I did get in one more Minor League Baseball game – the Dogs hosted Kane County in a neighborhood brawl for the American Association East Division championship. The Cougars came away with the win – on their way to an undefeated 7-0 romp to the AA championship…congrats!
So, my final totals for MiLB in the summer of ’24:
- 16 games
- 9 stadiums
- 4 states
- 4 leagues
- More than a few beers, chicken tenders and good times!
May of 2025 beckons…but until then-
College Football Part II
After the pre-Labor Day game at Minnesota, I spent the next three Saturdays at one of my kids’ alma maters – in order: Wisconsin, Illinois and Washington
A few observations on each:
Wisconsin: I love Madison. Beyond my daughter’s time at UW, my former company has substantial operations in the area, so I spent a lot of time here. Stuck between two lakes, with the state capital in addition to the university buildings, it is a beautiful place to come to (albeit with some sucky traffic, especially on game days).
My friend Gregg and I saw the Badgers host South Dakota on a beautiful cool-ish day. Kick-off was 2:30, leaving us a civilized morning departure for the 2 1/2 hour (plus traffic) drive. Logistics for these games is always an issue – I have a favorite parking lot that is near one of the dorms my daughter lived in. It is a bit off the beaten path and is alcohol-free, so it is – um – tamer than some of the other parking areas. This gave us hilly but very do-able walk over to the stadium area. We stopped at Union South where the band has its pre-game concert and had a beverage in the shade. I LOVE Madison – and then took the quick walk over to Camp Randall. Our timing was a bit off, as the band was marching over to the stadium resulting in us needing to step aside and let them through. Still, we got to our seats comfortably before the pre-game band show, team arrivals and kick-off.
I was able to get these tickets directly from the university and thus avoid the Seat Geek/Stub Hub mark-up. On the positive side they were in the lower deck. On the negative side, they were at the very back of the lower deck and thus were under cover. While that would have been a feature on a rainy day, it proved to be a bug on a nice day, as you can’t see the large video boards from these seats and are limited to some smaller video monitors they have hanging down from the upper deck. The seats also were at the very back of the section, at the top of the aisle. That had us constantly moving so people could come in and out of our row. Like many of these older stadiums, Camp Randall has bleachers in “regular people’s seating” and they are JUST TOO TIGHTLY PACKED. Trying to get down a row past people is an absolute nightmare. We ended up standing behind the row for much of the second half.
And then there was beer. After holding out longer than most of their Big Ten peers, Wisconsin began selling beer (and other alcoholic beverages) in general seating at Camp Randall this year. Despite adding stands and signage, it was working very poorly. Gregg went in search of beer in both the second quarter and late in halftime and gave up from long lines. When Alabama visited the next week, the Internet was filled with videos of the jam-packed concession areas. They need to figure this one out.
And I could do without one in-game tradition – the student section’s adaptation of the Miller Lite “Tastes Great, Less Filling” chant to ES-FU (full words) is an embarrassment to the university.
However, all those complaints are washed away through the game experience – the crowd singing Buttercup (finishing acapella after the game resumes and the music is cut off) and of course Jump Around before the 4th quarter are what got me to fall in love with going to college football games.
After a Wisconsin win and a nice walk back to the car, we slogged through post-game traffic, stopped for dinner (along with numerous other southbound game attenders) at the world’s largest Culver’s (We love Butterburgers) and I got home a bit before 10 PM – which sums up one of the challenges…even while this is only about 130 miles away, it ends up being a 12 hour plus adventure with buffer time, traffic time, etc.
Illinois: Champaign-Urbana is not Madison from an aesthetic perspective. It’s basically two towns popped among the cornfields and interstates in central Illinois. And for many years, Illinois football has been mediocre – especially compared to Wisconsin’s success. While no one can change the towns, the football team is looking up. Coming off an upset win over Kansas, I headed to Champaign to see the Fighting Illini host Central Michigan at Memorial Stadium.
It was Homecoming where alumni are specifically invited back to campus for a variety of activities beyond the game – the earliest in Illinois history and something that Illinois proudly claims to have invented (along with the first ever school loyalty song).
