The Stadiums of the Big11Ten

This is what was holding up the show. That, and all kinds of personal business. Anyway, we wanted to give people a quick look at all the stadiums in the conference. A lot of them have a lot of history and we think it's worth sharing. Every stadium has it's own unique stories.

So, in installments, the stadiums of the Big 10!
We're starting off with the Illini and the Gophers.

MEMORIAL STADIUM

-Location: Champaign, Illinois
-School: University of Illinois
-Year Opened: 1923
-Home Record:
-Capacity: 69,249
-Largest Crowd: 78,297 (Sept. 8, 1984 Illinois 30, Missouri 24)
-Big Game(s):
-Distinguishing Architectural Feature: Old-fashioned brick and columned exterior.
-Current/Past Traditions: The Marching Illini were once called “the world’s greatest college band”… in the 1920s. Coincidentally, that was the last time Illinois football mattered until last season. Apparently the band is great. We think the Blue Band would hand them their asses. But their fight song is called Oskee-Wow-Wow, which is a nice achievement.
-Riots: Who of us can forget the wild Illini riot of 1912?
-Other Uses: Used by the Bears in 2002, Hosted first Farm Aid in 1985
-Interesting Fact: From wikipedia: “Heavy rain during the construction resulted in a bulldozer sinking into the field. It was decided that the expense of removing the bulldozer would have been greater than leaving it buried under the field. It remains there today.”

Memorial Stadium has been good and bad to the Lions as of late. In 2005, the Lions put up the most points ever by a visiting team in Champaign when they hung a 63-spot on the Illini. Of course, last year they went there and lost to an eventual Rose Bowl-bound Illinois squad, despite Illinois having Ron Zook as a coach. Ouch.

Anyway, there’s nothing all that special about Memorial Stadium. It’s not huge, you never hear any stories about it, and it’s been home to a mediocre football team for a long time. So we lost there last year, big deal. Let’s see how well the Illini play this year when they see the 8 p.m. crowd at the Beave.

HUBERT H. HUMPHREY METRODOME

-Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
-School: University of Minnesota
-Year Opened: 1982 -Home Record: -Capacity: 64,111 (football)
-Largest Crowd: 65,184 (Nov. 13, 2002 Minnesota 27, Iowa 29) -Big Game(s):
-Distinguishing Architectural Feature: The white, Teflon-coated, fiberglass fabric roof. We’re not even sure that makes sense.
-Current/Past Traditions: Other than the Little Brown Jug Game, losing. The Gophers have reached or eclipsed 8 wins just three times since moving to the Metrodome in 1982.
-Riots: None to speak of for the football team, but there were riots in 2003 following the Gophers second consecutive NCAA men’s hockey championship. So that’s something, I guess.
-Other Uses: Minnesota Twins (MLB, 1982-present), Minnesota Vikings (NFL, 1982-present), Minnesota Timberwolves (NBA, 1989-90) -Interesting Fact: Since its opening, visitors to the Metrodome have consumed more than a half million kegs of beer (or almost 9 million gallons). People in Green Bay just started to weep.


What can you say about the Metrodome? Just a massive, ugly monstrosity. But then again, weather conditions in Minnesota are hardly ideal, so the dome is nice. Oh, wait, we’re talking about football. Well, blame the hideous dome on the Twins then. If the Metrodome has one thing going for it, it’s that it’s definitely recognizable, what with the distinctive white roof and the baggie that serves as the right field fence during baseball games. But otherwise, it’s trash.

Mercifully for the school, the team, and its fans, the Gophers will be opening the 2009 season in a brand new outdoor stadium. Certainly this will be an upgrade over the Metrodome – but so would a decent-sized high school stadium. Whether or not it will give the Gophers any sort of recruiting kick or home field advantage and thrust them back into relevance in the Big Ten remains to be seen.