Chattanooga Is Home

Last week I spent Saturday morning walking for Alzheimer’s at Coolidge Park/ the Walnut Street Bridge. Alzheimer’s claimed the life of my Pop Pop and I thought I should do something to help. It was a great experience, helping the local Alzheimer’s Association with their fundraising. There are Memory Walks going on all around the country to help raise funds for research and assistance for those suffering from this disease. I took lots of pictures (of course!) that you can see here.

I set a goal of raising $250 and as of today I have $230. If you are inclined to donate for this cause, please feel free to do so. My donation page is here.

Fall in Chattanooga brings comfortable weather for these types of fund raisers.

Tomorrow, September 30th, is the Chattanooga region’s Race for the Cure. The Susan G. Koman Race for the Cure is a major fund raiser for breast cancer. “Up to seventy-five percent of the net income from each domestic Affiliate Race stays in the local community to fund breast health education and breast cancer screening and treatment projects.”

Registration for the race is currently closed, but you can donate online or go watch and support the participants tomorrow. The race begins at 2 p.m. (5K Competitive Race, Run, & Walk) and at 2:30 is the fun run and walk (1 mile). The race route goes from McKenzie Arena, up Riverside Drive, down the Riverwalk, and back to McKenzie Arena.

If you know of any other charity events coming up in the next few months, please contact me and I will be happy to help promote them.

[tags]Chattanooga fundraising, Race for the Cure, Memory Walk, Chattanooga Memory Walk, Chattanooga Race for the Cure[/tags]

The UTC Mocs football team sprang back into action tonight in their season opener against the Carson-Newman Eagles. Unfortunately the game was a loss at 29-17.

My husband took our son to see some of the game, to support the local college team. Tickets were about $22 for general admission (one of those was a kids priced ticket). Since the attention span of an almost three year old is about the same as a house fly, they left after two touchdowns but before Antonio Miller’s injury.

At the end of the Mocs Basketball season, I wrote about ways to combat apathy in the UTC sports programs. Since tickets are cheap (and there will be coupons in the 2007-2008 Kids First Coupon Books) I think our family will make efforts to be at several of the home games supporting the home team.

I hope other Chattanoogans do the same. If you are wondering when you can catch the UTC Mocs football team, here is the rest of the schedule:

Saturday, September 8
Jacksonville State at Jacksonville, Ala.
3:30 p.m.

Saturday, September 22
Georgia Southern at Statesboro, Ga.
7:00 p.m.

Saturday, September 29
The Citadel at Finley Stadium
6:00 p.m.

Saturday, October 06
Arkansas at Little Rock, Ark.
7:00 p.m.

Homecoming Saturday, October 13
Western Carolina at Finley Stadium
6:00 p.m.

Saturday, October 20
Furman at Finley Stadium
12:00 p.m.

Saturday, October 27
Elon at Elon, N.C.
1:30 p.m.

Saturday, November 3
Western Kentucky at Finley Stadium
2:00 p.m.

Saturday, November 10
Wofford at Finley Stadium
2:00 p.m.

Saturday, November 17
Appalachian State at Boone, N.C.
3:30 p.m.

Go Mocs!

[tags]Chattanooga, Chattanooga sports, University of Tennessee Chattanooga, UTC, Mocs, UTC football, college football, UTC football schedule[/tags]

The Chattanooga Lookouts are going to have a very busy week, starting tomorrow:

Monday, July 23rd: Guess who is going to grace AT&T Field with his presence? How about former Lookouts Manager Phillip Wellman? The Mississippi Braves, who Wellman now manages, will be visiting this week in a five game series. If you are not sure who Wellman is, see if this YouTube video refreshes your memory:

To help commemorate Wellman’s visit,

“Also, for each game during the five-game series, the first 300 fans through the gates will receive a voucher good for a free rosin bag on their way out of the ballpark, sponsored by SportTalk on TalkRadio 102.3 FM.

During each game, outside of AT&T Field, fans will have the opportunity to test their rosin bag throwing skills. Fans will be encouraged to mimic Wellman’s military crawl before hurling a rosin bag at a Phillip Wellman mannequin located 70 feet away. Each night, one skilled fan will come away with $50 for getting their rosin bag closest to the Wellman mannequin without touching it.”

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Tomorrow is the first Wednesday special for the Lookouts season. $6 will get you into the 12:15 game, plus a drink and a hot dog. I think the ball park is the second best place to eat a hot dog. (The first being at a campfire.)

