GopherRock
GopherHole Straw Boss
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TRIP RECAP: GOPHERS @ WISCONSIN, 1/15/09, Or...
"THAT DID NOT JUST HAPPEN!!!"
THURSDAY, JANUARY 15, 2009
KOHL CENTER AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN
MADISON, WISCONSIN
I've been to Madison quite a bit over the past three years. However, one of the things I have not done is go to a basketball game at the Kohl Center. Since the Gophers were going down there, and I didn't have anything better to do, it was off to Madison!
-I was ready and willing to make the trip, but my trusty red Buick is now to the point where I don't want to take it any further from home than AAA will tow it back. So I ended up renting a car for this long weekend trip. There were also several patches of black ice on 94 coming down from the Twin Cities, and I'm glad I had the rental.
-The friend of mine who obtained our tickets planted us smack dab in the middle of the Grateful Red. Or, rather, what passed for them. I am aware that student ticketing here is somewhat different than at the U, but the most shocking thing I found was the total lack of any organization or leadership within the Red. While I know that there are issues between the Barnyard and the athletic department, at least someone is trying. I saw absolutely NO attempts at trying to organize things. Personally, I see this as being too good for too long and keeping an expensive, keep-the-diehards-away-from-the-court ticketing process because of it. Also, can you do something about filling the section up? Even for games over the break, the Barnyard has been full to the top.
-In a past installment of this travelogue, I mentioned that the Oregon Marching Band (after their performance at Washington) have the worst uniforms of any BCS-conference marching band. While that is still the truth, the sweaters the UW pep band wears get dishonorable mentions. UGLY UGLY UGLY. Many people have told me that I look north of 30 (when I'm really a young 24). These sweaters would take the hottest coed band member and make them look like 200 miles of bad road. Seriously. They're that bad.
-And then we have the Kohl Center. Oh, how I adore thee. Some time ago, I came down to the KC in time for Phil Kessell's "can you hear me now" goal. Unfortunately, I don't remember much else from that game. And it's a good thing I didn't. I make no secret of my fondness for old college basketball arenas over the new NBA-style pack-as-many-suites-as-you-can designs. The KC fits firmly into the latter category. Whoever laid out the seating bowl visited the moribund KeyArena in Seattle to draw inspiration. Leave as much poured concrete and cinder block exposed as you can,
-It also took me a while to figure out what the KC was trying to imitate with it's 3-deck split, with the upper two decks being on top of each other. During one of the TV timeouts in the second half, it struck me. These guys are trying to imitate Mac Court. For those of you who haven't been out to MacArthur Court at the University of Oregon, once you get above the pullout seating, the three decks of the place are literally stacked directly on top of each other, wedding-cake style. The architects of the KC tried to do this, and for their efforts they get a big fat FAIL. Instead of bringing the decks down as close together as they could, they opted to put more aerial space in between, with cold cinder blocks to liven up the atmosphere, and keeping more of the crowd away from the action.
-There's a reason why the author of what later became "On Wisconsin" withdrew it from the competition that found the Rouser. Put the two against each other, and the Rouser wins in a mercy rule/tech fall/running time slaughter. Being seated next to the row of sousaphones, I heard enough of On Wisconsin to get my fill.
-OK, enough with pissing on weasel basketball. They do do some things that are pretty cool. The lean forwards and backwards between intros and the start of halves/OT in time with "Hot Time In The Old Town" wasn't bad. I like that every TV timeout isn't filled with shameless in-arena stunts, but rather with the pep band. And I thought the crowd in there was a smart one, willing to get up to try and add to a run.
-As for the game, the first 37 1/2 minutes was classic Wisconsin basketball. Dictate the pace, take the air out of the ball, and out-rebound everyone. And at the 4-minute timeout, I sent a text to a friend stating something like "This sucks. Everybody to the bar!" I still can't quite figure out what lit up the Gophs and muzzled the weasels. As someone on the GH already posted, Bo Ryan got his clock cleaned down the stretch.
-Any basketball played after 40 minutes was the Gophs playing with house money. No one, not even the diehard Gopher partisans who made the trip down, was expecting that.
-Oh, and one other thing. When you say Wis-Con-Sin, you haven't said a damn thing. Don't like it? Scoreboard! Scoreboard! We'll see you in Evanston on Sunday.
