Spring Break
Ram Road Trip
Students, players, performers travel to N.M. for bowl game
Johnny Hart
Issue date: 12/15/08 Section: Sports
Before the semester began, several questions about the CSU Rams football squad went unanswered. Would the Rams improve from last season? How would Steve Fairchild fare in his first season at the helm of the team? Could the Rams pull off an invite to a bowl game?
With just over two weeks removed from the Border War win over Wyoming, sealing a 6-6, bowl-eligible season, the Rams will flock to Albuquerque, N.M. to compete against Fresno State in the New Mexco Bowl.
But two questions still remain: Who is going and how are they getting there?
The stranded flock
From the northeast corner of the CSU campus to the southeast corner of Avenida Cesar Chavez and University Boulevard ÂÂ-- where the New Mexico Lobos play and the New Mexico Bowl is hosted -- spans nearly 512 miles of pavement, lanes and road signs.
Mapquest.com estimates the time of departure to the time of arrival to be just over seven and one half hours, about a third of a day.
In years past and during the course of this year's football season, the Associated Students of CSU herded eager Ram fans to and from games, including a major bowl-game trip to San Diego in 2005.
Ram Road Trip headed two convoys during the 2008 campaign, including what Student Services Associate Director April Ragland said was a successful trip to Invesco Field for the Rocky Mountain Showdown in late August.
Ragland said the program sold out of tickets to the game and charted 6 busloads of students to Denver and back.
But an unsuccessful trip from Fort Collins to the Air Force Academy, which Ragland called "discouraging," left prospects for bussing students to Albuquerque, N.M. for the New Mexico Bowl bleak.
"We were all looking forward to going to a bowl game," Ragland said. "We could have got the money, but we couldn't afford to lose money."
Joel Cantalamessa, founder and owner of RamNation.com, an independent CSU athletics Web site, said several factors could have lead to ASCSU and the Athletics Department not scheduling a trip, including finals, lack of enthusiasm and students arranging trips home for winter break.
With just over two weeks removed from the Border War win over Wyoming, sealing a 6-6, bowl-eligible season, the Rams will flock to Albuquerque, N.M. to compete against Fresno State in the New Mexco Bowl.
But two questions still remain: Who is going and how are they getting there?
The stranded flock
From the northeast corner of the CSU campus to the southeast corner of Avenida Cesar Chavez and University Boulevard ÂÂ-- where the New Mexico Lobos play and the New Mexico Bowl is hosted -- spans nearly 512 miles of pavement, lanes and road signs.
Mapquest.com estimates the time of departure to the time of arrival to be just over seven and one half hours, about a third of a day.
In years past and during the course of this year's football season, the Associated Students of CSU herded eager Ram fans to and from games, including a major bowl-game trip to San Diego in 2005.
Ram Road Trip headed two convoys during the 2008 campaign, including what Student Services Associate Director April Ragland said was a successful trip to Invesco Field for the Rocky Mountain Showdown in late August.
Ragland said the program sold out of tickets to the game and charted 6 busloads of students to Denver and back.
But an unsuccessful trip from Fort Collins to the Air Force Academy, which Ragland called "discouraging," left prospects for bussing students to Albuquerque, N.M. for the New Mexico Bowl bleak.
"We were all looking forward to going to a bowl game," Ragland said. "We could have got the money, but we couldn't afford to lose money."
Joel Cantalamessa, founder and owner of RamNation.com, an independent CSU athletics Web site, said several factors could have lead to ASCSU and the Athletics Department not scheduling a trip, including finals, lack of enthusiasm and students arranging trips home for winter break.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
TJ Skillman
posted 12/15/08 @ 6:26 PM MST
i think the Ram Ride chose a terrible game to charter students to in AFA. Wyoming would have made SO MUCH MORE SENSE....so of course they doubt the turn out. (Continued…)
Post a Comment