I know past installments of this feature have focused solely on places I've been to watch college football games, but in the spirit of keeping with our attempts to diversify coverage here at RBR (basketball, softball, baseball, gymnastics, etc.), I figured I would expand this column to include venues I've seen other sports in as well. There's still plenty of places I've seen college football that I haven't included yet, so don't despair, I just figured I would mix things up a bit this time. With that in mind, I bring you my trip to...

Reliant Stadium
Houston, Texas
08 May 2003
USA 0 - Mexico 0
Attendance: 69,582

GETTING THERE

1334 miles round trip

Like many trips I've taken, there was a healthy dose of ridiculousness in even getting to the city of Houston and into my hotel. I intended to break the drive up by spending the night in New Orleans but that didn't happen of course. Because of work, I didn't leave Birmingham until 10pm and figured I'd get to New Orleans sometime around 3 in the morning. Something ended up happening with my friend I was going to stay with and she couldn't accommodate me that evening because she had to leave town on short notice to attend to a sick family member or something similar. I didn't find this out of course, until I was somewhere in Mississippi. Rather than fork out a bunch of cash for a few hours' nap somewhere in Louisiana, I decided the thing to do would be just to plow on throughout the night to Houston.

I ended up pulling into Houston sometime during the 7:00 o'clock hour and enjoyed a healthy dose of heavy Houston rush hour traffic before finally making my way to my hotel around 8:30 or 9:00. Being the atom-splitter that I am sometimes, I didn't even consider the fact that I wouldn't be able to "early check-in" at my hotel well before noon. Not being able to get into my hotel until around 3pm or so, I find myself exhausted, hungry and aimlessly wandering around looking for somewhere to kill time. I found my way to Barnes & Noble where I perused books for an hour or so, but was eventually too tired to be able to function or construct coherent sentences so I went and slept in my car in the parking lot of the hotel I wasn't able to access yet.

After snoozing for a couple of hours I attempted to early check-in again and was told I could have a regular room but that the suite that was reserved for me (I knew someone that worked high up in that hotel chain...trust me, I can't afford suites) wouldn't be ready for another hour or two. I told the guy I didn't care if they checked me into a utility closet at that point, I just wanted somewhere air-conditioned that I could sleep. For those of that you have never been to Houston, it's probably the humidity capital of the world...or at least the United States. This was early May. I shudder to think what summertime there must be like.

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Can't believe I found an aerial photo from the game I went to.

I've actually been to the Citrus Bowl for three very different events (well, three very different college football events.) The Capital One Bowl, the C-USA Championship Game and a regular season UCF game before they built Brighthouse Stadium. I'm going to talk about the experience from the Capital One Bowl though because all of the stories surrounding that game are much more memorable than the others.

Citrus Bowl (website)
Capital One Bowl (website)
Iowa 30 - LSU 25 (recap / box score)
Orlando, Florida (satellite view of stadium)
Capacity (65,438*) / Attendance (70,229) : 107%
January 1, 2005

*That is the normal capacity. Stadium can be expanded with temporary bleachers.

Pregame

At the time of this game, I lived a grand total of 5.6 miles from the Citrus Bowl according to Google Maps. So, on New Year's Day 2005, I hopped in the car and went on the hunt for a pair of tickets to the best football game that had occurred in town since I moved to Orlando (UCF vs. West Virginia had previously held the honor.) I was originally going to watch it on TV but I figured if I couldn't get a ticket for cheap, that I could be back on my couch in no time and wouldn't even miss most of the first quarter.

Before the game, all of the scalpers were still trying to get face value for tickets ($70) and I was pretty much like "no way" to all of them given that the place was crawling with tickets. Some people were willing to come down a bit, but I still didn't want to pay $50 for a good seat. I didn't care where I sat, I just wanted to be in the stadium. A few minutes after kickoff, some guy offers me a pair for $70, I countered with a pair for $40 to which he was very dismissive. Knowing I could walk away, I did and he chased me down and let me have a pair for $40. Getting $140 worth of tickets for $40 was a pretty rocking start to the new year.

