Impression of the Big House

Iowa needs to consider the FanVision handheld devices that I saw yesterday at the Big House. The guy I talked to showed me his, he was checking his out during every big replay. Very cool handheld TV's. Apparently, each and every fan that buys the club level seats (very posh), gets these to watch the game. Crazy cool. It looks lilke just NFL teams and the big time college programs have them now, I'm sure like with every technology its bound to gain momentum in years to come.

www.fanvision.com
 
VenturaAce said:
Iowa needs to consider the FanVision handheld devices that I saw yesterday at the Big House. The guy I talked to showed me his, he was checking his out during every big replay. Very cool handheld TV's. Apparently, each and every fan that buys the club level seats (very posh), gets these to watch the game. Crazy cool. It looks lilke just NFL teams and the big time college programs have them now, I'm sure like with every technology its bound to gain momentum in years to come.

www.fanvision.com
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The Hawk fan behind me had one of those. Very handy on the play like DJK's TD that he juggled for a second.
 
Fourth trip to the Big House. It is way louder now than it was before the addition of the luzury boxes. Tailgating is really convenient, high school across from the stadium makes like $6 million a year parking cars and RV's. Fan are some of the most cordial in the Big Ten.
 
I just got back from AA. Incredible experience given the tradition, the weather, the fans, but mostly because of the team we were there cheering for.
 
40 bucks to park seems rather steep. That being said, if I ever make it to a game in A2, I'm probably in a position where I'm not worried about it.
 
ShadasRevenge said:
40 bucks to park seems rather steep. That being said, if I ever make it to a game in A2, I'm probably in a position where I'm not worried about it.
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We paid $30 to park at the golf course. I don't really know where the line is between reasonable and steep, as this was just my 5th game, and 1st road game, since 1997 (not counting the games I've gone to the past 2 1/2 years as a student).
 
I will always consider Kinnick Stadium number one. I love attending games there and the environment around the stadium is terrific.

Having said that, I believe that going to games at the Big House is truly special. All Iowa fans should make the trip at least once. The Michigan fans are extremely knowledgeable and very respectful of the visitors. In fact, they go out of their way to be nice to Iowa fans. They love the Big Ten and all of its teams. It is a great place. They are very proud fans (47 Big Ten titles and 11 national championships).

I was awfully proud of the Iowa team Saturday. Every win over Michigan is special (there have only been 11 of them in 110 years!!!).
 
ChosenChildren said:
I will always consider Kinnick Stadium number one. I love attending games there and the environment around the stadium is terrific.

Having said that, I believe that going to games at the Big House is truly special. All Iowa fans should make the trip at least once. The Michigan fans are extremely knowledgeable and very respectful of the visitors. In fact, they go out of their way to be nice to Iowa fans. They love the Big Ten and all of its teams. It is a great place. They are very proud fans (47 Big Ten titles and 11 national championships).

I was awfully proud of the Iowa team Saturday. Every win over Michigan is special (there have only been 11 of them in 110 years!!!).
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That's 12 now! It's weird that Iowa has won more games in A2 (7) than at Kinnick, and that 6 of those 7 have been as the homecoming opponent.
 
We only paid 30 at the Golf Course too. Maybe it was 40 right across the street? We came in on the State Street side I believe. Also I didn't say it was "better" than Kinnick either, If I had to pick anywhere in the country to watch a game Kinnick it is, but to see a tradition like Michigan was very very cool, tack a win on to it and you have something truly amazing. My favorite part was right after we won I got to see JUST HOW MANY hawk fans were there, Everyone seemed to move down to the first row to see our guys and after every touchdown you could distinctly make out our I-O-W-A. The Michigan fans near us were season ticket holders and told us they have never heard so many fans for another team there... Our section seemed pretty busy but maybe it was cause we were down in front and stood probably 80% of the game... I also agree with the 4th quarter statement, it wasnt TOO loud at all until then but when THEN happened, IT did SHAKE and I have never felt that! lol Also the Band played more than 2 songs it was they just played their 2 main songs a lot more... (reminded me a lot of USC when we played them in the Orange bowl, I wanted to kill the music after a little while)
 
