rev:text
| - Well yes, "Yay! I'm a fan," but of the visiting team that had a surprising enough odd victory that even our coach said "Wait, what happened?" It's a big, famous stadium and it's thrilling to come here. I don't know about the alumni complaining about the prices, the concession and ticket prices are reasonable for a Big Ten football game. The climb up to the visiting fan section is steep and arduous, Mount Kilimanjaro is easier by comparison (not an exaggeration), but this means even the up and distant seats have pretty good sightlines (though the players look like little red and purple ants). Lots of stupid drunks but not more so than any other Big Ten game (except the shockingly sober Ryan Field games). The benches are uncomfortable and if everyone shows up (and everyone does) then there's not enough room for even healthy adults. This is Wisconsin so many of us are beer-and-bratwurst-obese thus there really isn't enough room to sit down. This is typical of Big Ten stadiums, so again, comparatively speaking no stars lost in grade. The one negative is that they made no effort to clear the snow, which I heard from regulars is S.O.P. here. The result is that the seats are extra uncomfortable (though I was wearing water resistant snow pants), and many of the drunken fans throw snowballs the whole game. They threw snowballs at their own cheerleaders. They threw snowballs at the referees, who ended up calling Wisconsin on some really odd penalties. How often do you see "illegal hand signal" on a punt return? I think the snowballs may have worked against the home team.
The Wisconsin marching band is excellent, in spite of arctic conditions they put on a great halftime show. I've been here a few times now, it's better when Northwestern wins, it's better when it's not frigid cold, but I've always enjoyed myself.
|