UAB reinstates football for 2016

cuda.1973

Hall of Fame
Dec 6, 2009
8,506
607
137
Allen, Texas
Snake, I appreciate your passion. But, this has nothing to do with "hate".

You may also be surprised that some of us earned MBAs, from UAB, before the words "Gene Bartow" were even uttered on campus. Somehow, sports had nothing to do with any of us going there. (Hint: that is why it is referred to as a "commuter college". I like them so much that I went to 2 of them!)
 

Mamacalled

Hall of Fame
Dec 4, 2000
6,786
22
157
58
Pelham, Al
Wow......you would think UAB is Auburn or Tennessee with all the hate being spewed :(
Just not a fan of fake support. Very few if the people that went to a game paid for their tickets so where was the support? I am against forcing tax payers to fund 61% of their budget. If it is do vital for UAB to have a FBS football program then why do we not find Samford, Birmingham Southern, AUM and all the other universities in the state to afford a FBS football program? I also did not care for the ridiculous accusations toward the U of A our the less that Alabama wanted to shut down UAB's undergrad programs. That turned me off. Before, I would pull for UAB although I wasn't a true supporter. This just continues to prove that we are becoming a nation of entitlements.
 

Mamacalled

Hall of Fame
Dec 4, 2000
6,786
22
157
58
Pelham, Al
why doesn't AUM have a football team? Just wondering since aubies are so determined that UAB should have one.
I keep saying that if we are going to have taxpayers fund football programs and it is important for schools to have a FBS football program then go ahead a give all the universities in Alabama a FBS program. If UAB is entitled shouldn't all the other schools?
 

81usaf92

TideFans Legend
Apr 26, 2008
35,306
31,375
187
South Alabama
There were thirteen cities in the Birmingham area that promised to help fund the UAB football program. Curious as to know which cities. I'm pretty certain that Vestavia was one of those cities. So, even if you don't live in the Ham, good chance your tax dollars are going to subsidize UAB even more than they were before.
Maybe my alabama state taxes but not the taxes I pay for the city of sylacauga. I'm in talladega co. I wouldn't be surprised if vestavia or mountain brook went in with them, but ask all these suburbs chiefly Hoover and homewood if they want to go back into the Birmingham system in order to help uab to survive after being resurrected and see what they say. There is a reason Birmingham is not near as big as it was and that the suburbs make more money than it
 

Tides_of_Change

1st Team
Sep 27, 2012
459
0
0
I just don't understand why they ever made it into Div-1 (at the time) to begin with. How did they not get the memo UNC-Asheville, Texas - Corpus Christi, US -Irvine, etc, etc, etc received?
 

snake plissken

1st Team
Apr 13, 2011
578
35
47
Birmingham
Just not a fan of fake support. Very few if the people that went to a game paid for their tickets so where was the support? I am against forcing tax payers to fund 61% of their budget. If it is do vital for UAB to have a FBS football program then why do we not find Samford, Birmingham Southern, AUM and all the other universities in the state to afford a FBS football program? I also did not care for the ridiculous accusations toward the U of A our the less that Alabama wanted to shut down UAB's undergrad programs. That turned me off. Before, I would pull for UAB although I wasn't a true supporter. This just continues to prove that we are becoming a nation of entitlements.
I can remember a time during the Bill Curry years when Bama had trouble selling out games. In fact, there were billboards around Birmingham advertising tickets. Also, people were giving away tickets left and right during the Dubose and Shula years. I could always find tickets if I wanted to go to a game. I was actually at the Thursday night Southern Miss game that was postponed because on 9/11. I think there were maybe 20,000 people in the stands that night. Even Bama fans stop going to games when the team has a losing season.

UAB had Neil Calloway forced upon them as head coach and of course fans quit going to the games when the team was 3-8 and 2-9. Neil Calloway couldn't even coach O -Line at Bama, much less run a program. If UAB were to have a smaller on campus stadium and a decent coach, I believe you would see more fans at the games. Its hard to fill a dump of a stadium in a bad area when you have Neil Calloway as your coach.
 

TideEngineer08

TideFans Legend
Jun 9, 2009
36,284
30,893
187
Beautiful Cullman, AL
I can remember a time during the Bill Curry years when Bama had trouble selling out games. In fact, there were billboards around Birmingham advertising tickets. Also, people were giving away tickets left and right during the Dubose and Shula years. I could always find tickets if I wanted to go to a game. I was actually at the Thursday night Southern Miss game that was postponed because on 9/11. I think there were maybe 20,000 people in the stands that night. Even Bama fans stop going to games when the team has a losing season.

UAB had Neil Calloway forced upon them as head coach and of course fans quit going to the games when the team was 3-8 and 2-9. Neil Calloway couldn't even coach O -Line at Bama, much less run a program. If UAB were to have a smaller on campus stadium and a decent coach, I believe you would see more fans at the games. Its hard to fill a dump of a stadium in a bad area when you have Neil Calloway as your coach.
You could not be more wrong. Bryant-Denny Stadium went through 2 major expansions (East upper deck 1997-1998 and North Endzone 2005-2006) during the Mike DuBose and Mike Shula eras. Alabama always legit sold out Bryant-Denny. Were there games when the stadium wasn't full? Of course. But even then, we're talking about 80,000+ still being in attendance.

You may have your feelings about UAB's football program, but it is ridiculous to compare it to Alabama's. It's not even in the same Universe.

UAB will never, ever, under any conditions, average more than 15,000 fans a game and most of those will not be folks who bought their tickets. This isn't about hatred, or the absurd notion of fear. It's about reality and entitlement and the inability for certain folks to reconcile the two.
 

