Visiting U of M for Purdue Game

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One of these nights head to 7 Corners. Bullwinkle's and Town Hall Brewery are my picks. Just across 10th Ave Bridge from your hotel.
 

Al's for breakfast was great. Enjoying a couple beers at Stub and Herb's.

Enjoyed spending some time on campus today. I'm curious about the football stadium. It seems that it wouldn't be possible to close in the other end zone with seating someday down the road, at least without closing the road. What's up with that?
 

Good question. The open horseshoe design was very intentional, and was done for a couple reasons. One, it replicates the design of the Memorial Stadium, which is where the Gophers played before the Metrodome. And two, the open design allows for great views of the University campus and of downtown Minneapolis from inside the stadium. The stadium is still expandable to 80,000 seats without closing the open horseshoe. The additional seats would go on the north and east sides of the stadium, above the 2nd deck (this will be more apparent when you are inside the stadium on Saturday). Here is some additional information, if you're interested: http://populous.com/project/um-tcf-bank-stadium/
 


TexasAggie...After your entire experience this week/weekend, I would like to have a summary of your total experience.

Thank you, in advance.
 


MplsGopherFan said:
Good question. The open horseshoe design was very intentional, and was done for a couple reasons. One, it replicates the design of the Memorial Stadium, which is where the Gophers played before the Metrodome. And two, the open design allows for great views of the University campus and of downtown Minneapolis from inside the stadium. The stadium is still expandable to 80,000 seats without closing the open horseshoe. The additional seats would go on the north and east sides of the stadium, above the 2nd deck (this will be more apparent when you are inside the stadium on Saturday). Here is some additional information, if you're interested: http://populous.com/project/um-tcf-bank-stadium/
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This is the way most football and baseball stadiums(mostly pro of course) are built now days. Provide a view and become a part of the surrounding community, in contrast to the boxed-in concrete slabs that were built in the 70's.

The stadium is expandable(third deck) in increments of 10,000....up to 80,000. The footings are already in place.

There is talk however of adding 2,000 to 3,000 temporary seats in the open end for when the Vikings play there, while their new stadium is being built.

Gopher fans are very proud of TCF Bank Stadium, as well they should be.
 


Alright, I snagged two seats on StubHub for a great price. :)

Am I to understand that I can just go to the student section and sit down anywhere with these tickets? They don't check at the entrance to the section or anything? I won't make anyone mad by grabbing a spot in 125 or 126?

Also, I brought maroon clothes, although they have a small Texas A&M logo on the chest. Will I be okay in maroon, or is gold preferred?

Thanks for all the help everyone.
 

TexasAggie11 said:
Alright, I snagged two seats on StubHub for a great price. :)

Am I to understand that I can just go to the student section and sit down anywhere with these tickets? They don't check at the entrance to the section or anything? I won't make anyone mad by grabbing a spot in 125 or 126?

Also, I brought maroon clothes, although they have a small Texas A&M logo on the chest. Will I be okay in maroon, or is gold preferred?

Thanks for all the help everyone.
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Good to hear! Yes, it's general admission seating in the student section and nobody checks tickets to get into the section. You'll be fine. Again, I would recommend getting there at least 30 minutes early to watch the pregame show and to get a seat as close as possible to the players' entrance and marching band. Sections 125 and 126 are best. I'll be there too... I'll watch for your Maroon Aggie shirt. (Maroon is fine).
 




I don't know how I missed this thread.. Aggie, I'm with Dr.Don in that I wouldn't mind hearing about your experiences.

I hope you have/had a great experience!
 

Like everyone else, Aggie, I'd love to hear your thoughts, even though it'll probably be a big "Meh." Or maybe "It was so cold!"
 

I'm in the Dallas airport heading home. I'll put together a full write-up of everything when I get home tonight.
 



Only problem with this game is what the StarTribune describes as the smallest crowd in the stadium's history. That sucked.
 

Schnauzer said:
Only problem with this game is what the StarTribune describes as the smallest crowd in the stadium's history. That sucked.
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I would debate that it was ACTUALLY the smallest crowd in stadium history. IIRC, the Illinois game last year had far more no shows. I think that the small number of student season ticket sales this year makes for a lower base line for "paid attendance."
 

