Does anyone else miss the pre-renovation Big House?
i was having a conversation today about how the Big House feels kind of boxed in with the suite boxes as opposed to the open-air style of the stadium pre-renovation. the more i think about it, the more I miss it.
sure it may not have been as loud, but it felt like the stadium was much bigger then. Anyone else miss the pre-renovation Big House?
I thought my memory might be off because I remember hearing "terrorism" as one of the reasons for closing it to the public.
That was part of it, too. After 9/11 they started closing it at 5PM on Thursdays so the bombsniffing dogs could go through on Friday. But the post-renovation stuff was all for "security" and vandalism and shit... And because Dave Brandon didn't want to let people in for free when he could organize tours at $10 a pop.
Did cutting out that piece of the Block M have anything to do with it or was it already locked prior to that happening? If the gates were already locked prior to that thievery/vandalism, I wonder if leaving the doors unlocked for people to run, visit, etc. might have actually prevented such an incident, since there would be the threat of Samaritan eye-balls.
Bill Martin decided that when you're spending $250 million of other people's money, that you probably need to secure what it is that you're spending the money on. Though they do forget to lock it up sometimes. I know of folks who have just walked up at odd times during the offseason and found it open, and walked in.
nothing worse than having to run stairs at that stadium in august, before we could take the ice, and it's 80 degrees and the humidity is just as high.
Sure the old stadium was great for the era, I think it was my Junior year when they did the expansion with the stupid looking ring around the top, that was dumb but I don't miss the old stadium experience. What I do miss about that experience is winning games. If we were winning now as much as we were in the 80's and 90's nobody would look back at the stadium of those days with any remorse.
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...Michigan Stadium had video boards in 1998...
Yeah those true 4:3 CRT projection video boards were the shit!
Said no one ever...
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IMO, the scoreboards are oversized and distracting. This is especially the case when they fill every bit of down time with athletic department infomercials.
They had athletic department infomercials before the installation of the big boards.
Before this year, the last time I was at a game was the 2007 game against Ohio State (the last before any renovations)
I attended two games this season and that was one of my main complaints - too many things (scoreboard, piped in music) blaring at me during every second of down time.
I liked being able to just soak in the atmosphere and our band during timeouts, etc back in the day.
Our "ADD" society these days seems to need something talking to them 24/7 instead of us just living and enjoying the game and soaking in the atmosphere.
there was something appealing about peeing on the wall in the old bathrooms. When the whole wall was a urinal, the waits seemed pretty small for the mens. I am guessing the women were very happy about the renovation.
Wait a second... There's no more peeing on the wall??? (I haven't been to a game since the big renovation.) I liked that bathroom! They should have kept that.
I'm not a huge fan of video boards. They end up drawing a lot of peoples' attention away from the very action they paid to see in person. Yes, they're nice for the occasional big replay but otherwise I can do without them - especially when they're frequently used for purposes unrelated to the game, like promoting another sport.
I do like how the scoreboard can give us statistical updates, though.
I feel they did a fantastic job of using the same brick theme and blending the new and old together rather seamlessly. Also, YES to the huge video scoreboards and permanent lighting atop the boxes, making TBH night game ready.
Amen brother.
I liked the open air look inside the stadium, but it always looked like kind of a dump from the outside. The new brick concourses and the giant block Ms on the scoreboards make the walk up to the stadium much more impressive, in a good way. I think they need to do something about the boring, giant slabs that make up the box-fronts on the inside, but I like the additional sound.
I miss the football played in the pre-renovation Big House more than I miss the pre-renovation Big House.
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increase, but I think it was better looking before. It was originally designed to have its capacity increased to 150k. I'd love to see that happen.
"looks" better by modern standards and it is louder, but along with it is now a really "trendy" type of stadium, both in the way it looks and what takes within it. As much as "maize outs" look cool for flyovers, the real traditional big games at Michigan stadium I remember did not have a specific tint or color to the crowd, it was just a massive mixing bowl of different people, colors, etc.
All of the modern touches and concepts just kind of feel forced at Michigan in terms of football. It kind of feels like we are out of our element, trying to be somebody were not as the saying goes.
No Way! The new one is much, much better.
I thought I would, but I don't. They did a damn fine job on the luxury boxes, and from the outside especially the brick looks beautiful and very Ann Arbor-esque.
I miss the old scoreboard. The pre-graphics one.
What did they do with the "MICHIGAN STADIUM" letters on the old press box?
They're hanging on display in the covered concourse where the old press box used to be.
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You can see them while driving by on Main Street.
Kind of. Lots of people I know aren't fans of the mega-boxes for the wealthy. The additional facilities around the stadium were welcome and needed, however.
nope
Idk you guys. The stadium looks pretty nice.
Yes because I remember walking in the first time as a 9 year old and being completely amazed. So, from a nostalgia standpoint.
Also, this photo I took a few years later in 2007 continues to be the most incredible looking Michigan Stadium photo I have ever snapped.
on the day-we-shall-not-speak-of or after it?
No this was at the ND game. Maize Out.
That game you're talking about was a clear, hot and sunny day.
God damn was it hot that day. For The Horror, it came out later that the field was something like 115-120 degrees with all the fieldturf and rubber and such. My shoes damn near melted during postgame, we had just fucking lost, and they insisted we play an extended postgame show with every fucking stupid thing we'd played at halftime.
I'm still angry.
I had second row seats in the student section for that game, and showed up in a near blackout. Was pouring sweat the whole game, and the magnitude of things didn't really sink in until hours later.
Yea it was. I got the worst "racoon face" sunburn of my life that day.
There I am.
Rarely do you not bring your A Game! Up Vote!
We might as well wear these too. Lol
It's Devin Gardner!