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Bowden's backyard FSU coach to set down usual rules for Sugar trip
Posted: Tuesday December 28, 1999 09:35 PM
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- A Dixieland band blaring about how great it is to be in New Orleans greets Sugar Bowl teams each year. No wonder Bobby Bowden knows the band members by name now. Bowden has been to the Sugar Bowl five times in the last 11 years. No. 1 Florida State (11-0), which won the national championship in 1993, is playing for the title for the second consecutive season and the third time in four years. The Seminoles count on spending time away from home every January. But don't think they take this trip for granted. "Our boys do not have a national championship ring," Bowden said when Florida State arrived Tuesday. "We haven't got a boy on this team that's got a national championship ring. So we're all hungry." Now the question is: Are they focused? The hype and hoopla started as the team stepped off the plane -- television cameras rolled, reporters fired questions, the band played and a couple of dozen Sugar Bowl officials ran after the players to shake hands or have pictures taken. Still ahead are the city's famous French Quarter, wanton Bourbon Street with its strip clubs, jazz joints and nonstop parties. There's a huge new casino in town and a big New Year's Eve party planned for the Mississippi River riverfront. Florida State will have a curfew every night -- 1 a.m. to start with, earlier as game time approaches. Bowden will ask his players not to go to the casino. He'd also like them to skip the strippers and not hang out in bars. "But you don't want them to feel like they're in prison," he said. Bowden said he has been using the same approach to bowl games for the last 15 years. Sometimes it's worked, sometimes it hasn't. This team knows what's at stake, Bowden said. "They know why we're here," Bowden said. "They've been here before. Then we have to trust them to take care of themselves and behave themselves. It's difficult." While Bowden is an old hand at keeping the hoopla from interfering with his team's preparation, Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer is dealing with the national title blitz for the first time. No. 2 Virginia Tech (11-0) is making its first run at the championship, so while players described their outlook as being on a business trip, Beamer will have to make sure they remember that when the parties, interviews, fans and festivities really crank up. "I think it's really important that we handle all the outside things well this week because the main thing here is our preparation for Florida State," Beamer said. "Because I think if you're not careful, things get floating around here and you're always talking about everything except Florida State and you're doing something other than preparing for Florida State." Virginia Tech arrived on Monday and practiced twice before Florida State arrived. They also had an extra night to hit Bourbon Street. Beamer said he would not tell them to stay out of the casino or the bars if they were legally of age. Even a New Year's Eve jaunt into the French Quarter is not out of the question. "We want them to have fun," Beamer said. "But make good judgments."
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