Congrats to Memphis on Spring Fling

[OSHSman]

Red,

I think that part of the success of the Preds can be atributed to the number of Northern transplants in the area. I'm not from Nashville and I don't visit often, but I've found that most transplants move to large cities (I'm from Detroit and we gravitated to the Metro Knoxville area.) Take into consideration that the Saturn plant is not to far away in Spring Hill. Look at most NHL teams in the south. Atlanta -lots of transplants. The two Florida teams - Florida has turned into the North's personal retirement home. I don't know much about Carolina, but it's really taken off there. Also, Alabama-Huntsville has a varsity hockey program that competes in the College Hockey America (CHA) conference which is slated to recieve an automatic bid for it's tournament champion in the 2003 NCAA tournament. Tennessee had a club hockey program a few years ago, I've not heard that much about them ever since the Speed took over the Civic Coliseum in Knoxville two years ago (and what a debacle that has been!) I went to a game where they played Vandy's club team.

[Opperman]

Sourone, I live in Bartlett. It's about 15 miles from Bartlett to Germantown (I live in the older part of Bartlett, near the HS), and I've gone from Bartlett to Germantown at rush hour in 40-45 mins before. If you want a real rush hour, you should try going to Chicago, Atlanta, someplace like that. Memphis rush hour is nothing.

 

And BTW, I did make a mistake when giving driving times...it would never take even an hour to go from Mike Rose to USA Stadium in Millington or vice versa...I hadn't thought through the best way to travel between the two...it'd be an hour or so if you tried to go through town, but if you take TN-385 to I-40 to TN-205 south to Collierville and you're there in 30 mins with virtually no traffic whatsoever.

 

Rollredroll, the baseball park in Memphis is downtown. However, downtown Memphis is a LONG way from the population center of Memphis...at least 5-10 miles, and it's even further from the money center of Memphis, which is more like 12-15 miles (and in the suburbs east of the city). The Memphis area grew north and east, it hasn't grown west into Arkansas. It has just recently started growing south into Mississippi. This compared with metro Nashville, which grew out from the middle of town in all directions.

 

Most residents of suburban Memphis didn't really go downtown before AutoZone Park was built...I went downtown maybe once or twice a year other than University of Memphis basketball games at the Pyramid. Now, I work at AutoZone Park.

 

Honestly, rollredroll, I expected someone to point out the age and condition argument immediately. My counter to that is that the Sounds are averaging barely a third (3804) what the Redbirds are (10640), while the Grizzlies averaged 373 a game less than the Predators did, for a far inferior product.

 

Side note...I too love hockey...I wish I could make it up to Nashville to catch the Predators play the Blues sometime, but during most of hockey season I'm about 7 hours away and it just wouldn't make any sense to try. Hockey is probably the most fun sport to attend (NFL is the only other one that can compete if you're a fan of hockey), but it's hard to make hockey work in a market that doesn't know hockey...I argue with my boss all the time about hockey and how it's great, but he refuses to watch it because he just doesn't know hockey. I think over time the Grizzlies will be a successful team...especially with Jerry West calling the shots, I think they will be a very good team in about 4 years max. I do agree that if the Grizzlies fail, which they won't, it will be a big black eye on the state.

 

OSHSman, as coacht said, if you're going to allow cities across the state to bid for the event, how can you justify giving it to a lesser bid? If Memphis would be a non-option, why don't you cut through all the BS and say so on the front end, saving everybody a lot of time. Besides, the TSSAA gives the schools half the revenue. Why are you ignoring that part of it? BTW, from all indications, Memphis's bid was simply THAT MUCH BETTER than those of Jackson and Nashville/Murfreesboro. I'm sure they did take geography into account...while it's one of the more important things, it's not the be-all end-all, and when all other things were considered, Memphis's advantage in everything else outweighed the geography.

 

And oh yeah...hockey never really took off in Carolina until they started winning in the playoffs. They averaged 15,508 a game, good for 24th in the 30-team league. Atlanta was 28th. The cities where hockey draws are all on the east coast, in the Midwest, in Canada, or named Dallas, Colorado, or San Jose. The southern teams in the NHL rank 18th, 20th, 24th, 26th, and 28th (you can add 6th for Dallas if you really want to stretch it).

