FB: Empire 8

[Tags]

I do admit, its nothing compared to the facilities at Butterfield,

Are you serious? I'll admit that the side of the hill thing is pretty cool, but other than that there's nothing too special about Butterfield.

[Jonny Utah]

I do admit, its nothing compared to the facilities at Butterfield,

Are you serious? I'll admit that the side of the hill thing is pretty cool, but other than that there's nothing too special about Butterfield.

I've always thought Ithaca was the coolest place to play in d3 but of course Im biased.  Heres how I would rank the E8 facilities. (since I have some free time stuck at work right now).  After thinking about it, Ithaca, Norwich, Alfred and Hartwick all have fantastic views from their stadiums.

1) Ithaca
-Positives: Fantastic view, good size (home stands 5000+), fantastic grass (in the summer anyway), locker rooms right there make it very convienent during gameday, unique field in the side of the hill.
-Negatives: small stands for visitors, not a great parking situation, lockeroom size for visitors (and the home team) does not give a lot of room.

2) Alfred
-Positives: Another fantastic view and I like the unique hill behind the field,  good size stands
-Negatives: Old turf was the worst in the history of turf, long walk at halftime for visitors.

3) TIE Springfield and SJF
-Positives: Both have the same decent size home stands, good turf, nice brick buildings around campus
-Negatives: small overall for d3 football, SC had very small locker rooms for visiting teams
(JU has never played at SJF but was there once)

4) Norwich
-Positives: Nice view, cool location
-Negatives: small home stands, and its too dam far to get there.

5) Hartwick
-Positives: Another nice view from the stadium, unique feel for games, and good turf from what I hear
-Negatives: High fence around field is simply ghetto, not enough stands (more now from what I hear?), and more hilly than Ithaca if you could ever believe that.

6) Utica
-Never been there so I put them at the bottom. 

[boobyhasgameyo]

I do admit, its nothing compared to the facilities at Butterfield,

Are you serious? I'll admit that the side of the hill thing is pretty cool, but other than that there's nothing too special about Butterfield.

I've always thought Ithaca was the coolest place to play in d3 but of course Im biased.  Heres how I would rank the E8 facilities. (since I have some free time stuck at work right now).  After thinking about it, Ithaca, Norwich, Alfred and Hartwick all have fantastic views from their stadiums.

1) Ithaca
-Positives: Fantastic view, good size (home stands 5000+), fantastic grass (in the summer anyway), locker rooms right there make it very convienent during gameday, unique field in the side of the hill.
-Negatives: small stands for visitors, not a great parking situation, lockeroom size for visitors (and the home team) does not give a lot of room.

2) Alfred
-Positives: Another fantastic view and I like the unique hill behind the field,  good size stands
-Negatives: Old turf was the worst in the history of turf, long walk at halftime for visitors.

3) TIE Springfield and SJF
-Positives: Both have the same decent size home stands, good turf, nice brick buildings around campus
-Negatives: small overall for d3 football, SC had very small locker rooms for visiting teams
(JU has never played at SJF but was there once)

4) Norwich
-Positives: Nice view, cool location
-Negatives: small home stands, and its too dam far to get there.

5) Hartwick
-Positives: Another nice view from the stadium, unique feel for games, and good turf from what I hear
-Negatives: High fence around field is simply ghetto, not enough stands (more now from what I hear?), and more hilly than Ithaca if you could ever believe that.

6) Utica
-Never been there so I put them at the bottom. 

Yeahhhhhhhh the view at Alfred is not fantastic.  Everytime I've gone there it has been cold and gloomy and the only view I could see from the stands is a look across the street to SUNY Alfred maybe? 

Ithaca has the nicest view I've seen with the body of water and countless trees visable from the stands but the actual campus itself looks bland to put it kindly, and the facilities don't look like anything special.

Fisher doesn't have much of a view from the stands, you can see Founders building which is a nice residence hall, then there is a grass field for Rugby and football practice, a slight tree line, and then the 490...Nothing great but it's not ugly by any means.  But since we were supposed to be rating facilities overall and not just the view, I think the stadium itself is the best in the E8 (aside from the Visitor stand before Pep jumps down my throat) and the locker rooms, offices, etc. are excellent. 

[RunningRobby25]

Wow!
HHAwks- if you want us to treat you seriously then stop with the "step into the cage" crap.
Bring something to the table with some substance instead of tired old phrases.
And as for the cage thing- if i were an alum of wick--id be ashamed that the college that i paid way too much money to- cant even build a decent facility.

