A few comments from MrEvents

[MrEvents]

Now that the National Championship is over and I'm finally back home, it's time to show that Christmas Spirit by "SHARING" a few words from MrEvents.

Congratulations to the Panthers on a great season! Only two teams get to play for a "real" National Championship. Be proud!

I must come clean with my friends from UNI. I spent a good week or so answering your many questions about Chattanooga, the NC Game, where to stay, where to eat, what to do, and why something was they way it was. I love this town and this event (my 8th out of 9). Fortunately I get paid to do some of what I do.

I didn't get to personally meet many of you, but I tried to at least speak to as many of you as I could while I worked. I imagine many of you saw me but didn't realize who I was so I'll try and help you here. Here's a short list of everything that I was involved with this week:

My company provided the stage, camera risers, pipe & drape, and podium for the Media Room at Finley Stadium where interviews of players and coaches were held.

We also provided balloons in team colors for the teams bowling on Wednesday night.

The guy at the luncheon doing the audio visual stuff was me. What a great video the NCAA produced for this event. The table decorations and linens were provided by my company. We also shot confetti.

We provided Cocktail Tables for the VIP Reception on Thursday night at the Chattanooga Choo Choo.

On Game Day, we started with decorating the Pavilion for both schools. UNI went all out with tables and chairs for 500 people, a stage, and a PA System. APP State went smaller with Cocktail Tables and a Video Screen and Projector.

Around 4:00 we had an emergency call from ESPN needing camera risers for the end zone camera. We had to hustle but got it done.

That guy greeting you Charter folks as you entered the Pavilion was me. The guy shooting confetti was me too. The guy telling you to not stand on the tables was me (sorry but that was my property and my livelihood and standing will break them).

With a request to change the plans from the UNI folks, we moved your activities to the Main Stage. Fog Machine and confetti were provided by us. We also assisted with Event Coordination. The Cheerleaders, Band, and Coaches were great. Unfortunately we had a power failure and missed the University President. Anyway, I believe you'll agree the Pavilion activities were a definite success.

While you were entering the Stadium, we were loading everything up and taking it all back to the warehouse. Over 500 chairs, 75 or so tables, a stage, a giant video screen, and much other stuff. Amazingly done before halftime and in our seats at the half. I have a great crew!!

Seats on the App side. At this point I will tell you that I call things like I see them.

Now the rant part:

I have never heard profanity like I did at a ballgame or any other event or have I seen spectators openly give the finger like I did there. I was also told that App fans were seen spitting on the UNI Band Members as they marched into the stadium. Didn't see it but was told about it as I made first mention of the other appalling things I witnessed. I am just truly shocked and amazed!!!

With 5 minutes to go in the game it was time to go back to work. Had to report to the end zone to prepare to move a riser to midfield for the National Championship Trophy Presentation. Also had to coordinate which colors of confetti to shoot. Not easy when you have just a couple of minutes. Upon completion of the game, total chaos. Police escort to midfield was some help but we were pushed and knocked around. It was so bad that we were finally told to just forget the trophy presentation. So sad that there aren't any pictures of that. Their loss.

Today we returned to pick-up the ESPN risers and the Trophy Ceremony riser. We see the hole that was cut out of the new playing surface around the 45 yard line. I AM NOT SURPRISED BUT I AM MAD AS HELL!!! I personally made a donation (sizable to me) of my hard earned money to provide that surface for the athletes to play on. I'm certain the local judicial system will do the right thing and see to it that the offenders suffer the consequences. I wonder if security will become so tight that in the future, no one will be allowed to celebrate on the field because of the App State fans.

While UNI may have lost the battle, they certainly won the war. Polite as no other, full of pride, heads held high, with dignity, they accept loss and understand life.

Hope you all had a great experience in Chattanooga and we look forward to seeing you here in the future.

MrEvents

[Jonsoup]

Thanks for the update Mr. Events as well for all your information on your fine town. I was on the field by the lockerroom when the local police was escorting in handcuffs a fan of ASU out along with the piece cut from the field. As I stood their some of us Panther Fans were cheering for the local police for arresting the fan for detroying property not belonging to him. I also agree with the ASU fans were really rude to myself and another person I went to the game with while we checking into our hotel room. WE ARE DETERMINE TO WIN IT NEXT YEAR. GO PANTHERS!!!

[CF Panther]

Thanks for the update Mr. Events as well for all your information on your fine town. I was on the field by the lockerroom when the local police was escorting in handcuffs a fan of ASU out along with the piece cut from the field. As I stood their some of us Panther Fans were cheering for the local police for arresting the fan for detroying property not belonging to him. I also agree with the ASU fans were really rude to myself and another person I went to the game with while we checking into our hotel room. WE ARE DETERMINE TO WIN IT NEXT YEAR. GO PANTHERS!!!

J, if you ran into half of the "Mountain folk" I did, I'm sure you had a "blast" dealing with them. We stayed at the Marriot, where the team and many other Panther fans stayed, and still could not avoid running into a good deal of these imbeciles!

TO MREVENTS: I am glad you had good experiences with our fans. I hope that the turf can be repaired and that none of your company's equipment was badly damaged. I hope that we get to see your company's work again in the future, hopefully very near future! Thanks to you and all the other folks from Chattanooga who put on one hell of a show for this game! The setting for that game was as close to perfect as possible!