[OSHSman]

Opperman,

I don't care if TSSAA gives half the money to the schools. Schools should recieve enough money to cover their expenses. TSSAA should make enough money to cover their expenses. If you're in high school athletics to make money, you're in it for the wrong reasons and I personally think someone should give you a swift kick to the nads and show you the door. Think about this for a second.

 

1.) Memphis got it because of money, as a result parents and fans of schools around and east of Knoxville will spend more money to see their offspring/friends compete in a once in a lifetime event. I know people from the west complain about going to Chattanooga, but the drive from Unicoi Co. to Memphis is much harder than the drive from Memphis to Chattanooga.

 

2.) The expansion to 8 teams is only about money as well. More teams w/ more fans means more gate revenue. Also, expanding to 8 teams kind of waters the tournament down. Don't get me wrong, playing in the state is still a great honor, but making it to a 4 team tournament is harder. All they've done is take away some of the luster to the regional championship games.

[Opperman]

1) I don't think people should be in high school athletics to make money either. I also don't think more money for the athletics programs is a bad thing, seeing as how they won't always meet their budgets without any money from school districts, etc.

 

2) If Unicoi County put together the best bid and had the requisite facilities to host, then by all means, they should be able to host it. I would, and probably will this December, drive to Orlando to watch Bartlett play...I would go, schedule permitting, to the state regardless of where in TN it was held (though my schedule permits more during basketball season than the spring sports, driving distance wouldn't be a factor in whether or not I went...it would be a matter of not having to work and finding relatively cheap lodging).

 

3) The expansion to 8 teams makes boys' soccer and baseball just like basketball, wrestling, softball, girls' soccer, and volleyball. I haven't heard any complaints of these sports being watered down because of 8 teams making it. And if you're worried about taking luster away from the regional championship game, let's take this one step further. Make the stat etournament a straight single-elimination deal. District champion plays district champion in the regional game (not tournament, game), loser goes home, winner goes to Memphis.

[sourone]

Now that makes good sense Opperman. Single elimination real smart teams travel 600 miles pay all that expense for 1 game.Host city lose money TSSAA loses their all important dollar. 15 mile from Bartlet to Germantown in 45 minutes now that is making real time.So the athletes are staying on camus at Univ. Memphis to be at games a hour early needs to plan on at least i hour travel time right.How long does it take you to get from Aotozone park home during rush hour if it takes your 45 minutes to get to Germantown? Who bid on the tournament Memphis or Shelby County as it seems that there are several towns involved. Was everybody else informed this bid that could be spread over cities that are 30 and 40 miles apart.Little extra money on the side maybe.Memphis does have lots to offer.Drive to Tunica 1.5 hours.Go to Mud Island $10.00 parking $2.00 per pewrson to ride monorail to it then.Better not be a vegeterian or not eat pork because you are going to go hungry if you are.Play a game 2 hours, 2 hours travel x 2 6 hours or longer for 1 event doesn't leave much time to see any other events does it?

[OSHSman]

Opperman,

The state tournament will never be single elimination and they will never take just the district winners instead of the winners and the runners-up. The reason is simple, $$$.

Take only the district champions and you eliminate one of the regional games which means TSSAA looses money. A single elimination tournament means less games, therefore, less revenue. There's also another issue nobody is addressing. Pitching. A softball pitcher could possibly throw three or four games in a day. When you throw the ball over hand it's a good idea to go at least three days between starts. Expanding the tournament to eight teams over a week will only depleat a team's rotation more than it already is.

 

Also, if Erwin (Unicoi Co.) got Spring Fling I'd be on here screaming the same arguements, it wouldn't make sense, just as Memphis doesn't make sense.

[Edited by OSHSman on 6/12/02 12:12P]

[swamp]

I don't want this to turn into a political board either, since we already have two or three threads on the football board addressing state budget concerns. There's a vote list at http://www.taxfreetennessee.com , and a huge chunk of the 45 "Yes" votes came from West TN, roughly 10% in Shelby and surrounding counties. As for Nashville vs. Memphis, I'll still take rural East Tennessee. College hockey in the south - like somebody already said, UAH is it! I agree with OSHS, if Erwin, Bristol, or Elizabethton won the bid, the problems would be the same... and likely the West TN supporters on the board would be just as unhappy as the upper easterners. I never liked Chatt for the Spring Fling because of geography either. But, that being said, Union City to Chattanooga is shorter than Bristol or Mountain City to Memphis!