Remember to bring sunscreen and lots of team spirit to cheer on the Lookouts as they play the Carolina Mudcats.
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I love that Chattanooga has a minor league baseball team. Even though I am not an avid baseball fan, I have still enjoyed every single Lookouts game that I have attended. From the games at Historic Engel’s Stadium to the ones at Bellsouth Park AT&T Field, I have always come away thinking that I have had a great Chattanooga experience.

According to their history, the Chattanooga Lookouts joined the Southern League in 1885. In 2000, the Lookouts played at the new BellSouth Park and have been enjoying mixed success since then.

The atmosphere of the games is homey. The stadium isn’t too big, you can really see what is going on during the game. The food is fine, and the promotions are a lot of fun.

The 2007 season started at the beginning of the month and as the school year winds down and the games pick up, the Lookouts will start their promotions and special game days. This Thursday is the first $1000 Thursday, where one lucky ticket holder will go home with $1000. On Friday, spectators will be treated to fireworks and an umbrella give away. And finally, on Saturday, the Blues Brothers Act will be performing, along with an appearance of their Blues Brother replica car.

You can buy tickets online. And watch for their Wednesday specials.

[tags]Chattanooga, Chattanooga Lookouts, Chattanooga baseball[/tags]

There is an article in today’s Times Free Press that quotes Rhonda Seeber of the Parks and Recreation Department as saying,
“Chattanooga is growing into a bicycle mecca, and the city wants to promote cycling as a healthy lifestyle.”

Chattanooga a bicycle mecca? Sure, I will buy that.

Every year since 2003, the League of American Bicyclists has named Chattanooga a Bicycle Friendly Community and last May, Bicycling Magazine named Chattanooga as one of the “21 Best Cities for Cycling” in the U.S.

Our family enjoys riding our bikes around our neighborhood, but we are not as gung ho about cycling as some residents are. Many people in Chattanooga ride their bikes to work. Beginning again in May, Bike2Work groups will be meeting monthly at Walnut Street Square to have coffee and meet one another.
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Our family just returned from our semi-annual trip to the SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament, and we had a lot of fun. Sure, our team was knocked out in the first round, but that didn’t hamper our fun. We still went to the games, cheered on the SEC, and enjoyed some good basketball.

The tournament is a great family get away for us, which is why I am excited to see that in a few years, March Madness will be in Chattanooga again. The Southern Conference is bringing both the Men’s and the Women’s basketball tournaments to Chattanooga, in the years 2009 and 2010.

The last time the tournament was here was in 2005.

If we can rally the community to support the NCAA Championship Football game, then I think we can support the Mocs in their conference. I’m putting it on my calendar and plan on attending at least the game with the hometown team. If anything, it is always an exciting atmosphere with lots to see… I love the people watching, the bands playing, and the cheerleaders flipping.

[tags]Chattanooga, Chattanooga sports, Southern Conference, basketball, UTC Mocs[/tags]

Tomorrow my family is heading to Atlanta for the SEC Men’s Basketball tournament. Our allegiance is with Auburn, and we are looking forward to cheering on the Tigers tomorrow evening. I have a feeling Auburn Elvis will be spotted several times.

Today’s Times Free Press had a commentary about SEC Tournaments of the past. Last week they ran a story about how the SEC Championship brackets are a bit muddled and who will get to go to the NCAA Tournament is really up in the air.

I don’t know anything about brackets or tournaments of the past. I just know that this is a family vacation I look forward to. The SEC Tournament isn’t always in Atlanta, but we look forward to going where ever it is. The excitement of following our team, routing for the other SEC West teams, and finally anyone but Alabama, it makes for great family memories.

But, I love coming home to Chattanooga. I love driving up GA Hwy 2, seeing Lookout Mountain and Covenant College’s Carter Hall (aka the Castle in the Clouds) on top. Pulling into our parking space under our tulip poplar and seeing our dogs ready to greet us… it is a very warm feeling.

I look forward to our vacation, but I know Chattanooga is my home and look forward to coming back.
[tags]Chattanooga, SEC tournament[/tags]

The Lady Mocs won the the 2007 Southern Conference tournament today, securing their spot in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament. They won the championship game against Western Carolina 84-66.

March 12th the bracket for the Ladies Big Dance will be announced and the first round of the tournament begins March 17th.

Go Mocs! Congratulations!

[tags]University of Tennessee Chattanooga, Chattanooga, NCAA Women’s Basketball, Southern Conference Championship[/tags]

Did you buy a Hamilton County Kids First Coupon book last August (we have six books)? There are coupons in there for UTC Mocs Basketball and Football games! Our family has decided to go to tonight’s last conference game and will be using the buy one, get one free coupon to go.

So, I guess that is two reasons to go to see the Mocs tonight- I’ll be there and you can use a coupon!