Eagles No ‘Fun’ for Nashville

'08 Football General42

Another year…another bowl with an Atlantic Coast Conference tie left reeling after a visit from Boston College.

This comes to us from the Nashville Business Journal:

Vanderbilt University may have been the big winner in the 2008 Music City Bowl, but Nashville came up short.

The New Year’s Eve game between Boston College and Vanderbilt generated $9.97 million for the local economy, Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl representatives announced Friday.

That’s the lowest amount since 2005 when the game brought $7.8 million to the area, and a fraction of what the Music City Bowl had been bringing in the past two years. The 2007 bowl had an estimated economic impact of $27.1 million, and the 2006 bowl had an economic impact of $20.1 million.

The game brought 54,250 people to the 2008 hometown game at LP Field. That’s down from last years 68,661 attendees. The drop in number of out-of-town visitors for the game was even more drastic, with only 17,498, coming in from out of town for the game in 2008, compared with 53,556 in 2007.

We will never forget the following quote from Boston College’s Athletics Director, Gene DeFilippo after Coach O’Brien was replaced by Jeff Jagodzinski.

“We’re having fun now,” he said. “We’ve won before, but we had no fun. This is still a game, it’s not life and death. The fun is back in Boston College football. Tom did a wonderful job here, but nobody was having fun. The fun is back at Boston College.”

Obviously Jags wasn’t feeling the fun as he started looking for an NFL job before his first season was finished. Two years after bringing the fun back to BC, Jags is now the offensive coordinator of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

You may remember last year that despite gaving away FREE tickets to the Champs Sports Bowl Boston College still disappointed in Orlando.

After embarrassing the conference while failing to deliver support for two consecutive ACC Championships and now for every bowl they have attended, it is no wonder a Chick-fil-A Bowl committee member was quoted as saying the following last year:

Our committee is leery of the Eagles and we’re not convinced their fans will support this team on a bowl trip to Atlanta. The Chick-fil-A Bowl has a long tradition of sold-out stadiums and an atmosphere that is as loud as any stadium in the country and we’re not sure a pro sports town like Boston can support their team at that level.

Of course, none of this is surprising and serves to underscore exactly why Tom O’Brien also wanted out of Chestnut Hill.

Did you know that NC State’s SPRING GAME drew more fans than one of Boston College’s home football games this year? (2006-2007) No shit. 14,682 fans showed up for BC’s game with Buffalo this year. BC entered the game ranked with a 6-1 record and ranked in the Top 25. (Not that it really matters…but, it was a mild 55 degrees and raining)

Could you imagine the attendance in Carter-Finley if NC State was ranked in the Top 25 and had a guaranteed win coming to town that was going to advance our record to 7-1 and position us for a potential run at a top-flight bowl?

Don’t any of these people just know how to have fun like Gene?

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'08 Football General

42 Responses to Eagles No ‘Fun’ for Nashville

  1. BoKnowsNCS71 02/24/2009 at 1:56 PM #

    This is one of those problems that will fix itself. I just don’t see BC going to many more bowls in the next few years. After they committed what I like to call “herbicide” by firing Jags, losing Logan, and having down recruiting years – I think those decision will show a fading football talent.

  2. Noah 02/24/2009 at 2:20 PM #

    No one cares about BC or any other college team.

    They care about college hockey. I think BC usually has a pretty good team. I know BU is usually pretty good. Hockey and gold are the two stupidest games ever invented, so I can’t comment on either one. But the last time I was in Boston, I was utterly shocked at how much attention college effing hockey got on the sports station I was listening to.

    BTW, if we’re talking about the regional appeal of college sports — go to Oregon and go to a track meet. You’ll have 25,000 people watching these guys run around. And we’re not talking about sprints. We’re talking 25,000 people watching someone run for five miles.

  3. packpigskinfan23 02/24/2009 at 2:42 PM #

    oh come on now Noah!!! Hockey isnt all THAT bad!!

    BC just won the National Championship in NCAA hockey! Of course they are gonna get some air time! Plus the fact that it is the NORTH and hockey is HUGE up there. It rightfully should be. It has everything anyone could ever want in sports- aggression, finesse, athleticism, amazing plays, amazing athletes, passionate fans, great hits, and a fight here and there(not so much in NCAA, but the sport in general)…

    plus there are a few future ‘Canes on that BC team.

    I hate BC as much as any of you… but HOCKEY is that schools bread and butter, and I fully understand why.

    If their fans got into football anywhere near as much as they do hockey… they would be as insufferable as the Tarholes. Consider it a good thing they do not care about football. If they did we wouldn’t have TOB and we would have to hear about how much better BC is then us by all the transplanted NewEnglander’s there are around here(not a strike against them, I am basically one myself).

