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Road Trips For Away Games?


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I’ve never seen the Billikens outside of St. Louis,  but I think this is the year where I venture outside of our fair city to see a few games.

Anyone else make yearly trips for road games?

If so, where are your favorite (or frequent) destinations?

Where are you going this year?

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It has been hard the last few years.  We have scheduled very few regional road games and we lost our closest conference mates.  When we were in the MCC, Great Midwest and CUSA I went to a ton of road games, at least two a year.  A couple season I did as many as 8 if you count conference tourneys.

I was looking forward to the SIUC road game but that will have to wait.  There are no other non conference road games that are even remotely doable for me.

The game at Loyola should be awesome.  As soon as single game tickets go on sale I am there.  Can we get 1,000 Billikens fans up there?

I like to go to Dayton games but their crowds have gotten pretty rowdy in the past ten years or so.  It is not family friendly for opposing fans and your better off if you go at least 3 guys deep.  I've gotten into fights the last 3 times I've been to Dayton.  Even the old sweater wearing women will heckle you.

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5 minutes ago, thetorch said:

 

I like to go to Dayton games but their crowds have gotten pretty rowdy in the past ten years or so.  It is not family friendly for opposing fans and your better off if you go at least 3 guys deep.  I've gotten into fights the last 3 times I've been to Dayton.  Even the old sweater wearing women will heckle you.

 

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36 minutes ago, thetorch said:

It has been hard the last few years.  We have scheduled very few regional road games and we lost our closest conference mates.  When we were in the MCC, Great Midwest and CUSA I went to a ton of road games, at least two a year.  A couple season I did as many as 8 if you count conference tourneys.

I was looking forward to the SIUC road game but that will have to wait.  There are no other non conference road games that are even remotely doable for me.

The game at Loyola should be awesome.  As soon as single game tickets go on sale I am there.  Can we get 1,000 Billikens fans up there?

I like to go to Dayton games but their crowds have gotten pretty rowdy in the past ten years or so.  It is not family friendly for opposing fans and your better off if you go at least 3 guys deep.  I've gotten into fights the last 3 times I've been to Dayton.  Even the old sweater wearing women will heckle you.

Yeah, I was looking forward to SIUC, but I can wait till next year. I’m totally planning on Loyola, though!

Is there a way to buy tickets through SLU (for road games), to ensure that we sit in the Billiken-friendly section?

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Last year wife and I drove to Pittsburg for the game.  Stayed within walking distance of the venue, the trains are great.  Walked around Heinz Field (whatever they call it now). Multiple great eateries there. Met Taj, cgeldmacher had a large group there.  Had a blast!

Flew alone to Philly.  Stayed with family.  Drove over to LaSalle. If someone sneezed on one side of the court, someone on the other side of the court would say God bless you.  The LaSalle coach dropped an Fbomb on the bench at a ref....everyone heard it, he had to T him up! Hilarious! Would not recommend the venue.  Bad section of town.

Plan to see St Joe's this year, if the schedule allows it.  Of course, Loyola.  AD should have some buses going for this one.

mhg

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15 hours ago, thetorch said:

It has been hard the last few years.  We have scheduled very few regional road games and we lost our closest conference mates.  When we were in the MCC, Great Midwest and CUSA I went to a ton of road games, at least two a year.  A couple season I did as many as 8 if you count conference tourneys.

I was looking forward to the SIUC road game but that will have to wait.  There are no other non conference road games that are even remotely doable for me.

The game at Loyola should be awesome.  As soon as single game tickets go on sale I am there.  Can we get 1,000 Billikens fans up there?

I like to go to Dayton games but their crowds have gotten pretty rowdy in the past ten years or so.  It is not family friendly for opposing fans and your better off if you go at least 3 guys deep.  I've gotten into fights the last 3 times I've been to Dayton.  Even the old sweater wearing women will heckle you.

Back in the day the Tip-Off club would do bus trips to the Carbondale game. Seemed like it was always during the week.  Not too many happy rides home. 

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I've been to Richmond, but that was only because I was on the women's tournament trip in Richmond 2017. Richmond definitely has a southern college vibe to them, the arena is next to a literal fraternity/sorority row.

