Is Tradition Enough for Hogs to Overlook What They Lose in LR

In football, Pittman knows what Razorback losing may not exactly be worth trouble anymore at War Memorial Stadium

Arkansas Razorbacks coach Sam Pittman at fall camp practice on the indoor field in Fayetteville, Ark. / Andy Hodges-Hogs on SI Images

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Tradition is nothing more than a fond look at history. The Arkansas Razorbacks have been struggling with moving on when it comes to playing football games in Little Rock for a decade now.

Yes, I spent many fall Saturdays growing up at games in War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock. The place was in need of drastic repair as far back as the 1970's in my opinion. That view is based on the fact walking under the stands during some rain at a game we discovered it was wetter there than being in the stands.

Razorbacks coach Sam Pittman sounded Monday at his press conference like he would just as soon figure a way around it. He obviously respects the tradition, but that time is in the past. Pittman doesn't want to wade into those political waters, either.

"It originally started when there was no televised games, or many, one or two on a weekend," he said starting out. "That had to be part of the reason to go over there. War Memorial, their stadium was better than this one in the past. They had lights, we did not. There was a lot of reasons to go over there. The passion overall, from the years of Arkansas football, had to do with something about our willingness to go play games in Little Rock."

There's the history part of why they started playing games when the stadium was built after World War II. People over the age of 30 will remember it took longer to get from Interstate 40 in Alma to Fayetteville on some game days than the trip from Little Rock to Alma. Going back down that winding, two-lane road at night (especially in bad weather) was an adventure after an all-day affair at the stadium.

Since about 1998, though, going to Little Rock for games is an expensive nod to history. For the last decade when the rules were changed to eliminate recruits being at the game and the SEC refusing to schedule league games there it's too expensive to lose. Getting recruits requires every possible game to be played in Fayetteville.

Here's the Pittmanese answer to a question later about playing games in Little Rock. We'll provide a translation after it.

"Oh I don’t know if the word’s ‘problem,'" Pittman said. Follow this closely. "Half of it, ‘concern’ okay, is that we’re going to play in our stadium once in the first five games. One of them’s in Little Rock and one of them’s in Dallas. The Dallas game, we’ll end up playing Texas A&M here next year.

"If you look at it, and you consistently look at it, I believe the year we won nine we had six games and I think four of them — y’all check me on this, I’m saying I think — four of them were home games and we were in here twice. To be honest with you, I just don’t know that it’s fair to the fans. I mean, they know where the University of Arkansas is. They can plan it, they can get here for games. I think they want to be here for games. There are problems with that, including the one for five here. I don’t know the answer to be honest with you in the future. 

"Obviously we’re going to go play Arkansas State a year from now over there in Little Rock. But I think there’s a lot of conversation that probably needs to be had between now and 2026."

Translation: Pittman doesn't think it's worth it to be playing games down there where it's essentially a road game going to the central part of the state. He wants as many games as possible in Razorback Stadium every year. He says for the fans, but it's about recruiting and eliminating a lot of headaches, plus riding down in a bus the day before and home on a bus right after games.

Yes, there have been big games played in that stadium. We've all seen big wins and memorable losses. There are fond memories that are now part of every Razorback fans' memory.

We call it tradition as an excuse to keep doing what we've always done. This is one that needs to be placed into the history books and, sadly, stay there.

Of course, that's only important if wins matter. That requires getting the best players and they can't even recruit at those War Memorial games anymore. It should be all any real fan needs to hear.

HOGS FEED:

• First on field has different meaning for Pittman, Razorbacks

• Pittman releases Hogs' Week One depth chart ahead of game with UAPB

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