Schnauzer
Pretty Sure You are Wrong
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- Jun 4, 2009
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Just wanted to share a great experience attending a Gopher road game. If you have never hit the road for a Gopher road game, I highly recommend it.
I love a good road trip and I haven't been on one for a few years. My wife and 6th grader hit the road last Thursday night and returned on Sunday. When we reached cities like Chicago and Indy, we drove through the middle of them rather then skirt them to share the skylines with our son. That definitely caused a delay because we hit traffic in Chicago both coming and going. But, even with that it was about 12.5 hours on the road each way.
Columbus was a great town. We stayed downtown and had one great experience with their fans after another. It was 100% positive and the great conversations started when we arrived Friday in the hotel lobby... an older fella literally quizzed me on my knowledge of Gopher football - asking me to name old Gopher greats as he described them. I passed this test 100% and impressed my wife and kid in the process
. That fun fan interaction carried through the game, where I was nearly tackled by an older fellow in the parking ramp - eager to help out with directions or anything else I needed. It reached its peak at the restaurant after the game. We arrived at Thurman's (famous burger joint in Columbus) where a younger gal pulled us aside to warn us that she, her boyfriend, and two of his grad school friends (all dressed in OSU gear and had been at the game) had already been waiting for 2.5 hours for a table. With that news my wife and I weren't sure if we wanted to put up with that kind of wait but we weren't sure so we figured we'd get a couple drinks and decide what to do. I was at the bar ordering the drinks when my wife came up and said that the gal she had been talking to got their table but came back to say there was plenty of room for us, and they invited us to join them! We felt a little silly, but agreed. I wasn't sure at first but it was a super experience and we ended up hanging out with them the whole night. Awesome people.
Ironically, the most unfriendly people we came across the whole weekend were Minnesotans at the Air Force museum in Dayton. We commented on their Gopher gear, mentioned we were headed to the game too, and got the cold shoulder in return. Oh well.
I came away from the game itself appreciating our own gameday atmosphere but also respecting the great OSU stadium/atmosphere. They obviously trump us when it comes to the size of the fan base and the stadium. It is tough to compete with 100,000 filled seats. However, the comforts of a new stadium like TCF are much better. The concourses on the C-deck at the horseshoe felt like I was an ant in a tunnel. Very tight and very closed.
When it comes to the work our cheerleaders and band performs... there is a lot to be proud of there. OSU just had a few male/female cheerleader pairs and that was about it. They didn't do much 'performing' either. For home gopher games, not only are there a lot more spirit squads, but the diverse things they do are quite impressive by comparison. Script Ohio is a wonderful tradition but overall the UofM band pregame looks more complicated and has its own tradition - forming the 'M' and then rotating it. The one big lesson that can be learned is the all-brass OSU band could clearly be heard all over the stadium. They were very loud. At TCF, I am seated right next to the student section and I really struggle to hear our band. I almost wish they'd give up that pit structure and sit on the open end of the stadium to see if they could be heard better. Woodwinds make for a better sound overall but all-brass does a better job of filling a stadium with sound that can be heard.
All in all, I wouldn't trade! But, if I were an OSU fan I wouldn't trade either. The experience is different, but not necessarily better either way.
As I drove back to the hotel after the game, I listened to OSU post game. It was sort of tough to listen to the way the announcers were blowing off the Gophers. They were concerned with the slow OSU start and said a lot of comments like "You can't let mediocre teams like this hang around that long." I was internally fretting over all the things people have been posting about here over the past couple days but the radio team in Columbus clearly didn't think much about the Gophers. I wouldn't have expected otherwise, I guess.
Anyway... just wanted to share the good experience. I am looking forward to attending an away game or two every year from here on out...
I love a good road trip and I haven't been on one for a few years. My wife and 6th grader hit the road last Thursday night and returned on Sunday. When we reached cities like Chicago and Indy, we drove through the middle of them rather then skirt them to share the skylines with our son. That definitely caused a delay because we hit traffic in Chicago both coming and going. But, even with that it was about 12.5 hours on the road each way.
Columbus was a great town. We stayed downtown and had one great experience with their fans after another. It was 100% positive and the great conversations started when we arrived Friday in the hotel lobby... an older fella literally quizzed me on my knowledge of Gopher football - asking me to name old Gopher greats as he described them. I passed this test 100% and impressed my wife and kid in the process
. That fun fan interaction carried through the game, where I was nearly tackled by an older fellow in the parking ramp - eager to help out with directions or anything else I needed. It reached its peak at the restaurant after the game. We arrived at Thurman's (famous burger joint in Columbus) where a younger gal pulled us aside to warn us that she, her boyfriend, and two of his grad school friends (all dressed in OSU gear and had been at the game) had already been waiting for 2.5 hours for a table. With that news my wife and I weren't sure if we wanted to put up with that kind of wait but we weren't sure so we figured we'd get a couple drinks and decide what to do. I was at the bar ordering the drinks when my wife came up and said that the gal she had been talking to got their table but came back to say there was plenty of room for us, and they invited us to join them! We felt a little silly, but agreed. I wasn't sure at first but it was a super experience and we ended up hanging out with them the whole night. Awesome people.Ironically, the most unfriendly people we came across the whole weekend were Minnesotans at the Air Force museum in Dayton. We commented on their Gopher gear, mentioned we were headed to the game too, and got the cold shoulder in return. Oh well.
I came away from the game itself appreciating our own gameday atmosphere but also respecting the great OSU stadium/atmosphere. They obviously trump us when it comes to the size of the fan base and the stadium. It is tough to compete with 100,000 filled seats. However, the comforts of a new stadium like TCF are much better. The concourses on the C-deck at the horseshoe felt like I was an ant in a tunnel. Very tight and very closed.
When it comes to the work our cheerleaders and band performs... there is a lot to be proud of there. OSU just had a few male/female cheerleader pairs and that was about it. They didn't do much 'performing' either. For home gopher games, not only are there a lot more spirit squads, but the diverse things they do are quite impressive by comparison. Script Ohio is a wonderful tradition but overall the UofM band pregame looks more complicated and has its own tradition - forming the 'M' and then rotating it. The one big lesson that can be learned is the all-brass OSU band could clearly be heard all over the stadium. They were very loud. At TCF, I am seated right next to the student section and I really struggle to hear our band. I almost wish they'd give up that pit structure and sit on the open end of the stadium to see if they could be heard better. Woodwinds make for a better sound overall but all-brass does a better job of filling a stadium with sound that can be heard.
All in all, I wouldn't trade! But, if I were an OSU fan I wouldn't trade either. The experience is different, but not necessarily better either way.
As I drove back to the hotel after the game, I listened to OSU post game. It was sort of tough to listen to the way the announcers were blowing off the Gophers. They were concerned with the slow OSU start and said a lot of comments like "You can't let mediocre teams like this hang around that long." I was internally fretting over all the things people have been posting about here over the past couple days but the radio team in Columbus clearly didn't think much about the Gophers. I wouldn't have expected otherwise, I guess.
Anyway... just wanted to share the good experience. I am looking forward to attending an away game or two every year from here on out...
