Is there a city in the B1G Conference that you would consider " elite"?.....

Donate To GopherHole
R

ruppertflywheel

Banned
Joined
Nov 20, 2008
Messages
12,226
Reaction score
0
Points
36
Is there a city in the B1G Conference that you would consider " elite"?.....

other than Minneapolis/ St. Paul? According to Wikipedia the population numbers to qualify as a
" city " range from 100,000 to 400,000. Let's take two for example. Iowa City. Never thought of it as a "city" even though it does qualify population size. To me De Moines is a "city" . Madison. Have always thought of it as a college town even it too qualifies as a " city " In my travels in Wisconsin I always considered Milwaukee a city. I've been to every B1G venue except Purdue and Rutgers, and while these are large urban areas I don't look at them as cities. Ok, where is the whimsical,
off the wall Ruppert going with this? In all my travels in B1G country I can't think of one area I would call " elite" ( yes, I know, Evanston is close to Chicago. Close doesn't count!) Minneapolis/St.Paul is elite! So PJ has a good start in rowing the boat.?
 


ruppertflywheel said:
other than Minneapolis/ St. Paul? According to Wikipedia the population numbers to qualify as a
" city " range from 100,000 to 400,000. Let's take two for example. Iowa City. Never thought of it as a "city" even though it does qualify population size. To me De Moines is a "city" . Madison. Have always thought of it as a college town even it too qualifies as a " city " In my travels in Wisconsin I always considered Milwaukee a city. I've been to every B1G venue except Purdue and Rutgers, and while these are large urban areas I don't look at them as cities. Ok, where is the whimsical,
off the wall Ruppert going with this? In all my travels in B1G country I can't think of one area I would call " elite" ( yes, I know, Evanston is close to Chicago. Close doesn't count!) Minneapolis/St.Paul is elite! So PJ has a good start in rowing the boat.��
Click to expand...

Living in Chicago I would say Evanston is close enough to Chicago (inner ring, north side suburb) to call it a big city campus. It can be hard to even tell where Chicago ends and Evanston begins. Evanston is also one of the only burbs served by the CTA system which is huge in integrating it with the city. Large portions of Northwestern's campus (mostly grad schools) are downtown Chicago.

Columbus is actually far and away the biggest single city in the B1G, and the biggest in Ohio. But because OSU is the main thing it's known for it doesn't have nearly the gravitas or reputation of cities much smaller than it. It's got less buzz than Cleveland! MSP is the biggest and most exciting metro that's the actual host to a B1G school.
 

Maryland is in the Balimore-DC area. Don't know if I'd consider either of those cities as elite though (never visited).
 

fmlizard said:
Living in Chicago I would say Evanston is close enough to Chicago (inner ring, north side suburb) to call it a big city campus.
Click to expand...

It's not the same.... Evenston is about the same/slightly further away then downtown Minneapolis to is Maple Grove... Center of campus to Downtown Minneapolis is 1.5/2.0 miles and they are closely connected.
 


HOOP DREAMS said:
It's not the same.... Evenston is about the same/slightly further away then downtown Minneapolis to is Maple Grove... Center of campus to Downtown Minneapolis is 1.5/2.0 miles and they are closely connected.
Click to expand...

But it still has all of the benefits of being in Chicago. Students can and do enjoy all of the different things a city has to offer. Internships are easy.

I don't really see how it's much different.
 

In 2008, I spent a week in Madison doing a course on-campus. I thought Madison was a fantastic city, big enough for there to be lots to do but small enough that the university was always central to the downtown core. In a way, it was the perfect college city.

I really like Minneapolis but I have a feeling many in the Twin Cities rarely or never enter the campus. Such is life as a university in a big city.
 

HOOP DREAMS said:
It's not the same.... Evenston is about the same/slightly further away then downtown Minneapolis to is Maple Grove... Center of campus to Downtown Minneapolis is 1.5/2.0 miles and they are closely connected.
Click to expand...

If you've driven from Downtown Minneapolis to Maple Grove and driven from Downtown Chicago to Evanston you'd know that's a bad comparison and fmlizrd is right.

