The day after tomorrow is arguably the most important on the college football calendar. Therefore, there’s no time like the present to reflect, analyze and articulate topics within the college football hierarchy. We’ve ranked the top four college football game day experiences in the Midwest.
Remember, this is just for the Midwest- with Notre Dame tops overall.
There’s a reason the College Football Hall of Fame was in South Bend for so long.
1. Notre Dame
No place embraces the ideals of nostalgia and tradition like Notre Dame Stadium. The tunnel walk is unrivaled. It starts at Touchdown Jesus, goes through wave after wave of national championship banners, and ends in an end zone from the turn of the century.
Just like Penn State can never add logos to their helmets or names to their jerseys, ND can never replace the diagonal lines in their end zones. No place revolves around college football like South Bend and no stadium embraces the sport’s history, which dates back to the 1860s, like Notre Dame.
At Notre Dame, the press box and the luxury suites are inter-mixed, although that will change as they further upgrade the facilities. With fans and media in the same space, we often hear the “remember, by rule, there is no cheering in the press box” from the in-box PA system.
Of course, not many people adhere to that.
While Notre Dame warns you not to cheer in the press box, at NU it’s “remember there is no loud talking in the press box.” Again you’ll hear these warnings a lot, and again most people don’t obey them. This is why ND and NU are like 1a and 1b, because they treat the game with the sanctity that it deserves.
Nebraskans love all college football, not just their own team and their own region. They are fully engaged in national college football, not just their own local team. They’re engaged year round; not just in the autumn. I detailed and recapped my first ever trip to Nebraska and Memorial Stadium in late October, and there’s a reason this essay received 10,000 page views.
I also spotlighted some of the highlights for my weekly spot on 1620 The Zone Omaha, during the weekly segment I do during college football. Have a listen below:
https://soundcloud.com/liquid-shane-o/oct-20-seg-11-northwestern-with-paul-banks-see-you-on-wednesday-from-hardees-120th-and-l
3. Ohio State
The Horseshoe is elite. It has the best architecture in all of college football. The stadium’s edifice looks like The Pantheon in Rome. What keeps it from being #1 is that I’ve had to deal with a small minority of Buckeyes fans hurling homophobic slurs at me when I’ve visited a couple times. For the record I am heterosexual, and always have been but a tiny group of idiots (definitely not the majority of Buckeyes fans, who are overall a great group), who’ve yelled similar bigoted garbage at me in Indianapolis too are just going on physical appearance alone.
They know nothing about me and don’t care to, but moronic, drunk, zealous sports fan meatheads will find a lowest common denominator insult for you somewhere, somehow.
I guess I’m a bit too metrosexual for these people. If only they knew that I wrote a style column too!
They should read it.
College football is a great game, filled with great fans, many of which reside in Columbus and Ohio. I watched the national title game with Ohio State’s main base of Chicago fans, and I have several close friends in that club. However, there’s socially regressive meatheads out there too. If you around the game enough, at some point you’ll be subjected to attacks of the lowest common denominator.
If you’re a woman, you’ll get misogyny, sexism.
If you’re in a minority group, you’ll get bigotry. If you’re overweight, you’ll be called fat insults. I myself receive homophobic slurs, because I guess my appearance is too metrosexual for these people. So yeah, it’s annoying and unfortunate, but it just comes with the territory.
In 2015, you would think human beings would be above all this, but you just remember when it happens to you that you’re not alone and be prepared.
Like Chris Cornell sang in “You Know My Name,” the theme song to Casino Royale:
“Arm yourself because no-one else here will save you, the odds will betray you.”
4. Michigan
Everybody should see at least 1 game at The Big House. Everybody.
It’s a sports fan bucket list experience.
After you experience the traffic and parking situation, you won’t need a second trip.
I’ve actually done two, and I found that both times they tried to charge the media $100 for parking, the same extortion racket they run on the general public. Even if you park a mile and a half away from the stadium, it will cost $50. (Weird how Michigan gives the media no parking passes and leaves us to fend for ourselves)
The other issue here is even though you stayed at the stadium for three hours after it ended, and then walked two miles to your car, the traffic will still be NIGHTMARISH GRIDLOCK.
Other than that though, the Michigan Stadium experience is sublime. I guess the logistics are destined to be a clusterfuck when you’re dealing with placing 115,000 people in the same place.
The gameday experience must be elite if we’re all willing to endure such extreme clusterfucks.
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and sometimes writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. The website is also featured on News Now.
Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes to the Chicago Tribune RedEye. He also appears regularly on numerous television and radio talk shows all across the country. Catch him Tuesdays on KOZN 1620 The Zone.
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