Document text
0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Home News Latest Stories 10 things to know for Wednesday Get Up & Go: Jan. 7 Emergency services 10 things to know for Tuesday UPDATED: Medford police arrest man suspected in Purple Parrot robbery Crime, Courts and Emergency Services Emergency services UPDATED: Medford police arrest man suspected in Purple Parrot robbery State police arrest two for meth, heroin trafficking after I-5 stop Muddy footprints lead police right to burglary suspect's door Talent men arraigned on attempted murder, assault charges Politics and Elections Councilman stirs online dust-up with anti-marijuana post State certifies recount showing failure of GMO-labeling measure Education Medford bulks up student support for math, reading Ashland schools to implement chickenpox precautions Traveling artist sets the stage for Ruch School amphitheater Ruch school class focuses on the natural environment Bethel Church helps families at McLoughlin Middle School Environment Monument expansion expected to increase tourism, protect resources Biologist resigns over LNG reporting failure Bird flu discovered in Winston backyard flock Jackson County holds back on enforcing GMO ban for now No fish, no funding for problem dams State News Oregon may see hemp crop this spring under new rules Forest Service scraps $10 million PR campaign Eugene's federally funded car charging stations underused Court says Oregon's water withdrawal permits endangered Clackamas River salmon Seabird die-off puzzles scientists Nation - World Obama makes Maduro’s ‘insolent Yankees’ line harder to sell Obituaries Edgar Frutchey III Shirley M. Lindstrom Walter (Jim) Dave Schraub Alan Roy Hamilton William "Bill" Raupp Weather Photo Galleries Since You Asked Videos Web Cams Mail Tribune 100 Shareable In memoriam: 2014’s notable deaths Looking back: Do you remember 2014’s biggest stories? Sports Latest Stories North falters in SWC opener No. 1 Kentucky escapes upset bid Sharapova breezes in opener; Serena loses Pistons rally in final seconds to beat Spurs Ducks gear up for title game Varsity 541 College Sports No. 1 Kentucky escapes upset bid Ducks gear up for title game Buckeyes appear loose as they practice Playoff families to be reimbursed for travel Wiese leads No. 11 Beavers past USC Pro Sports Sharapova breezes in opener; Serena loses Pistons rally in final seconds to beat Spurs Golf begins with four events to follow Baseball welcomes four into Hall Lillard to the rescue Community Sports Business Latest Stories After seven decades in Medford, Larson's will be emptied Saturday Patchwork of talents Irrigation system upgrade gets a forum Ride & Drive: 2015 Honda Crosstour Positive Steps Real Estate News Dear Monty: Best start for 1st-time homebuyers Rental owners group reports 2.48 percent vacancy rate People In Business Transportation Falling gas prices help spur travel at Medford airport Agriculture Rising prices bear fruit for local pear growers Opinion Latest Matthew T. Mangino: Mario Cuomo’s life was a blessing Our View: Falls has work to do to restore trust Letters to the Editor, Jan. 7 Kathleen Parker: Stirring the pot: our bias, ourselves Our View: WISE project offers many benefits Editorials Our View: Falls has work to do to restore trust Our View: WISE project offers many benefits Our View: Waiting a little longer for the bus Other Views: Oregon's GMO battle is far from over Our View: Meeting in the middle keeps a mill open Letters to the Editor Letters to the Editor, Jan. 7 Letters to the Editor, Jan. 6 Letters to the Editor, Jan. 5 Letters to the Editor, Jan. 4 Letters to the Editor. Jan. 2 Guest Opinions Guest Opinion: East is east and west is west Guest Opinion: Get the best deal on pipeline Guest Opinion: Say yes to clean energy jobs, no to the LNG project Guest Opinion: Loved one chose death with dignity in Oregon Guest Opinion: Forest thinning means water for the future Lifestyle Latest stories 5 Things to Do This Weekend (Jan. 9-11) Lost in Suburbia: The bug stops here 11 reasons why we love wrought iron fencing Dave Ramsey: Sharing and planning as one Dear Monty: Eight great tips to ponder before investing in real estate Food Community blog: Scanty spuds stretch winter greens into salad Entertaining with a gift of treasure Food for Thought: Save time on weeknight meal prep Community blog: Farm share boosts resolve to eat more veggies Community blog: Ring in new flavors with year's last appetizers Home and Garden 11 reasons why we love wrought iron fencing Dear Monty: Eight great tips to ponder before investing in real estate Home Help: Timeless or trendy? Achieve both in your home decor this year Dear Monty: Best start for 1st-time homebuyers Dear Monty: Can a rookie real estate agent be a good choice? Health Community blog: We Don't Have To Conspire Against Good Health HealthStyle: New year, new you Health Watch: Build up your glutes in the off-season