Noon Games are for the Birds
By: Roy Philpott
In what is usually the slowest time of the year for schools not playing in the NCAA Baseball Tournament, the ACC provided some news Tuesday by announcing the start times for each of Clemson's first three football games:
Clemson vs. Alabama - The Georgia Dome - Aug. 30 - 8:00 PM (ABC)
Clemson vs. The Citadel - Death Valley - Sept. 6 - 3:30 PM (ESPN 360)
Clemson vs. N.C. State - Death Valley - Sept. 13 - Noon (Raycom)
The Alabama game, as expected, will kickoff at 8 PM in the Georgia Dome in front of a national television audience on ABC.
Not bad. Not bad at all.
Somewhat surprisingly, The Citadel game won't be at noon or 1 o'clock but rather at 3:30 and it will be televised on ESPN's 415th channel- ESPN 360.
Again- sounds pretty good. The Citadel would usually be a team that generally wouldn't warrant television consideration and would kick around 1 o'clock.
But then there's game No. 3- against N.C. State.
The Tigers and Wolfpack will do battle in Death Valley on Sept. 13, 2008 shortly after 12 noon.
That's September, a summer month where temperatures usually reach 90-plus degrees on any given day.
That's noon, meaning the game will be played during the hottest time of the day.
That's noon, meaning someone who has to drive two hours or more from another part of South Carolina or surrounding states, who also wants to tailgate for an hour or two, is likely waking up at 6 AM to pile into the car to try and make it on time.
Simply put, noon games in September are wrong on so many levels.
Believe me, I understand that Raycom has some massive contract with the ACC and has to televise at least one game for each school every season and noon is probably the only time slot it can get in today's sports-crazed-televised world.
But as much as I love college football, and Clemson football, I absolutely despise noon games.
It's too hot- the average temperature for Sept. 13 is 84 degrees, but I promise it won't be that "cool" this year. In fact, the hottest temperature on record for Sept. 13 is actually 95 degrees, which is about how hot it feels like every September throughout most of the Palmetto state anyway.
If you have any children, relatives or friends who are sensitive to the heat, then you know this can be an issue after sitting directly in the sun at Death Valley for three and a half hours.
It's too early- if you are driving from anywhere outside of the upstate- your Clemson "experience" before the game is limited to a biscuit, a drink and whatever you can afford to buy in the stadium.
It hurts the atmosphere- the later in the day any game is played in Death Valley, and this goes for most stadiums for that matter, the better the atmosphere. Perhaps it's as simple as more fans have more time to "get prepared" or they are just more awake because they didn't wake up at 6 AM to get there. Whatever argument you want to use holds water with me. The later the time, the better the atmosphere.
I'm not asking for 12 night games on Clemson's schedule because I know that's just not feasible.
I'm not even asking for all the home games to be played at night or after 6 PM- but I would like to see a move away from the early early start times at home, especially in the month of September.
Were you there for the 2003 Georgia game played in Death Valley?
Do you remember how INSANELY HOT it was that day? Me personally, I think I'm still recovering from the sunburn I suffered that afternoon.
3:30 or later gets my vote each and every time. The game doesn't get over too late and it doesn't start too early. Noon games are brutally hot throughout while the temperatures start cooling down right around halftime for 3:30 kicks and the crowd is into it from the very beginning.
Noon- well that's a different story- one that's for the birds if you ask me.
In what is usually the slowest time of the year for schools not playing in the NCAA Baseball Tournament, the ACC provided some news Tuesday by announcing the start times for each of Clemson's first three football games:Clemson vs. Alabama - The Georgia Dome - Aug. 30 - 8:00 PM (ABC)
Clemson vs. The Citadel - Death Valley - Sept. 6 - 3:30 PM (ESPN 360)
Clemson vs. N.C. State - Death Valley - Sept. 13 - Noon (Raycom)
The Alabama game, as expected, will kickoff at 8 PM in the Georgia Dome in front of a national television audience on ABC.
Not bad. Not bad at all.
Somewhat surprisingly, The Citadel game won't be at noon or 1 o'clock but rather at 3:30 and it will be televised on ESPN's 415th channel- ESPN 360.
Again- sounds pretty good. The Citadel would usually be a team that generally wouldn't warrant television consideration and would kick around 1 o'clock.