Our seats were in the LSU section and their fans couldn't have been any nicer. They were having a good time on vacation, I was happy to be outside on New Year's Day in a t-shirt and shorts and didn't care who won. It was shaping up to be a good day. I remember one guy I was sitting next to telling me that if LSU ceased to exist, that he would become a Bama fan on the spot because they were the only other team in the SEC worth a crap. I thought that was pretty gracious of him considering I was wearing a UAB hat to intentionally remind them all of this little gem.

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ed. note: For those of you that picked up a copy of Yea Alabama 2009, you'll remember reading a story I wrote called "The Things We Do For Love" where I chronicled a lot of the ridiculous scenarios I've found myself in while trying to get to various Alabama games. Too bad I didn't save that article for the 2010 edition, because my trip to Starkville this past weekend easily qualified to be in it and hands down would have been the crown jewel anecdote in the article.

Let me just start off by saying that, yes, I realize hitchhiking in this day and age is an exceptionally bad idea. On Saturday, November 14th just a bit before 3:00 p.m. in western Alabama, somewhere between the tiny hamlets of Gordo and Reform (populations of 1,677 and 1,978 respectively according to the 2000 census) my friend Wes' car broke down (some of you may remember Wes from this post.) It's a 21st-century-made specimen of fine German engineering and has faithfully taken us to games in the past. As a matter of fact, the deal I struck with him was I'd give him the game ticket for free if he was willing to drive. That was the level of faith I placed in the ability of his automobile to take us to and fro sans incident.

The car began having trouble accelerating as we rolled down US Highway 82 and we saw a small garage that was still open as we began noticing the problem. We turned around and pulled in just as they were closing up shop. Nice folks that they were looked at the car for a while, but stated they didn't know much about this type of car, but recommended we not drive it any further. They kindly told us we could leave the car there if we wanted to since it was unlikely we'd be able to find anywhere this late in the day on a Saturday that would be able to work on it.

Get-It-Changed Oil & Lube in Gordo, AL

While Wes spoke with the proprietors of the oil change place, I took out my cellphone and began calling everyone I could think of that might be going to the game or who knew someone that might be going to the game. I called comer4tide and chinesedentist, but neither of them were going to the game. Chinesedentist (Bo), said he knew some folks that were going and that he'd make a few calls. I called Alabama ManDance and T.J. from Tower of Bammer and they too got on the phone and started working their contacts. I called a friend that went to Mississippi State, I called Todd and Kleph. I pretty much ran through my entire phonebook.

After what seemed like an eternity of making phone calls, we decided to ditch the car and start walking...with our thumbs out. We knew the car wasn't going to get fixed that day, so we might as well get to the game. We were most of the way there, we already had tickets...it seemed like the logical thing to do.

As I stated at the beginning of this article, hitchhiking is a very bad idea, but here's our rationale for why we felt okay about it.  We were decked out head to toe in Bama gear and nearly every car we saw while trying to figure out what to do had Bama flags flying from the windows or Bama magnets on the door or Bama stickers in the windows (and often all three.) By our reckoning, someone in that line of cars would realize that we were fellow fans stuck between a rock and a hard place and that we just wanted to get to the game. After a couple of miles of walking and hundreds of cars passing us by with that "Well, we'd like to help you and we know you're probably okay but sorry we're driving on anyway" look on their faces, we saw a pick-up truck pull into a business a short distance up the road. We both figured it was simply them stopping in to shop, but they turned around and we had a flutter of hope that they were coming back for us.

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For those of you headed over to Oxford for the game this weekend, here's a guide of where to eat, drink, and generally be merry in Oxford. I asked the folks at Red Cup Rebellion for some tips and was going to write it up proper like I did for our trip to Atlanta, but they did such a bang up job that I pretty much left it as is (hence the gigantic quote box) except for adding hyperlinks (official sites when available, review/travel sites otherwise) for your convenience. With that in mind, enjoy your trip to Oxford courtesy of the guys from Red Cup Rebellion....

atlanta

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This year, we've decided to do "guide posts" about the various cities we're playing away/neutral site games in. This one will be a bit different as we typically travel to small(ish) college towns and cities where it's pretty easy to sum the place up in a blog post. Atlanta on the other hand is massive and has tour books about it numbering hundreds of pages, so we'll pretty much just be skimming the surface here. In the future, I hope to have these up a bit earlier before the game so you can plan things out sooner.