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3 hours ago, willie said:

Back in the day the Tip-Off club would do bus trips to the Carbondale game. Seemed like it was always during the week.  Not too many happy rides home. 

The 89 trip was great.  That was a really good game.  The trip down to carbondale in 94-95 and 97-98 were also great.  That 97-98 team was my first year of college and I somehow went to 5 road games, both CUSA tourney games and both NCAA tourney games along with all the home games.

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19 hours ago, thetorch said:

It has been hard the last few years.  We have scheduled very few regional road games and we lost our closest conference mates.  When we were in the MCC, Great Midwest and CUSA I went to a ton of road games, at least two a year.  A couple season I did as many as 8 if you count conference tourneys.

I was looking forward to the SIUC road game but that will have to wait.  There are no other non conference road games that are even remotely doable for me.

The game at Loyola should be awesome.  As soon as single game tickets go on sale I am there.  Can we get 1,000 Billikens fans up there?

I like to go to Dayton games but their crowds have gotten pretty rowdy in the past ten years or so.  It is not family friendly for opposing fans and your better off if you go at least 3 guys deep.  I've gotten into fights the last 3 times I've been to Dayton.  Even the old sweater wearing women will heckle you.

The Chicago contingent of Billiken alumni and fans are ready to go. Hope we get a blue sea in Gentile every season here on out! 

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38 minutes ago, thetorch said:

The 89 trip was great.  That was a really good game.  The trip down to carbondale in 94-95 and 97-98 were also great.  That 97-98 team was my first year of college and I somehow went to 5 road games, both CUSA tourney games and both NCAA tourney games along with all the home games.

Our away record of 8 -17 says there were a lot of sad rides. The Larry Hughes comeback was not one of them. 

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32 minutes ago, willie said:

Our away record of 8 -17 says there were a lot of sad rides. The Larry Hughes comeback was not one of them. 

In the 80s and 90s we were 4-5 in Carbondale.  Not too shabby considering for the most part they were a better program.  

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Assuming NYC isn't Chinese Flu virus nuts and the city violence has tamed down, we will likely go to the conference tourney again this upcoming season.   

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Two points I want to make about Dayton.

1. The Air Force Museum is definitely a place to go to when in Dayton, particularly if you are traveling with young kids. I know no place that comes close to it other than the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum in DC.

2. It they seat you in the nose bleed seats at the arena, you could think of bringing an inexpensive small pair of binoculars, you can get them at Cabela's they  have a wide selection. This might make watching the game a lot more enjoyable.

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The air museum at Pennsicola is fantastic.   Plus that is the home base of the blue angels.   Catch a day they are on base you're getting a free air show when they practice.

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11 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:

The air museum at Pennsicola is fantastic.   Plus that is the home base of the blue angels.   Catch a day they are on base you're getting a free air show when they practice.

If air force bases are your thing, that's probably the main attraction in Dayton, as well. Huge museum connected to Wright-Patterson AFB, kid friendly.

Dayton isn't the greatest trip but if anyone ever needs recommendations I can be a resource. I live an hour south of UD Arena.

UD Arena, the football and baseball stadium, and their parking lots are wedged between the highway and the river, and a few seasons ago they switched parking rules so that only passholders are allowed to park in the lot that surrounds the arena. Visitors have to park behind the Marriott across the river and either walk 15 minutes or take a shuttle. It's a horrible arrangement. There used to be a visitor lot on the other side of the highway (not river), much closer, for $5 but now whoever owns the land decided to just let it sit vacant instead of making any money off of it.

Dayton fans are basically 1. the students, who always show up in force, 2. the alums who still live in SW Ohio and have season tickets, and 3. the general population of Dayton. Those are the ones I seem to have the most trouble with when I visit. I don't sit by the students and am used to obnoxious opposing students. But I manage to have at least one weird encounter with some local yahoo every time I go up there, which is every season.

If I'm being completely honest, I've always envied the consistent support UD gets from students and Dayton in general, but man, it makes for a much different crowd than you'd encounter at Richmond or Davidson.

