Bear Down Wildcats

Decided a few weeks ago that the Cats playing @UN-R is a more than good enough excuse to make my first visit to Reno, a city I've definitely wanted to see at some point.

Hell yeah!

Azcat49 and I have plans to meet up and tailgate. We can finally get that beer catsbyaz!

Love reno and 90min from where I'll be!!!!

Grand Sierra and peppermill are where is it at. Let me know if you want tips on where to stay things to do.

Edit: Ill likely be staying at the grand sierra.

Was thinking the Grand Sierra (looks equivalent to the lineup on the Strip) or a dirt cheap place downtown. Whenever I stay in Vegas I usually split the time there between something very high-end on the Strip and end with something dirt cheap, like the Californian, when I've run out of enough money.

Would definitely be down for a tailgate. Plus, the 4PM kickoff time works out great. Sleep in till 11AM. Tailgate till 3. Find my seats and watch football until 7 or 8. Back on the Casino floor by 9 or 10pm. Nearly the same drill as 2 years ago when we did @UNLV.

I'll be there!

I'm hoping to head up. Looking forward to any kind of tailgate. Not a big fan of the city as I've had to work there many times but I'll hopefully make it for the game. The Grand Sierra is easily the best hotel there. And I know its kind of dumpy, but if you want discounted rates for Circus Circus, send me a message. Can get you about $35 off right now each night for that weekend. ($76 for Friday and $83 for Saturday if you want to shop around) And it's only about a 15 minute walk to the campus.

Is the stadium on campus or do you have to drive to Utah like in Vegas?

CalStateTempe wrote:Is the stadium on campus or do you have to drive to Utah like in Vegas?

Stadium is on campus. The campus is actually pretty decent. You can even see it from Circus Circus depending on your room. (This is the dump my company always puts me up in. lol)

The Mrs. and I will be there, should be a lot of fun. However, we're actually staying in Tahoe that week. Luckily the game kicks off at 4:00, so there should still be a little bit of daylight left on the way back.

CalStateTempe wrote:Is the stadium on campus or do you have to drive to Utah like in Vegas?

Thought I was driving to a go-kart racing outpost. And the UNLV fans were so drunk in front of us.

wouldn't you be if you were a UNLV football fan?

HaCats wrote:wouldn't you be if you were a UNLV football fan?

Sounds like you've already forgotten there was a time before RichRod

Sage&Silver wrote:

HaCats wrote:wouldn't you be if you were a UNLV football fan?

Sounds like you've already forgotten there was a time before RichRod

Yeah not gonna lie paying $3 a ticket then sitting at the 50 yd line first row yelling at mackovic the whole game was kinda fun in its own right

CalStateTempe wrote:Grand Sierra and peppermill are where is it at. Let me know if you want tips on where to stay things to do.

Edit: Ill likely be staying at the grand sierra.

Just stayed at the Peppermill and glad to report their casino renovation is complete. Sports book area is sweet, ventilation works very well, and the rooms are awesome.

Leaning toward Peppermill for the moment (wife loves their spa and pool), but will likely be who has the better price in early august when I book between Peppermill and Grand Sierra Resort.

You can't go wrong with either one.

I'll be there. Campus is basically 2 blocks from downtown, so it isn't hard to walk (all uphill to the game is the hardest part). I went to undergrad there.

There have been massive wildfires this summer that have blown into Reno. Hopefully they don't continue and temps stay low. Other than that, it's a nice, small, accessible campus and an intimate stadium.

I haven't seen a UA road game, and even graduating from UNR in undergrad, it'll be a good place to rep the Wildcats on the road. If we have to lose a game, this would be the easiest to swallow for me.

Just booked my tickets. Not great seats, but cheap thanks to a promo I hadn't yet used through Stubhub. And I don't recommend using SH. Impossible to navigate ever since they redid their website.

Thinking of crashing at a former colleague's house in the area. Will only be in Reno the night before thanks to getting forced into a flight out of Oakland early the next day. Oh well, still up for tailgating the morning leading up to kickoff. Any beer preference CST?

CatsbyAZ wrote:Just booked my tickets. Not great seats, but cheap thanks to a promo I hadn't yet used through Stubhub. And I don't recommend using SH. Impossible to navigate ever since they redid their website.

Thinking of crashing at a former colleague's house in the area. Will only be in Reno the night before thanks to getting forced into a flight out of Oakland early the next day. Oh well, still up for tailgating the morning leading up to kickoff. Any beer preference CST?

Sweet, I know Azcat49 will be down for a tailgate too. Sierra Nevada is my tried and true, but I'm open to anything. You? Tecate cans historically tend to be my game day, but I have a terrible away game record with those so I should probably table that selection.

Where are you staying? Going to decide in August, but it would be fun to hit the craps table with other CATS fans.

CalStateTempe wrote: Where are you staying? Going to decide in August, but it would be fun to hit the craps table with other CATS fans.

I haven't quite sorted out where to stay.

On the Friday beforehand my first choice is crashing at the house of a former coworker.

The Sands and Circus Circus (on 5th & Virginia) are dirt cheap and better yet, close enough to the UNR campus so as to avoid having to drive there and back.

The Grand Sierra looks like the best casino option.

Looking forward to it!

CatsbyAZ wrote:

CalStateTempe wrote: Where are you staying? Going to decide in August, but it would be fun to hit the craps table with other CATS fans.

I haven't quite sorted out where to stay.

On the Friday beforehand my first choice is crashing at the house of a former coworker.

The Sands and Circus Circus (on 5th & Virginia) are dirt cheap and better yet, close enough to the UNR campus so as to avoid having to drive there and back.

