Bulldog Nation turns up its nose at Shreveport
(Independence Bowl)
Admittedly, most UGA fans aren’t too thrilled about the Dogs spending the postseason in Shreveport, but I’m thinking this is probably the least enthused I’ve ever seen the Georgia fan base about a bowl game.
The latest indication is the wince-inducing report in the Athens Banner-Herald that not only does UGA still have about 5,000 unsold tickets to the Independence Bowl, but some of the nearly 6,900 that have been sold so far have gone to Texas A&M fans. The paper reports that after the Aggies sold out their allotment of 12,000 tickets, the school’s athletics Web site encouraged A&M fans to buy tickets at Georgiadogs.com. “Let’s MAROON out the Georgia allotment,” is how they put it.
Tim Cearley, UGA’s director of ticket operations, confirms to the ABH that “a lot of the stuff that we’ve mailed out in the past few days has had Texas mailing addresses on them,” though he makes an attempt to save face by adding: “but we do have a lot of alums out there, too.”
Of course, travel time for Aggies fans to Shreveport is a lot less than for Dogs fans. And it doesn’t help that the game is on the Monday after Christmas; a weekend date probably would be selling a bit better among the UGA faithful.
Still, there’s no denying the malaise in the Bulldog Nation concerning this game. The years when any bowl was considered a reward at season’s end are long gone in these parts. We’ve frankly become spoiled by all those New Year’s Day games Mark Richt’s teams have played in. So any minor bowl would be a disappointment. And the fact that it’s the former “Weedeater Bowl” in the nonexciting location of Shreveport just makes it worse.
There’s no doubt that just about any of the other bowls parceled out to 7-5 SEC teams this year would be selling better among those in red and black. But when you lose to Kentucky at home, this is what you get.
Some have expressed concern that a weak showing of Georgia fans at the game in Shreveport will hurt UGA in future years when it comes to bowl selection. In other words, that it will indicate we don’t “travel” well.
But I wouldn’t worry too much about that. I think bowl officials are savvy enough to know that Georgia fans view the Independence Bowl differently from other bowls. The fact that Florida is having trouble selling out its allotment for the Sugar Bowl looks a lot worse in comparison.
And Dogs fans can take comfort in the fact that at least this game isn’t played on blue turf.
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355 comments Add your comment
DawgGirl32
December 22nd, 2009
11:08 am
Our showing in Arizona should be more than enough to prove that we have great fans. Arizona will never forget us. Neither will Oklahoma.
Like you said,Bill. We’ve been spoiled.
Tech fans are just silly
December 22nd, 2009
11:10 am
Congrats Tech fans on having 1 good season since lord knows when. Your team beat UGA by 3 last year and then got crushed by a weak LSU team. This year you won your conference championship against a team that just lost to another weak SEC team, just like you guys. Tech’s program is not at UGA’s level, not even close. We had 1 bad year and we still beat you. Take a look at recruiting. Tech is not in the top 25 based on any source. You may get a good player or two, but not 15-20 like UGA does. No matter how far back you go, UGA still has the better program. This upcoming decade will be no different. We are like Penn St. and you like Pitt. We are like Texas and you are TT. We are OU and you OSU. It’s just plain silly for you guys to even think that you are a formidable program. I would have thought that Tech fans would be really good at logic and critical thinking. oh yeah….30-24, 8-1.
I hate L-Dawg
December 22nd, 2009
11:10 am
Thank you, Bill, for that eloquent smack of North Avenue. He is probably Saint Simon’s or m in disguise (since they are too embarassed to show up anymore)
I hate L-Dawg
December 22nd, 2009
11:11 am
Fun Guide, thanks for the link!! And here I thought there was nothing exciting about the big Shreve
Bright Idea
December 22nd, 2009
11:12 am
How many Techies will be in the Orange Bowl compared to Hawkeyes? Oh, I forgot, Tech already made that trip once this season. It was too hot for them. And we thought 30-24 would shut them up.
RAND McNALLEY
December 22nd, 2009
11:12 am
SHREVEPORT = 9 HOURS WEST ON I-20 FROM ATLANTA
bulldog in carolina
December 22nd, 2009
11:13 am
Enter your comments here
Ed
December 22nd, 2009
11:14 am
Road, you don’t get to talk trash to fans of the team that just beat you, especially if that team has won 8 of 9 and has a big lead in the overall series.