I went to the ballgame but didn't have any beers bince I had been informed going in that the bathroom situation was very bad. One dude sitting next to us was crushing beers the whole game and he went to the john twice and must have missed almost half the game. We drove through State by all the frat houses and saw a 20 foot beerbong hanging off a balcony, but in true Michigan style, it wasn't in use. Most of the fans were cordial, a few were jagbags. We had one clown who kept chanting "scoreboard" after Michigan scored early, but surprisingly he shut up once O'Keefe dropped the hammer.

It only took us 10 minutes or so to get on the freeway after the game was over, so traffic wasn't nearly as bad as I had expected.

My guess is that if tm teared up during the Michigan songs, he probably broke into flat out bawling when the Peace Corps hippies showed up.
 
tm3308 said:
Not sure if this has already been talked about elsewhere, so I apologize in advance if this is a repeat topic.

I made my first trip to Ann Arbor this weekend with my dad, one of my buddies, and 3 of my dad's friends. And aside from the 7-hour drive (longer for my dad and his friends, coming from Wayne and Decatur Counties), it was fantastic! I loved the atmosphere around Ann Arbor. At least around the stadium, it was much more open and warm than it is at Kinnick, where the UIHC and houses are just right on top of you, almost suffocating compared to AA. Tailgating at the golf course was great, I like things to be a little more laid back (not Prohibition, just a little more laid back than Kinnick). I even met hwkwyld out there, and it was great getting to meet someone from around here.

And I was pleasantly surprised by the Michigan fans. Me and my buddy had tickets in section 4, the other people in our group were in section 6. There were two Iowa fans right behind us, but everyone else immediately around us were Wolverines, many of whom were about our age (college-aged). When I saw student-age Michigan fans I expected to take a lot of s*it, and we didn't take any. We were able to talk all game with the couple right in front of us, and it was far more enjoyable than any game I've been too in Kinnick from that angle.
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TM - It was nice to meet you as well and thanks for starting this tread, you saved me the trouble of doing it ;)

It was my first trip to the Big House also and the entire day was a success from start to finish. Here's what I came away with:

Tailgating - The set up on the Golf Course was Great. Park in the rough and party on the fairways. There was a ton of room and people were playing everything from Corn Hole, to Bocce Ball, to football, to Beer Darts. the Hawk and UM fans that were around us were fantastic and by the time we were ready to head to the game we went from 6-8 individual tailgates to one giant party, sharing everything from Food to alcohol. Saturday easily made its way into the top 5 tailgates. My only negative comment (if you can call it that) about the tailgating is that with as spread out as it was, it's not as intimate as Iowa City and that was something I missed. Of course this could just be the Hawk Homer in me.

Big House - The stadium was fun. I had been hearing for years that the place wasn't very loud. To that I say BS. The luxury box renovations they did focus the sound back into the stadium and it was loud. I'd say as loud or louder as Kinnick at times. My only grip was that we sat in the South End Zone (Think Student section at Kinnick) and someone in all their design glory decided to install the Flag Pole in this end zone on the field. It was in my direct line of sight all day and a little annoying. I didn't think the bathroom lines were too long and the fresh cut fries were Awesome!

Fans - I really didn't know what to expect here. As we made our way across the GC to the stadium we had the normal "your team/my team" banter and it could have gotten ugly at a few points but I think alcohol played a major roll in that. With this fresh in my head it didn't help that as we got to our seats the UM fans around us warned us that the guy in the row behind us was the loudest most obnoxious dude in the section. He was loud but never obnoxious or disrespectful towards us and was great to talk to because he was football smart. I think that, that makes the experience better when you can talk to intelligent fans. He actually called the blocked FG before it happened. I told him no way and he just had no faith in his team. Glad to be wrong on that one.

