Been on this soapbox before, but, UGA does a horrible job of accommodating old folks

[DawgNatty]

My son is graduating next week and I've got 4, 80-somethings going to the graduation.   There is literally no good plan by UGA to make it easy for them.   

Sure seems like there would be a hell of a business if someone could start a golf cart transport service.  I'd pay!!!  

The simplest solution is to park at the East CAmpus lot and take the shuttles.  But, that comes with problems...the shuttles (much like UGA games) will not run the whole time and do not start returns until graduation is over.  

Mix in the rain for next Friday and this is turning into a cluster pretty quick.  

There should be some service to make this easy....I don't mind walking miles, but, these folks can't do that.

[dncdawg]

That's true. My mom made her last trip to Sanford probably 20 years ago when she was still in her 60s and still got around really easily. We had to park downtown. She hated having to walk as far as we did.

We tailgate with a friend whose 70 something year old parents join us. Last year, my buddy flagged down one of those rickshaw guys to try to take his father in law who is disabled and he said it would be $100. We tailgate about a half a mile from the stadium. He wouldn't let him pay that, so he walked, like he always does.

[JC-DAWG83]

Not being cold but there comes a time in everyone's life when they can't physically do what they would like to do and it really isn't anyone else's responsibility to make sure they can.  A friend's dad was in his 80's and wanted to go on an offshore fishing trip with us years ago.  He had been a very enthusiastic fisherman his whole life and loved fishing in the ocean.  He hadn't been ocean fishing in years but really wanted to go.  My friend chartered a big boat thinking his dad could handle being out on a bigger boat.  The trip was a disaster.  It took three of us to get his dad in the boat at the dock and then the dad couldn't stand up at all while the boat was moving so he had to sit in a folding chair in the back of the boat while we were running out to where we were going to fish.  When we slowed down to fish and the boat was rocking the dad couldn't stand up at all and almost fell out of the chair numerous times.  We tried to let the dad bring in a fish that hit one of the lines we were trolling but he couldn't stand up to fight the fish and he wasn't strong enough in his arms to hold the rod when the fish was running.  The long and short of it was; the dad had a miserable day and so did everyone else because we felt so bad for him and we couldn't do anything to make his day better. 

The dad was a great guy and joked about his inabilities the whole day and tried to make the best of his day but he was beyond exhausted when we returned and he and everyone involved knew the day had been terrible.  He realized he wasn't able to do any ocean fishing trips anymore.  Maybe it was a good thing that he tried it that one last time.

It seems like accommodating the 80-somethings at graduation is going to fall on you and them.  Is Uber an option?  What about some sort of scooter rental?  The UGA campus isn't exactly walking friendly for people who aren't in at least passable physical condition.  Even handicap parking at the Tate Center still requires some stairs or hills to walk on.  We had similar issues with my MIL when my daughter graduated.  She went to the Ag School ceremony because we could pull up relatively close to the building and let her out but she had to skip the stadium ceremony because there was no way for her to really get in and out of the stadium without being able to walk some distance and she couldn't.  Good luck.

[wayxpython]

Sadly, that fishing trip wood make a good comedy movie.  Steve Martin wood have to be the daddy, and Tobey Maguire the son.  What current Hollywood actor wood most resemble you in order to correctly portray your part in this fishing trip gone astray?

[DawgWood]

Is walking to and from the issue? or issues at the venue also?
If its walking from parking, seems like a drop off/PU area would be a simple solution.
They do that for ubers at large events. 'they' meaning large events i've been to, not necessarily UGA

[Beatledawg]

I don't think that is being cold. It is like you said, there comes a time, when no matter how much you want to do something, you really can't and shouldn't even try. I am in my upper 70's now and this is most likely my last year for season tickets. We tailgate and have for many years, at the tennis courts. It is a hike to the stadium, and to visit TRD, and walk back to tail gate, then walk to the stadium and back,  nearly kills me and Dirty Ole Dawg. He has stopped getting tickets and it is due to not being able to drive the distance, set up, then walk to and from the game, without stressing his heart. I'm there as well. I've thought about just tailgating and watching the game on a portable TV, but then, I'd be taking a space that younger folks that have tickets could use. 