GR
"THAT DID NOT JUST HAPPEN!!!"
THURSDAY, JANUARY 15, 2009
KOHL CENTER AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN
MADISON, WISCONSIN
I've been to Madison quite a bit over the past three years. However, one of the things I have not done is go to a basketball game at the Kohl Center. Since the Gophers were going down there, and I didn't have anything better to do, it was off to Madison!
-I was ready and willing to make the trip, but my trusty red Buick is now to the point where I don't want to take it any further from home than AAA will tow it back. So I ended up renting a car for this long weekend trip. There were also several patches of black ice on 94 coming down from the Twin Cities, and I'm glad I had the rental.
-The friend of mine who obtained our tickets planted us smack dab in the middle of the Grateful Red. Or, rather, what passed for them. I am aware that student ticketing here is somewhat different than at the U, but the most shocking thing I found was the total lack of any organization or leadership within the Red. While I know that there are issues between the Barnyard and the athletic department, at least someone is trying. I saw absolutely NO attempts at trying to organize things. Personally, I see this as being too good for too long and keeping an expensive, keep-the-diehards-away-from-the-court ticketing process because of it. Also, can you do something about filling the section up? Even for games over the break, the Barnyard has been full to the top.
-In a past installment of this travelogue, I mentioned that the Oregon Marching Band (after their performance at Washington) have the worst uniforms of any BCS-conference marching band. While that is still the truth, the sweaters the UW pep band wears get dishonorable mentions. UGLY UGLY UGLY. Many people have told me that I look north of 30 (when I'm really a young 24). These sweaters would take the hottest coed band member and make them look like 200 miles of bad road. Seriously. They're that bad.
-And then we have the Kohl Center. Oh, how I adore thee. Some time ago, I came down to the KC in time for Phil Kessell's "can you hear me now" goal. Unfortunately, I don't remember much else from that game. And it's a good thing I didn't. I make no secret of my fondness for old college basketball arenas over the new NBA-style pack-as-many-suites-as-you-can designs. The KC fits firmly into the latter category. Whoever laid out the seating bowl visited the moribund KeyArena in Seattle to draw inspiration. Leave as much poured concrete and cinder block exposed as you can,
-It also took me a while to figure out what the KC was trying to imitate with it's 3-deck split, with the upper two decks being on top of each other. During one of the TV timeouts in the second half, it struck me. These guys are trying to imitate Mac Court. For those of you who haven't been out to MacArthur Court at the University of Oregon, once you get above the pullout seating, the three decks of the place are literally stacked directly on top of each other, wedding-cake style. The architects of the KC tried to do this, and for their efforts they get a big fat FAIL. Instead of bringing the decks down as close together as they could, they opted to put more aerial space in between, with cold cinder blocks to liven up the atmosphere, and keeping more of the crowd away from the action.
-There's a reason why the author of what later became "On Wisconsin" withdrew it from the competition that found the Rouser. Put the two against each other, and the Rouser wins in a mercy rule/tech fall/running time slaughter. Being seated next to the row of sousaphones, I heard enough of On Wisconsin to get my fill.
-OK, enough with pissing on weasel basketball. They do do some things that are pretty cool. The lean forwards and backwards between intros and the start of halves/OT in time with "Hot Time In The Old Town" wasn't bad. I like that every TV timeout isn't filled with shameless in-arena stunts, but rather with the pep band. And I thought the crowd in there was a smart one, willing to get up to try and add to a run.
-As for the game, the first 37 1/2 minutes was classic Wisconsin basketball. Dictate the pace, take the air out of the ball, and out-rebound everyone. And at the 4-minute timeout, I sent a text to a friend stating something like "This sucks. Everybody to the bar!" I still can't quite figure out what lit up the Gophs and muzzled the weasels. As someone on the GH already posted, Bo Ryan got his clock cleaned down the stretch.
-Any basketball played after 40 minutes was the Gophs playing with house money. No one, not even the diehard Gopher partisans who made the trip down, was expecting that.
-Oh, and one other thing. When you say Wis-Con-Sin, you haven't said a damn thing. Don't like it? Scoreboard! Scoreboard! We'll see you in Evanston on Sunday.
GR