Alright, now that I'm settled in at home, here's a report on my experience at the University of Minnesota.

First things first, congratulations on a big win. I was lucky to get to watch two blowout victories yesterday (A&M vs. Auburn being the second). Many of the folks I talked to before the game were very cautious with their predictions and thought it would be an even, hard-fought game. The Golden Gophers went on a 44-0 run that was enjoyable to watch. Freshman quarterbacks can be very exciting, can't they? ;)

The Town

We absolutely loved our trip to the Twin Cities. I tried to fit as much sightseeing in as possible on Friday after my conference, given my limited knowledge of the transit system. However, we spent the morning in downtown Minneapolis going through the skyways and visiting a few buildings such as Foshay (although we didn't go to to the top because it was a bit rainy). We did lunch at Brit's Pub, and that was one of my favorite meals of the trip. We also went to the Mall of America just to say that we've been, but it was kind of a letdown because we weren't really there to shop for anything. We also hit up St. Paul and walked through the state capitol, which is very similar in form to Texas' capitol, just much smaller.

The state building next to the capitol looks very similar to Texas A&M's Jack K. Williams Systems Administration Building at the entrance to our campus.
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Then, we walked through the Cathedral and thought it was very impressive, and then walked by the Fitzgerald after grabbing a couple of drinks at a bar across from the arena. I really wanted to get back to campus for the hockey game, but we decided to spend our money on football instead, and called it an early night.

The Campus

Your campus is very beautiful and impressive. My favorite building is the Morril Building, covered with the color changing ivy (being from a land-grant university, I am also partial to the name). Most of the buildings fit within a general architectural theme, which made campus seem like a cohesive whole, although I'm sure it could be confusing at first that so many buildings look so much alike.

I also really liked the McNamara Alumni Center. We often claim that we have the premier alumni center in the country, but I think we have some real competition here. You have a ton of meeting space in this building, and a great little museum (although very little of the exhibits are interactive). However, I understand that this building is home to the alumni association, foundation, and board of regents, so the combination of all this affords much more space than a self-governed alumni association.

The number, size, and condition of your athletic facilities is astounding. I didn’t go into anything besides the football stadium. I did walk by and see not one but two hockey arenas in addition to volleyball and basketball venues, a couple of which seem to be fairly historic. The tennis center is also pretty large. The baseball field, on the other hand, was tiny, but when you have a great pro baseball venue a couple of miles away, it is probably hard to compete.

The light rail through the center of campus is going to be a nice addition when it is complete. We only briefly walked through the student union, so I can’t give much of an impression of what I thought. There wasn’t a really obvious visitor information center that I saw, but then again, I never googled one. The folks at the alumni center seemed to have some information, but they were all busy setting up for an event.

Scholars Walk was a little bit of a letdown, just because there was so much construction adjacent to the walkway to really be able to enjoy stopping to read the signs. However, it is great to see the fine academic tradition of your university, including Norman Borlaug, who later in life became a professor at Texas A&M.

The most interesting thing to me was the lack of on-campus bus routes – just the one circulator and the connector. I guess there aren’t many roads through the heart of campus to get a bus through, but we have a similar student population and run eight routes on campus (and isn’t enough in my opinion). Then again, you have a much more walkable campus, and everything seems very well laid out.

The Bar Scene

I’m a bit jealous that you have three active entertainment districts immediately next to campus: Dinkytown, Stadium Village, and Seven Corners. We only rode through Seven Corners on the connector bus, so we didn’t get any firsthand experience there, but it looked like a fun, lively place. In Dinkytown, we hit up The Library (we have been to its sister bar in Lubbock) for great drink specials and Shiner Bock, Burrito Loco for good, free popcorn and bad karaoke, and The Kitty Cat Klub, which was about to close down because it was a slow night. In Stadium Village, we had some tasty local beer at Stub and Herb’s and then a burger and drinks at Sally’s. We watched the A&M vs. Auburn game at The Hole.

For some reason, y’all are proud of your burgers up there. Many menus I looked at had them at $8/9, where a burger here might start at $4/5. Some drinks were reasonably priced and some were a bit pricey, but that is the same everywhere. I was surprised to see pitchers going for $20 at Stub and Herbs – you can grab a pitcher of Shiner at the Dixie Chicken here for $7 depending on the day of the week.
People were generally friendly at the bar, but I noticed that people are far, far less receptive to you just walking up and joining in their group than they are down here. Maybe I was just drunk and stupid, but I seemed to get shooed off quite a bit for trying to talk to strangers.