Attending the games has been a joy for me and I've got to see back to back Natty's, that I never thought possible. So I guess, 'it is what it is'. And I despise that phrase. If we are lucky, we'll all be there, sooner than you think.

[DawgNatty]

THIS is exactly what I'm talking about and didn't say it well in my post.  UGA SPECIFICALLY says they don't do this or offer this...OK, fine, how about allow a service that can (for pay) shuttle folks in and out.  

In today's world of morbidly obese people, I can't imagine this is just an "Old people" problem.

---

YOu're not being cold and you're exactly right....I wanted to take my to one last game, but, for all the reasons you mentioned, I haven't been able to make it happen.   Graduation is a little different and these 4 are determined to go come hell or high water. 

But, it sure seems like UGA could do some little things that would not cost ANY money to the university to help with this kind of thing.

[dawglegright]

UGA also blasts rap music at levels the speakers cannot handle at football games.

I’m sure the keeyuds like it, but the other vast majority of fans don’t.

[Concourse E]

That's kind of the point, though, grandparents are going to want to come to graduation, and the school actually giving some thought to how to accommodate that seems like a reasonable expectation.  If it was just graduation, I think you could look the other way and excuse their short sightedness, but the university has treated the fans coming to football games as a nuisance for a long long time.  Being expected to use the portapoties baking in the railroad lot over a September weekend when every building on campus has flushing commodes is ridiculous, not to mention the campus cops trying to give people open container violations because they stepped too far away from their cars.  

I went to the Georgia-Auburn game over a decade ago when it was in Auburn and I was astonished at how much different it was on game day.  Even the Georgia fans were treated as welcomed visitors, employees were standing around on each street corner giving directions or pointing the way to the restroom facilities.

[JC-DAWG83]

That's kind of the point, though, grandparents are going to want to come to graduation, and the school actually giving some thought to how to accommodate that seems like a reasonable expectation.  If it was just graduation, I think you could look the other way and excuse their short sightedness, but the university has treated the fans coming to football games as a nuisance for a long long time.  Being expected to use the portapoties baking in the railroad lot over a September weekend when every building on campus has flushing commodes is ridiculous, not to mention the campus cops trying to give people open container violations because they stepped too far away from their cars.  

I went to the Georgia-Auburn game over a decade ago when it was in Auburn and I was astonished at how much different it was on game day.  Even the Georgia fans were treated as welcomed visitors, employees were standing around on each street corner giving directions or pointing the way to the restroom facilities.
[/quote]

You are spot on about how the university treats fans, opposing and Georgia fans alike, on game days.  For years the buildings on campus were open on game days so people could use the restrooms and I don't remember any problems.  The main library is still open but the restrictions on tailgating have moved most people away from that area.  Campus parking lots used to be first come first serve on game days too but the university saw a money grab and of course they took it.  Tailgating was wonderful on North Campus until the university made sure there were not enough trash cans or dumpsters for people to properly dispose of trash and the bums tore open all the garbage bags looking for cans.  The university's solution was to shut down tailgating on campus outside of areas where the university decided to put up tents and extort thousands of dollars for their use.  Even the people who pay thousands of dollars for the use of a tent six times a year are forced to use port-a-potties when Memorial Hall is mere steps away but locked up on game days.  The city of Athens seems to view all the game day crowds that spend millions of dollars with the same disdain as the university.

I understand about grandparents wanting to come to graduation but the UGA campus and stadium really doesn't lend themselves to easy entry and exit for people with mobility issues regardless of what the event is.  Golf carts seem to be a solution but how do you transport hundreds, maybe thousands of people with mobility issues who want a ride in a golf cart in a limited time frame?  Scooter rentals by individuals seems like the most likely solution but the university doesn't really need to be in the scooter rental business.  Third party transportation companies running golf carts seems like a solution but that opens up a lot of liability issues when you consider dozens of golf carts operating in heavy traffic on public and university roads.  The individual college's ceremonies are easier for older people to attend since they are in arenas on campus where vehicles can at least pull up to a relatively close drop off point.  I don't really know how much the university could do to help with getting older, infirm people into the stadium.