I didn't plan on going to Woffie yesterday because I had a shoot for a magazine scheduled. But at 10:30 they called to postpone because the weather down here was no good. I scrambled around and by 11, I grabbed up my App gear and headed ot the door. 2hr, 15 min trip to Sparkle City from my house.

I get there, as the game is starting, find a parking spot maybe 300 yards from the stadium, walk up to the ticket window, one guy in front of me in "line". Hustle over to the visitors side and missed maybe six minutes of the game.

I've had similar experiences at Sammy , Furman and Chattanooga in the past. I don't expect to have such an easy time of road trips like that going forward ( except maybe GA. State). But I don't mind.

I'll miss the opportunities to travel to short distance away games in the SoCon. It will be out of my reach to travel to most away games in the Sun Belt. We will likely have poor representation at Sun Belt venues.

Yeah but we'll make up for that with home attendance. For me, I'll have a 40 minute trip to GA State, 3 hrs to the stink, about the same to Troy, about six to SA and 8 to Monroe. I doubt I'll be able to make it those last two every time, but they are certainly within reach for a weekend trip. Plus I'm looking forward to my first Monroe trip to drop in on the Duck Dynasty gang

AppinATL wrote:Yeah but we'll make up for that with home attendance. For me, I'll have a 40 minute trip to GA State, 3 hrs to the stink, about the same to Troy, about six to SA and 8 to Monroe. I doubt I'll be able to make it those last two every time, but they are certainly within reach for a weekend trip. Plus I'm looking forward to my first Monroe trip to drop in on the Duck Dynasty gang

The thing about it, we have already pretty much maxed out on home attendance as it is. So I don't see being in the Belt being able to increase home attendance that much,

I'll trade a short road trip to Wofford and Furman for home and always with CUSA and MAC programs and within five years a AAC and maybe even an ACC team.

Instead of traveling to four away games a year, I'll focus on one or two.

Austin for Texas St., Atlanta for Ga St., long weekend on the gulf shores for USA, Nashville for MTSU. Other than Charleston I'm not going to miss the SoCon locations.

I've been to every SoCon venue sans Samford at least once. They are mighty convenient for those traveling from NC, but there isn't much else to compel me to miss them. Frankly, I found some of them so small-time that I felt it was harmful for a program of our caliber to play there. I enjoy upbeat atmospheres and fans that care about their team. I had good experiences virtually every time I took the trip -- I'd watch the Apps play just about anywhere -- but I've had my fill of tiny stadiums with less crowd noise than a library.

I'll miss going to cool cities like Chucktown and Chatty, but there are plenty of great destinations on our new slate.

Gonzo wrote:I've been to every SoCon venue sans Samford at least once. They are mighty convenient for those traveling from NC, but there isn't much else to compel me to miss them. Frankly, I found some of them so small-time that I felt it was harmful for a program of our caliber to play there. I enjoy upbeat atmospheres and fans that care about their team. I had good experiences virtually every time I took the trip -- I'd watch the Apps play just about anywhere -- but I've had my fill of tiny stadiums with less crowd noise than a library.

I'll miss going to cool cities like Chucktown and Chatty, but there are plenty of great destinations on our new slate.

Couldn't agree more. No more Mickey Mouse places we have to play with a fan base of the players families. The socon went small time and became an albatross for us.

I'll miss the high school officiating.

Dont get me wrong. I won't miss the locations. Just the quaint ability to decide at the last possible moment to go to a game with no ticket, park within a nice golf tee shot of the stadium and just breeze in, unabated.

By the way, I feel sorry for any of you that never went to a game at Sammy and never had that experience. Wofford was big-time in comparison.

AppinATL wrote:Dont get me wrong. I won't miss the locations. Just the quaint ability to decide at the last possible moment to go to a game with no ticket, park within a nice golf tee shot of the stadium and just breeze in, unabated.

By the way, I feel sorry for any of you that never went to a game at Sammy and never had that experience. Wofford was big-time in comparison.

There are those that miss that about home games.

I'll miss the easy road trips as well. Don't understand all the hate for the SoCon just because we're moving up. It has a lot of history and tradition, and has been good for us. What I've thought about is that I'd like to do one big road trip per year, making a long weekend out of it. Based on our conference and also MAC and C-USA possibilities, trips to Albuquerque, San Antonio, Miami, Boston, some of the Ohio that I heard are cool college towns, and some of the Louisiana cities are all possibilities.

AppinVA wrote:

AppinATL wrote:Dont get me wrong. I won't miss the locations. Just the quaint ability to decide at the last possible moment to go to a game with no ticket, park within a nice golf tee shot of the stadium and just breeze in, unabated.

By the way, I feel sorry for any of you that never went to a game at Sammy and never had that experience. Wofford was big-time in comparison.

There are those that miss that about home games.

I remember going to opening day for the Braves back sometime around '85 or '86. I parked in the lot right next to the ballpark and headed to the ticket window. Before I could get there a guy came up to me with a 3 ring binder full of tickets and asked me if I wanted one. He was a Braves employee and they were out there GIVING tickets away so there would be some folks in the stands.

Those were the days. I also got a foul ball once that landed 3 sections over from me down the right field line and I was the nearest person to it so I ran over and picked it up. I do not want to revisit those types of days with App, but I don't think I'll really have to worry about that.

Ol' Wade will surely miss the SoCon, and everything about it it seems.

The below comment was posted on the conversation tab on ESPN's week 13 matchup between App and Western:

Wade H. Booth
From an unHappy Appy on Sept. 4: Go Catamounts! Come and take the jug from us. We don't need it anymore. Our "powers that be" have decided that our rivalries are meaningless, that we belong in the I-A division, that the SoCon is a petty conference, etc. I'm proud of my education and will always bleed black-n-gold. But until this decision is reversed, the "powers" have shown they don't need my support anymore.

Link: http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/conversat ... =333272026

People like Wade make me sick.

canes_mj wrote:I'll miss the easy road trips as well. Don't understand all the hate for the SoCon just because we're moving up. It has a lot of history and tradition, and has been good for us. What I've thought about is that I'd like to do one big road trip per year, making a long weekend out of it. Based on our conference and also MAC and C-USA possibilities, trips to Albuquerque, San Antonio, Miami, Boston, some of the Ohio that I heard are cool college towns, and some of the Louisiana cities are all possibilities.

There is no hate because we are moving up. The general dislike of what the socon has become has been building for years. The conference is a shell of what it used to be.

ASU-FTW wrote:Ol' Wade will surely miss the SoCon, and everything about it it seems.

The below comment was posted on the conversation tab on ESPN's week 13 matchup between App and Western:

Wade H. Booth
From an unHappy Appy on Sept. 4: Go Catamounts! Come and take the jug from us. We don't need it anymore. Our "powers that be" have decided that our rivalries are meaningless, that we belong in the I-A division, that the SoCon is a petty conference, etc. I'm proud of my education and will always bleed black-n-gold. But until this decision is reversed, the "powers" have shown they don't need my support anymore.

Link: http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/conversat ... =333272026

People like Wade make me sick.

No offense to Wade, because I'm sure he's a great guy, but what an absolutely despicable man.

BurlingtonApp wrote:No offense to Wade, because I'm sure he's a great guy, but what an absolutely despicable man.

No doubt the guy is an idiot. He should have gone to Western because he fits in well with the Can't Amounts.

Wade likes to comment on App articles elsewhere on the net. He uses his Facebook account to log into many of them. He doesn't have many privacy permissions set on his account.

Can somebody delete him?

I have the memories, and they're great, but I won't miss a thing.