[Opperman]

Sourone, I didn't phrase that quite the way I wanted to...it was late. Maybe this will be clearer: You put every team in the state in a single-elimination tournament. Every game is an elimination game. Basically, you have the district tournament, then the district winner plays the next district winner in the regional game, then the quarterfinals and on are in the state tournament. I think the way I brought it up showed that it wasn't really a serious suggestion.

 

It takes me 30 minutes to get from my home to AutoZone at rush hour...it takes 45 minutes to get from Bartlett to Germantown at rush hour, about 25 or so the rest of the time.

 

The bid was made by the Memphis/Shelby County Sports Authority. That said, the venues are all in Memphis except for USA Stadium in Millington. Mike Rose Soccer Complex is near, but not in, Collierville.

 

The venues involved aren't 30 or 40 miles apart! They just aren't! You can get from any venue to any other venue in an hour max at rush hour (unless something really strange — along the lines of a semi overturning and closing the Interstate — happens) and 30-45 minutes any other time of the day!

 

There's a lot more to do in Memphis than you give credit for, sourone. Admission to Mud Island is free. The monorail is OPTIONAL, you can walk across for free...you can park elsewhere downtown for less money (heck, there's a garage just down the street that's $3-$3.50 for all-day parking) and walk or take the trolley (50 cents each way). Besides Mud Island and going to Tunica, there's Graceland, Shelby Farms, the National Civil Rights Museum, Overton Park, Memphis in May, the Children's Museum, Chucalissa State Park, the Dixon Gallery, the Pink Palace Museum, Lichterman Nature Center, Brooks Museum of Art, the Wonders series, shows at the Orpheum, Sun Studio, the riverboats, Beale Street, going to a movie, going shopping at the Peabody Place, Wolfchase Galleria, or any number of other places in town, watching the Redbirds at AutoZone Park if they're in town, the Rock 'N' Soul Museum, Gibson Guitar Factory, seeing the ducks at the Peabody, going to eat at the Rendezvous or any number of other restaurants in town, the Handy Performing Arts Park, the Fire Museum, the Memphis Belle, the Police Museum, National Academy of the Recording Arts and Sciences, Slavehaven Underground Railroad home (the Jacob Burkle estate), the WC Handy House Museum, and that's just a start.

 

OSHS, I never seriously suggested that we should go with a straight single-elim tournament. If you're worried about taking luster away, why do you not care that the district championship game is generally meaningless?

 

Swamp, I found that about an hour after I posted. RGE posted that most of the support for the income tax came from Memphis...11 of the 45 yes votes were from Memphis and Shelby County. That is nowhere near "most" of the yes votes.

[TheEgoHasLanded]

Good list on the things to do in Memphis...I don't think these people realize how big Memphis in May really is...there is so much music for the kids its amazing, or the southern barbeque festival...these people are so negative and dont realize that the other 99% of the teams that aren't going to state would gladly fill their place. As I stated earlier, there are many kids whose lives are cut short because of injuries who never get to experience a state tournament, yet people get on here and complain about things that are still 11months in advance, might not even include their team, and have never even been to Memphis at all.

 

Parking is not 10 dollars, you can go to peabody place and watch a movie at muvico and park free for 3 hours, in fact movies are only 4 dollars I think on fridays, and Beale Street is now world famous (or that is what they say)...there is more things to do in Memphis then there is to do in Chattanooga, I have been to Chatt, and I am about to stay there for the upcoming school year, so I think I would know...I'm sorry you people have to spend another 2 or 3 hours in the car...while everyone else who didn't make it has to stay at home reviewing old tapes and wondering what if...man you guys got it really tough, I don't know how you do it.

[CoachT]

Opperman- the only thing I know of that you left out is the Butcher Shop Restaurant. Best steak I have ever eaten. Please don't tell me it isn't there any more.

[CoachT]

On a much more serious note than my last post:

 

I hope every team that gets the opportunity to go to Memphis can take the time to drop by St. Jude's Childrens Hospital and visit with the kids there. It is a fantastic place and a VERY humbling experience. It will make you feel very fortunate to have what you have.

[Opperman]

lol coacht, I've never eaten there...I've heard it's great, but I've never had it. It's still there, though. I'll have to try to push for having my birthday dinner there or something.