-Location: East Lansing, Michigan
-School: Michigan State
-Year Opened: 1923
-Capacity: 75,005
-Largest Crowd: 80,401, when the Spartans hosted Notre Dame in 1990.
-Big Game(s): versus Michigan in 2001. TJ Duckett with no time left! Oh and that comeback against PSU in 07. Got them their first bowl game in a while.
-Distinguishing Architectural Feature: Tallest building in East Lansing.
-Current/Past Traditions: We were actually able to find a bunch. Zeke the Frisbee catching dog during the halftime shows, the players walk to the stadium from their hotel and the fans line the route, and what team who uses Spartans as their mascot could pass up the opportunity to use 300 videos? Thunderstruck is their big pre-game song...which brings us to the riots section.
-Riots: Couldn't find any football related videos, but they've had more than their fair share of riots up there. They make all of us proud. See the video, it looks like everyone having a good time looking at some boobies, then the fuzz had to come break it up. Of course, they used Thunderstruck.
-Other Uses: Hosted the Cold War! We're huge hockey fans, and the Cold War was one of the coolest things ever. A couple future NHL stars played in the game and 74,000+ people attended. The only thing that could have made it better would be if someone actually won.
Everything we've read about Spartan Stadium has been all good. Mel Kiper thinks it's one of the most scenic stadiums. We think Mel Kiper looks like Dracula, but worse. By all accounts, Michigan State provides a great game atmosphere. It's not a stadium that anyone really fears heading to, and lately it seems the fan base is getting more and more apathetic up there. Maybe that fat guy can do a documentary or something about it, and bring people back to the games.
-Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan
-School: University of Michigan
-Year Opened: 1927
-Home Record: 560-130-21
-Capacity: 107,501
-Largest Crowd: 112,118 (Nov. 25, 2003 Michigan 35, Ohio State 21)
-Big Game(s): Any game where Ohio State is involved. Also, September 1st, 2007: A day that will live in infamy (for Wolverine fans, anyway).
-Distinguishing Architectural Feature: One-level bowl design. Also, the great size of the stadium is not very apparent from the outside, as the stadium was built below grade and only 20 rows are visible from outside in most sections (as you can see in this picture).
-Current/Past Traditions: The team entering the field under the “GO BLUE” sign. Also, winning. Michigan is the winningest program in D1 history with 869 wins all-time. With 560 victories at the Big House, they’re pretty solid at home as well. That is, of course, unless they’re playing Appalachian State.
-Riots: None found.
-Other Uses: U of M graduation ceremonies.
-Interesting Fact: The stadium currently seats 107,501, but after a renovation is complete in 2010, the official capacity will be over 108,000. Of course, none of this means anything because the stadium saw an NCAA all-time record crowd of 112,118 in 2003 against Ohio State, so obviously it can pack in many more fans than the official number. The stadium has also seen over 170 consecutive games with crowds over 100,000.
The Big House. Possibly the most well-known and storied stadium in all of college football. Hail To The Victors. The Maize and Blue. The thousands and thousands of fans. If you don’t get chills thinking about a trip to Michigan Stadium, you’re not a college football fan (or you’re an obnoxious SEC fan who hates the Big11Ten).
We’d love to make a trip to see the Lions battle it out in the Big House, but two things hold us back: 1.) Our RV would almost definitely break down somewhere in Ohio and 2.) the Blue and White would almost definitely lose. The last time Penn State posted a victory in Michigan Stadium was in 1996 – also the last time we’ve posted a victory against Michigan at any locale. What is it with this team that we can’t handle? We’re not sure, but we’re going to beat their asses this year at the Beav, so hopefully next year we can end the Big House losing streak. Maybe we’ll see you there (but probably not).
0 Comments:
Post a Comment