  4. Noah 02/24/2009 at 3:31 PM #

    oh come on now Noah!!! Hockey isnt all THAT bad!!

    You’re right. NOTHING is as bad as golf. You still couldn’t drag me to a hockey game.

    But those are personal opinions. I don’t care if you think around-the-world sailing is the greatest sport (as long as you don’t make me watch). I was just pointing out that it’s inaccurate to say that they Bostonians don’t care about college sports. They just don’t care about SOUTHERN college sports.

  5. Alpha Wolf 02/24/2009 at 4:13 PM #

    Noah,

    I didn’t know that college football and basketball were “southern” college sports. The folks at UCLA, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Michigan, State College, PA and a few (actually many dozens of non-southern) other spots probably have a different opinion regarding football, and I bet most if not all of the cities and towns Big East teams call home would probably disagree in regards to hoops. I guess the Big House in Ann Arbor is a cathedral to a southern sport? In other words, your characterization is specious at best.

    As for golf and hockey, your opinion is yours, but is far from authoritative or generally accepted as accurate. Golf and hockey are both well recognized and well followed international sports who have global reaches that exceed that of American football and baseball many times over. You can bet that a typical sports fan in Great Britain would know who Tiger Woods was ten times faster than Tom Brady, and you can bet that a typical Russian sportsman would know who Sidney Crosby is a lot quicker than he would be able to identify Dale Earnhardt Junior.

  6. Noah 02/24/2009 at 5:12 PM #

    I didn’t know that college football and basketball were “southern” college sports. The folks at UCLA, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Michigan, State College, PA and a few (actually many dozens of non-southern) other spots probably have a different opinion regarding football, and I bet most if not all of the cities and towns Big East teams call home would probably disagree in regards to hoops. I guess the Big House in Ann Arbor is a cathedral to a southern sport? In other words, your characterization is specious at best.

    My characterizations are fine. What’s specious is your use of the word “specious.” What ISN’T specious is your reading comprehension and your attention to details. Those are just pathetic and sad.

    Did I say they were SOLELY the property of the south? No. See the post up top where I mention basketball’s religious following in the midwest? See?

    College basketball is a southern sport. It is not SOLELY a southern sport. That really shouldn’t be too hard. In fact…it ISN’T that hard. At least to someone who isn’t being deliberately obtuse.

    As for golf and hockey, your opinion is yours, but is far from authoritative or generally accepted as accurate.

    Are you always this stupid and I just overlooked it? Apparently, I was being far too kind. How does one person get this far in life without knowing what an opinion is? I can see you didn’t know what “specious” meant, but you really should have grasped “opinion” by now.

    Golf and hockey are both well recognized and well followed international sports who have global reaches that exceed that of American football and baseball many times over.

    Whoopee. A billion people in India think curry tastes fine. I think it smells and tastes like body odor scraped off a smelly buttcheek and cooked up into a green paste.

    I’ve been to places where haggis is considered a delicacy. I don’t eat in those places.

    And I don’t waste my fucking time watching a bunch of idiots dressed like pimps hit a ball with a crooked stick. But hey, you go crazy.

    Keep working on those definitions too…

  7. Alpha Wolf 02/24/2009 at 6:02 PM #

    Noah,

    Yet another tedious ad hominem attack by you.

    Your skin is as thin as a baby girl’s. I frankly expect more maturity from a young child, for that matter. Even a toddler can be reasoned with, and that is something more than we can ever seem to expect from you.

    I am neither stupid nor reading challenged. It is you that appears stupid and without comprehension that you are in a public forum and that this in an area for discussion and certainly not one for your withering diatribes of your self-perceived intellectual superiority.

    I am not you first victim, sir, and I have defended you before when you were called out for this sort of behavior. No more. I am tired of it, and quite frankly, tired of you. Your ability to find turds in any punch bowl and never concede a point and issue personal attacks on anyone is not only tedious, it is detrimental to the discussions on this site. You have been complained about before in e-mail and in comments. You never seem to get it when people call you out for you bully-ish keyboard commando behavior. I’ll paint it in black and white for you: it makes you look like a jackass. And that puts it mildly.

    Finally, please stop issuing F bombs in comments. You have been asked before and now, you have warned.

  8. choppack1 02/24/2009 at 6:05 PM #

    If you’ve never made the trip to Boston, you should.

    As a venue, BC’s stadium isn’t bad – aside from being built badly to be remotely comfortable in any kind of extreme weather (unfortunately, one trip I went it was freezing, the other I went, I felt like an egg in a frying pan.)

