Just Got Home..Hate Them, But Iowa City Real Deal

[oak_street1981]

Sounds like a lot of hearsay for your rankings.

Yes, lots of hearsay, since I have been to only 9 of the 12 Big Ten Campuses to see a Football game. I guess I'll have to get to OSU, Nebraska, and Illinois soon, since I know so little about Big Ten Road trips.

About Wisconsin vs. Iowa, I think my qualifying statement, that Madison is more spread out (also implied to be larger) makes the superior quantity of entertainment less powerful. I would take it a step futher, that that the Madison experience is louder, cruder, and more drunk, regardless of the liberal orientation of the town. Having said that, I still like Madison.

The only reason Indiana is high on my list is because the compact downtown, right past the Campus gates, has a pure college dominated atmosphere on Kirkwood Ave and is fun. Iowa City, with the Ped Mall, and the campus right next to it is even better, but larger. The relaxed, post hippy, tree lined Ped Mall is unbeatable. You can put a whole bunch of Minnesotan in Dinkytown, 7 corners, or Stadium Village and it does not become the Ped Mall. The students dominate Iowa City, and they are a pretty well educated, well put together group who also know how to have some fun. The students do not dominate the MN campus or any surrounding U of M neighborhood in a similar manner.

Forget about Finkbine, Cedar Rapids, and Coralville for that matter if you want to appreciate a trip to an Iowa game,, fully. It all starts and stops with the Ped Mall, preferably the Friday night before and/or postgame.

 

[Jike Spingleton]

^^Agreed with just about everything said. The vibe on the U of M campus on game day/night before does not compare to what you get in IC.

Penn State is still #1 on my list, with Ohio State a clear #2. I'm eager to check out Lincoln for the first time to see where it ranks, and to get back to Bloomington, easily the most underrated trip in the Big Ten.

 

[WorkingMyTailOff]

I didn't mean that's the only thing they're looking at. I was saying out of your original list, I don't think many DI recruits care about that stuff. They're into atmosphere, uniforms, coaches, education, etc. I don't think music scene, natural beauty and vibrant economic opportunities are in the top 10 reasons they would choose a school. Girls would probably make the top 10. Obviously, there are "normal" or what we would consider normal recruits, but I think they're not the majority by any means.

I'm not saying your list shouldn't be important; I agree with you! I teach for a living and a long term goal to many 18 year old kids is considered a short term goal for us. They have different priorities.

I agree with your points.

 

[RailBaronYarr]

^^Agreed with just about everything said. The vibe on the U of M campus on game day/night before does not compare to what you get in IC.

Penn State is still #1 on my list, with Ohio State a clear #2. I'm eager to check out Lincoln for the first time to see where it ranks, and to get back to Bloomington, easily the most underrated trip in the Big Ten.

Is that because we don't have as good of a bar/restaurant scene or because we've had football on campus for 3 years with an average attendance on gameday probably around 38k since it opened? My point is that even with the "density" of stuff on the ped mall that OakStreet mentions, if you plop 70k people in Stadium Village/Dinkytown it would easily be as good. I completely disagree that students don't dominate Washington Ave/University Ave. When was the last (non-gameday) you or anyone you know went drinking at Burrito Loco, Stub/Herbs, BigTen, Sally's, Library, Blarney, BWW (at night), etc etc? Seven Corners is the only area that gets a healthy number of non-students going there, and that's part of the fun for me when I decided to head that direction instead of East Bank.

My experience is that IC is just as drunk and crude as Madison. I've had people treat me well and poorly at both. IC has a better true tailgate scene before the game due to parking and space availability. But Madison's bar/restaurant scene I'm referring to includes non of the stuff east/north of the capital. State Street by itself blows the ped mall and surrounding 2 streets out of the water and is every bit as flooded with students, and in no way would I call State St "spread out." It is also no further/closer to Camp Randall than IC ped mall is to Kinnick. Just my opinion having been to both a few times for games, including the night before for HC for both. Have yet to get to PSU or OSU for comparison.

Ultimately, I'm not pining for anything the likes of what anyone has, I want something unique for us. We are different than most schools in that our campus has 2 primary and one smaller tertiary area of bars and restaurants. Soon, Washington will be LRT/ped mall. I think it would be cool to see more restaurants/bars open up between Harvard and Huron (and in that odd triangle of Huron/University where a big apartment is going up) that can facilitate people using the open public space similar to State Street. The use the stadium as the nexus that loops people back up University/4th towards Dinkytown, again lined with more institutions and shopping. Things will always be different here, but the "vibe" I hear seems to come more from the fact that there are anywhere between 30 and 50k more people in their given areas, not because they are better suited for fun or have better/more options.