Thank you Birmingham!

[CoolBull1]

For pretty much nothing....one of the Birmingham sports writers mentioned in his article that Birmingham didn't want this game.

Interesting that a city could say no to whatever economic impact a game could bring when it is obvious that the city is deteriorating from the inside out.  Downtown is crumbling....UAB is in shambles....what are you guys thinking?

Eve 15,000 people spending at least $400 each (hard not to) birngs $6,000,000 in hard cash before you even consider the true impact.  Your hotels need that, your restaurants need that, your PEOPLE need that.  A banner?  An organized downtown event at 5 points?  Something?  For the sake of the teams that come next year (Lord knows I hope it's not us again) wake up and do SOMETHING.  Call Charlotte...they at least had some plans.

[Guest JulmisteForPrez]

You guys are entitled to your opinions, but I didn't see Birmingham in quite as poor of a light as some of you.

Does it have it's crappy parts?  Sure.  Every city does (Tampa especially).  

Now, I definitely agree that the bowl game and the organization thereof was less than stellar, to put it mildly.  Not sure they even want to keep the bowl game, but if they do, they had better step it up BIG TIME.

But as for Birmingham itself, I think it's a decent city.

[CoolBull1]

I did also until this trip...the city has gone down in the last two years.  My sister lives there and she feels the same way.  

B'ham is now the 6th most dangerous city in America....the city does need some serious economic stimulation too.  Overall, everybody was very courteous and friendly but there was such an unawareness of the game that is was disappointing.

[flsportsfan83]

That city and bowl blows........ lets go to BCS or Charlotte next year.

[USF03]

Forget MCCB.. Gator or BCS!

[Sitting_BULL]

Forget MCCB.. Gator or BCS!

That's what I was going to say.  BCS obviously is first choice, but the Gator Bowl is relatively close (would get a decent turnout), nice stadium, downtown on the River would be nice for bowl activities, etc, etc.

[TBBull717]

I feel the same way, besides 5 points there was absolutely nothing. The only thing we saw was churches and abandoned buildings. We rolled in at 7:30 am and asked a cop where we could get some good southern cooking for breakfast, he responded by saying shoney's (lol).

[usfgrad84]

First of all, for all the shortcomings, I will take the the Papajohns.com bowl and Birmingham over sitting home with no bowl anytime.  Crappy venue or not, it still gives us another month of Bulls football.  

That being said, as a longtime college football fan I was glad to get to go to a game at Legion Field.  I hope we don't have to go back for a long while.  I could care less about the creature comforts of the stadium and I'd probably be thrilled to see USF play a bowl game in a decrepit, 2nd rate high school stadium (my wife and kids wouldn't agree with that though).  However, I would have hoped that the bowl atmosphere would have been a bit more exciting and at least coordinated with the city of Birmingham.  For me, the pregame atmosphere wasn't even as exciting as a regular season away game.  My only basis for comparison is the Meineke Car Care Bowl last year where there was a citywide buzz from the moment we arrived in town.  The first thing I noticed when arriving at the hotel on Friday night was a complete lack of anything bowl related.  Nothing. Nada. Zippo outside the hotel.  One or two banners inside the atrium of the hotel was about it.  Just a weird atmosphere.

For all the ******** and complaining about attendance.  We could always use more fans, but in this case it's probably a  good thing we didn't bring 10,000.  We might not have eaten for a couple of days.  After the game we went to a restaurant in 5 points at about 6:00 and they were pretty much out of food.  My 6 year old even tried to order some pickles and they had run out.

I understand it was the holiday weekend, but we tried to go to the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame after the game and that was closed as were a couple of other things we tried to do.  Isn't the idea of hosting a bowl game supposed to be to bring in revenue and tourism to a city?  Seems like someone forgot to tell the people of Birmingham.  

Some of the people on this board like to complain about our poor ability to travel (and rightly so) and how it may affect us getting future bowl invites.  That is very true, but another aspect I hadn't considered before this trip is that if a city wants to attract teams to their bowl, they should support it as well by promoting the bowl as a citywide event to get further attendance and to partipate by opening itself up and welcoming the visiting teams to make the visitors feel like they want to return.  

I'll be back to every bowl we play anywhere anytime, but I think Birmingham will be a tough sell to the casual USF football fan after a couple of bowl appearances and the newness of it all wears off.

[CoolBull1]

[highlight]After the game we went to a restaurant in 5 points at about 6:00 and they were pretty much out of food.  My 6 year old even tried to order some pickles and they had run out.[/highlight]

Must have been Jim & Nicks or whatever that place was called...they were also out of ribs by 6:45!

[bulldad10]

[highlight]After the game we went to a restaurant in 5 points at about 6:00 and they were pretty much out of food.  My 6 year old even tried to order some pickles and they had run out.[/highlight]

Must have been Jim & Nicks or whatever that place was called...they were also out of ribs by 6:45!

We were at Jim and Nicks after the game as well.  Had to be soemtime BEFORE 6PM and we were told they were out of pulled pork!  It was going to be 45 minutes before any more was ready.  Had the turkey though and it was pretty good.