swamprat

Hey look on the right. It's that Defense Guy!!!

Quinterrius Eatmon was in the house.

Packed house! Place is full of Bulls.

Capogna's running out of seating.

got the good camera. Mutt is setting up. 15 minutes till the party starts. Capogna's filling up.

The good camera is with my daughter, who won't be with us this year, but we'll be taking pictures as always. Brad, I'll put them up on bullsrally and you can get them from there, if need be. I'm also going to try and post pictures from the party, here, as they happen. I'm also going to try streaming video, but I haven't been able to find the bandwidth we need for a reasonable price and the free stuff is really limited.

One week to go people.

Looks redneck Nah. No shotguns or tobacco stains.

Also follow bullsrally (@USFBullsRally) on twitter for updates and party tweets from the event. or follow #bullsrally

Facebook Links... The Event Bulls Rally Group

Mutt, I'm heading over to Capogna's tomorrow after the Bullbackers meeting to check out lighting and any possible wi-fi availability. BTW, you have a new email, mutt@bullsrally.com I will send you your password and information on how to access the web mail and information to set up any email program you might use.

I asked Stuben about that the other day, when renewing mine. He told me that between the 20s there are few unreserved seats on the west side of the stadium. Most of those are owned by corporations. I do agree that the little effort it would take to keep this up, begs the question of the athletic department's commitment to it. Eric? Mike? Somebody? Please call me. I'll automate it for you. I never win anything, so complaining puts me in no jeopardy of not winning now.

Sorry man, I got a new phone so I got a new account and can't find it... Try usfmutt@hotmail.com Thx -mutt No problem. Forwarded the original message to that address along with all of my contact info.

mutt, I sent you an email, as requested, a couple of weeks ago to your gmail account.

Yet many people posting on this topic are calling for the Glazers to build OUR stadium. Prolly a story or two in the bible about this. 3 workers were promised certain pay for certain work. Two got paid what was promised and the third got more because the owner felt like it. The other 2 bitched because they didn't get extra. Was explained to them that they got what they agreed on and shouldn't be griping because the owner was generous with someone else. So just because the Glazers are being generous to Tulane, USF has NOTHING to complain about. They signed a lease agreement and that isn't being changed. Would it be NICE if the Glazers ponied up some money? Sure. But I just don't see this big controversy. Yea, the whole "they should help us build" argument is sour grapes. But the honoring of a lease is a sore point with me. The Bucs, Rays, and Bolts don't honor leases. I can't deny that. It is sour grapes, I'm afraid, though I generally tend not to be like that. This one thing just rubs me the wrong way.

This. ^^^ I agree in that they do not owe USF and USF is not entitled to anything from them. The Glazers are not obligated in any way. They are businessmen who negotiated a deal with ignorant or corrupt city/county officials and got a sweetheart deal. I also understand that building an OCS, right now, would not be fiscally responsible for USF. Nor do I think any one donor should provide the bulk of the financing or seed money to obtain financing. However, a relatively large donation to a university residing in a community from which the Glazers have benefited greatly, regardless of how ignorant or corrupt our county officials were/are, would be desirable, from my point of view, over giving anything to another institution in another community, regardless of family ties. Doing the latter, from my point of view, is like taking money from me (an USF alum), that I did not want to give (I voted against the CIT), patting me on my head, and then kicking me in the balls.

Why should it be used to better USF? If you were renting a house would you expect the rent you paid to be used to further your education or better your life in some other way? the Glazers have no connection to USF and owe the school nothing. That is not the case... the taxpayers own the stadium not the Buc's... but for whatever reason the Buc's have found a way to take it from the tax payers and take over the the (TSA) who are supposed to represent the tax payers best interests. The Buc's dictate to us how much rent we pay and how much $$ we can make and then use our rent $$ to turn around and build a new stadium for another college in another state? How does that benefit the tax payers of Florida? My main issue is not the Buc's using their $$ to build a stadium for another state's college... my issue is that the Buc's, which is a tenant of RayJay just like USF is, has a voice in dictating our rental arrangement and how much $$ we should make from it. We don't get concession $$, we don't get parking $$, and we get shafted on ticket sales as well all thanks to the Buc's by way of the TSA. I guess everyone likes getting pooped on by Ole Papa Glazer We do get parking $$$ .... Just keeping it real... and was trying to find out exactly how the ticket sales and rental agreement is set up between USF and the TSA. Maybe one of you haters can help out ... Link? Seriously, all I can find pertains to the Bucs rental agreement with TSA. "It costs the Authority $5.4 million annually to operate and maintain the venue, compared with $3.7 million for Houlihan's Stadium. The phone bill has gone from $32,000 to $135,000 because of additional phones, primarily in the press box. Insurance costs also nearly doubled. The Authority must also spend $150,000 a year to lease land for parking that it sold to raise cash for stadium construction. The parking revenue goes to the Buccaneers, which pays $3.5 million a year to lease the venue. The team also gets the first $2 million in after-expense earnings from other events at the stadium and half of all profits above $2 million.". http://football.ballparks.com/NFL/TampaBayBucs/index.htm

As a Hillsborough County tax payer, I think I have reason to have my knickers bunched. They have us pay for the stadium in which they're team plays and then they build a stadium in New Orleans? Can you wait until they even break dirt? Which do you think is cheaper? Stadium rental or stadium upkeep and future renovations? If you don't know, check the Sun Dome history. Since TSA gets a portion of the gate and the Glazers get all concessions and parking, rental verses upkeep is pretty much a wash. In fact,concessions alone would pay off financing and if done right, parking would pay for upkeep. The Sun Dome has served us well, has been well worth it's initial investment and previous upgrades, and will be more so after the current renovations. Millions in parking fees and concessions? Really? Millions for upkeep? Really? Keep in mind, if the Glazers would donate a large amount to build a stadium, there would be less to finance, thus millions would not be needed. And future renovations. So, tens of millions. Sorry. If done right, renovations would not be needed for many many years. Who do you think will have to dole out the money when Ray Jay needs upgrading? The Glazers?

As is mine.

As a Hillsborough County tax payer, I think I have reason to have my knickers bunched. They have us pay for the stadium in which they're team plays and then they build a stadium in New Orleans? Can you wait until they even break dirt? Which do you think is cheaper? Stadium rental or stadium upkeep and future renovations? If you don't know, check the Sun Dome history. Since TSA gets a portion of the gate and the Glazers get all concessions and parking, rental verses upkeep is pretty much a wash. In fact,concessions alone would pay off financing and if done right, parking would pay for upkeep. The Sun Dome has served us well, has been well worth it's initial investment and previous upgrades, and will be more so after the current renovations. Millions in parking fees and concessions? Really? Millions for upkeep? Really? Keep in mind, if the Glazers would donate a large amount to build a stadium, there would be less to finance, thus millions would not be needed.