I was called an a** hole by some guy in the stands but those in blue around him jumped all over his comment as uncalled for. I really feel that this was an isolated incident and the fans in general were great. That being said they don't have much faith in their current team or coach. With Iowa up by 21 with 1:40 in the third the section got really thin. They hate RR with a passion and while up to this point have been happy with the results that Robinson has put up, they realize that he's not the guy.

Game - Scoreboard! :D

Overall the day was FANTASTIC and I would do Ann Arbor again in a heartbeat ;)
 
hwkwyld said:
I was called an a** hole by some guy in the stands but those in blue around him jumped all over his comment as uncalled for. I really feel that this was an isolated incident and the fans in general were great. That being said they don't have much faith in their current team or coach. With Iowa up by 21 with 1:40 in the third the section got really thin. They hate RR with a passion and while up to this point have been happy with the results that Robinson has put up, they realize that he's not the guy.

;)
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They definitely don't. The Michigan fans we met before the game had no faith and even when inside the game the guys that were behind us said "We haven't had much to cheer about for a long time" And they, like me, enjoyed football conversation as well. I had an obnoxious drunk friend in which I apologized to many Michigan fans around me because she had a little too much to drink but they all all understood. lol
 
okeefe4prez said:
I went to the ballgame but didn't have any beers bince I had been informed going in that the bathroom situation was very bad. One dude sitting next to us was crushing beers the whole game and he went to the john twice and must have missed almost half the game. We drove through State by all the frat houses and saw a 20 foot beerbong hanging off a balcony, but in true Michigan style, it wasn't in use. Most of the fans were cordial, a few were jagbags. We had one clown who kept chanting "scoreboard" after Michigan scored early, but surprisingly he shut up once O'Keefe dropped the hammer.

It only took us 10 minutes or so to get on the freeway after the game was over, so traffic wasn't nearly as bad as I had expected.

My guess is that if tm teared up during the Michigan songs, he probably broke into flat out bawling when the Peace Corps hippies showed up.
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Wait when was that?!?!?!?! I LOVE THE PEACE CORPS!!!!! ;)

Really though, the pregame stuff with the band was just really cool, full of tradition, and it's something that I may never see in person again. I'd love to go back to watch the Hawks kick some a** in the Big House again, but that may not happen.

I get that same lump in my throat everytime they play Kinnick's Heisman acceptance speech here at home games. I'm just proud to know that I was able to be there for that experience, just like I was for the pregame experience at the Big House.
 
After reading through this thread I feel compelled to give another hawk's viewpoint of the stadium and atmosphere.

We came in Friday evening and stayed about 20 miles east of Ann Arbor. Took a cab to campus town bars and every bar had a one in one out policy which means it's bumping downtown. While plenty of people were downtown, I am not so sure many Michigan fans were because I could count the number of Michigan shirts we saw all night going through two separate bars on my two hands. Very disappointing seeing that, but what made it worse was having multiple groups of people asking us why there were some many Iowa people here and who we played tomorrow. For those saying our students couldn't even tell you the fight song...first come on, second if that were even true I would take that and knowing about your football team than what Michigan's students brought to the table.

Anytime we began a conversation with what seemed like more educated Michigan football fans it eventually turned into a well our Medical school is better or our Business school is better...and I'm not even sure if that is true since Iowa does both very well there. Most crap I got was from a Utah fan trying to compare their win against ISU to ours. And best comeback of night on Friday had to be Michigan fan yelling at a group of Hawks walking by F Iowa to which someone had said at least we are supporting our team and Michigan fan replies well I made $75,000 my first year out of college! Got a good laugh out of that one and if you want to cool story bro that one you should say that to the arrogant Michigan fan.

Tailgating as mentioned was unbelievable. On the golf course tons of room, we didn't even drive we cabbed up found some Hawks and just plopped down next to them and had an awesome time! Some weren't even technically Hawks they were PSU fans who cheered for Iowa and knew other Iowa fans and that was their connection.

