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Ohio Football Topic
Topic: (OT) Ultimate college football road trip
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shabamon
8/16/2017 2:37 PM
I hope Situation sees this; this sounds right up his alley...

One of my favorite pieces to read in advance of football season is the Ultimate College Football Road Trip by Deadspin founder, Will Lietch. Each year, he puts together a logistically plausible road trip where the goal is to attend as many college football games as possible, so basically, if there's a game on any day, you make an effort to go, which can mean several hundreds of miles in a day. Here's his 2017 version: http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/242942172/college-fo...

While it sounds interesting at first, when you think about it, it could turn into torture. No one in their right mind would actually do it, would they? Well two brothers from Ohio actually did it last year. They attended more than 50 college football games in 2016, including four games involving the Bobcats, and went coast to coast. They're big Buckeye fans, but they also know some people in our program and showed us a lot of love in a reddit AMA and on their twitter.

http://gametimeroadtrip.com /
https://twitter.com/theritterbros
https://www.reddit.com/r/CFB/comments/5mvom2/ama_the_ritt... /
Last Edited: 8/16/2017 2:42:30 PM by shabamon
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OU_Country
8/16/2017 4:12 PM
I'd love to do the basketball version of this over a 8-9 day stretch from Friday to the following Sunday.


EDIT - for a retired person, the football version would be quite epic!
Last Edited: 8/16/2017 4:14:15 PM by OU_Country
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UpSan Bobcat
8/17/2017 10:43 AM
I know a guy who did 3 games in one day. A noon game at Ohio State, a late-afternoon game (around 3:30, I think; he must have missed part of one) at Ohio and then a night game at Marshall.

He grew up in Kansas as a Kansas State plan, and they were playing at Marshall. He had moved to Ohio, where his family was from, and all of his family was Ohio State fans, and he attended Ohio.
Last Edited: 8/17/2017 10:45:30 AM by UpSan Bobcat
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Brian Smith (No, not that one)
8/17/2017 12:45 PM
In 2009 I covered Ohio State-Navy's overtime game and then sped to Athens to get to Ohio-UConn just in time for kickoff. I cannot imagine trying to get a third game in. I was exhausted.
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GoCats105
8/18/2017 11:37 AM
Somewhat related, but my ultimate LIFETIME goal is to attend a game in every college stadium. Doing that many in one season is damn near insane.

FWIW, my list is very small so far, in order of their appearance:

1. Michigan
2. OHIO
3. Ohio State
4. Missouri
5. Cincinnati
6. Michigan State
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DelBobcat
8/18/2017 11:58 AM
GoCats105 wrote:expand_more
Somewhat related, but my ultimate LIFETIME goal is to attend a game in every college stadium. Doing that many in one season is damn near insane.

FWIW, my list is very small so far, in order of their appearance:

1. Michigan
2. OHIO
3. Ohio State
4. Missouri
5. Cincinnati
6. Michigan State
Better than my list, in order of fun/cool factor:

1. OHIO
2. Navy
3. Rutgers
4. Temple
5. Akron
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GoCats105
8/18/2017 12:05 PM
DelBobcat wrote:expand_more
Somewhat related, but my ultimate LIFETIME goal is to attend a game in every college stadium. Doing that many in one season is damn near insane.

FWIW, my list is very small so far, in order of their appearance:

1. Michigan
2. OHIO
3. Ohio State
4. Missouri
5. Cincinnati
6. Michigan State
Better than my list, in order of fun/cool factor:

1. OHIO
2. Navy
3. Rutgers
4. Temple
5. Akron
Navy is definitely high on my list, but the Army-Navy game should be on any sports fan's bucket list. It's definitely on mine and I can't wait to see it.
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shabamon
8/18/2017 12:51 PM
My list is:

1. Ohio
2. Miami
3. Ohio State
4. Kent/Cincinnati
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OUcats82
8/18/2017 2:10 PM
GoCats105 wrote:expand_more
Somewhat related, but my ultimate LIFETIME goal is to attend a game in every college stadium. Doing that many in one season is damn near insane.

FWIW, my list is very small so far, in order of their appearance:

1. Michigan
2. OHIO
3. Ohio State
4. Missouri
5. Cincinnati
6. Michigan State
Better than my list, in order of fun/cool factor:

1. OHIO
2. Navy
3. Rutgers
4. Temple
5. Akron
Navy is definitely high on my list, but the Army-Navy game should be on any sports fan's bucket list. It's definitely on mine and I can't wait to see it.
Agreed-do you have a preference as to what stadium you would want to see the game played in?

