Beware of....the Zona Zoo

slimcat said:
Hey Hawk Fans,

The corny dramatics in my thread title are only meant to be just that: dramatically corny. I'm sure you've played football in some seriously loud and electric stadiums, but after reading a lot of your posters on here, it sounds like you're expecting an atmosphere similar to that of "Indiana or Northwestern." In fact, one poster who claims to live here in Tucson and attends games here, says that the stadium is never loud. I wonder how many games he truly attends?

If there's one thing that can be said about Arizona Stadium, its fans, and especially the student section known as: The Zona Zoo, it is this: Arizona Stadium blows up for big games. Kirk Herbstreit last year after our double OT loss to Oregon said that the atmosphere was one of the best he'd been around.

Back to the Zoo. Our student section is known for being the best in the conference. We have over 15,000 students lining one entire length of the football field, 40 rows deep, from endzone to endzone; they arrive hours before the game to hopefully sit between the 20's. You will all be very rudely awakened if you expect Arizona fans and students to not be loud and crazy.

In the Stoops era, Arizona plays great at home (more recently now that he has his recruits), but they play outstanding when there's a ranked team coming into our house.

I hope you guys travel safe and we have an injury free ballgame.

Bear Down Hawkeye Fans!
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Thanks for coming on the board...to be honest I have been down to Arizona to catch the game we last played against you guys. I think it was '98(I was 16 then). Needless to say you guys killed what was an already bad Iowa team. The thing I found most interesting was how rude a lot of the Arizona fans were. All kinds of disrespect to a team's fanbase that was already losing. To top it all off...you guys had the audacity to bring Lute Olsen out there at halftime!!! WTF!!! Of course every Iowa fan booed. What did UA expect us to do, cheer for him! What's the point? I know not all fans are like that and I didn't really care(except for the whole Lute thing) but it is what it is. Hopefully it will be different this time around...I know the score will be!
 
Have to say, I was in the stadium the last time Iowa played here in AZ...and it just wasn't all that loud. It was decent, but nothing overly impressive. The Tucson campus is quite beautiful though, and there was no shortage of beautiful Arizona girls...very impressive in that regard.
 
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slimcat said:
I agree that the size of the crowd is bigger than you've experienced, and I'll also agree that the crowd size is not going to bother Iowa. Arizona Stadium can fit around 60k including SRO, so it won't be the biggest place you've played; however, the stadium holds sound incredibly well, and it is know as being the 2nd loudest stadium in the conference, next to Autzen.

As you know with The Big House and the Badgers stadium, even though they have lots of seats, the acoustics of the stadium don't hold sound well. So the size of the crowd isn't as important as the sound level.

That being said...It should be loud no matter who is on defense since you guys will have over 10k people there.

Good luck and Bear Down!

(the Zoo is all the section below the red line in the pic)
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We'll still have seen more hostile, larger, and louder crowds. The Shoe is notorious for its ability to hold sound, and that's with 100k+. We handled that pretty well, and that was with a freshman QB making his first start. I'm not worried about the crowd at all.
 
tm3308 said:
We'll still have seen more hostile, larger, and louder crowds. The Shoe is notorious for its ability to hold sound, and that's with 100k+. We handled that pretty well, and that was with a freshman QB making his first start. I'm not worried about the crowd at all.
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Me, neither.
I was in Beaver Stadium last season for our game there, and I have NEVER heard a louder crowd in my life. It was simply insane when the nits scored on the first play; I honestly thought the place was going to collapse from the immense vibrations and sound waves.
Ended up turning pretty quiet after a while. ;)
I don't expect ~50,000 AZ fans to have any effect whatsoever on our boys. :cool:
 
Iowafarmgirl said:
Did anyone bother to tell the good people of Arizona that a red out is not a thing?

Well, honestly, I have heard the term used before, but...um, how to be diplomatic about this. It wasn't in reference to a once a year event, but more of a once a month event...
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Hey! Look who it is!
IFG, tell us how ghost is doing since getting clocked by the banhammer. You and he are quite friendly, correct?
 
Hey Slimcat and all other denizens of Desolation Row. Thanks for the respectful post and props.

The most satisfying grins come from satisfying wins, against good competitors who man up, showcasing their strengths and attempting to disguise or compensate for their weaknesses just like all good teams do.

As fans, it’s always fun to poke some fun and talk a little harmless smack with other knowledgeable and respectful followers of the game. While I’m a Hawkeye fan first, last and always, I’ll always give props and acknowledgment to good plays made by ALL players on the field, good strategic coaching, and enthusiastic and respectful fans of any team, who enjoy watching and supporting this great sport, all the while maintaining a reasonable perspective that this is a game, an event, an exposition of skill and sportsmanship. You may say that I'm a dreamer. But I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us, and the world will be as one.


Oh! Oh! My head…The room is spinning…Massive case of the whirlies and hurlies! I remember once spending a month in Arizona, and it only took me three days. There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home.

Whoa! Wait! I must’ve blacked out from too much binge responsible drinking while in my authorized and allocated consumption zone, conveniently located adjacent to Melrose but NOT on university property.


Yesssssss, now things are coming back into focus.
Oh yeah. Now I remember. I’m glad it’s just a “dry heatâ€! Oh look Doris, a cactus! Excuse me sir, are you happy to see the Hawkeyes or is that a peccary (aka javelina) in you pocket? LOL
Have a great game everybody! GO Hawks! :cool:
 
"Kirk Herbstreit last year after our double OT loss to Oregon said that the atmosphere was one of the best he'd been around"

Herbstreit is a moron and says that every place he goes. This is "one of the best crouds / stadiums" or "one of the most gorgeous campuses" etc. every place he goes.

That being said that's cool how the student section is so huge like that but I don't think noise is going to be a factor at all. I'm worried about the heat effecting us more than anything. I'm guessing it's going to be a close one with the hawks edging them out on a big 4th quarter drive. Hopefully we can get a big lead by the third though.
 
VicKillFace said:
"Kirk Herbstreit last year after our double OT loss to Oregon said that the atmosphere was one of the best he'd been around"

Herbstreit is a moron and says that every place he goes. This is "one of the best crouds / stadiums" or "one of the most gorgeous campuses" etc. every place he goes.

That being said that's cool how the student section is so huge like that but I don't think noise is going to be a factor at all. I'm worried about the heat effecting us more than anything. I'm guessing it's going to be a close one with the hawks edging them out on a big 4th quarter drive. Hopefully we can get a big lead by the third though.
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You ever wonder that maybe that's because Herby spends most of his Saturdays in the best atmospheres in the country? I mean he frequents 'Bama, LSU, OSU, PSU, Texas, Florida, Clemson (say what you will about their football team, that stadium is one of my favorites, especially for night games), A&M (same as Clemson), Autzen, etc. Those are some of the best around, and are considered as such by far more people than Kirk Herbstreit. So maybe for a lot of the places it goes without saying, but that doesn't mean he's being insincere or stupid when he says it.
 
Iowafarmgirl said:
Did anyone bother to tell the good people of Arizona that a red out is not a thing?

Well, honestly, I have heard the term used before, but...um, how to be diplomatic about this. It wasn't in reference to a once a year event, but more of a once a month event...
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Welcome back Ghost.
 
Doesn't Arizona Stadium only seat like 55,000?

Kinnick seats 70,000

I think it will be a tough game, and the crowd will be loud, but honestly this team has played in front of 100,000+ several times in the past two years.
 
so we're supposed to be afraid of "the zona zoo" which is the 3rd toughest place to play in the Pac 10, yet we play 3 teams with the toughest venues NATIONALLY in our own conference?

yeah not scared
 
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