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13 hours ago, cgeldmacher said:

I have a group that has gone to a road game 9 of the last 10 years.  It is a group of guys that were all at SLU at the same time in the 90s and in the same fraternity.  We have gone to Butler twice, Dayton three times, VCU, Fordam, St. Joes, and Duquesne, last year.  I have met several guys from this board at the games including Pistol (years ago), Taj, and Billiken Booster.  We normally has 6-10 guys go, but last year we had 17 in Pittsburgh.

The biggest factor in a road trip, at least for my group, is finding out what road games will be on a Saturday.  Weekday games will not work for my group.  As a result, I am usually anxiously awaiting the final scheduled to determine what games will be options.

 

Did y'all take the charter bus to Butler in December 2017? We had a large family group on that trip and despite the as$ whooping it was fun - I specifically remember that being the first game that Hinkle ever sold beer at. 

We try to make as many away games as we can but it all depends on the schedule. Last year we went to Memphis, we've been to SIUC, Butler, and others I'm surely forgetting. Looking forward to annual Chicago trips. 

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4 minutes ago, Pistol said:

If air force bases are your thing, that's probably the main attraction in Dayton, as well. Huge museum connected to Wright-Patterson AFB, kid friendly.

Dayton isn't the greatest trip but if anyone ever needs recommendations I can be a resource. I live an hour south of UD Arena.

UD Arena, the football and baseball stadium, and their parking lots are wedged between the highway and the river, and a few seasons ago they switched parking rules so that only passholders are allowed to park in the lot that surrounds the arena. Visitors have to park behind the Marriott across the river and either walk 15 minutes or take a shuttle. It's a horrible arrangement. There used to be a visitor lot on the other side of the highway (not river), much closer, for $5 but now whoever owns the land decided to just let it sit vacant instead of making any money off of it.

Dayton fans are basically 1. the students, who always show up in force, 2. the alums who still live in SW Ohio and have season tickets, and 3. the general population of Dayton. Those are the ones I seem to have the most trouble with when I visit. I don't sit by the students and am used to obnoxious opposing students. But I manage to have at least one weird encounter with some local yahoo every time I go up there, which is every season.

If I'm being completely honest, I've always envied the consistent support UD gets from students and Dayton in general, but man, it makes for a much different crowd than you'd encounter at Richmond or Davidson.

I believe the land you are referring to, located between the UD campus and the river, was once owned by NCR which was headquartered there. There was a beautiful carrillion located I believe on the side of the industrial plant, which I have no idea if it is still there or not. NCR ceased to exist as an independent company and eventually shifted their products from electromechanical products to electronic ones, before disappearing altogether. As the transition occurred this land or a huge piece of it was transferred to the University. They own it, I believe this is the case but may be wrong. The local yahoos resent the fact that they lost their high paying skilled jobs and had nothing to replace them with in the area. Dayton lost a lot of jobs and revenue. This happened elsewhere in Ohio like in Youngstown which still has not recovered from the loss of the steel industry. The same applies to Gary Indiana, and Alton IL. The locals in these cities tend to be less than friendly to outsiders which are still resented.

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10 minutes ago, Old guy said:

I believe the land you are referring to, located between the UD campus and the river, was once owned by NCR which was headquartered there. There was a beautiful carrillion located I believe on the side of the industrial plant, which I have no idea if it is still there or not. NCR ceased to exist as an independent company and eventually shifted their products from electromechanical products to electronic ones, before disappearing altogether. As the transition occurred this land or a huge piece of it was transferred to the University. They own it, I believe this is the case but may be wrong. The local yahoos resent the fact that they lost their high paying skilled jobs and had nothing to replace them with in the area. Dayton lost a lot of jobs and revenue. This happened elsewhere in Ohio like in Youngstown which still has not recovered from the loss of the steel industry. The same applies to Gary Indiana, and Alton IL. The locals in these cities tend to be less than friendly to outsiders which are still resented.

That's a different piece of land than what I'm referring to. There's a wedge-shaped empty lot behind the Burger King on the corner - just walk under the highway overpass from UD Arena and it's on the north side of the road. This lot is not being used for anything and used to be cheap, easy parking for those of us located south of Dayton.

NCR is/was on the other side of the river.

I know Dayton has hit hard times and didn't feel like getting into it.

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