Stadium is monstrous once inside not anywhere near as physically imposing as the Shoe was last year on the outside and nowhere close to the noise on the inside. Yes it got unbelievably loud in the fourth quarter for a few plays, but I judge a stadium and the fan base as a whole game for loudness. Where was the noise when they went up 7-0 or anytime throughout the first half we weren't exactly killing them on the scoreboard being up only 14 half even though it felt like much more. You think Kinnick would get quiet because we went down by 7 or 14? This should just show how little most Michigan fans cheered during the first three quarters of the game. After an Iowa touchdown, I believe it was the DJK's first one I believe, the I O W A chant started and nearly every Michigan fan in front of us turned around looking for where the noise was coming from. They just couldn't believe an opposing fan base could make noise.

That is all. Sorry for the rant, that's why I try not to post that often but to knock on our students compared to Michigan's is absolutely ridiculous based on what I saw. Drink drank or drunk our students support our team a hell of a lot better than those who very hospitably let us invade their town this past weekend.
 
pchawkeye12 said:
After reading through this thread I feel compelled to give another hawk's viewpoint of the stadium and atmosphere.

We came in Friday evening and stayed about 20 miles east of Ann Arbor. Took a cab to campus town bars and every bar had a one in one out policy which means it's bumping downtown. While plenty of people were downtown, I am not so sure many Michigan fans were because I could count the number of Michigan shirts we saw all night going through two separate bars on my two hands. Very disappointing seeing that, but what made it worse was having multiple groups of people asking us why there were some many Iowa people here and who we played tomorrow. For those saying our students couldn't even tell you the fight song...first come on, second if that were even true I would take that and knowing about your football team than what Michigan's students brought to the table.

Anytime we began a conversation with what seemed like more educated Michigan football fans it eventually turned into a well our Medical school is better or our Business school is better...and I'm not even sure if that is true since Iowa does both very well there. Most crap I got was from a Utah fan trying to compare their win against ISU to ours. And best comeback of night on Friday had to be Michigan fan yelling at a group of Hawks walking by F Iowa to which someone had said at least we are supporting our team and Michigan fan replies well I made $75,000 my first year out of college! Got a good laugh out of that one and if you want to cool story bro that one you should say that to the arrogant Michigan fan.

Tailgating as mentioned was unbelievable. On the golf course tons of room, we didn't even drive we cabbed up found some Hawks and just plopped down next to them and had an awesome time! Some weren't even technically Hawks they were PSU fans who cheered for Iowa and knew other Iowa fans and that was their connection.

Stadium is monstrous once inside not anywhere near as physically imposing as the Shoe was last year on the outside and nowhere close to the noise on the inside. Yes it got unbelievably loud in the fourth quarter for a few plays, but I judge a stadium and the fan base as a whole game for loudness. Where was the noise when they went up 7-0 or anytime throughout the first half we weren't exactly killing them on the scoreboard being up only 14 half even though it felt like much more. You think Kinnick would get quiet because we went down by 7 or 14? This should just show how little most Michigan fans cheered during the first three quarters of the game. After an Iowa touchdown, I believe it was the DJK's first one I believe, the I O W A chant started and nearly every Michigan fan in front of us turned around looking for where the noise was coming from. They just couldn't believe an opposing fan base could make noise.

That is all. Sorry for the rant, that's why I try not to post that often but to knock on our students compared to Michigan's is absolutely ridiculous based on what I saw. Drink drank or drunk our students support our team a hell of a lot better than those who very hospitably let us invade their town this past weekend.
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Thanks for telling us what really went down up there! I O W A ! !
 
