First, they put the tournament in Bama's back yard. I've never felt that was fair to the rest of the conference. But, for the life of me, you cannot justify a #7 seed being the home team over the #1 seed. Who comes up with these rules?
It's Alabama. There are no rules. Even if there were rules, Alabama is exempt from them...didn't you know?
Alabama record in Birmingham Alabama's record in Birmingham speaks for itself with the advantage that they have. I believe the announcer said they are 30-8 in SEC tournament and LSU is the only team to beat them two or more times in Birmingham. Their are four team who have never beaten Alabama in the SEC tournament in Birmingham. I'm a strong advocate of rotating the SEC tournamnent site each year. Playing in Zephyr field would not be a bad thing. I'm sure there are some AAA or AA baseball parks scattered around the SEC territory. I don't want this to sound like whining or after-the-fact, but it is unfair to all the other SEC schools. If the roles were reverse and LSU played at the Superdome or Zephyr field every year, I think the outcomes would be different. I have to hear the damn Tulane fans bitch every year that LSU hosts a regional. Hell, they say it is unfair that LSU plays the regional at home every year. Well - so does Stanford, and Miami, and Florida State. Your know what - LSU and them teams earned to play the regional tournaments at home because of the regular season. What did Alabama do to earn playing 30 minutes from home. It's like letting the wild card team host a playoff game against the divional champion.
The SEC should rotate the tourney between Hoover, Atlanta, and Zepher field. There might also be some other places they could also hold the tourney that would still be in SEC territory. I am also a proponent of moving the football title game to a rotating schedule. Atlanta one year, Superdome the other. This would be like the big 12 does. They have had it at Reliant,Texas Stadium, Alamodome, Arrowhead, and the TWA dome or whatever its name is now. Doing this prevents having a some what home field advantage. The Superdome is closer to Arkansas, LSU, Moo State, and Ole Miss and mabey Bama. The Georgia Dome is closer to Florida, Auburn, Tennessee, Vandy, South Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky.
There is a very fine minor league baseball park in Memphis as well as the Liberty Bowl as venues for a rotation of SEC basball and football championships. I also believe there is a basketball arena in that pyramid located in the city also.
There are AA or AAA minor league teams with stadiums that would be more than adequate for hosting the SEC tournament in New Orleans, Jackson, MS, Memphis and Chatanooga, TN, Columbia, SC, Shreveport, Louisiville, KY that I know of and I'm sure there are good minor league stadiums in Georgia and Florida also. I wouldn't be against having the SEC tournament in major league stadiums either, Turner Field, Minute Maid Park, Pro Player Stadium. Tropicana Field in Tampa might be a good place too - it might draw a bigger crowd than the Tampa Bay Neverrays
The Tennessee Smokies minor league baseball team has a fantastic facility in Sevierville (just outside Knoxville) that would be a great place to host the baseball tournament. I hope Alabama enjoyed the win...they won't win their regional. :tigerbase :geaux:
The minor league stadium in Shreveport is decent but the capacoty isn't much more than Alex Box if any. It's in the neighbor hood of 8000.
