Thursday, December 29, 2011

Stadium Rankings

So I had a couple people ask me to do this so I am copying the stellar Alex Solsma and doing my own rankings of stadiums I have been to.  My criteria are a little different since I like to get to locations before game day and experience the town a bit so places with better locations to hang out before and after the game were rated higher. For the record, I am fine tailgating outside or in a bar and I enjoy eating/drinking at non-chain establishments during my game experience.  Also, while I accounted for the other stuff in my rankings, stadium atmosphere was the biggest factor in how I ranked these.  Here is my list:

1. Tie: Michigan and Wisconsin
When push came to shove I really couldn't separate the two out.  Ann Arbor is a gorgeous town with plenty to do before game day.  The campus is very nice and it is well worth an early morning walk to check out some of the buildings.  Tailgating was plentiful and accessible and the Michigan fans were very hospitable.  The stadium itself is very old and the scoreboards were tiny (though I heard they have upgraded since).  It was big and loud at times but the fans spent most of the game muttering obscenities about their own team.  The stadium really picked up when Michigan started to come back but it otherwise it was pretty mediocre for most of the game. Still, there was plenty to do and see plus, for all the lulls in the game atmosphere, the volume could get really cranked up and there were a few times when the stadium really started to rock.

Wisconsin is very similar to Michigan.  Madison is a fantastic college town with plenty to do and see.  Check out the student union which is one of the few in the country that serves beer.  Tailgating exists in Madison but it wasn't quite as close or accessible as it was in Ann Arbor.  Rather, most people hung out in the nearby bars which is more expensive but less work than setting up your own tailgate.  Camp Randall was not terribly loud but the fans were fun and they were engaged and exciting the whole way through.  This included the student section singing old classics like Build Me Up Buttercup and Cecilia as well as the slow to fast wave (even though I hate the wave, the organization of Wisconsin's version is worth checking out).  The fifth quarter was quite a bit of fun as well and was definitely worth staying for even as an away fan.  Wisconsin fans have a pretty negative image but my experience was not like the stereotype.  Their fans talked smack but, if you didn't have a thin skin and could trash talk back, were very easy to get along with.  I was practically adopted by the older couple sitting next to me during the game.  If you don't like swearing and a  little trash talking then don't go, but if you don't mind it then you will enjoy Madison.  Overall it never got as loud as Michigan or some of the other big stadiums but the carnival atmosphere of Madison and Camp Randall made it a truly enjoyable experience. 

3. Ohio State
Columbus is a very large city and it seems to detract from the college atmosphere of Ohio State.  The campus is very nice and I would recommend checking it out, but the area around the college is pretty dead with the only non-chain bars and restaurants serving crappy beer and food.  The whole thing felt more NFL than NCAA which was a little discouraging.  Tailgating was plentiful though and, even though the bars sucked, the Buckeye tailgates were plentiful and approachable.  Ohio State's fans were pretty typical with a couple jerks but mostly good people.  Ohio Stadium is one of the more aesthetically pleasing stadiums I have been in and it is worth getting there early just to walk around and look at the building.  The stadium is a little bit of a pain to walk around in but the atmosphere inside was unbelievable.  Easily the loudest stadium I have been in and the fans were with the game the whole way.  Buckeye fans were relentless and the intensity level was off the charts. 

4. Iowa
Iowa City has plenty to do the night before a game and I recommend hitting the Pedestrian Mall downtown and watching the band stumble through while playing the fight song.  The campus isn't as nice as other Big Ten schools and isn't really worth exploring unless you would rather not spend time downtown.  However, there are lots of local bars and restaurants to check out right next to campus and walking distance from the stadium so there is plenty to do.  Tailgating is spread all over town and through the streets which makes tailgate hoping easy and fun but the only drawback is that, unless you have a friend with a lot of money, you are going to be hiking a little bit more to get to the stadium.  The stadium itself is pretty nice and the sight lines are fantastic.  The atmosphere in Kinnick varies but generally the fans fill the stadium by the first quarter (unlike Wisconsin, Michigan, and Penn State where there were massive holes in the student section into the second quarter) and are generally pretty loud.  The fans are loud but not as ear blasting as some of the larger stadiums and there are definite highs and lows in terms of crowd involvement.  It is close to Ohio State in my rankings but I am putting Iowa lower because the intensity just isn't quite as high throughout an entire game and it all comes down to game atmosphere.