The "City" goes right on up to (and through?) Evanston. Can find a lot of open spaces between Target Center and Maple Grove.
 

Word said:
Maryland is in the Balimore-DC area. Don't know if I'd consider either of those cities as elite though (never visited).
Click to expand...

Yeah College Park is only 8 miles out of Washington DC. My wife and I went to the game this year in Maryland and we're surprised how close in proximity the University of Maryland is to DC.

There are a ton of urban campuses outside of the B1G which have had more success than the Gophers in recent memory.
 



The perspective of Minnesota by Minnesotans is always skewed, just as the perspective of Iowa Is very skewed by Iowans, and so on.
Minneapolis/St. Paul is a great city. I lived there for 19 years and depending on how you define Elite, calling it Elite fits, but it has its share of short comings and failings that if someone wanted to call the Twin Cities bush league, I may not agree, but I can see there point.

That said, you could call Happy Valley, Iowa City, Columbus, Bloomington, Lincoln, Champaign, etc Elite, and not be wrong. Some similarities and some differences with the Twin Cities, but still could be called Elite. Of the schools I've been to, the only one I would not call Elite in terms of city is West Lafayette/ Purdue. All of the rest could be defined as Elite under some scenario imo. Elite is in the eye of the beholder.





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

caliGopher said:
The perspective of Minnesota by Minnesotans is always skewed, just as the perspective of Iowa Is very skewed by Iowans, and so on.
Minneapolis/St. Paul is a great city. I lived there for 19 years and depending on how you define Elite, calling it Elite fits, but it has its share of short comings and failings that if someone wanted to call the Twin Cities bush league, I may not agree, but I can see there point.

That said, you could call Happy Valley, Iowa City, Columbus, Bloomington, Lincoln, Champaign, etc Elite, and not be wrong. Some similarities and some differences with the Twin Cities, but still could be called Elite. Of the schools I've been to, the only one I would not call Elite in terms of city is West Lafayette/ Purdue. All of the rest could be defined as Elite under some scenario imo. Elite is in the eye of the beholder.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Or anywhere Fleck chooses to coach. ;)
 

Iceland12 said:
If you've driven from Downtown Minneapolis to Maple Grove and driven from Downtown Chicago to Evanston you'd know that's a bad comparison
Click to expand...

Could be, but it's 35-40 mins from Evenston to Chicago, it very different in some respects.

Maple Grove is just an example of the distance separating Evenstion to Chi....
 

savagerube said:
Yeah College Park is only 8 miles out of Washington DC. My wife and I went to the game this year in Maryland and we're surprised how close in proximity the University of Maryland is to DC
Click to expand...

The heart of ASU campus is also 8 miles from downtown PHX, they are very disconnected compared to MPLS/Dinkytown.

The U of Minnesota has a unique relationship to Minneapolis.
 



HOOP DREAMS said:
Could be, but it's 35-40 mins from Evenston to Chicago, it very different in some respects.

Maple Grove is just an example of the distance separating Evenstion to Chi....
Click to expand...

Evanston BORDERS Chicago. It's zero miles from Chicago. It's 4.5 miles from Wrigley Field. Northwestern University is a mile or so from Chicago. Take Sheridan to Lake Shore Drive to ...

However, this Evenstion or Evenston you keep referring to? That may be completed separated from the City With Big Shoulders, or even Chicago, IL for that matter. Maybe that is about Maple Grove distance. :eek:
 

You guys don't consider West Lafayette part of Chicagoland? ;)

It all depends on what Mrs. Fleck considers elite. The Flecks have a young urban vibe. Minneapolis seems a good fit.
 

Iceland12 said:
Evanston BORDERS Chicago. It's zero miles from Chicago. It's 4.5 miles from Wrigley Field. Northwestern University is a mile or so from Chicago. Take Sheridan to Lake Shore Drive to ...

However, this Evenstion or Evenston you keep referring to? That may be completed separated from the City With Big Shoulders, or even Chicago, IL for that matter. Maybe that is about Maple Grove distance. :eek:
Click to expand...

