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My terrible visit to Michigan Stadium

daddyphatsacs

Let the cards fall...
Warning.......Foul language.

First of all let me tell you that this was my first OSU Michigan game. My cousin, buddy and I decided to go up without tickets and buy some at the game. We ran across a scalper and paid $250 a pop for 3 tickets. We then proceeded to go to the gates to make sure that the tickets were cool (9 am) the ushers, then a couple of cops all had a look at the tickets and said that they were cool. We then absorbed the atmosphere for a while.

We headed into the stadium, which by the way was a disappointment, and went to our seats. We sat there for a while and someone else with the same ticket comes over and tells me that I'm in his seat. Obviously it registered in my head the we got ****ed by some dirty ass scalper. We hung out in the stadium for half of the first quarter until some bitchy Michigan alum behind us ratted out our section. It turns out the 9 or 10 people in our section had bunk tickets. Johnny law decided to come down and check our tickets, he took them and booted us out of the stadium when he saw them. We tried to fight it, and I pled my case but he didn't care, he even threatened to arrest us. It turns out that this happened to a lot of people today, I feel like an ass........

So needless to say we were out of a bunch of cash in that shithole that we all call Ann Arbor and had to watch the game on a TV outside of the stadium. I hate that place.

**** Michigan
 
It's a good idea to take a picture of the people you buy tickets from... if you can see a valid id even better (a name to go with the pic)... that has been a huge problem for some time... they need to go to a bar code system to stop this crap...
 
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Let me say that stadium is an absolute shithole. what kind of moron decides to have one single 5-foot wide entrance into every 96-row section? it took a good hour to get from our seats to the exit of the stadium. not to mention the rows are a good 6 inches closer together up there. Ohio Stadium would hold 135k under the scheme.

I got sandwiched between two fat overweight scUM fans. It was unbearable. Everytime me and a couple scUM fans tried to stand, the lazy slobs behind us would bitch and moan. They even flagged down an usher. That was enough for me. I got up and watched the second half in the tiny little concourse on a TV.

I can see why the stadium earned a reputation as being relatively quiet. It was not loud at all compared to a good game at Ohio Stadium. Surprisingly, the few civil scUM fans that I found all said it was by far the loudest crowd they'd ever heard.

The stadium is very old and run-down on the inside. The bleachers are all faded, the pressbox might collapse in the next strong wind, and the concessions were fairly inadequate, although a bit cheaper than at OSU. Ohio Stadium is 10x nicer on the outside, and the same goes for the interior in every way.

If anything, my trip has just made me appreciated Ohio Stadium and the OSU campus much more than I realized.

The city itself was nothing special. We met up with some scUM students from Ohio just off campus. That area was just as big of a shithole. Supposedly it is all student housing, but there was absolutely nobody outside partying by 9am, except for the house I was at, which was all Buckeye fans. scUM students are officially the lamest group I have ever met. Their idea of drinking is dumping a shot of Bailey's in their Starbucks.

The only cool part of the trip was the tailgating at the high school across from the stadium. There was a huge number of OSU fans all around. If I ever decide to return to that whore, I will skip the stadium and just watch the game with the tailgaters.

BTW, sorry to hear about you getting shafted on those tickets. Most of the ushers and police officers I encountered were very rude and unaccomodating to the OSU fans in attendance. I'm not surprised they probably didn't even glance at your tickets to tell if they were fake.
 
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lol, there are a good 5-6 Michigan-related IPs reading this thread. It has to be linked from somewhere. I'll have to check the referral logs later.

As far as Michigan's stadium, it has always seemed like they should have something better than a big hole. Tearing down something like the Shoe, or Lambeau Field, or another institution-type stadium would be one thing, but I don't think the "Big House" is like that in a purely architectural sense. I mean, Ann Arbor itself is obviously a significant football setting, but there's so much more that the stadium could be. They'd have nothing to lose, and a ton to gain, if they filled up the pit, and built a real monument to the game on top of it.

How often do we hear about Buckeye recruits stepping onto the field at the Shoe during a visit, and just being in awe of the surroundings?

I have two different, very detailed sculptures of our stadium. One before and one after the recent renovations. Were I a scUM fan, I would have saved some money I guess, just bought some clay, scooped out a hole in the middle, and painted it up myself.

I laugh whenever people talk about their stadium being bigger. It's clear they've never seen it up close. The seating is smaller, allowing them to squeeze more people in, that's about it.

This isn't a rip on scUM. On the contrary, it's out of respect that I say they deserve something better.
 
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love it or leave it.

sorry some of you fellas didn't dig the accomidations. that being said, if it's such a "shithole" (phatsacs and clevebucks), don't come back. we won't miss you.

edited to add clevebucks to phatsacs.
 
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Offer a Michigan perspective on the issue, I'm genuinely interested.

You don't feel Michigan should have a better stadium? Something more impressive than what is more or less inarguably a big hole?