Hartwick's facility, All-Weather Field, has been vastly upgraded over the past few years. From the pictures I've seen of the renovations, it looks much nicer than the field I visited in 2003.

Yea I actually haven't seen the field before the renovations, but I've seen pictures and it looks much better now...and its called Wright Stadium now

Thanks for the compliment "Randy"....


Hartwick actually has one of, if not the best, playing surfaces in the entire nation, let alone D-3. Pretty modern stuff. And they just built a new building and stands to make it look top notch. I do admit, its nothing compared to the facilities at Butterfield, but the turf is the best around. A million times better then playing on that sloppy grass.

I'm sorry but are you arguing about a playing surface which is practically the same (Field Turf) no matter where you play?  I've played on all types and besides Utica's which is extremely short and extremely fast, all of the new field turf style is the same.  Soft, squishy, no turf burns but you still get chewed up rubber all over and in your eyes.  (Kinda sounds like Superman's checklist before he takes a lady home from Paradise alley)  zing

Regardless, I wouldn't pride yourself on playing surface alone.  Everywhere is pretty similar unless you get to the grass stadiums.  My favorite places to play: (remember I'm very biased)

1. Growney - duh
2. Ithaca-  (IC guys insert "you never won here blah blah blah" quote here)- I'll admit it's an amazing place to play!
3. Norwich
4. Rochester
5. Mount Union (another very short cut field turf field- felt like playing on plywood on a cold day!)
6. And coming in a tie for last for poor playing surface/facilities is Springfield, Hartwick (pre-new turf) but even with it the walk to the field makes Offensive linemen feel they've played 3 quarters before even starting the game... Alfred, and Brockport.

I left Utica out out  b/c I'm sure it'd be nicer if both times I played there it wasn't 35 degrees, raining and windy.

Have a good weekend everyone!

[Jonny Utah]

How about a "worst place to play" list.

1) Buff St.-  Horrible field, crappy pressbox, ugly part of Buffalo, ugly building, trash talking team....man they were tough though.  And I loved the pregame music they had there.

2) Brockport-  Maybe the biggest stadium I ever played in (besides Mercyhurst), there were probably 115 people in a 10,000+ seat stadium.  It wasn't an ugly campus by any means, but their uniforms sure were.  Basically it felt like you were playing during a quarintine or something.

3) AIC-  Pink lockerooms, broken stands, another ghetto, and a long ride home made this place a horrible trip.

4) Cortland (Carl "Chugger" Davis Field)-  The old field may have been the worst of all, if it werent for the Cortaca crowd experience and 10,000+ fans, (and the 1994 game). But if I ever had to play there when there were no fans like I saw on tape.....man it was a horrible stadium (also with horrible visitor stands)

5) Plymouth St- Although one of the greatest wins Ive ever been a part of, this place was a dump. 

[superman57]

ouch I am hurt robby...just kidding we've all been there

[boobyhasgameyo]

Have you Supes.....Have you really been there?

[superman57]

I've never been to Paradise, closed down, before I was 21, and I never had a fake...just realied on friends and house parties...

[FisherAlum05]

Good old Paradise.  brings back some great memories.

As for FA05's facility input:

1.  Growney Stadium
2.  Butterfield Stadium
3.  Norwich
4.  Alfred
5.  Springfield
6.  Utica
7.  Hartwick

[John McGraw]

Does Growney have bathroom facilities near the stadium now?

[superman57]

John, if you know where to look you can find a real bathroom.... other than that the portapotties are still their in numbers

[Ethelred the Unready]

Does Growney have bathroom facilities near the stadium now?

If I remember correctly, JQV mentioned that there was one located directly in the middle of the field.  Odd....

[maxpower]

Max revises his "Which Ithaca/SJF fan will pick his team to lose first?" game to "Which Ithaca/SJF fan will pick the other team's stadium as best?"

Again, it ain't gonna be me.

[theoriginalupstate]

If you guys went to field turf, i'd give IC the edge due to the scenery.  However you dont, so I wont...

[maxpower]

A little sloppiness was worth it at my last trip to Butterfield, the 24-7 drubbing of the highly touted Springfield Option with Chris Whatever the hell his name was, Sharpe. (that was real-time remembering). Doesn't look like I'll make it this year either, but look out, homecoming 2009!

And remember, Juvan loves the slop. Loves it. Eats it up. Eats the slop.