“We had you where we wanted you but dropped the ball” doesn’t excuse the fact that Tech lost, at home, to one of the sorriest Georgia teams in a decade or more. Besides, catching the ball is a fundamental part of the passing game.
For God’s sakes, have some dignity, Man.
Brian
December 22nd, 2009
11:14 am
Todd’s post is a classic…LMAO. How’s that Nerd nation
Diggity Dawg
December 22nd, 2009
11:14 am
See you there, Oh Well. I’ll be the guy wearing red and black. (Usually, that’s a joke; maybe not this time.)
1eyedJack
December 22nd, 2009
11:15 am
Atta boy, Bill, show some fire!
roge
December 22nd, 2009
11:15 am
All these 30-24 comments! One game doesn’t make a season. I’m a fan of neither, but Tech is the best team this year.
bulldog in carolina
December 22nd, 2009
11:16 am
at least we ended season with win…not an 18 point blowout like the gators and bringing a top 10 rating in to your arch rival game-losing=remainder of games meaningless a la teck…however you did nail it…lose to kentucky at home and the weedeater beckons…if we are motivated at all should beat the aggies…next year’s schedule is more florida/alabama like
Otto
December 22nd, 2009
11:19 am
Bill with the backhand lol
I put in for Papa Johns and Music City Tix. Shreveport is a day drive there and another back for a mediocre Tx A&M without the defensive staff during a hard economy after a season that was a let down. In short I would travel to any SEC contracted bowl but the Indy, its just not worth the effort and expense. I would rather save for the Boulder Trip next season.
Brian
December 22nd, 2009
11:20 am
Roge..when your talking head to head with a rival…30-24 is all that matters….
Joe
December 22nd, 2009
11:21 am
wow- looks like Road moved on…..tail between his legs
rob
December 22nd, 2009
11:23 am
Who wants to go to Shreveport? I’m just hoping to watch another snow bowl like the last time I watched A&M play in Shreveport from the warmth and friendly confines of NRT.
LAKE OCONEE DAWG
December 22nd, 2009
11:25 am
North Avenue Trade School
You might be going to South Beach, but you will have to tote that November 28 A$$ WHIPPING all the way to South Beach and back, and when you get back you will have to tote that A$$ WHIPPING another 300 plus days….And don’t add those national championships back during WW2 when they wore leather helmets when you start comparing GA and GT….GT will never be UGA in football, and you know that. You’ll win about 1 out of every 8, but this year even at a home game at the “JOKE BY COKE” you couldn’t get it done…I know, you only recruit the smart guys or the game didn’t matter…..That is so weak…..Win one for Pugnacious Paul down in South Beach so he won’t have to blame it on the defense again…He has always blamed his losses on the defense, never the offense who can’t catch a simple 10 yard out route….Pug could use a bowl win after that LSU THRASHING from last year in the Chick-fil-A bowl….
Mikey
December 22nd, 2009
11:25 am
45-19 45-19 45-19 45-19 45-19 45-19 45-19 45-19 45-19 45-19….anyone remember that score…..ahahahahahahahahahahah….shreveport!!!! Have fun losers! I mean doggs! HAHAHAHAHAHA
Mark "Crimson Crier" Ingram
December 22nd, 2009
11:28 am
Get use to it doggie fans! You’ll be back at a December bowl in 2010!
The cure is to either have state TV blackouts if both teams do not sellout their allotment of tickets and/or reduce the number of bowl games. There’s entirely too many. 6-6 and 7-5 teams should not be bowl eligible!
EricADawgfFan
December 22nd, 2009
11:28 am
Let’s face it. If the Dawgs are not playing in a Bowl Game at the very least on January 1, then any Bowl before that is just plain useless, and a waste of money.
james
December 22nd, 2009
11:30 am
GA fans do what they want to to do. They go 7-5 and they can claim that they are playing for a National Championship. If they win they will call themselves National Champs, have a trophy made up and rings. Its a wonderful life for a UGA fan. I am the President of the United States.
cherokee
December 22nd, 2009
11:30 am
NIck……Tech will be on the Blue Turf before UGA is,.. book it and bet the mortgage
Oh Well
December 22nd, 2009
11:32 am
anyone named Mikey had got to be an idiot. What are you, 12?
cherokee
December 22nd, 2009
11:32 am
james …what are you drinking this morning?