I've been to for live games:

1. Ohio
2. Miami
3. Cincinnati
4. Pitt
5. Virginia Tech
6. Tennessee

While not D1 I also went to the Stagg Bowl in 2006 with some Mt. Union alum friends. That was a fun experience.

I've been to several dozen more but did not see a game played-visited off season as I am sure many others have too. The one advantage of not getting married until pushing 30 is I squeezed a lot of stadiums in when single. My wife is a good sport about doing side trips when traveling now though. = )
Last Edited: 8/18/2017 2:20:46 PM by OUcats82
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OhioBobcat
8/18/2017 4:14 PM
This reminds me a lot as to what my cousin is doing in his quest to see every single FBS stadium in the country. He is nearly finished as he's now been to 129 of the 130! Crazy. He was just out west a couple weeks ago and saw Boise State and Nevada leaving him only Hawaii remaining. He has not been to a game in every stadium, he's probably been to a game in about half of them. But it's been a pretty remarkable quest when you consider how many stadiums there are and how spread across the country some of them are. He also added the Ivy League to his list (he's been to all of the Ivy League) and he has also been to about 50 other FCS schools. He also visits movie locations that he seeks along the way in between schools. He takes pictures and video of all his stops and he sends them to me. It's an extremely cool adventure IMO.
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BillyTheCat
8/18/2017 4:54 PM
OhioBobcat wrote:expand_more
This reminds me a lot as to what my cousin is doing in his quest to see every single FBS stadium in the country. He is nearly finished as he's now been to 129 of the 130! Crazy. He was just out west a couple weeks ago and saw Boise State and Nevada leaving him only Hawaii remaining. He has not been to a game in every stadium, he's probably been to a game in about half of them. But it's been a pretty remarkable quest when you consider how many stadiums there are and how spread across the country some of them are. He also added the Ivy League to his list (he's been to all of the Ivy League) and he has also been to about 50 other FCS schools. He also visits movie locations that he seeks along the way in between schools. He takes pictures and video of all his stops and he sends them to me. It's an extremely cool adventure IMO.
Ok, so he's just "seeing the stadium"? Not watching a game? That's still impressive. I've been to and seen games in over 70, but I'd venture I've been real close to 100 stadiums that college teams play in. I've also got 32 baseball stadiums, 23 current (thanks Atlanta).

Tell your cousin that's very cool.
Last Edited: 8/18/2017 4:55:40 PM by BillyTheCat
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OhioBobcat
8/18/2017 9:59 PM
BillyTheCat wrote:expand_more
This reminds me a lot as to what my cousin is doing in his quest to see every single FBS stadium in the country. He is nearly finished as he's now been to 129 of the 130! Crazy. He was just out west a couple weeks ago and saw Boise State and Nevada leaving him only Hawaii remaining. He has not been to a game in every stadium, he's probably been to a game in about half of them. But it's been a pretty remarkable quest when you consider how many stadiums there are and how spread across the country some of them are. He also added the Ivy League to his list (he's been to all of the Ivy League) and he has also been to about 50 other FCS schools. He also visits movie locations that he seeks along the way in between schools. He takes pictures and video of all his stops and he sends them to me. It's an extremely cool adventure IMO.
Ok, so he's just "seeing the stadium"? Not watching a game? That's still impressive. I've been to and seen games in over 70, but I'd venture I've been real close to 100 stadiums that college teams play in. I've also got 32 baseball stadiums, 23 current (thanks Atlanta).

Tell your cousin that's very cool.
"Touring" stadiums would probably be the best way to describe what he does. He went to BG and got started by making BG road trips as an undergrad. He then worked at the University of Virginia for about 10 years as an S.I.D. in the athletic department so he saw a lot of different schools that way. About 10 years ago he added up how many he had been to then and he was about halfway there and has since made it his quest to see them all and he's now just one away from achieving it. He goes to each stadium and spends anywhere from an hour to two hours taking pictures and videos from various angles from everything inside the stadium, outside the stadium, the concourses, etc. This isn't just a stick your head in the stadium and look around adventure. He told me it actually works out better when he's not at a stadium for a game because he gets to see everything the way he wants to, and when he is there for a game he misses most of it anyway by taking all the footage. He is writing a book on his journey to see every stadium.

Everyone asks him what he's going to do after he sees Hawaii and he said he'll shift his focus to trying to do the same with college basketball arenas. He's been to nearly 200 D-I arenas, with most of them overlapping his football stadium travels, and there are over 350 D-I arenas out there so I'm sure he'll strive for that next.