5. Penn State
The first problem with State College is that it is in the middle of nowhere.  Getting there is a royal pain but the scenery is nice and the campus is gorgeous and I recommend checking it out.  The creamery is a must stop by (though the line is enormous on game day) and the Nittany Lion in and Old Main are both worth seeing.  The town itself has some options but wasn't quite as full of local options as Madison or Iowa City.  There is plenty of tailgating and Penn State has by far the most hospitable fans I have ever met so finding somewhere to stop by is easy enough.  Penn State fans are almost a creepy level of nice but I have to say they were the best I encountered.  Getting to the stadium was a chore and traffic was a major problem on the way out.  Beaver Stadium is a royal pain to navigate and the whole thing is one of the ugliest stadiums I have ever been in.  The crowd was loud and intense but the student section was surprisingly late showing up with massive areas of the bleachers empty in the second quarter.  I had a good time and would go again but it isn't somewhere I would want to go every other year.

6. Nebraska
Lincoln is a nice town with plenty of local options before a game.   There are a few bars and restaurants near campus which were worth checking out the night before and leading up to the game.  Campus is flat and boring so there really isn't much else to do besides bar hop the night before a game.  The tailgating was there but it was done mostly in blotches around and under a freeway overpass which meant running across the streets to find tailgates located in different parking lots.  While Memorial Stadium is pretty nice looking from a distance, but once I got inside I found it difficult to navigate and thought the sight lines were not that great.  Getting to and from the bathroom and concessions from our seats required climbing all the way down to the bottom level which was a pain.  The atmosphere was disappointing since the crowd was only really loud after touchdowns and on third downs.  There were moments when it was so quiet that the drunken yells of one Iowa fan below me seemed to echo across the stadium.  On the whole it was nice to visit but Nebraska was easily the lowest of the bigger name stadiums in several ways.

7. Illinois
Champaign-Urbana has plenty to do and the campus is interesting enough to take a look at.  Memorial Stadium is in a massive parking lot across from Assembly Hall which means there is plenty of tailgating but not much in terms of bar hopping for pregame festivities.  The stadium is old and looks crumby even with the new renovations.  The boxy setup means bad sight lines as well.  On the plus side, the atmosphere is actually pretty cool with traditions such as William Tell and the Three in One really creating a fun, engaging football atmosphere.  The crowd wasn't terribly loud but they were enjoyable and the energy level was pretty high throughout the game.  My only other complaint would be that the traffic around Memorial Stadium is horrible and I have yet to have a good experience (read: one that doesn't involve at least a few hours of bumper to bumper traffic and muttering obscenities at the idiots who are clearly incapable of directing traffic) driving out of Champagne after a sporting event. 

8. Iowa State
First off, Ames sucks.  There are a couple good places to go there but the campus is unspectacular and your options are limited.  This is second only to Evanston in terms of bad bar availability.  The tailgating around Jack Trice is pretty good and, while Cyclones can be particularly hostile to Hawkeyes, their fans tend to be nice enough that you would never feel too threatened.  The stadium itself is a piece of crap, aesthetically my least favorite of all the ones I have been to.  Yet, this is more about atmosphere than anything else and I have to tip my hat to Cyclone fans who generate a very loud, very energized stadium atmosphere.  There are a lot of crappy stadiums at the bottom of this list but ISU passes them for having an extremely higher level of passion both inside and outside the stadium on game day. I wouldn't recommend it, but if you are looking to visit a lot of stadiums you can turn a trip to Jack Trice into a very nice weekend if you try.