The Grand Sierra looks like the best casino option.

Looking forward to it!

For what it's worth, downtown has improved since I went to undergrad there in the early 2000's. The riverwalk has done a good job of revitalizing a bit. It's still a cut rate Vegas, but it's less of a pit than it was.

Even a downtown hotel a bit away from campus, it's probably under $5 in a cab to the game and a downhill walk and wander back through downtown after (hopefully) a Cats win. I visited family last year, and the gentrification is in full swing.

Nevada's SB Nation site previews the Arizona game. Their conclusion:

Last year, when Nevada played Arizona, the Wolf Pack were able to come back from a 15 point deficit and give Arizona all it could handle before eventually losing the game. But the Wolf Pack had Cody Fajardo at quarterback and he is not there anymore and the quarterback situation is still uncertain for Nevada. Also, the Wildcats have too much overall talent on both sides of the ball for Nevada to handle. The Wolf Pack will play tough since they are at home but in the end, Arizona comes away with the win.

Bill Connelly's SB Nation Nevada preview. His final paragraph:

Despite a non-conference slate that features Arizona and Texas A&M, Nevada's schedule is light, featuring seven opponents that ranked 102nd or worse last season. So if the Wolf Pack fall into the 80s or so, they'll have a chance at reaching bowl eligibility again.

But make no mistake: they're almost certainly going to fall. The offense must replace an awesome quarterback and three-fifths of a good offensive line, and the defense must start over in the secondary after toeing the bend-don't-break line awfully close.

The size of the drop-off might be telling. If some young players thrive, Nevada could only fall to the 70s or 80s, and the Wolf Pack could be set up for success going forward. But if Fajardo was the only thing keeping Nevada's offense upright, and if the run defense doesn't improve to take some heat off of the secondary, then they could fall far, and Polian could enter his fourth year already in need of a second bounceback.

Honestly, I'm leaning toward the latter.

Spaceman Spiff wrote: For what it's worth, downtown has improved since I went to undergrad there in the early 2000's. The riverwalk has done a good job of revitalizing a bit. It's still a cut rate Vegas, but it's less of a pit than it was.

Even a downtown hotel a bit away from campus, it's probably under $5 in a cab to the game and a downhill walk and wander back through downtown after (hopefully) a Cats win. I visited family last year, and the gentrification is in full swing.

Just my take on a brief first visit to Reno this past weekend - the GSR, Peppermill, Silver Legacy, Atlantis and maybe the Golden Nugget could hold up as mid-range casinos in Las Vegas. Certainly nothing' is close to the Vegas Strip quality, and the rest I visited (Circus Circus, Harrah's, El Dorado) fit more with the bottom barrel Mardi-Gras, Binion's, Stations casinos. I did like the sports betting floor of the Silver Legacy with its expansive bleacher seating facing the many big screens, although the guy in charge of setting the active game lines kept posting incorrect in-game scores.

With Tesla Motors moving projects into town the locals told me that finally an upper-middle class was taking root that had nothing to do with the casinos or UN-R. As for the campus it's more comparable to NAU given the mountain/pine tree setting and similar student body populations. The tailgating was more than expected with plenty of tents sponsored by local companies. The stadium is comparable to a football stadium for 5A Texas High School football. My seats were higher up than I wanted, but it turned out better when it came to the views. As the sun set in the 4th quarter you could watch the colorful lighting of the Reno's casino skyline flicker on.

CatsbyAZ wrote:

Spaceman Spiff wrote: For what it's worth, downtown has improved since I went to undergrad there in the early 2000's. The riverwalk has done a good job of revitalizing a bit. It's still a cut rate Vegas, but it's less of a pit than it was.

Even a downtown hotel a bit away from campus, it's probably under $5 in a cab to the game and a downhill walk and wander back through downtown after (hopefully) a Cats win. I visited family last year, and the gentrification is in full swing.

Just my take on a brief first visit to Reno this past weekend - the GSR, Peppermill, Silver Legacy, Atlantis and maybe the Golden Nugget could hold up as mid-range casinos in Las Vegas. Certainly nothing' is close to the Vegas Strip quality, and the rest I visited (Circus Circus, Harrah's, El Dorado) fit more with the bottom barrel Mardi-Gras, Binion's, Stations casinos. I did like the sports betting floor of the Silver Legacy with its expansive bleacher seating facing the many big screens, although the guy in charge of setting the active game lines kept posting incorrect in-game scores.

With Tesla Motors moving projects into town the locals told me that finally an upper-middle class was taking root that had nothing to do with the casinos or UN-R. As for the campus it's more comparable to NAU given the mountain/pine tree setting and similar student body populations. The tailgating was more than expected with plenty of tents sponsored by local companies. The stadium is comparable to a football stadium for 5A Texas High School football. My seats were higher up than I wanted, but it turned out better when it came to the views. As the sun set in the 4th quarter you could watch the colorful lighting of the Reno's casino skyline flicker on.

Yeah, the casinos are still a well developed Laughlin. It's really too bad that the heat and CA fire haze came in. I was there from the previous weekend, and there was some clear, mid-70's weather that would have been beautiful.

The stadium has never been anything but a midmajor facility. Subpar amenities, but good sightlines and never being far from the action. I was stuck directly opposite the Arizona section, but the fans were nice. I even got a few Nevada fans agreeing on the endzone PI call(s). It would have been nicer if it was a better temp.

Biggest thing, we performed better than I expected. If we had converted the 2 4th downs in the first half, we would have completely destroyed them. Even without that, it was a strong performance.

Where you been?