We did talk to a really nice dad and daughter at The Hole, who ended up buying us a drink. She was a trumpeter in the band, and I really enjoyed talking with them. Later in the evening, I’m pretty sure I crashed a Halloween party at the back of the bar and helped myself to their food. Sorry if that was the case! It had been a long day of drinking at that point…

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The Tailgate

Not having any plans for tailgating, we hit the lots around the stadium at Noon with a six pack of Grain Belt Premium and a full bottle of Captain Morgan looking for some kind folks. We never did find the big tailgates, although there were rumors that the St. Paul campus is where it was at. All we came across, for the most part, were people with mini grills propped on the back of their SUV. Everyone looked to be having fun and all, but we were hoping to party with the people who had a huge smoker shaped like a gopher and racks of briskets and Purdue pinatas!

We followed the band around for a bit and tried striking up a few conversations, but no one really invited us to join them. Walking through the Ski-U-Mah lot, we were even booed by one tailgate for having A&M gear on. We finally just popped open a beer and poured the Captain into a bottle of coke and set up shop on the sidewalk. Then, some friendly folks with a Gopher-themed bus invited us over to join them for pork chops. That whole crew was really good company, and they showed us inside their bus and gave us anything we wanted to eat.

I tucked the remaining bit of Captain in my boot and we headed inside TCF Bank Stadium to watch some football.

The Game

The game was a blast, even though it was much colder football weather than we are used to. Last week when we played LSU at home, the temperature was in the 90’s, so this was a much different experience. Excuses like the weather or Halloween really don’t stand up in my book (y’all are used to the weather and it was a 2:30 kick, plenty of time to party after) – your students should be ashamed of themselves for the lack of support for their team. It was in no way loud in the stadium yesterday because the students didn’t contribute.

We walked into the stadium thirty minutes prior to the game and got front row seats. It was a great experience for us, but shameful that someone had not already snatched these great seats up right next to Goldy’s stand. We later walked up to the second deck, and it was nearly empty. If that’s the kind of support the students show, take away half their seats and give them to local pee-wee football teams or the Boys and Girls Club.

This may sound harsh, but y’all have an amazing new stadium and it’s a shame that not even 20% of the student body could see fit to come to the game, especially as inexpensive as student tickets are ($84 for a season is a steal). I know you haven’t had the best of seasons, but that was an exciting game and a fun atmosphere. I think part of the problem is that the game isn’t blacked out locally. I was surprised to walk into the bar a block from the stadium and see the game on TV (we left early to catch the A&M game). That has to hurt attendance when you are not sold out.

That being said, the folks who were there at the game were very friendly and fun. We started off next to Gangnam Style guy, who taught us a few yells, then we moved down to the first row next to Mario and a The Hulk, who were excellent company. Mario seemed pretty knowledgeable about A&M football and Johnny Manziel, and showed us a few more yells. For some reason a gorilla came out and chased the gopher, and I was able to score his fez.

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Two words: Cheese Curds. Delicious. If they weren’t $4.75 for a little boat, I would have bought ten of them. The stadium and concourse area reminds me a lot of our baseball stadium, which was renovated and expanded this season. Very clean, wide concourse, good concessions. Your bleachers are much wider than ours and there is more space between each seat, but I was glad to get to stand the entire game. We walked up and around the stadium for a bit during the second half, and it seemed like there was a great view from every seat. The second deck also has great skyline views, although it was a bit chilly up there. We left the game right after Gangnam Style played. Not because it played, but because we wanted to make sure we had a table in front of a TV with the A&M game on.

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Before halftime, I went over to the band and tried to pay a band member $20 to switch clothes with me and let me march with them. That did not work out very well. One of the conductor ladies was very nice, but another one asked me to go somewhere else. I feel like I could have stayed in step with the band, but then again that may have just been the alcohol talking.

