Bowl Season (Page 2)

It's fun having confidence in my Aggies again.  Would not have guessed this is how our season would play out.

Wish we were facing our former rivals, texas university this year, but the Sooners will do.

Go Bruins!

I'm so thrilled about having a team worth getting exited about (it's been years) that I'm making my travel plans to San Diego at this very moment. And they've even got a Holiday Bowl 5k that morning, so I'm practically OBLIGATED to go. 

Auburn? They're good, but they haven't met Anthony Barr yet.

Of course you want UT.  They stink this year. 

I bet Arlington isn't very happy about that matchup.  Nobody will fly-in. Nobody rents a car.  Fewer people staying at hotels.  All of which help to pay for that massive stadium.

I am excited to see more of Johnny Football.

And even if they were thinking about staying overnight, they just spent that money on jerry's tickets

I've got my 2012 Ohio State "bowl game shirt" ready to roll!

As a fellow alum, I feel obligated to tell you that Auburn is absolutely terrible... but we are playing Baylor.

Wish I could go but I will be screaming at the TV from home.

I will be spending the New Year in New Orleans watching my Cardinals play Florida.  Likely to be a beat down but Florida has shown this year that they are capable of laying an egg.  Played close against Bowling Green, Louisiana Lafayette and Missouri.  Bridgewater should be healed up by then along with a couple of other key players on the line that have missed a large portion of games.

Never been to New Orleans, anyone have suggestions of inexpensive places to stay that are in safe locations?  Going with the Wife and 2 kids (16, 13) so I am also looking for some family friendly site seeing.

I'm certainly no Ohio State fan, but it does suck that the kids don't get anything this year.  They should be playing ND for the national championship.

No.  No they shouldn't.  The team broke the rules.  Therefore, the team suffers the consequences.  Therefore, no they should not be playing ND for the national championship. 

One of my alma maters are playing Western Kentucky in one of the worst bowl games this year.

Another is playing Nevada in another craptastic bowl.

And my last, and the team I actually follow, is playing USC in the Outback bowl.  I don't know what to think about that one...

On the other hand, it's hard to ever feel sorry for Urban Meyer...

It is what it is, and I don't want to devolve this thread into an Ohio State debate.  I just think about the kids who are there today who had nothing to do with the rules being broken are the ones who get punished.  Either way, they did all they could do this year and can hold their heads high.

I may have used the wrong word that they "should" be playing for the Championship.  Perhaps they "could" be playing for the championship is a better choice of words.

I'll give you that.

New Orleans is lots of fun.  I made the trip last  year.  Look at kayak.com for hotels, just make sure it looks okay in the pictures and gets good reviews.  We stayed at the Residence Inn on St. Joseph street last year, and it was a decent place, relatively inexpensive (prepaid).  I've stayed in many other places throughout the years there.  Sometimes you can find a good deal on the Loew's hotel.  A quick search of Kayak showed many pretty nice places for around $200.00 night, so you should not have an issue if you go ahead and reserve something.  I'm sure you can find a decent place for less than that too.

I would suggest staying in the Quarter (although not on Bourbon), right out side of the Quarter, or in the Warehouse District.  The Garden district is nice also, but you can't walk to the Quarter, etc. from there.  All of these areas are safe, just remember you are in New Orleans.

As for places to eat:

Breakfast: Cafe Du Monde for coffee and beignets.

Good, not pricey: Mother's, Central Grocery (Muffelata), The Gumbo Shop

http://www.mothersrestaurant.net/

http://www.yelp.com/biz/central-grocery-co-new-orleans

Good Dinner: Cochon, Jacques Imo's

http://www.cochonrestaurant.com/

http://jacques-imos.com/

Nice Meals, but pricey: Commanders  Palace, Dickey Brennan's Steak House, Emeril's, NOLA Restaurant.

Sunday Brunch: Brennan's

We usually book lunch the day of the game at Dickie Brennan's Steakhouse, and make that our nice meal (or one of the nice meals) of the stay.

There are plenty of places to duck into and have a meal, etc, just walking around.  These are just some highlights of places that we have been previously and tend to gravitate back to when we are down.

As for site seeing, walking in the Quarter is fine, even down Bourbon street, just remember there are bars and "clubs", as it is what it is.  You can walk through the Market and Jackson Square.  There is no shortage of places to see walking around.

The Museum right by the Cathedral, The D-Day Museum was really cool when we went, the Aquarium is nice, the Zoo is supposed to be really nice too.  You can do cemetery tours, ghost tours, etc, but I have not done any of these, but could be fun for everyone.

If you are really into History, you can drive out of New Orleans and visit some of the old plantations down the Mississippi.  They may do boat tours of those too, not sure though.  We did this when I was about 9 or so, but it still stands out to me.

Hope some of this helps.  I'm sure you can get more info from someone in NOLA.

Just seen this Matt. I will jump in soon to accept my beating this year.