Thanks, I will tell him for sure. You should make a run at it too if you're that close.
Last Edited: 8/18/2017 10:00:04 PM by OhioBobcat
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BillyTheCat
8/18/2017 10:28 PM
OhioBobcat wrote:expand_more
This reminds me a lot as to what my cousin is doing in his quest to see every single FBS stadium in the country. He is nearly finished as he's now been to 129 of the 130! Crazy. He was just out west a couple weeks ago and saw Boise State and Nevada leaving him only Hawaii remaining. He has not been to a game in every stadium, he's probably been to a game in about half of them. But it's been a pretty remarkable quest when you consider how many stadiums there are and how spread across the country some of them are. He also added the Ivy League to his list (he's been to all of the Ivy League) and he has also been to about 50 other FCS schools. He also visits movie locations that he seeks along the way in between schools. He takes pictures and video of all his stops and he sends them to me. It's an extremely cool adventure IMO.
Ok, so he's just "seeing the stadium"? Not watching a game? That's still impressive. I've been to and seen games in over 70, but I'd venture I've been real close to 100 stadiums that college teams play in. I've also got 32 baseball stadiums, 23 current (thanks Atlanta).

Tell your cousin that's very cool.
"Touring" stadiums would probably be the best way to describe what he does. He went to BG and got started by making BG road trips as an undergrad. He then worked at the University of Virginia for about 10 years as an S.I.D. in the athletic department so he saw a lot of different schools that way. About 10 years ago he added up how many he had been to then and he was about halfway there and has since made it his quest to see them all and he's now just one away from achieving it. He goes to each stadium and spends anywhere from an hour to two hours taking pictures and videos from various angles from everything inside the stadium, outside the stadium, the concourses, etc. This isn't just a stick your head in the stadium and look around adventure. He told me it actually works out better when he's not at a stadium for a game because he gets to see everything the way he wants to, and when he is there for a game he misses most of it anyway by taking all the footage. He is writing a book on his journey to see every stadium.

Everyone asks him what he's going to do after he sees Hawaii and he said he'll shift his focus to trying to do the same with college basketball arenas. He's been to nearly 200 D-I arenas, with most of them overlapping his football stadium travels, and there are over 350 D-I arenas out there so I'm sure he'll strive for that next.

Thanks, I will tell him for sure. You should make a run at it too if you're that close.
That's pretty good story and he's right, most places are pretty good about letting you look around. I've hit the entire MAC, Big10, ACC, SEC, and all the service academies. essentially covered teverything east of the Mississippi. I have been to Hawaii, but my overall west coast effort is bad. Arizona, ASU, Colorado and CSU, UNLV, San Diego State, Washington, Stanford out west. My goal though is every baseball stadium with my son.
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colobobcat66
8/19/2017 7:37 AM
My daughter and I drove from Columbus, watched the Gardner-Webb game, 2 sets of volleyball and two periods of ice hockey in the same day in Athens last fall. That was all an old guy could do in one day-and my daughter too. My ultimate road trip.
Last Edited: 8/19/2017 10:15:13 AM by colobobcat66
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shabamon
8/19/2017 8:58 AM
shabamon wrote:expand_more
My list is:

1. Ohio
2. Miami
3. Ohio State
4. Kent/Cincinnati
Forgot to add Virginia Tech. I saw our game there in 07.
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Deciduous Forest Cat
8/19/2017 12:57 PM
I like doing these lists.. do we include non-D1? I've been to:

OHIO
Allegheny College (1st college game, d3 playoff vs Dayton)
Toledo
Tennessee
Eastern Mich
Miami
Kent
Akron (rubber bowl only)
Pitt
Penn State
Florida
Florida State
Tennessee
osu
Marshall
New Mexico
Missouri
Bowling Green
Louisville
Edit:
WVU (almost forgot, wish I could)
I guess I should add some neutral site games:
GMAC bowl, Ladd Peebles Stadium (Ohio vs So Miss)
New Orleans Bowl, Superdome (Ohio vs Troy)
Ford Field (Ohio vs Marshall, Ohio vs WMU)
Cramton Bowl (Ohio vs App State)
Edit2: Minnesota (Metrodome)

I don't have any desire to try to hit every one like I do with MLB, but it's fun to reminisce.

Will be adding Purdue this year.
Last Edited: 8/20/2017 3:09:14 PM by Deciduous Forest Cat
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colobobcat66
8/20/2017 10:22 AM
I've visited the following watching Ohio play since 2004
OHIO
UMass in boston
Missouri
New Mexico State
Miami
Idaho
Ohio state
Northern Illinois
Marshall
Minnesota
Penn State
Northwestern
Kentucky
Wyoming
Kansas
Bowling green
Tulsa-long time ago
Bowl games in Mobile,St. Pete and New Orleans
Purdue this year coming up
All from my base in Colorado.