    However, the city is pretty cool. It’s safer than most cities its size, and the scenery are great – I’m not just talking about the historical sights, parks and big building…it has a Chapel Hillesque ratio. And like Chapel Hill, lots of bars per capita. In spite of the city being expensive, I was able to find deals on some cheap drinks, and some good, cheap food.

  9. waxhaw 02/24/2009 at 6:48 PM #

    You guys can argue all you want about southern/non southern but don’t go dragging golf into it. What other sport can you ride around for 4 hours, drink beer and hang out with your buddies. (Oh and more times than not you can deduct it and do it during working hours if you drag a client along.)

    I haven’t been to a game in Boston yet but I do enjoy the city. If anyone is planning on going, I would highly recomend going up a few days either side of the game and taking a trip to Newport, RI. It’s about a 2 hour drive and an awesome place to take the wife for a weekend. (You might want to take a little extra cash though.)

  10. CStanley 02/24/2009 at 7:58 PM #

    Yet somehow they’ve managed to reel in some great coaches through the years (O’Brien, Skinner, Coughlin, etc.) and have some good success in both football and basketball (arguably better than ours in the last two decades).

  11. Noah 02/24/2009 at 11:20 PM #

    Your ability to find turds in any punch bowl and never concede a point and issue personal attacks on anyone is not only tedious, it is detrimental to the discussions on this site. You have been complained about before in e-mail and in comments. You never seem to get it when people call you out for you bully-ish keyboard commando behavior.

    I’m deeply, deeply sorry for whatever it was that I did that gave you the impression that I gave a crap what you or anyone else thought.

    The first sign that you’re losing an argument is the declaration of “I’m getting lots of email!” I’m well aware of those who crave NOTHING more than an echo chamber. Once again – I’m sorry to each and every one of you for giving you the false impression that I would take your fragile, fragile feelings into

    I’ll let you in a deep, super-duper secret – as a grown man, it is your birthright to form your own opinions.

    If the moderators have a problem with it — ban me. I will not EVER be posting in any forum on any board anywhere that has ANYTHING to do with basketball. Ever. EVER. It’s alllll yours.

    But I will be posting in the football topics. And if I’m pissed about something, you won’t be getting the sunshine enema that so many of you crave. You can either ignore it, engage me, insult me (what do I care?) or the moderators can ban me.

    But if you just sit around and cry about it, I’m going to continue to give you the finger.

  12. PackerInRussia 02/25/2009 at 12:17 AM #

    BTW, if we’re talking about the regional appeal of college sports — go to Oregon and go to a track meet. You’ll have 25,000 people watching these guys run around. And we’re not talking about sprints. We’re talking 25,000 people watching someone run for five miles.

    One word: Pre.
    OK, technically that’s not even a full word

  13. EverettBeez 02/25/2009 at 10:16 AM #

    Hey y’all – I’ve been reading, just not commentating. I’ve been trying to say something positive or nothing at all . From the looks of it, a few other folks might consider that.

    On topic – tickets are available for the ACC Tourny. Apparently “some of the schools” can’t sell their allotted 2,600 tickets. Anyone want to guess what one of those schools might be? BC, the gift that keeps on costing. Its almost like the clap, with none of the pleasure at the first and all of the pain in the ass, to paraphrase Monty Python. Here’s the link.

    http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/story/1417936.html

    I will say, Boston is such an great town to visit. Very walkable, so much to see, do, eat and drink. As a history guy, its a hard place to beat. Esp if you get some of those 75 degree July days!!

  14. Alpha Wolf 02/25/2009 at 1:15 PM #

    Noah,

    It’s not your opinions. It is your personal attacks. Weak and cowardly is an argument comprised of insults and cursing, and you are certainly smart enough to know that.

    I would hope that you re-consider your position as well as the style with which you use to communcate your opinions.

  15. BoKnowsNCS71 02/25/2009 at 7:06 PM #

    Noah — please don’t drop F bombs. It makes us look like tar heel coaches. LOL

  16. TheCOWDOG 02/25/2009 at 7:28 PM #

    B.S.

    Half the take that came out of A-Wolf and Noah was over semantics. Found both of you PRICKly in your contentiuos verbage.

    No shaking hands. Round 2.

    My bad, Lent has begun.

  17. Alpha Wolf 02/25/2009 at 8:43 PM #

    Cowdog, you are probably right in that I was well over the top in my reaction. I shouldn’t allow Noah or anyone else to get my goat on a website, and I know better. Apologies to you guys for that.

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