Atlanta is, needless to say, the biggest city in the region and unsurprisingly it's the cultural and economic center as well. It's where countless ambitious college graduates across the South flock to work after earning their diplomas (Forbes ranked it as the sixth best city in America for singles in 2009.) It's also the place every band plays in the region even if they aren't playing Nashville, New Orleans, Charlotte, etc. There's good reason it replaced Birmingham as the site of the SEC Championship Game and has hosted the NCAA Final Four: there's tons of stuff to do and it's easy to fly into/out of. To talk to people about Atlanta though, it's a bit like licorice: you either love it or hate it. I've heard very few people say, "Atlanta is just okay." With that being said, I'm firmly in the "I love Atlanta" camp and make it over that way several times a year.

Here's just some of what the city has to offer...

GETTING AROUND: For the game, I highly recommend taking MARTA. You don't have to drive, it's infinitely cheaper than parking (I saw parking near the stadium in the $70+ range last year) and despite what people have said about it and many of its riders, it's fine, especially on game day. 98% of the people on it will be Alabama or VaTech fans, so it's not like it'll be unsafe or anything. There were no issues getting to the game last year. It was a bit congested after the game though, so be prepared to wait. Still, I'd rather wait than drop close to a hundred on a parking spot for a few hours. Taxis were nearly impossible to find after the game, well, nearly impossible to get as the demand was high. MARTA's coverage is lacking compared to that of other major cities, but as a tourist, it'll get you where you need to go probably.

SPORTS: Atlanta has a team in every major sports league but MLS (they do have a 2nd division soccer team though, the Atlanta Silverbacks) and have been rumored to be a possible expansion city for MLS in the future. In addition to having MLB, NBA, NFL and NHL teams, they host the SEC Championship Game in football and have often hosted the SEC men's basketball tournament as well.

Obviously you'll want to check out the official Chick-Fil-A Kickoff Game page for all of the official activity and goings on surrounding the game.

On Friday night make sure and check out the Atlanta Alabama Alumni Association's party, which looks to be a sure fire winner with Cornelius Bennett, Siran Stacy and Ahmad Galloway on hand as well as the Alabama cheerleaders. Tickets to that event are $30 ($35 on Friday) and more info can be found at the link above.

On the collegiate side of things, Atlanta is the home of Georgia Tech, who will be kicking their season off on Saturday against Alabama's very own Jacksonville State at 1pm. If I didn't think my girlfriend would kill me, I'd go to that game too as tickets are still available. At $45 a pop, that's a bit steep to watch them beat up on a 1-AA school, but you can get tickets for $12.50 in a group of 10 or more, so maybe we should rally a group together and overload on CFB on the cheap. It's only a few MARTA stops away from the Dome if I remember correctly.

If you're getting into town early enough on Friday and are a baseball fan, the Braves are playing the Reds and you can get tickets here, some of which look to be as cheap as $10 or less if you don't mind sitting on the moon.

If you're getting to town super early on Thursday, the Falcons have a preseason game against the Ravens. Tickets available here.

If you're into NASCAR, there's a race on Sunday in Atlanta.

MUSIC: Atlanta has become quite a hub for music and musicians as well. I'll skip over the acts of yesteryear and focus on those that are still active in the city today. On the hip-hop side of things, massively popular acts like Outkast, Ludacris, Lil Jon  and many others call Atlanta home.

On the indie rock side of things, critically acclaimed acts like Deerhunter, Black Lips, Atlas Sound, The Coathangers, The Carbonas, Snowden and many others fill Atlanta's clubs with homegrown talent. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like any of these folks are playing this weekend, but hey, Brittany Spears is playing at the Philips Arena on Friday...and Comer will be heartbroken that Taylor Swift is playing Atlanta on the Thursday before the game. On the night before the game, I'll likely be headed to The Drunken Unicorn to hear The Bronzed Chorus who I'd never really heard of until I streamed some tracks online yesterday and am digging it.

