factor against the Sooners?


Saturday, November 15 Texas A&M at Baylor; Oklahoma State at Colorado; Missouri at Iowa State; Texas at Kansas; Nebraska at Kansas State--Nothing jumps out here in May.

Saturday, November 22
Iowa State at Kansas State--Late in the season these teams may be fighting for their 6th win.

Friday, November 28
Texas A&M at Texas--Does Texas have a bullseye on their uniform?

Saturday, November 29
Kansas vs. Missouri (Kansas City)--One city in two states

Make an Excuse for Stopping By

Mike Tranghese might think about packing something along with his toothbrush, a copy of Desomd Conner's recent article ECU Ready For Big East, If League Wants It on an upcoming trip to Florida. Maybe several copies.

Mike should opt to drive from Providence maybe stop at some schools along the way for informal meet and greets. Let's see Wilmington, Delaware; Fairfax, Virginia; Greenville, North Carolina; Columbia, South Carolina; and Athens, Georgia. In each of those locations pay a visit to the respective AD and university president for a casual lunch or dinner. While sitting down with Terry Holland at East Carolina accidentally have a copy of the article sitting out in plan view and if that isn't enough to get things started prop the article up with the following part highlighted:

The school should be willing to:

--Play a conference football schedule with zero compensation from the Big East so current members don't have to give up any of their share of revenue.

--Be responsible for negotiating a television contract for home games until the league wants the school to be a part of its package.

--Not expect any of the league's BCS revenue until earning a BCS bid of its own representing the conference.

--Come in as a football member only. Other sports would play in another league in order to not interfere with the league's current 16-member setup for all other sports.

--Show a solid track record of putting fans in the seats at home, on the road and at bowl games -- all on a trial basis for a few years.

Then while AD's and presidents of the Big East schools will be having there annual meeting in Amelia Island leave several more copies sitting in plan view (highlight as needed). After they slap each other on the back and the Rutgers v. Notre Dame have a cold shoulder contest maybe some brighter people attending will take notice and start a conversation about the idea of East Carolina making an interesting new member...under the right conditions. Plant the seed so they can adjourn until next year with big smiles on their faces more than just a successful year in football and basketball...a more secure future.

Any offer like this if genuine solves the expansion issue and the scheduling problem in one stroke.

Not Good At Math But...

Consider these quote from Hawaii earns $4.4 million for Sugar
1. "The University of Hawaii will receive nearly $4.4 million for playing in the Sugar Bowl..."
2. "Georgia, which beat Hawaii, 41-10, will earn $17 million for the Southeastern Conference..."

So Hawaii get $4.4 million of what pie? Where did that number come from? Shouldn't this article explain the difference? Is it that the average reader does not really care or is the journalist too lazy to bother?

It is well known that Notre Dame gets $4.5 million from the BCS each year that they share with no one. Less controversial and less well known is the money given the the "non-BCS" conferences. After some digging and futile time at BCSfootball.org a 2006 article shed some light on the situation.

According to USA Today, "The non-guaranteed leagues (Conference USA, WAC, Mountain West, Sun Belt, Mid-American) receive 9% of the projected BCS net revenue, or about $9 million on an annual basis, according to the BCS. That increases by another 9% when a team from one of those leagues is in a BCS game.

The leagues then negotiate a split, with the biggest share going to the participating conference."

Next question: Do Army and Navy get any BCS money?