AHSAA Championships

I wonder how many games will be played on campus.

I don't know all the details, but this decision wasn't popular at all with folks around southeast Alabama. I mean, sure, most of them are crusty old troy state fans, so take it with a grain of salt, but apparently it was VERY difficult find decent lodging last year. The good hotels were apparently booked, and the only nearby hotels they could find were sketchy rat traps.

Whether or not their complaints hold merit, someone at the University should DEFINITELY take an active role in making sure this isn't a problem in this and future years. It's great getting all these players on/near campus, but if they're having to stay at the Roach Motel 45 minutes away from town, you're not exactly going to sell Jax State as a lovely place to attend college.

(Again, I don't know all the details. I only heard the complaints secondhand once everyone was back home. I was like, "How the hell did Oxford run out of hotel space?!" I got no answer.)

Honestly -- and as I said, I didn't know about any of this until after they were back home -- my wife and I think they started their hotel search at Exit 185 and proceeded WEST down I-20, rather than starting at the hotel exPLOsion on Exit 188.

I mean, I could see someone checking Jacksonville for hotels, finding the two hotels packed, and then proceeding south on Hwy 21 and thinking the area was full of nothing but seedy crackhead motels with hourly rates. I know from experience, there aren't a lot of solid choices out that way. If you didn't KNOW to head east toward Georgia instead of "nearby" Birmingham, you'd probably wind up at a less than desirable motel 45 minutes away. This is the only thing that makes sense to us, unless Oxford just ran out of rooms entirely.

I guess the University's role in this -- and I know it's an AHSAA event -- but the University's role in this should be to have some input in the visitors' packets. Put some stuff in there about visiting the Jax State campus, etc., but also slide in a hotel guide to non-crackhead lodging within 30 minutes of the ballpark. Maybe come up with a better title than "Non-Crackhead Lodging Within 30-Minutes of the Ballpark". I can't be bothered to be that creative at the moment.

It's an extensive list. I know this. You know this. We all know this.

Visitors from other parts of the state do not know this.

If my local team makes State again this year, BELIEVE ME, I will be in touch with a few key leaders at the high school before they leave town, making sure they (and the parents and fans) know where to go to find lodging and food. There's absolutely no excuse for anyone to come away from a visit to JSU/Oxford thinking they've just been drug through feces and used syringes rivaling the streets of San Francisco.