I'm not trying to trick you into saying the Big House sucks, obviously it's one of the more impressive venues in the country. But it still doesn't have that "wow" factor IMO of an above-ground stadium that towers above you and has a great aesthetic to boot.

No question UM has the money (or can put together the money) to build something modern and impressive, do you think it would be a crime if they did?

I don't know that OSU can ever get away from the Shoe, I mean, that place is what it is, and hopefully always will be so. Bigger is fine, how they expanded recently retained the essence and just improved and expanded. But it's still the same stadium which is a great thing. I could be wrong, I just don't feel like UM has that with the current facility, and they (again, IMO) should.
 
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Daddy - just cuirous, seems I remember a Mr. Barney Rubble causing a problem last season with some bogus tickets. Let this be a lesson to you - never buy tickets from someone dressed in an animal skin.

I have heard the same stories from everyone who has visited Michigan stadium. Seats very close together, horrendous access. Just read today that the teams themselves had to be escorted to the stadium on the berm just to get there two hours before kick off. 1460 was even broadcasting from the bus on the way in because they were stuck in traffic.

Same issues walking into the stadium. Long delays.

But, my best bud still says I have to go once. That it is part of CFB to watch them come onto the field. I will have to do it when there is not so much at stake.

One final point, as I start to move my alegiance to here from Bucknuts. I plan to leave my irrational hatred of Michigan behind. They have a great team and great program. Their Rivals message board is one of the best around with a lot of classy folks.

Don't get me wrong. I still hate Michigan - there are very logical and sane reasons for doing so. I am only leaving the irrational part behind.
 
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here's my take, but i don't think i speak for the majority...

i love the BIGHOUSE. my dads had season tickets since 68 and i've been going for as long as i can remember, (born in 78). even when i was away at college, i would make most of the games. (it's a little harder now in grad school.)

sure, it's a little tight in there. it's not visually imposing from outside. the players don't feel like the crowd is 'on top of them'. it doesn't hold noise well... but it's ours and it has been for a LONG time. i would not be in favor of a new stadium and i doubt my grandkids will ever see it happen. i would be in favor of a pressbox renovation, which i'm told is next on the list. that pressbox is an eyesore and it's not adiquit anymore. it REALLY looks like hell from the inside. they did just redo the locker rooms last summer though. they're beautiful.

i went to purdue last year, your spring game this year, notre dame, etc. i've seen a lot of cool places but the BIGHOUSE is home. sure, fix whats broken but leave the structure alone.

the facilities debate has been heated up here. a lot of people want new crap but i dig the old stuff. it's standing history. yost is the cameron indoor of college hockey. (yup, i said it). ray fisher (baseball) is a relic but i love it. cliff kean (volleyball, sometimes wrestling) is a shoebox and seats about 4 people, but i love it. everybody likes the new, shiny arenas but do they feel like yours? has anything cool happened in the schott that you think about whenever you walk into it? all the history is gone.

crisler on the other hand needs a wreaking ball. some history is better destroyed. plus it's just a boring, poorly constucted, poorly lit pile of cement.


also, ther money situation is different than you think. the basketball program has been a financial drain over the past decade or so. UM's athletic department isn't sitting on piles of money anymore.

in conclusion. no. i don't want a new football stadium. it has character and it's fun listening to the visitors piss and moan about. like a dude said on bitterrivals.com a few years ago... 'sure some of our facilities are shit, but it's OUR shit.'

sorry so long. i'm passionate about this subject. maybe it's different to me because i grew up in a2. it's not just a stadium, it's my neighborhood.
 
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I can definitely respect and appreciate that.

I mean, it would be (for me) like OSU changing their uniforms. Some people think there are other designs that would look better and more 'modern', the notion makes my stomach turn.

Anyway, I like your take on the whole thing.
 
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Daddy - just cuirous, seems I remember a Mr. Barney Rubble causing a problem last season with some bogus tickets. Let this be a lesson to you - never buy tickets from someone dressed in an animal skin.

:lol: I remember all the trouble Mr. Rubble caused last year.

barn2.gif
 
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I agree that was one of the worst experiences I have had at a football game. I spent hours in traffic. walked three miles to the stadium. Spent $300 on a ticket. Sat in the student section ....and oh yeah the bad guys won.
 
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While i can understand the desire to preserve the general aura of "The Big House", they could at least do something with the seating and the aisles. So what if they capacity drops from 111,000 to 109,000?
 
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Once they lose the claim of "largest outhouse in the country" they really have nothing else going for that piece of shit. Without it being the largest (technically), there is nothing else noteworthy about it.

It would be hilarious if Tennessee were to slightly expand their stadium to surpass the out house. They could go back and forth, slowly adding seats a couple hundred at a time, until scUM finally takes out the bleachers completely and just uses tiers of cement/standing room only instead.
 
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