A Tuesday Game? At Noon? Against Reinhardt?

Yep- that's right. The Mocs have moved their game on Tuesday, December 21 to 12:00 from the original 7:00 start. They are playing Reinhardt College.

OK- there are so many places to go with this. There are positives and negatives. Let's start with the obvious fact that I do not attend most home games due to the fact that I live so far away. I watch the Mocs on Chattanooga All Access (when they play at home) and listen to the games the same way. So, I have a little bit less to say about the start time of a game.

POSITIVES
--It's like a Businessman's Special for a baseball game. Lots of baseball games take place in the afternoon. A baseball game lasts longer than a basketball game, generally. Does it really hurt?
--School field trip, anyone? There are field trips to afternoon baseball games sometimes- why not this? After all, it is right before Christmas Break, and not lot gets done during that time period anyway. Maybe it would develop some new Moc fans.
--This is thinking outside the box- in fact, as one of my professors once said, it is not enough to think outside the box- you have to realize that there is no box. That's what happened here. This is totally outside the box. It's a nice effort.

NEGATIVES
--I will be at work. At work, I can't listen to games, watch games, or see "live stats." So I won't be able to keep up with the game at all. Frustration. Many people will be in the same boat.
--This is Reinhardt. Not Georgia Tech or Tennessee or North Carolina. It's not even like it's Austin Peay or Murray State. It's Reinhardt. People going to a game like this is hard to do anyway, but going to a game like this and having to take off work to do it, is even less likely.

Really- that's the whole story. Some people say that this is the test case for whether or not the Mocs would play on ESPN's Tip Off Marathon at some game time like 6 AM or something. I disagree. They would be playing a team like Austin Peay or Murray State in that game. It would be well worth watching or attending. The game could be promoted in special ways.

This game lacks the ability to be marketed well. How do you market a game against Reinhardt? Like I said before, Montreat can be marketed because of Lincoln Walters and the Dr Pepper Classic. How do you market Reinhardt? It's just not possible.

Maybe the Mocs have decided to cut their losses and let the players get home a little earlier and see what happens. Sure, it is only seven hours to us, but it really may be more like twelve hours to the players. Many players may not be able to go home until the morning if it were a night game, whereas they can go home in the evening after this game.

My one hope- that the Mocs don't come out lazy with such a strange start time. They need to crush Reinhardt. My fear is that somehow they will be able to keep it close because the game will be such an oddity.

The athletic department and Rick Hart are to be praised for their efforts on this idea. I'm not sure this game will work for it. But I'm all for doing a noon game against a bigger name opponent and seeing if it works.

GO MOCS!