We stayed in AA about 3 miles from the stadium.
Went downtown Friday night and about got trampled by Hawk fans in a couple of bars.
Had a great time in the hotel lobby bar after returning. About 15-20 Hawk fans ran them out of beer, just like in Miami.
Tailgating on the golf course was great and the Big House was neat. I like Kinnick better. Missed me some Back in Black!!
They could use a bar or two around the stadium. We mis-timed things and got a little parched before the game, but did find a little store after some walking.
Fans were cordial and seemed to be pretty quiet. They guy behind me cheered like crazy when Tate came into the game and a later was cussing him and Rich Rod.
Leaves were turning and the drive was pretty, but man that is a long drive!!
 
The Big House did get loud at times, but certainly no louder than Kinnick Stadium. If I remember correctly, the announced attendance was 112,784 people... that many people should be MUCH louder than the 70,585 people in Kinnick. That's over 40,000 more people than there are in Kinnick!!!
Some people have said that there are too many belligerent drunks that can't stand up or even stay awake at Kinnick Stadium, but I think that is BS. Sure, there are a few, but for the most part, people are in control of themselves and are behaving how I would expect passionate fans to behave. I sit in the student section and I expect the student section to be rowdier than the sections with the rich old geezers, but maybe that's just me. I've never seen anyone attack a fan of the opposing team. People yell and scream and cuss a lot in the student section, but what is wrong with that? IT'S A FOOTBALL GAME! Little kids aren't supposed to be in the student section anyway, so I don't see a problem with people yelling profanity there. If people can't handle that, then they shouldn't sit in the student section or they should grow some thicker skin.
 
DDHawkeye said:
The Big House did get loud at times, but certainly no louder than Kinnick Stadium. If I remember correctly, the announced attendance was 112,784 people... that many people should be MUCH louder than the 70,585 people in Kinnick. That's over 40,000 more people than there are in Kinnick!!!
Some people have said that there are too many belligerent drunks that can't stand up or even stay awake at Kinnick Stadium, but I think that is BS. Sure, there are a few, but for the most part, people are in control of themselves and are behaving how I would expect passionate fans to behave. I sit in the student section and I expect the student section to be rowdier than the sections with the rich old geezers, but maybe that's just me. I've never seen anyone attack a fan of the opposing team. People yell and scream and cuss a lot in the student section, but what is wrong with that? IT'S A FOOTBALL GAME! Little kids aren't supposed to be in the student section anyway, so I don't see a problem with people yelling profanity there. If people can't handle that, then they shouldn't sit in the student section or they should grow some thicker skin.
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Believe me, if Kinnick wasn't sold out every week, I would find someplace else to sit rather than the student section. Hell, my freshman year I spent much more time sitting up high in the student section (where it was empty every week) to watch Shonn Greene tear up defenses. Now that that area is also full, I've got nowhere else to go.

I prefer to show some class, and it's embarrassing to watch all the birds get flipped to the opposing team when they enter the stadium, all the "F*CK (insert team here)!!!!" yells, or walking around with those Iowa F*ckin' City t-shirts (I honestly don't know why anyone would want to be seen wearing something like that in public). I go to the games and holler my lungs out cheering for the Hawks for every home game, start to finish. It's not difficult to do without all the extra crap that goes on (particularly in the student section). Sure, I'll cuss up there a fair bit whenever I think there was a bad call, turnover, stuff like that. But I don't direct that stuff at the other team. It's just general frustration.

But nowadays, being classy is the same as being a p*ssy. That's pretty sad.

So like I said earlier, my experience was a lot better at the Big House than it typically is in Kinnick, because I have to spend my time in the student section at Kinnick, and didn't have to in Ann Arbor. Most student sections are pretty much the same everywhere you go. But I wasn't surrounded by old geezers on Saturday, either. There were a couple guys in their 40's, and a lot more college-aged fans who were far more fun to be around, save for one idiot down the row. The experience there offered me more than just the game, which is all I really get at Kinnick. Once I graduate and get regular season tickets, I'm sure it'll improve. But until then, I had a better OVERALL experience (pregame, fans, game, getting home) at the Big House than I do at Kinnick.
 
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