For all of your Atlanta entertainment needs, visit the website Drive A Faster Car. Tessa gives you the need to know info.

BEER: Given the countless threads we've seen on RBR about beer and alcohol, I figured it appropriate to include a beer section as well. The most famous is SweetWater Brewery, which most of you probably know about already seeing as it has wide distribution in Alabama. Other local options include the Atlanta Brewing Company, which I know nothing about. 5 Seasons Brewing also fits into the "I don't know anything about it" category, but hey, it's there if you want to check it out.

As far as places to watch beer and drink football, there's Taco Mac, which Comer and I were recently discussing. It has TVs all over the place and roughly 4 trillion different beers to try (with a wide selection on draft.) Atlanta also has an ESPN Zone, which you know will have eighty bajillion games on the screens and will pretty much have every SEC game on given the deal inked recently. The Brewhouse Cafe in Little Five Points is another place I like watching sports and drinking in Atlanta. Locals, please chime in with your favorites too.

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When I originally started this series, I was hoping to do 10 lengthy posts to help cure the offseason blues. Real life intruded and now that we're less than two weeks away from the first Bama game, I'm not going to bore you all with Tolstoy length posts about road trips I'd like to take, but that'll likely never happen. With all of that in mind, I'm going to do the Top 5 in a single post.

To recap the countdown so far: #10 Rutgers, #9 San Diego State, #8 Washington, #7 Colorado, #6 Maryland

Now, onto the Top 5:

05: Miami Hurricanes - While the 'Canes of today aren't up to the standard of the 80s and 90s Miami teams, I think a lot of people unfairly write them off as being awful, which isn't exactly true. Granted, things have gotten a bit rougher for them since joining the ACC, but I think they'll right the ship eventually. That being said, who among these two fan bases wouldn't want to have a rematch of the 1992 national championship game? In '04 or '05, I was at an Alabama vs. Florida basketball game in Gainesville and ended up sitting next to a Miami fan that was in school at UF. That guy talked the entire game about how Miami was better in '92 and that Alabama got lucky. I encountered quite a bit of that while living in Florida, so I say let's line 'em up again.

Miami is a mega-fun place too and I would be at that game in a heartbeat (and from what they say about Miami fans, it sounds like it'd be an easy ticket to get.) I had a friend go to school at FIU and ended up spending about two weeks in Miami a few years back. I had an incredible time. Beaches, bars, Cuban food, etc. I think I had maybe one lousy meal the entire time I was there. I thought I would find Miami to be a tacky, miserable place but I ended up being incredibly surprised and I'd really like to go back again.

04: Boston College - Alabama and Boston College have only met twice in the modern era and Alabama lost both contests by a touchdown in what were, by all accounts I've read, both incredibly memorable games. I think plenty of Alabama fans would like to see a rematch of those games. I've only visited Boston once. It was on a windy and snowy New Year's Eve where I experienced a level of being cold that I didn't even imagine was possible. Despite the sorriest weather I've ever seen, I had a blast during my three days in Boston and I can't imagine how fantastic it would be to visit in the early fall. As a prominent site during the American Revolution, it would be a great trip for the history lover. Fans of seafood would be in heaven given the city's reputation as a haven for great seafood. Add to that Fenway Park and a million other places and this is a no brainer to be on the list.

03: California - Sweet mercy, I cannot tell you how badly I want this trip to happen. Though I've never been there, the Bay Area in general is a place that has totally captured my imagination. From the food to the music to the picturesque setting, the place is just begging me to go across the country to visit. I honestly can't believe I haven't made it out there yet. I even wanted to do my master's degree at Cal seeing as they have a great program for what I studied, but it was pretty unrealistic given out of state tuition, distance, etc. If Cal were one of college football's titans, this would be an easy number one pick for me, but it's still a solid pick at #3 (and I'd be able to shop at Shrimati's in person!) Cal and Alabama have no real history to speak of with each other and now would be a good time to start some. Alabama's 1-1 all time against Cal. We lost 13-0 to them in the 1938 Rose Bowl and then absolutely pasted them 66-0 at Legion Field in 1973. Mal Moore: Make this happen...PLEASE!