9. Indiana
Bloomington isn't a bad city and the campus is gorgeous so checking it out is certainly worth it.  There aren't any pubs too close to the stadium but there are plenty of tailgaters who are pretty friendly.  The Rock is one of the most aesthetically pleasing in the conference so that was a plus.  The game is not terribly full of atmosphere but the student cheers and noise level are still decent.  The only problem is that the fans tend to leave early and by the third quarter a sort of malaise has set in.  You can see kids playing in the end zone area (side note: why put a play area right there?) and older fans start to get bored.  Indiana also has several fans who come to Bloomington just to tailgate and you can see them outside the stadium grilling throughout the game.  Overall, if the first quarter atmosphere were the standard throughout the game, this would have been higher.  Still, it can be a pretty enjoyable visit.

10. MinnesotaHaving Minneapolis nearby means there is no shortage of things to do the night before a game, and Dinkytown is a decent place to stop before a game if you want to do bars instead of tailgating.  The tailgating is there but it isn't that great and I have had a lot of bad luck in my trips up to Minneapolis when it comes to fan interaction (lots of assholes) so, while I am sure there are some nice Gopher fans out there, my recommendation is to just avoid them.  Atmosphere is generally lacking outside the stadium as it is well documented that most people in the city often don't realize that the Gophers are there, meaning it is pretty dead unless you are right next to the stadium.  Even Dinkytown was quiet except for the gaggles of Hawkeyes who made the trip.  TCF Bank is a nice stadium aesthetically but there are a lot of things about it I just don't like.  The stadium seating in the middle is incredibly uncomfortable and I would have sat on just a plain old bleacher.  The scoreboard was ridiculously commercialized and the announcer was so ear splittingly loud and annoying that by the third quarter I was willing to risk imprisonment just to run up to the press box and beat the crap out him.  The atmosphere has been terribly at every Minnesota game I have gone to.  Fans have to be told when to make noise and even then it rarely got louder than a high school football game.  Minnesota is the anti-Iowa State.  Good facility, nice city, but a crappy atmosphere around game day. 

11. PurdueWhen traveling to West Lafayette make sure to plan on visiting the string of shops and bars south of campus before game day.  There are a ton of options.  If you go the day of the game you will probably run into the breakfast club, the Purdue student section which dresses up in costume and hits the bars early in the morning to get a pregame buzz going.  Neither the campus nor the stadium are great aesthetically but Mackey Arena is usually open on game days so that can be worth checking out.  There is some tailgating around Ross Ade but it is very limited and we encountered far more visiting fan tailgates than home team ones on our trip.  Full disclosure, we were put in an isolated section in the endzone under the scoreboard which was basically a big set of metal bleachers like you would see at a high school game and it was crappy.  You couldn't get into the main part of the stadium and there was one bathroom and one concession stand for the entire endzone.  It all seemed much more like some strange social experiment than an actual football game.  The people we were surrounded by (Hawkeye fans) were loud and fun but the stadium as a whole was pretty quiet.  We could hear the student section doing chants but it was hard to make out and seemed silent to us from so far away.  Overall the town was nice but the stadium atmosphere and stadium itself was pretty bad.

12. NorthwesternStay in Chicago until the last possible moment to get to the game.  Evanston sucks.  The campus is very nice but the stadium is only worth noting because of its Autzen-esque shape.  There is no tailgating and no bars.  Inside the only bathrooms we could find were porto-johns and the whole setup had some terrible sight lines.  The crowd made a little noise but there was no student section and Iowa fans were about 50% of the crowd at the game.  You are seriously better off driving to Chicago and watching the game at a sports bar since there you will actually have a real toilet if you have to go to the bathroom.  At least Chi-town is only a short train ride away, if it wasn't I would have nothing positive to say about Northwestern's football experience.