AlamoDome dome expected to be sold out for Dec. 29 game
OSU fans snap up Alamo Bowl tickets
San Antonio dome expected to be sold out for Dec. 29 game
By Doug Harris - Cox News Service
December 15th, 2004
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COLUMBUS — The Alamo Bowl has never attracted a capacity crowd in the 65,000-seat Alamodome without inviting a football team from Texas, but that is sure to change this year.
Tickets for the Ohio State University-Oklahoma State game in San Antonio on Dec. 29 are going so fast that one Alamo Bowl official joked that accommodating all the fans might ultimately require a little bribery.
"We’re going to bake cookies for the fire marshal to see if he’ll let us put in extra seats," vice president Rick Hill said.
Ohio State has approximately 1,200 unsold tickets from its original allotment of 10,800 (virtually the only tickets still available) but that figure is deceptive.
Richelle Simonson, OSU’s associate athletic director in charge of events, said thousands of fans bought seats directly from the Alamo Bowl before the school offered tickets to the general public.
She said
the Buckeyes will bring a crowd of about 25,000.
"Other than the Fiesta Bowl two years ago, this will be the largest number of tickets we’ve sold since I’ve been doing this," said Simonson, a 13-year employee.
Oklahoma State also will bring a large following, having sold about 15,000 tickets.
The Alamo Bowl has had just three sellouts in 11 years.
"It’s laying out perfectly for us," Hill said. "The city is excited. The downtown hotels are full. The stars are all aligned this year."
Tressel’s heart at OSU: Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel insists nothing could lure him away from his current place of employment, not even an offer from the NFL team that still has a piece of his heart.
Tressel said the Cleveland Browns haven’t contacted him about their opening. But the Berea, Ohio, native is too happy where he is to entertain an offer from his hometown pro team.
"That might be a dream job if you’re interested in that," he said. "But Ohio State is a dream job for a college football coach, and it’s still my dream job."
Tressel has a 39-11 record in four seasons with the Buckeyes. But the self-proclaimed lifelong Browns fan doesn’t think he’d be a good fit for the pros.
"I was an education major (at Baldwin-Wallace) and feel that’s what I’ve been called to do to educate," Tressel said. "I look at college and high school as a lot more of an educational setting than the next level."
After leading the Buckeyes to the 2002 national title, Tressel signed a six-year contract with a starting salary of $1.3 million. He will make $1.871 million in 2008, the final year of the pact.
Holmes not in awe: Watching Oklahoma State’s secondary on film hasn’t exactly left Buckeyes receiver Santonio Holmes in awe.
"They’re pretty susceptible to the deep ball," the sophomore said. "I think a lot of guys can run past them. We can expose their secondary a lot."
The Buckeyes have a trio of fleet-footed receivers in Holmes and freshmen Ted Ginn Jr. and Anthony Gonzalez.
"Our team has pretty good DBs who are pretty fast, and we run by those guys every day," Holmes said. "I don’t think there’s many DBs out there who are faster than our DBs."
Buckeyes to rest: The Buckeyes will take a six-day break from practice starting Thursday before reassembling in San Antonio on Dec. 22.
Players have the option of either flying on the team charter from Columbus or making their own travel arrangements.
Doug Harris covers Ohio State University for Cox News Service.