02: USC - I've never had a huge desire to visit Los Angeles, but seeing as it's the second biggest city in the country and home to the mighty Trojans, I figure a visit is in order. I'm sure that much like Miami, Los Angeles would take me by surprise and probably make me glad I visited. As one of the United States' entertainment epicenters, there'd be no shortage of stuff to do and we all know our Bama man in LA, BixBeiderbecke would throw the party to end all parties if the Tide came to town. Also, I know many Bama fans are foaming at the mouth to get a crack at USC. The media coverage on that one would be through the roof. Oddly enough, of the seven times the Tide and Trojans have met, Alabama's only two losses have come at home.

01: Texas - RBR user rtr called the Longhorns at #1on this list quite some time ago and with good reason. Austin is the perfect combination of football powerhouse and incredible city. Honestly, after going to SXSW and hanging out for a few days afterwards in 2008, I have to say I'm impressed by anyone that actually graduates from the University of Texas. I remember leaving the Parish Room at something o'clock in the morning after some Eastern European DJ was absolutely killing the place and eating at one of the late night pizza stands and wishing I'd found a way to go to school there.  There is so much distraction in that town that I don't even know where to begin. Texas was another place I wanted to go for my master's degree, but the same considerations that made Cal not likely for me did the same for Texas. For the football related side of things, Texas is obviously quite the opponent and one of the few teams to historically completely own Alabama. This game would be epic and an amazing road trip for any Tide fan.

Given the rapid approach of the season, there's not any way I'm going to realistically finish the Road Trips I'd Like to See series as in depth as I'd like it to be. That being said, I don't want to leave y'all hanging and will now give you the list in only a couple of more posts with a paragraph or two about each choice....

Here's the list so far...

10: Rutgers Scarlet Knights
09: San Diego State

Waaaaaaaaaaay cooler than the Vol Navy

08: Washington Huskies: Washington, as most of you know, holds a special place in Alabama football history. The Tide's 1926 victory over the Huskies in the Rose Bowl catapulted Alabama and Southern football into the national limelight and brought respect to the region (on the gridiron anyway.) Combine that bit of history with the fact that the school is located in Seattle and that their stadium has one of the most impressive settings in college football and this is a no brainer to make the list. If the Huskies can resuscitate their once proud program, they'd be way higher on this list.

Seattle has a ton of stuff to do: A great music scene with a lot of good venues drawing national and international acts and there are three first division pro sports teams that would be in season as well if we were to play there (Seahawks, Mariners and Sounders FC.) If you feel like having a more active vacation, Seattle is a great place to do it. There's tons of hiking, biking, sailing, etc. in the area as well. Seattle was named "America's Fittest City" in 2005, so it'd probably be good for Alabamians to travel there en masse (no pun intended) and hopefully bring some of their healthy habits back with us. And hey, where else can you see people throw big fish on a regular basis?

Yes, please.

07: Colorado Buffaloes: Though the two teams have only met three times, the two recent contests have been rather exciting. The 1991 Blockbuster Bowl saw the Tide defeat the defending national champions 30-25 in a bizarre contest that found CU leading 12-10 at the half (with the longest scoring drive for either team being a whopping three yards.) The 2007 Independence Bowl saw the Tide win 30-24 in a game that should never have been close after going up 27-0 five minutes into the second quarter. We've never played them in the regular season though and it seems like it could be a fun match up, though one we should win at this point in both program's development.

Anyway, the reason I'd like to see a road trip is the outdoor activities: hiking, mountain biking, climbing, etc. It's an outdoor lover's dream to combine with a weekend of football. Not only that, but it's a mere 28 miles from Denver according to Mapquest. You could make a pretty sweet week long vacation out of that one. Spend half in the city, half in Boulder and see a game. Not too shabby. 

Stand to the right or walk on the left. The locals will thank you.