Dr. Jeff Hersh: What's a monoclonal antibody? Dr. Murray Feingold: Have a happy and stress-free holiday Hiking Biking Faith Churches start new year with messages of hope (No heading) Churches, synagogs host seasonal events Bethel Church helps families at McLoughlin Middle School Milestones and Achievements Mt. Ashland Ski Area shut down again by lack of snow Little Yaretzi is county's first baby of 2015 Local landowners see no public good in proposed pipeline Pear Blossom queen has open heart surgery Hundreds enjoy Christmas dinner, gifts at St. Vincent de Paul Columnist for a Day Rogue Healthy Aging Tempo Latest stories Blues jam tonight at Little Brown Jug Songwriters Pete Herzog and Dennis Walker release 'Waiting for the Rain' Next Stage presents a tribute to an iconic folk artist Live Music in Local Clubs Generation Jones plays Paddy Brannan's Theater Next Stage presents a tribute to an iconic folk artist Camelot's 'Fiddler' is a charmer ACT presents reading of 'The Quality of Life' Meet the real Jacob Marley This Nutcracker ballet will have a superhero twist Music Blues jam tonight at Little Brown Jug Songwriters Pete Herzog and Dennis Walker release 'Waiting for the Rain' Live Music in Local Clubs Generation Jones plays Paddy Brannan's Pete Herzog and Dennis Walker play 2Hawk Winery Community Events New Schneider Museum exhibits highlight First Friday Celebrate winter solstice with the Bad Film Society Tomaseen Foley's "A Celtic Christmas" returns to the Craterian Theater Stefan Baumann and Eugene Bennett highlight Third Fridays Dancing People Company celebrates the solstice Dining Entertaining with a gift of treasure Jackson Creek Pizza Co. is a good downtown haunt Dobra Tea menu offers hundreds of brews Food for Thought: Wintertime wining and dining Coffee shops roll out holiday-inspired drinks Tempo Videos Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » Obituaries Blogs TV Listings Movie Listings Oregon Outdoors Oregon Healthy Living Magazines & Special Sections NEWS NOW Our View: Falls has work to do to restore trust ... After seven decades in Medford, Larson's will be emptied Saturday ... UPDATED: Medford police arrest man suspected in Purple Parrot robbery ... Our View: Falls has work to do to restore trust ... After seven decades in Medford, Larson's will be emptied Saturday ... UPDATED: Medford police arrest man suspected in Purple Parrot robbery ... COLLEGE FOOTBALL Going great lengths Playoff fans make travel gambles in picking postseason trips Comment By Ralph D. Russo The Associated Press MailTribune.com By Ralph D. Russo The Associated Press Posted Dec. 31, 2014 @ 3:51 pm By Ralph D. Russo The Associated Press Posted Dec. 31, 2014 @ 3:51 pm » Social News LOS ANGELES — The bowl trip is a holiday tradition for many college football fans. Take some time off around Christmas and New Year’s Day and go watch your favorite team play a big game. Maybe even the biggest game. This season the supporters of the four teams playing in the first College Football Playoff are facing a choice about which trip to take: Semifinal or championship game? On New Year’s Day, Oregon plays Florida State at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, and Alabama meets Ohio State at the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. The winners will play Jan. 12 in Arlington, Texas, at the home of the Dallas Cowboys. Fans of the Crimson Tide and Ducks get the benefit of games close to home. Neither Alabama nor Oregon will suffer from a lack of support in the semifinals. It’s a trickier call for Florida State fans, who must make a cross-country trip. Seminoles supporters just traveled to see their team win a national title in Southern California last year, and many are hoping they made the right choice by skipping the semifinal trip. “It was going to cost me as much as $1,000 to go with nobody I knew,” said Maxx Smith, a 21-year-old senior at Florida State. “There was no motivation to go.” Florida State beat Auburn in the final Bowl Championship Series title game last January at the Rose Bowl. FSU fans flooded the Rose Bowl, which holds more than 92,000. Smith was there with a group of about 40 other students. The stadium seemed to be a 50-50 split between Florida State and Auburn fans. This season, Florida State and its booster club had a hard time selling the school’s 12,500 allotment of tickets. The school gets 2,500 tickets for students, administrators and guests of players. The booster club gets 10,000 for its members to buy at $175 apiece. The FSU booster club held a public sale of its tickets after it filled all of its requests and still had about 1,000 tickets left over. “I chose Dallas over Pasadena because we were in Pasadena last year and it’s very expensive to get out there, much more so then Dallas,” Tyler Huck, a 28-year-old FSU alum and financial planner who lives in the Atlanta area, said. “Plus, I think our fan base, myself included, has