re: Offseason Thread: Rank the SEC college towns

That looks sick, man. BR has a nice mountain bike trail, but it's a little too hardcore for me.

Columbia...

1. University to City (how important is the Univ to the city it resides) - 8.. Pretty important, Columbia is a government/military/university town.. USC takes up roughly half of downtown and is pretty much fueling downtown Columbia's building boom, remove that and 33,000 students and you have a boring government town..

2. Campus Proximity (is it central to the city) - 10.. literally smack dab in the middle of it, surrounded by everything a college student could possibly want.

3. Proximity to Downtown or Bars (Self explanatory) - 8.. two bar districts, The Vista on one side of campus and Five Points on the other side. Five Points is basically an extension of campus and is much closer, The Vista is a short walk.

4. Proximity to Sports venues (yep) - 5.. Our basketball arena saves us here, it's in a newer area of campus, basically the area USC is building up.. Williams Brice is off campus, but that area is improving as well, should be really nice in a few years. Our baseball stadium is not far from the basketball arena.. near the river in an area that is to become USC's research district, InnoVista.

5. Drinking Laws (how restrictive or lax are they...10 is lax) - 8.. Really lax on gamedays around the stadium, use a solo cup and you'll be fine walking anywhere within a mile of Williams Brice. Most bars in Five Points and The Vista close at 2am.. but there are plenty of bars in both districts that have permits to stay open until 4am and even later. Bars/restuarants sell beer and liquor under the same roof (which is not the case everywhere in The South). No liquor on Sundays.

6. Campus Architecture (is it pretty to look at) - 10.. Central Campus is really historic and evokes that typical collegiate atmosphere.. but I love the newer areas of campus. USC's campus is growing really fast, south towards Williams Brice and west towards the river, construction and renovations everywhere but if you pay attention you'll notice a distinct style in the newer buildings that are reminiscent of The Horseshoe (our quad).

7. Gameday Experience (Grove for Ole Miss, etc.) - 6.. I love gameday at Williams Brice but I've been to schools where it's better. Off campus stadium so the tailgating isn't like the Grove or tailgating on campus at UGA but it's still really fun, especially if you're younger and are tailgating in the student/young alumni lots which are typically the lots farther from the stadium so that the old folks don't have to deal with the riff raff of youth. Our new lot, Gamecock Park is REALLY nice, older crowd tailgates there. This number will improve as USC continues to improve the area around the stadium.

8. Downtown/Bar District (points off for distance between) - 10.. most schools in the SEC have a bar district, very few have two close to campus with distinct vibes and specialties. Five Points is very young and full of student dive type bars, cheap restaurants that are open LATE into the night, unique stores and all around coolness. The Vista is slightly more mature, has amazing restaurants and shops. The Vista has nightclubs and lounges that you'd see in a larger city.. On top of those two areas, Main Street north of campus is bound to become the next entertainment district as more and more students move there for the convenience of downtown living..

9. Eyesores near campus (10 means none, 1 means ghetto is near) - 8.. USC is downtown so there aren't too many rundown areas adjacent to campus, north of campus there's the statehouse and office buildings, west of campus is The Vista, east of campus is Five Points which is "college town" nice and some nice neighborhoods around 5 points on Devine and towards Rosewood. The neighborhood between campus and Williams Brice is called Olympia, it's pretty rundown but lots of students live there in houses, so it's kind of a party house area, it's your stereotypical college neighborhood.

10. Misc (things not listed...traditions etc.) - 10 ... Columbia is a city of 150,000 but a metro area population of over 800,000, so there's lots of stuff to do. The area is really spread out and full of really nice upscale areas and really rundown areas, like your typical American city. It's possible to be bored in Columbia but there's MORE than enough mall shopping, free museum visiting or river tubing for your typical college student to enjoy. Columbia has great festivals all of the time seemingly.. My favorite thing about Columbia is St. Pats in 5points. I've been to Savannah and St. Pats in 5points is barely a step down. The entire Five Points neighborhood is closed to traffic, day drinking in the street, fair food, green beer, green fountains, concerts on stages located on every corner, all of the bars are open all day and have super cheap drink specials.. it's basically Mardi Gras except not as wild and not as much public nudity.



Columbia scores 83..

These threads always deliver.

BEAR CONTROLLED MEDIA OH NOEZZZZZ

Go back to Elite Dawgs, dipshit

Yeah sweet thread Lat.

And Fayetteville is the best. Its like a whiter Athens with lots of bicycles, and we keep our homeless corralled on the far south side away from the bars.

Subjective thread is subjective...no need for ererrybody to get all upset.

Fayetteville is college best town number 1 town college. Miss old is worst and super rated over.

Yeah, it's the Bear Controlled Media that made Oxford the great college town it is

Places I've been

0. Nashville
1. Athens
2. Oxford
3a. Tuscaloosa
3b. Baton Rouge (Alabama gets the edge because the bars are right off campus)
5. College Station
6. Gainesville
7. Auburn (Nothing at all here, place blows)

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Overall Tuscaloosa has lot to offer, but parts of the city are always going to create negative views.

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Thats how I feel about Baton Rouge.

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There's an MSU site called Elite Dawgs?

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Yes, it is quite an eye opening read too. They like to come up with all sorts of conspiracy theories (like the BCM, boosters slurring their wives to recruits, etc...) or spew hurtful racist garbage by calling their rival "The Plantation" or "The SlaveShip" which is oh so cool!

CS > every other one

Great economy. Close to visit once you graduate if you work in Houston or Dallas.

Great bar scene.

Best SEC stadium.