Rock
December 22nd, 2009
11:33 am
I would have gone to any of the other bowls (even the Birmingham pizza bowl) but you can’t get to Shreveport from Atlanta.
CatsFly
December 22nd, 2009
11:33 am
I think the point is – Aggie fans love their team win or lose. UGa fans only love the dawgs when they stroke their egos.
june
December 22nd, 2009
11:33 am
Yes, if the Gator Bowl hadn’t f-ed everything up just to accommodate an undeserving FSU team for Bowden’s sake, we’d be in a much better bowl. But the flip side is we deserve this bowl. What better message to send to the players to stop moronic penalties and bonehead turnovers than a trip to this bowl?
Starring Kam Fong as Chin Ho
December 22nd, 2009
11:35 am
The stupidity of most Tech fans never ceases to amaze me. That said, I’ll be in Boulder, Co next year but I am not traveling to the bowl game this year. I would have gone to the Peach or Music City, but family obligations and 2 new grandchildren pull rank over a lower tier bowl. If Ga expected to have fans in the seats they should have won a game or two more than they did and been awarded a better bowl
OUT & PROUD!!!
December 22nd, 2009
11:35 am
have fun in Shreveport puppy fans!!! I’ll be in Miami with my Tech fraternity brothers making out with beautiful, hairless, exotic men for an entire week!!
Bo Williams
December 22nd, 2009
11:35 am
Well, it won’t be all that long before UGa fans will flock to sunny Fl to watch their arses get whipped yet again.
MuddleDawg
December 22nd, 2009
11:37 am
Most UGA fans understand what is happening. This bowl game isn’t a reward, for a change it is a punishment. And a well deserved punishment at that.
Minnesota Dawg
December 22nd, 2009
11:37 am
Wish I could be at the game. If we had traveled to College Station, Tx where my wife is from this year for Christmas, we probably would have gone. Come on dawg fans get to the game! A&M has a lot of tradition and will be there in full force. They are on the way up and got the fans who are raring to go. Their band is awesome and their cheers unique. I’ve been to a game and was impressed with their spirit. We need to finish the job and not count this bowl as some little thing. It’s a privilege and honor to be in any bowl. Only a few teams get to go to one. Go Dawgs!!
uga_b
December 22nd, 2009
11:42 am
Unfortunately, as fans, we can only voice our displeasure with our pocketbooks. I went to the Arkansas, Florida, and Vandy games in addition to all of the home games. However, I am not buying bowl tickets to send as much of a message as I can send. I still support the team, but the Atheletic Department needs to work harder to give them a chance to win. Sometimes being a real fan means staying home.
Mikey
December 22nd, 2009
11:43 am
Obviously the imposter at 11:25 isnt the real Mikey.
The real Mikey is a Dawg fan.
Go away and get your own screen name you imtposer.
German accent
December 22nd, 2009
11:43 am
But the Blue Turf bowl is where you deserve to be.
Mikey
December 22nd, 2009
11:43 am
Imposter…sorry.
Mikey
December 22nd, 2009
11:45 am
Dear oh well- I am the real Mikey and no sir I am over 50.
It’s a nickname and I have had it all my life.
Joe
December 22nd, 2009
11:48 am
well well well Mark Crimson Crier Ingram…..lets talk about your banner year just a couple of years ago when LA Monroe beat you….LA Monroe….REALLY? LA Monroe in Tuscaloosa? wow- you have room to talk
Shreveport Bound!
December 22nd, 2009
11:50 am
Pass up shreveport? Are you serious???? Tractor pulls, free spit cup as you enter the stadium, cold PBR at the clubs near the Motel 6!! What else could you want from a bowl game? Plus, I heard yesterday that the McDonalds near the freeway stays open till midnight, for late night hunger!!!!! Come on over dawgs, it’ll be a rewarding time!!!!
I shouda, woulda hit Charles Scott Had I just known
December 22nd, 2009
11:51 am
My years at UGA were the initially the 67 Liberty Bowl and we lost to NC State and their loud mouthed Qb Jim Donnan.