Rama Jama

All-American
Jan 4, 2011
3,303
240
82
Tuscaloosa
I think I saw somewhere that to be Division 1 you had to average 17000 fans in attendance per game. I am not sure they could get that many at a game for the season if you count only fans who actually bought a ticket.

Think about it, UAB was not brought back because there was substantial financial support from actual boosters or fans, it was brought back because tax dollars were spent to prop it up. We wonder why the city of Birmingham can't have anything nice, it's because they will figure out a way to screw it up in the long run. UAB football is just another example of the waste and corruption of the city of Birmingham. For those of you younger than I, there was a time in the not to distant past when Birmingham was considered the leading city in the southeast, even bigger than Atlanta. But 50 years of corruption have reduced it to a laughing stock. Things like propping up UAB football are the reason.
 

BamaInBham

All-American
Feb 14, 2007
4,465
2,110
187
I can remember a time during the Bill Curry years when Bama had trouble selling out games. In fact, there were billboards around Birmingham advertising tickets. Also, people were giving away tickets left and right during the Dubose and Shula years. I could always find tickets if I wanted to go to a game. I was actually at the Thursday night Southern Miss game that was postponed because on 9/11. I think there were maybe 20,000 people in the stands that night. Even Bama fans stop going to games when the team has a losing season.

UAB had Neil Calloway forced upon them as head coach and of course fans quit going to the games when the team was 3-8 and 2-9. Neil Calloway couldn't even coach O -Line at Bama, much less run a program. If UAB were to have a smaller on campus stadium and a decent coach, I believe you would see more fans at the games. Its hard to fill a dump of a stadium in a bad area when you have Neil Calloway as your coach.
Oh please, don't begin to compare UAB to Bama in any respect. And you know the 20,000 was in a driving rainstorm. You sound like the typical UAB supporter - half truths and misrepresentations.

The truth is that UAB has NEVER supported their program on a consistent basis, frankly very little support even in spurts. And this in spite of great media enthusiasm falsely generated at least in part by opposition to Bama. Even Finebaum has acknowledged the animosity of the Bham media towards Alabama. Of course partially fueled by AU and its many friends in this market.

As a UAB grad, it's my opinion that a program energized primarily by hate, resentment and paranoia has little chance of much success. And even if they have a little it would taste like sawdust. Bham is a dying city - UAB is a fitting symbol.
 

sabanball

All-American
Jan 4, 2006
2,360
41
67
55
High Cotton
I was actually at the Thursday night Southern Miss game that was postponed because on 9/11. I think there were maybe 20,000 people in the stands that night. Even Bama fans stop going to games when the team has a losing season.
I am going to call BS on this one...

I was at that game as well. The reason for low attendence at that specific game was due to the severe weather (tremendous rainfall along with tornadic activity) that afternoon and prior to kick off. The concern was that the game would be cancelled due to the severe weather (with no opportunity for a make-up game that late in the season) which would affect bowl eligibilty.
 

snake plissken

1st Team
Apr 13, 2011
578
35
47
Birmingham
Oh please, don't begin to compare UAB to Bama in any respect. And you know the 20,000 was in a driving rainstorm. You sound like the typical UAB supporter - half truths and misrepresentations.

The truth is that UAB has NEVER supported their program on a consistent basis, frankly very little support even in spurts. And this in spite of great media enthusiasm falsely generated at least in part by opposition to Bama. Even Finebaum has acknowledged the animosity of the Bham media towards Alabama. Of course partially fueled by AU and its many friends in this market.

As a UAB grad, it's my opinion that a program energized primarily by hate, resentment and paranoia has little chance of much success. And even if they have a little it would taste like sawdust. Bham is a dying city - UAB is a fitting symbol.
So it was the rain huh? Didn't have anything to do with Bama going 3-8 that year and losing to Auburn the week before? I was out there supporting Bama, where were the rest of the fans? It all comes down to winning and losing, fans like to support winners.
 

snake plissken

1st Team
Apr 13, 2011
578
35
47
Birmingham
I am going to call BS on this one...

I was at that game as well. The reason for low attendence at that specific game was due to the severe weather (tremendous rainfall along with tornadic activity) that afternoon and prior to kick off. The concern was that the game would be cancelled due to the severe weather (with no opportunity for a make-up game that late in the season) which would affect bowl eligibilty.
Bowl eligibility at 3-8?
 

KrAzY3

Hall of Fame
Jan 18, 2006
10,615
4,540
187
44
kraizy.art
Who cares how many fans were at one Alabama game? Alabama football makes tens of millions of dollars in profit. UAB football would not exist it not for taxpayer subsidies. There's no real comparison. I do get why UAB fans (I think we should just say public officials instead of fans at this point) would make the comparison though, there's a deep jealousy of Alabama football and delusions that they one day will have that kind of support.

Edit: Let's try to put this into another context. Let's say you have a public school with no students, no one wants to attend, it sucks, so it just sits there empty. But, the justification for keeping it open is that some other place students do go to school, and magically, one day, students might just show up. That's apparently the logic for the government keeping UAB football going.
 
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snake plissken

1st Team
Apr 13, 2011
578
35
47
Birmingham
I am not arguing anymore with fellow Bama fans on a Bama message board about UAB. I am just glad I'm open minded enough to support 2 teams in my own state who are not rivals. Thankfully, I don't have this arrogant, self righteous attitude that seems to be prevalent among this fan base. And some people wonder why Bama is disliked by other fan bases throughout the country. Case in point, this hatred towards a sister school.
 

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