FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[aueagle]

wally: So is Hollett your #1 stadium?
smedindy: The key for the full day tailgate
is pace & port-o-potty....

[wally_wabash]

wally: So is Hollett your #1 stadium?

It is, but I'm biased.   

Hollett is a fantastic place to watch a small college football game.  The tailgate scene is terriffic and always enthusiastic, the backdrop of the field flanked by the Knowling Fieldhouse and the Pioneer Chapel is a great view, and the recent makeover with the new turf and scoreboard have only enhanced the look of the facility.  The full gameday experience at Wabash, from the tailgate to the crowd size and enthusiasm to the game itself) definitely holds its own against the other big draw facilities in D-III (i.e. SJU, UWW, etc.).  And of course there's the Monon Bell every other year which takes that average experience and amplifies it by about 30.  It's a fun place to spend a Saturday. 

[formerd3db]

Wally:

Good post on the stadiums - thanks for sharing!  You may not have seen my post about Kalamazoo (over on the MIAA board) but they announced plans to renovate the stadium and field now.  It looks like it will be similar to Denison in some respects.

Another stadium I like is Capital's with the cozy fenced in feeling, although I realize some people do not like it.  Kenyon put in the new style turf and new home stands, but those are small, yet, I think realistic for the size crowds they have as I talked about regarding schools in a previousl post.

I like Otterbein's stadium being right in the middle of their historic campus, however, it doesn't have that cozy feeling like some of the other school's stadiums do.  At least I didn't get that feeling when our daughter went there for a visit when she was thinking about going there because the had a marching band (she was in the color guard in h.s. and captain her senior year, however, ended up going to Hope (I wonder why? , although, unfortunately, Hope does not have a marching band so she gave up that opportunity.  She did enjoy Hope though and, of course, I am glad she went there!

[JA8486]

JA,

Going to Oberlin and Heidelberg for several games each season? Like the underdogs, eh? 

I usually go for the underdog, but in this case it is because of location. From where I'm at here in Ohio, I have Oberlin to the east, Heidelberg to the south, and Bluffton and Defiance to the West. I can get to any of those schools for a game, and get home in time for a televised game late afternoon and evening. I have had a couple of double-headers but those don't always work out on the schedule.

[formerd3db]

JA,

Going to Oberlin and Heidelberg for several games each season? Like the underdogs, eh? 

I usually go for the underdog, but in this case it is because of location. From where I'm at here in Ohio, I have Oberlin to the east, Heidelberg to the south, and Bluffton and Defiance to the West. I can get to any of those schools for a game, and get home in time for a televised game late afternoon and evening. I have had a couple of double-headers but those don't always work out on the schedule.

JA:

That sounds great and a lot of fun.  You have it made.  When I was going to school in Chicago (post-grad) I would do essentially the same thing.  I would take my wife the a "different game of the week" each weekend (when I had the time ); one week it would be a DIII school such as Elmhurst or U of Chicago, the next week it would be Northwestern.  Had a great time.

[cave2bens]

The livers! Won't somebody think of the livers? 

Braised in peri-peri sauce, smothered and served over dirty rice, black pudding/blutwurst, pate, or is inference of "fried," Smed?  Regardless, it's wise to heed "Julia's" advice - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaASyRFXTj4     

[aueagle]

In my never-ending quest to fill time until kick-off '11...
SUNY-Cortland has an very nice facility...with a very
impressive 2-tiered-home-side. The interesting aspect, is the
pressbox is shared with the track venue. Very nice with
6500 seating. Men of Wabash might not like that the Cortland/Ithaca
game has been called "The Biggest Little Game in the Nation"
by Sports Illustrated. But Red Dragons vs Bombers doesn't sound as
good as Little Giants vs Tigers....DePauw or Wittenebrg for that matter.
http://www.cortland.edu/athletics/facilities/pages/1stadiumgame.htm

[formerd3db]

aueagle:

Nothing wrong with that - I enjoy reading and hearing about your and others views and trips to the various DIII stadiums.  And as you mention, besides, what else are we all going to do until kickoff in August?

The Ithaca/Cortand game is, indeed, a big one and they drew over 10,000 this past fall, although, still, I don't think that topped the Monon Bell attendance, or did it?

[Ryan Tipps]

Men of Wabash might not like that the Cortland/Ithaca
game has been called "The Biggest Little Game in the Nation" ...

With the all-time Monon Bell series standing at a nearly-even and unprecendentedly awesome 55-53-9, I don't feel that us Wabash folk have much to feel insecure about.

[Li'l Giant]

the backdrop of the field flanked by the Knowling Fieldhouse and the Pioneer Chapel is a great view

A pic I snapped on my last visit to campus for a ballgame. I love this view. Yeah, I'm biased but it's a great view.

[wally_wabash]

I've been watching games from that spot since '96, LG. It will never get old. Never.

[wabco]

Wally

Have you topped.  It had an unpaved track around it I believe when I first sat in Hollett.

[cave2bens]

Wally

Have you topped.  It had an unpaved track around it I believe when I first sat in Hollett.

With J Owen Huntsman, sitting three rows up, watching Dick Bowerman scorching the cinders in the late afternoon?  Or maybe, the mid-week, meter stick "crack" and "Heavy Ed's" post-quiz, admonishment/rant  echoing from an open-sashed, Goodrich lab - "you b******** didn't prepare..." 

With you, Wabco - bring forth the giant head!    Anxiously await the recollections of Wab64 from his era 

[wab64]

Nice of you to ask, Cave2bens. My "era' was 1960-3. Other than losing 4 Monon Bell games in a row, nothing else particularly stands out. I was a student manager and had major contact with the program, including the first three glorious years of the Princeton single wing. We all knew it was from Princeton since Dean Moore, of immortal memory, was the line coach.
     The field was a plain, state of the art grass field; with bleachers on the home side that were pretty tall; tiny bleachers on the visitors and was called "Ingalls Field"- nothing stadium about it. We traveled to Selby once, but I recall nothing about it. It rained stair rods and I spent the day unfolding rain parkas and refolding them after the game. They were packed in military style duffel bags by the priceless equipment manager, George Mahorney, who labeled each bag with a paper tag that said "parkers"!
      The best trips were to Washington-St Louis, the allure of the big city, the chance to meekly carouse with the trainer Red Ke
nney and Ray, the bus driver, and play a football game on the best football field I ever saw. It was Francis Field, nestled in a depression, built for the track events in the 1904 Olympics, and with a carpet of grass that looked like a putting green.  Fantastic- smooth firm and velvety. I see that WashU has plastic grass now, but I hope the field is in the same location.
     

[Pat Coleman]

It is indeed -- I was there in 2000 and it was still grass then, but they have since renovated the stadium.