We in 68 played in the fine Sugar Bowl and were 8-0-2 and were ranked #4 and played Arkansas
(# 9?) with a fine bunch of big time athletes and even though we were a better team led by Qb Mike Cavan ( who beat out Archie Manning for SEC Soph of the year ) and Jake Scott, Brad Johnson and a totally great UGA team ………we LOST.
We in 69 played Nebraska in the mighty Sun Bowl and LOST to a team that in 70,71 and maybe 72, won the NC. In the Sun, we got blown out like 47-3. We were 5-5-1 that lousy year and this year reminds me of that year.
In the 71 Gator, we defeated a decent NC team like 10-3. We were 10-1 that year.
This dismal bowl record was MY UGA years. 2009? Similar and we nealry belw Vince Dololey out of his cleats with that record but it was not until 75 and 76 did UGA have teams worth talking about.
My point? NCAA football is cyclical folks. Get used to it. No none likes it but that is the way it is.
UGA ought to handle Texas A& M but then, who knows what team will even show up???
Go Dogs.
Sam
December 22nd, 2009
11:54 am
Tech fans are so funny. They spend an entire year crowing about owning the Dawgs and then promptly lose, making UGA 8-1 against Tech. They got their one win per decade (almost). Now they are crowing about going to the Orange Bowl. Let’s see the last time Tech played in one of the major bowls (for the purpose of this I will count Sugar, Rose, Orange, Cotton and Fiesta) was when? 1966! Let’s see how many of the above UGA has played in since then:
1966 Cotton Bowl
1976 Cotton Bowl
1977 Sugar Bowl
1981 Sugar
1982 Sugar
1983 Sugar
1984 Cotton
2003 Sugar
2006 Sugar
2008 Sugar
Knelson
December 22nd, 2009
11:54 am
longdog, you’re playing in the bowl you deserve ! You may have beaten a top 10 team but you also got your tails KICKED by Tennessee and Florida. You lost to teams not even close to the top 25 and were LUCKY to have beaten Arkansas! Next year looks like the same bowl !
Road Scholar
December 22nd, 2009
11:58 am
TFAJS: And you did what with all those “best signees” this past year? Top 25 class? What, in underage alcoholics and pathetic drivers? Oh and Dr Phil is still available to be your DC!
Robert
December 22nd, 2009
12:02 pm
No one wants to go right after Christmas to watch the Dawgs in Shreveport. Its expensive and quite a distance to travel. Plus, everyone’s gotta 50in flatscreen to watch the game in HD from the comfort of their own home.
Weedeater Bound
December 22nd, 2009
12:03 pm
All this is due to the fact that UGA failed to be eligible to go to the Outback. Beating a top 10 team on the road to finish the season isn’t nearly as impressive as being tied for the worst record in your division. WAR EAGLE
Chuck Uga
December 22nd, 2009
12:03 pm
Bill King, you should work for CNN since you obviously have a Masters Degree in “Spin.” We are in a RECESSION, Shreveport is not affordably reached via air, it is an 8-hour drive from Atlanta from what I understand, and a Nobel Prize for Stupidity should be awarded to the individual(s) who EVER concocted the idea of hosting a college bolw game in Shreveport. Heck, why not have one in Chattanooga? Same difference. If the game were closer, Dawg fans would attend. Period. This will NOT hurt UGA in bowl selections in the future. I also heard (you can confirm) this is the final year of an SEC tie-in to the Independence Bowl. Thank goodness, but too bad because that is where Tennessee would be headed in 2010 (if they can even win 6 games). I would enjoy the laugh since they seem to think they will be “better” in 2010.
GT Joe
December 22nd, 2009
12:05 pm
LOL. Stupid dogs are complaining about how the gator or the outback bowl screwed them.
GT is complaining about the FIESTA bowl screwing up our potential matchup against #3 TCU in the ORANGE bowl. HAHAHA. How times have changed…
Knelson
December 22nd, 2009
12:05 pm
Georgia, you finished tied for 3rd in the SEC with the team that blew you out. That puts you in 4th place in the SEC East and you feel you are not in the right bowl? Many dont feel you deserve that one !
Chuck Uga
December 22nd, 2009
12:05 pm
WAR EAGLE, apparently you people don’t take Math classes at Auburn. Who tied for the worst record in their division? Certainly not UGA. You have no room to talk. You lost to Georgia AND Kentucky!