06: Maryland Terrapins: Maryland and Alabama have only met three times, with the most recent contest being in 1974. Alabama holds a 2-1 record in the series. They've had their ups and downs lately under coach Ralph Friedgen. After beginning his tenure at Maryland with three ten or more win seasons, his success level has dipped considerably with the Terrapins having two winning seasons and three losing seasons in the last five years. Maryland holds interest to Alabama fans as the place where Coach Bryant began his amazing career as a head coach (not counting North Carolina Pre-Flight.)

So...why College Park, Maryland as a destination? Because it's close to Washington DC. College Park is a stop on the Metro Green Line and super easy to get to while vacationing in DC. Seeing as it's the nation's capital and all, everyone should go to DC at least once. Even if you were to skip all of the monuments and government related tourism, there's still a plethora of museums, performing arts centers, great rock clubs, restaurants, and a million other things to do in DC. I've been several times and always look forward to going back and discovering new things. So whether you're dropping by Ben's Chili Bowl for the first time or exploring some of the awesome Ethiopian cuisine in town, DC never fails to entertain.

Destinations 5, 4, 3, 2 & 1 coming soon...

For those of you that missed it, #10 on the countdown was Rutgers, ultimately for the proximity to New York City. For vacation purproses, I typically enjoy warm weather places more than I do cold weather places, so despite having inferior football to Rutgers, San Diego edges out NYC for the #9 spot on the countdown:

San Diego State University: University website --- Football team website

Something tells me this would beat a trip to Starkville.

SDSU Football: Yes, I realize that San Diego State isn't just inferior to Rutgers at football, they are, in fact, a pretty terrible football team and have been for the past decade or so. They haven't had a winning season since 1998 (though they did go 6-6 in 2003.) No coach has had a winning record for their career at SDSU since Al Luginbill was coach from 1989 to 1993. Luginbill's five year tenure found him compile a 31-25-3 record. Since Luginbill's departure, times have been mighty lean at SDSU with subsequent coaches putting up less than stellar records: Ted Tollner (43-48 over eight seasons), Tom Craft (19-29 over four seasons) and Chuck Long (9-27 over three seasons.) Their current coach is Brady Hoke, formerly of Ball State. The program's biggest win in recent memory was over a 7-5 Utah in 2005 during Kyle Wittingham's first year in charge of the Utes. One notable former SDSU player was Marshall Faulk. Interestingly enough, SDSU has never played an SEC team before, so this trip would be a first in many ways.

Faulk ran for 386 yards and scored 44 points in a 1991 game (click photo to enlarge)

Stuff to do: Obviously, this trip isn't about a potential clash of the titans, it's about taking a trip to San Diego and putting a likely "W" in the record books. Now I've never been to San Diego, so I can't vouch for its awesomeness or anything, but it certainly looks like it's worth a visit. There's beaches, surfing, sailing, hiking, etc. for the outdoorsy types. There looks to be plenty of venues showcasing good live music such as The Casbah and Belly Up as well as venues housing more mainstream entertainment like the House of Blues or the Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre. For those traveling with their families, there's the obvious choices of the San Diego Zoo (and Balboa Park in general), Sea World, etc.

Surfing at Black's Beach in San Diego...and hey, part of it is a nude beach.

For the Bama fan that's also into pro-sports, you could perhaps take in a Chargers game on Sunday or maybe take in Padres game if either were in town on the same weekend. Considering SDSU and the Chargers both use Qualcomm Stadium though, I highly doubt they schedule games there on back to back days seeing as it would shred the field to pieces. Even though the Chargers have no Alabama players on their roster, they have not one, but two Barners we could mock from the stands.

Other plusses about a trip to San Diego? Light rail mass transit. Looks like you can take the train to Qualcomm Stadium and not have to worry about driving and parking. Also, the weather looks pretty awesome. Since this would likely be a September game, check out this chart of average temperatures in San Diego during September. Looks like it's typically between 66 and 79 in that month. Way better than the brain melting heat of Tuscaloosa methinks.

So, while this may not be the greatest football match up ever imagined, it would likely be a fun road trip...especially since BixBeiderbecke would probably bring his naked sushi party caravan down from LA.