[alleycat]

Mr. Events

After some of the events on the field after the game I assume there will be a need for more security on the field next year. Thanks to a few punk ASU fans ticket prices next year will likely go up $5 per ticket to offset this cost. While most fans from ASU showed class a few should of been hauled off right away. Thanks for all the information.

Can you keep us updated with the cost to replace that section of the turf? Any info in the paper on who was arrested? Student? Does ASU have to pick up the tab???

Thanks again.

[CanuckPanther]

Thanks for all your help, advice and especially for all your work, MrEvents!
I was appreciated, and it was a WONDERFUL time in Chattanooga. With the exception of the final score, I loved everything about my experience there!!!!
You did a superb job (even though I did not get to have you tell me to get off the tables, etc LOL)

[Blue42]

Mr Events, Chattanooga was a great host site for the event. I will speak well of it when asked back in Iowa. And you guys did a a terrific job. The pre-game activities were great. Loved the pavillion set up. The stadium is an excellent site for a national championship game. You should be proud of how you host that event.

[MrEvents]

Thanks Blue. We want to hear any feedback, positive or negative, as we try to improve each and every year. Your comments are appreciated.

[Cat80]

Thanks for all the info in advance of the game, Mr. Events. Congrats on putting on a great event. I also will sing the praises of Chattanooga next week. Keep this up and Chattanooga could be for I-AA football what Omaha is for the baseball championship. The locals were very friendly and welcoming to Cat78, Jrcat, and myself. Some of the people in the frou-frou shops on Market didn't seem to know what was going on, but that's to be expected. All in all a great experience except for some APPsolutely APPalling behaviour, but that might be added to another thread.

I hope you had a soft chair and favorite beverage this weekend, you earned it!

[oldcat]

MrEvents.................everything was great..........I do have a suggestion.............have shuttles running between the Marriott and the stadium and the Choo Choo and the stadium.............some of us fans aren't 20 years old anymore.............I have knees that are bone on bone, made it a fun trip getting to the stadium.

Forget these comments MrEvents........from what I'm reading below, I wasted my time...........you don't stay young forever.

[Blue42]

A couple points for feedback...

1. More security in the stadium and around the stadium before and after the game would be a good idea.
2. Knock down the gutted out brown building that stands to the southwest of the stadium. Or better yet, refurbish it. It's probably got some historical value. But it's sitting there with broken out windows and graffiti. Not worthy next to Finley Stadium.
3. Maybe sign a couple bands up for live music before the game. Might add a bit to the atmosphere.

Other than that, it's all good.

[MrEvents]

A couple points for feedback...

1. More security in the stadium and around the stadium before and after the game would be a good idea.
2. Knock down the gutted out brown building that stands to the southwest of the stadium. Or better yet, refurbish it. It's probably got some historical value. But it's sitting there with broken out windows and graffiti. Not worthy next to Finley Stadium.
3. Maybe sign a couple bands up for live music before the game. Might add a bit to the atmosphere.

Other than that, it's all good.

I agree with your suggestion regarding Security. I'm not a big fan of relying on the National Guard and/or Marines to serve as Security unless they take a proactive role and are also marked as "SECURITY." Hopefully it will be addressed. We have had a private Security Company in the past in addition to what we normally have but I am not privy to why we aren't using them anymore.

The gutted out brown building is a legal issue that has been going on for years and it may take another year or two, but one day it will go away.

We have had bands in the past I believe up until last year. Positives and negatives there. I really think we have found the right combination regarding activities but we probably need to tweak it some.

People sometimes don't know or don't understand that the day/date of the event plays a really big role in what is available to us. If it falls a week out, we seem to do OK but if it is really closer to the holiday itself, it becomes very difficult. Both schools and colleges are on break so what we have available to us to perform Pre-Game/National Anthem/Half-time beomes a challenge.

Thanks for your suggestions and I hope you'll return in the future.

[CF Panther]

Not to pile it on MrEvents, because I thought the whole weekend, with the exception of a few fan run-ins, was EXCELLENT! But I would second the more security idea, and there was a HUGE need for more concession stand workers. I don't know about the other side of the field, but the UNI side was understaffed BIG TIME. I know that many fans in my section simply kept their money in their pockets instead of wasting a lot of game time waiting in line... That Pavilion setup is outstanding though, and congratulations are in order for your work on that!!

[Uncle TubaCat]

Great Job Mr Events! I also agree with the security issue as we had some APP St fans behind us drinking and spilling beer on other fans. Also the PA system in the stadium needed some work. Thanks for your efforts.

[Born-a-Panther]

Had to bring this up -- how neat was it when the ENTIRE stadium started singing the National Anthem?? I still get goosebumps just thinking about it. As someone who was standing on the sidelines, I can tell you that it sounded awesome from the field... I was very proud of ALL the fans at that moment.

[igo4uni]

I really had a good time in Chattanooga. I thought the stadium and the field were really top notch. The pavilion area was super cool as well. It was really neat to be in there and see all the fans of both teams. The parking area was awesome and the parking staff that we talked to were very, very nice.

I was proud to be there as one of the thousands of Panther fans in attendance. I really think that Chattanooga did a fine job. My only complaint: Move Chatty about 10 hours closer to Iowa!! 13 hours is a long drive.

peace

igo4uni