As mentioned above, logistics are a definite consideration for these games. Champaign is about 160 miles for us and a pretty predictable 2 1/2 hours. When my son was a student, he discovered the TransSport bus service from the public transit system that takes you from a handful of spots on or near the campus directly to the stadium (which is at the far southern end of the campus) for only $2. And there is ample free parking near the start/terminus of the route. Unless, you are a serious tailgater, I don’t know why you wouldn’t do this. SHHHH…please don’t tell anyone!
And I was wishing for those covered seats from Wisconsin – it was sunny and hot – well into the 80’s even with an early 11 AM kickoff. Clouds and a breeze were premium features I needed more of. And yes, there was a pre-game flyover during the National Anthem.
As with MiLB, there are SO many sponsors. My favorite was McDonald’s offering free chicken nuggets if the opposing team missed a field goal, leading our PA announcer to encourage the crowd to chant, “nuggets, nuggets…” when the kicker was ling up to attempt the field goal, leavened with a massive (and really these video boards are huge so I do mean massive) picture of the Grimace, the purple monster from Mickey-D’s commercials staring right at the kicker. Unfortunately, the CMU kicker hit three field goals, – not that I was going to be getting the nuggets anyway.
Everyone is trying to find a between the third and fourth quarter activity to compete with Jump Around. Illinois stages a race between a student and “Red Grange” a guy dressed up as the 1920’s Illini football star. While Red has been dead for decades, he impressively won the race. Embarrassing for the student to lose a race to a dead guy? And to be clear, it is not Jump Around. At all.
The hot day and a reasonably comfortable Illini lead caused the student section to thin out dramatically by the end of the game, so they missed the ad on the scoreboard for the next home game with Purdue which will be Ag(riculture) Day including a petting zoo. NOTHING says Midwest college football like Ag Day.
In the end, it was a 30-9 Illinois win and I was delighted to hop on the air-conditioned bus and head back to my car to drive home!
Washington: As you can no doubt figure, this was a flying trip as I visited with my son and daughter-in-law and went to see the Huskies play their first Big 10 game against my alma mater the Northwestern Wildcats.
After many years living near the University, my son recently moved to the suburbs. That caused me to change from staying in hotels where walking to Husky Stadium is a preferred option to one near his home. He and his wife found an express bus service from a Metro Transit Park & Ride which was a great option – albeit more than the $2 cost at Illinois for the bus. in addition, Seattle traffic was at its murderous worst for a 4 PM Pacific kickoff, so we arrived later than hoped getting to our seats just in time to see the teams come on the field before kickoff. Definitely a highlight as U-Dub is led out by Dubs who is a real Husky (not a costumed human).
Husky Stadium has bleachers with a back bench – so an upgrade from Wisconsin and Illinois in that regard. When the group next to us left in the 4th quarter, I tried to get my son and daughter-in-law to shift over as the neighbors had paid up for the precious seat cushions, but I couldn’t tempt them.
I skipped the concessions as we ate before and after – one unique item at Husky Stadium is Ivar’s clam chowder. Ivar’s restaurants are a significant presence in Seattle and Mr. Ivar is an alum who gave considerable funds to U-Dub. My wife and I ate at Ivar’s on a recent visit and the clam chowder is awesome. A guy in front of me got some during the second half. I was tempted…
The game was ugly from my POV, Northwestern’s offense was, well, offensive in a 24-5 loss. However, Husky Stadium lived up to its marketing theme of The Greatest Setting in College Football with the stadium right on the water on a sunny comfortable day. Particularly notable with the sun setting in the fourth quarter dousing Mount Ranier in orange/pink light. It’s why Seattle is so beautiful. When it doesn’t rain.
Now I am taking a couple Saturdays away before covering the last kid alma mater as my daughter and I head to Kinnick Stadium for the “grad school throwdown” between Iowa and Washington. I plan to go to one more game after that at a TBD location. More to come next time. Also, as winter sport schedules are finalized, hockey and basketball trips are in the planning stages.