great confidence in the team to make it to that final game and I’d rather see them play for a championship than a semifinal.” One of the big questions about the new playoff format was whether fans would travel to two games in two locations, less than two weeks apart. No longer being a final destination creates new challenges for the bowls, said Rose Bowl chief executive officer Kevin Ash. The Rose and Sugar bowl are part of a group of six bowls that will host the semifinals on a rotating basis. The Peach Bowl in Atlanta; Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Arizona; Orange Bowl in Miami; and Cotton Bowl in Arlington, Texas, are the other bowls scheduled to host three semifinals over the next 12 years. When the Rose Bowl does not host a semifinal it will instead have its traditional Big Ten-Pac-12 matchup. The Rose Bowl’s contract with those conferences guarantees a sellout. Most of the tickets are distributed through the participating schools, and usually they get gobbled up. Some go to other schools in the conference. This year, Ash and his team have had to try some different things. “We’ve had to work with our partners to get tickets out and sell them,” Ash said earlier this week. “It’s been a little bit different. We’ve had public sales. We had one in September and it went crazy. A lot of people bought tickets.” Enough to sell out the stadium remains to be seen. The public sale tickets cost $150 or $225. But if you’re looking for a ticket to today’s game in Pasadena, you can get one for less than face value on the online secondary market. Oregon not only sold out its 12,500 allotment, but requested another 4,000. With plenty of Oregon alumni in California, Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota and the Ducks should feel right at home. “It would be a completely different story if we were playing in the Sugar Bowl,” Craig Pintens, Oregon associate athletic director for marketing and public relations. Excitement over getting into the first playoff meant Ohio State sold its allotment, plus another 500, in less than two hours. Buckeyes fan Eric Michalski of Cleveland drove down to New Orleans and said he will go to Dallas if Ohio State advances. He decided to skip the trip to Indianapolis for the Big Ten championship game. “You have to kind of pick and choose where you want to go if you don’t have the time or money to do all of it,” he said. “I’m lucky. I’m self-employed, so I can get away and go to all these things.” Some fans, such as Matthew Hood Roberts, 31, from Tallahassee, say if the Seminoles are playing, they’ll be there no matter what. He’s been at 25 of Florida State’s 29 games during its current winning streak. “But I definitely have to get creative as far as expenses and travel,” he said. Roberts was scheduled to fly from Orlando, Florida, to San Diego on New Year’s Eve. He booked separate one-way flights for about $600 total. Then he’ll take a bus arranged by the Seminoles Booster club in San Diego to Pasadena for $75. He said he’s getting a good deal on the tickets through the booster club. And if Florida State wins, Roberts said he is willing to plunk down the $450 (at least) it would take to get a seat to see the Seminoles try to repeat. “Yes, maybe I won’t be living so great for the next year, but it’s part of history,” he said. “There’s not many people who can say I was at the last BCS game and at the first ever College Football Playoff game.” By Ralph D. Russo The Associated Press MailTribune.com By Ralph D. Russo The Associated Press Posted Dec. 31, 2014 @ 3:51 pm » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. fantasy football FanDuel, DraftKings Optimal Divisional Lineups Jan. 6, 2015 at 7:00 am Fantasy Football Daily League Guide to Wild Card Sunday Jan. 3, 2015 at 7:15 am Potseason Superlatives for Fantasy Season Jan. 2, 2015 at 11:07 am Stat Predictions for Fantasy Stars in Cards vs. Panthers Jan. 2, 2015 at 9:00 am Stat Predictions for Fantasy Stars in Ravens-Steelers Jan. 2, 2015 at 9:00 am Studs, Duds for Fantasy Football in Playoffs Jan. 2, 2015 at 8:00 am calendar Connect with MailTribune.com Facebook Twitter RSS Back to top Reader Services Reader Services Home Subscriptions Subscriber controls Contact us Submissions Photos Events Letters to the editor Corrections Announcements Obituaries Story ideas Since you asked Alerts Email Alerts RSS Feeds Text Alerts Advertise Media Kit Home Products and services Ad rates Advertising contacts Mail Tribune Daily Tidings The Nickel Shop Our Valley Blogs Stay Informed Email newsletter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Your privacy is important, read our privacy policy. © Copyright 2015 Local Media Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Local Media Group Publications Original content available for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons license, except where noted. MailTribune.com | P.O. Box 1108, Medford, OR 97501