But then there's game No. 3- against N.C. State.
The Tigers and Wolfpack will do battle in Death Valley on Sept. 13, 2008 shortly after 12 noon.
That's September, a summer month where temperatures usually reach 90-plus degrees on any given day.
That's noon, meaning the game will be played during the hottest time of the day.
That's noon, meaning someone who has to drive two hours or more from another part of South Carolina or surrounding states, who also wants to tailgate for an hour or two, is likely waking up at 6 AM to pile into the car to try and make it on time.
Simply put, noon games in September are wrong on so many levels.
Believe me, I understand that Raycom has some massive contract with the ACC and has to televise at least one game for each school every season and noon is probably the only time slot it can get in today's sports-crazed-televised world.
But as much as I love college football, and Clemson football, I absolutely despise noon games.
It's too hot- the average temperature for Sept. 13 is 84 degrees, but I promise it won't be that "cool" this year. In fact, the hottest temperature on record for Sept. 13 is actually 95 degrees, which is about how hot it feels like every September throughout most of the Palmetto state anyway.
If you have any children, relatives or friends who are sensitive to the heat, then you know this can be an issue after sitting directly in the sun at Death Valley for three and a half hours.
It's too early- if you are driving from anywhere outside of the upstate- your Clemson "experience" before the game is limited to a biscuit, a drink and whatever you can afford to buy in the stadium.
It hurts the atmosphere- the later in the day any game is played in Death Valley, and this goes for most stadiums for that matter, the better the atmosphere. Perhaps it's as simple as more fans have more time to "get prepared" or they are just more awake because they didn't wake up at 6 AM to get there. Whatever argument you want to use holds water with me. The later the time, the better the atmosphere.
I'm not asking for 12 night games on Clemson's schedule because I know that's just not feasible.
I'm not even asking for all the home games to be played at night or after 6 PM- but I would like to see a move away from the early early start times at home, especially in the month of September.
Were you there for the 2003 Georgia game played in Death Valley?
Do you remember how INSANELY HOT it was that day? Me personally, I think I'm still recovering from the sunburn I suffered that afternoon.
3:30 or later gets my vote each and every time. The game doesn't get over too late and it doesn't start too early. Noon games are brutally hot throughout while the temperatures start cooling down right around halftime for 3:30 kicks and the crowd is into it from the very beginning.
Noon- well that's a different story- one that's for the birds if you ask me.
posted by Roy Philpott @ 1:58 PM
8 Comments
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8 Comments:
Well said. Couldn't agree more!
It's about time the media started speaking out about this problem. I don't mind some 12:00 games, but wait until at least mid Oct. here in the south....let BC, Maryland, VT and UVA have the 12:00 starts in Sep. Great blog choice here Roy!
I agree and I'm a musician who will not be getting out of Columbia until 2:30AM that friday night. No sleep for me that night!
A poster on our message board, The Valley, also had a great point that I didn't even write about- THE TRAFFIC. Noon games are always the worst when it comes to getting in and out of the Clemson area.
Traffic for big noon games, such as the Georgia game you mentioned and 2004 Carolina game was horrible. Too many visiting fans coming in that don't have a clue of where they are going.
Horseshit,
I don't Don this mentality for the opportunity to stuff another case down my neck before the game. I hate the leaving the stadium at midnight waiting until 2am for the traffic to die down (which the mentality of my rivals in this debate clammer for as another case consuming moment!), then arriving a the hotel 50 miles out at 4 am. Then, you must smack the alarm 6 hours later to get out of the hotel.
Bring back the OLD days!
-Doc Tesla
I live nearby in Easley, so the time the game starts isn't a factor as far as travel and traffic go. The problem really is the heat. Even the 1 o'clock games are blazing hot in September, I even came close to passing out at the UL-Monroe game last year (my fault for not hydrating). The school is trying to help by offering free water at the aide stations, but with the heat sucking the crowd energy out and the players dropping left and right from cramps (usually the other team, especially if they aren't used to the heat *CMU*) I say keep the start time at 3:30 or later. A few years back the school even moved non-tv starts to 6 in August and September.
Not everyone can afford a hotel, and many of us have to travel back home after a game. Night games can put me getting back to Sellers well after midnight. Noon games give me plenty of time to get there in the morning, tailgate before and after the game, and still get home at a reasonable hour.
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