I've seen games at the following where Ohio was not involved
Nebraska
Colorado
Air Force
Marshall-old
UC Davis -FCS
Wichita State-no longer plays football-saw their last home game
Last Edited: 5/31/2021 2:17:27 PM by colobobcat66
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mcbin
8/20/2017 11:11 AM
This thread makes me wish the Stadium Tour or whatever it was called for facebook was still around. That was pretty handy for tracking stadiums (even non-football).
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shabamon
8/20/2017 11:36 AM
If we're throwing out stadiums "toured", I've also been to the following in my travels:

Bowling Green
Ball State
Akron
Virginia
Syracuse
Buffalo
Purdue
South Carolina

Virginia was pretty. Purdue was trash. South Carolina, like I imagine many other SEC stadiums are, is a college football shrine.

Also, mcbin, are you referring to sportspassport? Here's my page there: https://sportspassport.com/travelers/shabamon/games
Last Edited: 8/20/2017 11:42:11 AM by shabamon
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SBH
8/20/2017 1:34 PM
My travels with the 'Cats have spanned some dark times for the program, so I've seen plenty of road losses - some heartbreaking.

Here's where I have seen them play:

Akron (old and new)
Kent
BG
Toledo
Miami (old and new)
Ball State
WMU
CMU
Marshall
Pitt (old and new)
OSU
Buffalo
UConn (old)
New Mex. State
WVU
Colorado State
NCState

Gonna add UMass. this year.
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LuckySparrow
8/20/2017 2:18 PM
My list of stadiums:

OHIO
Northwestern
Northern Illinois
Illinois
Minnesota
Ohio State
Indiana
Tennessee


will be adding Purdue and perhaps Eastern Michigan to the list this season.
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OhioCatFan
8/21/2017 12:39 AM
I've seen football games at the following schools:

Ohio
Ohio State
Marshall (new and old stadiums)
WVU
Kent State
Bowling Green (new and old stadiums)
Miami (new and old stadiums)
Maryland
Kentucky (new and old stadiums)
Louisville
Purdue
Penn State
Northwestern
Minnesota
Virginia Tech

Non-D1:

Wittenberg
Heidleberg

I'm probably forgetting a few schools. I'll revisit this list tomorrow and "revise and extend" my remarks.
Last Edited: 8/21/2017 12:43:52 AM by OhioCatFan
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DelBobcat
8/21/2017 12:22 PM
Ooh, I forgot I did see Pitt play UC at Heinz. And I also saw OHIO play at Ford Field. Plus several FCS stadiums, and a Delaware vs. Villanova game at the stadium of the Philadelphia Union.

Not football, but my coolest sports arena story is touring--and getting to stand on the court--at Cameron Indoor Stadium. That was super fun.
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Only one OHIO
8/23/2017 9:25 AM
The best venue I was ever at was Saturday night in Baton Rouge. Tennessee would be second in my opinion. The Thurs night or Friday night games make it easier to do a doubleheader weekend which is nice. See you at Purdue! I've been to 33 now:
LSU
Tennessee
S. Carolina
Florida
Boston College
N. Carolina
NC State
Duke
Wake Forest
Louisville
Pitt (Old and Heinz)
Florida St
Virginia Tech
Miami (new, not Orange Bowl)
Penn State
The Ohio A&M
Michigan
Michigan St
Illinois
Northwestern
Notre Dame
W. Virginia
Cincinnati
Marshall
Ohio
Kent
BG
Miami
Akron
EMU
Toledo
Ball St
Buffalo
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OU_Country
8/23/2017 12:24 PM
GoCats105 wrote:expand_more
Somewhat related, but my ultimate LIFETIME goal is to attend a game in every college stadium. Doing that many in one season is damn near insane.

FWIW, my list is very small so far, in order of their appearance:

1. Michigan
2. OHIO
3. Ohio State
4. Missouri
5. Cincinnati
6. Michigan State
That's a big goal! I've never had the football interest in something like that, but the basketball. I think a year ago I made it to 6-7 arenas including The Convo. Trying to make it to one new building outside of MAC basketball every winter. This year will probably be two or more with UC playing at NKU's building.


As for football stadia I've been in for a college game, the list is small:

Peden
The Shoe
Nippert
Ketchup Bottle Stadium
BG's stadium
PBS


Stadiums I've toured/visited in addition (in no special order, and I'm probably missing something):

Hoosier Dome
Silver Dome
Michigan Stadium
MSU Stadium
IU's stadium
Colorado
Colorado State
App State
Citadel's Stadium
Arrowhead
Old Mile High
Sun Devil Stadium
Cornell University

I always try to pop in to arena's and stadiums during our travels.
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