I’m bummed that the gopher didn’t ride out in his motorcycle. The Segway was cool, but I wanted to see the Harley. After the A&M game we were walking back home from the bar and saw the gopher on the street with a bunny and a giant cup. They were filming God knows what, but we went and got a picture with them. I thought this was going to be the beginning of an epic night of making movies with the gopher, so I followed them into Williams Arena, but promptly got kicked out. Then, a couple of minutes later, the gopher zoomed by me on his Segway with some guy holding on the back. That thing can move fast!

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All in all, it was a very enjoyable experience. Sure, there were some amazing gopher adventures or band marching that are still untouched on my bucket list, but I can’t expect to tackle everything on my first visit. Perhaps next time…

Thanks for the hospitality, Gophers. If you ever find yourselves in Texas, look me up and I’ll return the favor.
 

Wow, amazing recap TexasAggie11!! Thanks for taking the time to put that together and for your perspective. We'll certainly link this for years to come when other fans come to our board asking about the game day experience.

Go Gophers!!
 

Good report and thanks for the feedback. Glad you guys made it back home safely.
 

Damn, what a write up. You are far more knowledgable about our campus than 99.9% of the people that live here.
 

Dr.Don said:
Glad you guys made it back to Lubbock safely.
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Haha, if this is intentional, it is quite the epic troll post! If it was an honest mistake (I did mention a bar in Lubbock), allow me to educate.

Texas A&M University is located in College Station, Texas along the banks of the Brazos River.

Lubbock is home to sand, fleas, STDs, the retarded flying monkeys from the Wizard of Oz, and a branch of ITT Technical Institute known as Texas Tech.
 

Thanks, Aggie! Come on back and hit me up for a party sometime! You can always find me on this board. :)
 

TexasAggie11 said:
Haha, if this is intentional, it is quite the epic troll post! If it was an honest mistake (I did mention a bar in Lubbock), allow me to educate.

Texas A&M University is located in College Station, Texas along the banks of the Brazos River.

Lubbock is home to sand, fleas, STDs, the retarded flying monkeys from the Wizard of Oz, and a branch of ITT Technical Institute known as Texas Tech.
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My bad...I failed a course in Texas History, but passed one in Minnesota History.

Sorry for the insult, I have edited my previous comment.
 

Dr.Don said:
Sorry for the insult, I have edited my previous comment.
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I thought it was a pretty funny mix-up. Texas Tech is sort of like A&M and texas university's younger, goofy step-brother who always wants to tag along with the big boys. :)
 

TexasAggie11 said:
I thought it was a pretty funny mix-up. Texas Tech is sort of like A&M and texas university's younger, goofy step-brother who always wants to tag along with the big boys. :)
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Well, here is an example of my life experiences comparing Minnesota and Texas:

In Minnesota, when I come inside from a cold winter day, my damned eyeglasses fog up and I can't see a damned thing.

In Texas, one August trip to San Antonio, when I went outside from my air conditioned hotel room at 6 in the morning, my damned eyeglasses fogged up and I couldn't see a damned thing.

Culture shock!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

I actually kept my eyes peeled for someone wearing A&M colors all day, hoping I could buy you a drink! Sorry to hear your tailgating experience wasn't up to par, I wish you had found your way to our tailgate and I'm sure your experience would have been much better!

And the student section attendance is an issue that comes up here regularly. This is the first game all year where I felt the overall attendance was very disappointing. So far this year, it had been loud, full, and fun. For some odd reason, Saturday wasn't the same. Hopefully I can get down there someday to see a real 12th man in action! Thanks for visiting and for the extensive recap!
 

Gopherocious said:
Sorry to hear your tailgating experience wasn't up to par, I wish you had found your way to our tailgate and I'm sure your experience would have been much better!
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I wouldn't say it was bad at all, once we fell in with the gopher bus people. It just took a while to find anyone to join because it seems like most people just have a small grill with enough food for their group. I was surprised to not see any bigger tailgates with RV's, multiple TV's, and a buffet line of food.
 

I appreciate your thoughts Aggie. Question: Does College Station/surrounding area have any asshat writers with a vendetta against Texas A&M?
 

I'm glad you guys had a great time in Minneapolis. Your write up was excellent and your ability to recount the events of a long day of celebrations is impressive!
I hope we can get those students to get excited for football. I think continued winning will go far.
 


Thanks very much for your insights. Glad you had a good time.
 

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