I had a tough time with the Evanston/Chicago area and also College Park and it's proximity to Washington. Other than the history of Washington, never liked the area. We had a sales meeting
In the Georgetown area at the Marriott. One of our sales staff used the outside cash machine across from the hotel and got mugged. Also saw some mega rats walking down to the restaurant and bar scene.No doubt Chicago is elite, but Northwestern is associated with Evanston. Probably splitting hairs here, but considering all factors of elitism, Minneapolis/St.
Paul has it all.....ROW THE BOAT...
 

Nokomis said:
You guys don't consider West Lafayette part of Chicagoland? ;)

It all depends on what Mrs. Fleck considers elite. The Flecks have a young urban vibe. Minneapolis seems a good fit.
Click to expand...

Do you think the Flecks will be house hunting in Longfellow or NE?
 


Iceland12 said:
Evanston BORDERS Chicago. It's zero miles from Chicago. It's 4.5 miles from Wrigley Field. Northwestern University is a mile or so from Chicago. Take Sheridan to Lake Shore Drive to ...
Click to expand...

Zero miles aye?

It's 35-40 mins from the heart of campus to downtown Chi, over an hour by transit. Ryan Field to Wrigley is about the same... Ice.
 

caliGopher said:
Of the schools I've been to, the only one I would not call Elite in terms of city is West Lafayette/ Purdue. All of the rest could be defined as Elite under some scenario imo. Elite is in the eye of the beholder.
Click to expand...

West Lafayette is the only airport where the guy who took my ticket also loaded the luggage on the plane and taxied the plane from the gate. Yeah, elite does not come to mind when I think of Purdue.
 

HOOP DREAMS said:
Zero miles aye?

It's 35-40 mins from the heart of campus to downtown Chi, over an hour by transit. Ryan Field to Wrigley is about the same... Ice.
Click to expand...

Yeah and it's probably 60 to the southernmost tip of the southside.

Evanston borders Chicago. You can literally stand in both cities.
 



My quick, top of the head, response is that only Chicago and the Twin Cities are elite.
 

As lame as the old "dry" Evanston was, it is still just short run from the end of Lakeshore Drive and within a short L ride to Wrigleyville, so yes, NU is in an Elite city.

The jury is out on Baltimore, but you can have a lot of fun gong to baseball game at Camden Yards and hit a bunch of pubs and clubs right by the water, or head to DC. This all happens very close to College Park, so yes, Maryland is Elite.

Ann Arbor is boring, and far enough from the depressing sprawl of Detroit to make it not Elite.

I like Cleveland, and I like Cincinnati (it reminds me of downtown St. Paul ) less, but neither is very elite. Columbus is most certainly not Elite.

For a reference point, UW is in the middle of Seattle and is very much Elite.

If Rutgers were a lot closer to NYC (like Elizabeth or Hoboken) it might be Elite.
 

I am guessing PJ will end up living on the River, upriver from the U of M like Tubby and Jerry K did. Or maybe he will go the Brewster or Mason route and head to Lake Minnetonka. i'd take the first option in the interest of a 3 minute commute.
 

oak_street1981 said:
I am guessing PJ will end up living on the River, upriver from the U of M like Tubby and Jerry K did. Or maybe he will go the Brewster or Mason route and head to Lake Minnetonka. i'd take the first option in the interest of a 3 minute commute.
Click to expand...

Or go the Pitino route and opt for Edina. It would be an interesting carpool to the U with those 2.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
Yeah and it's probably 60 to the southernmost tip of the southside.

Evanston borders Chicago. You can literally stand in both cities.
Click to expand...

Wow cool, I never new you could stand in both cities if you straddled the boarder... Great post!

Fact is; the center of campus to downtown Chicago is not even close to the relationship the U of M has to downtown Minneapolis.
 

HOOP DREAMS said:
Wow cool, I never new you could stand in both cities if you straddled the boarder... Great post!

Fact is; the center of campus to downtown Chicago is not even close to the relationship the U of M has to downtown Minneapolis.
Click to expand...

I don't know man...

hero-d-campus-lakefront-skyline.jpg
 

West Lafayette has 4 exits off of I64.... some of which actually feature food and gasoline.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom