What do you miss about Michigan Stadium?

I miss Hot Dog man. It was bullcrap how he was banned from the stadium. I saw him at Ryan field and they let him toss free hot dogs. 

Point of this, but isn't it basically the same stadium with newer and better shit?

As much as I appreciate what the renovations did inside the stadium, I absolutely hate the sideline concourse now. Feels like a dank, crammed dungeon with poor lighting. Impossible to get anywhere, and totally uninviting.

I'll also add to the choir of people who miss the access we all enjoyed for so many years. Miss running those steps, as awful of a workout as it was. Total torture.

Weird story: When I was in the MMB, I used to run the steps in the summer to stay in shape. My mom was in town one day, so she went with me and sat in the bowl while I ran. If you ran around the bowl even with the access tunnels and the handicap levels in the endzones, it was almost a half mile, and a nice break from the steps. She was sitting in one endzone, and I was running around the other, and the sound of my breathing travelled all the way around the bowl to where she was sitting. 

Bring back the noodle!

The old bowl let all the noise escape. Granted, the place could be much louder (or our older alumni could actually wear maize for a maize out game) but having those boxes helps trap some of the sound and the atmosphere. I will never hear that place get louder than it did for UTL 1 in 2011. Amazing.

I miss the relative lack of rules. There are so many more rules now . . . no toilet paper, no marshmallows, no beach balls, no water bottles, no bags, no passing of students up the student section, and on and on and on. Last year, I wanted to go out to get something at halftime. Absolutely no dice.

While it never was for me, I miss the ambiance of blue smoke from weed floating above the student section. I miss the huge variety in Michigan clothing . . . the old alumni wearing checked maize and blue golf pants, the funky polyester tams, the heavy dark yellow and Navy rugby style jerseys, the myriad of different clothing manufacturers. (There wasn't so much exclusivity and licensing stuff.) I miss the joy of walking down Hill Street and State Street and winding my way down to the game on a golden Fall day.

I think the physical stadium has been improved, but at what cost? I miss things being simpler and cheaper. I don't mind the luxury boxes being there, although I guess the stratification of the fans has really happened with that. I'm sure the toilets are nicer, but the troughs never bothered me.

I miss dominant offensive lines, the running backs that went along with that, and beating the snot out of OSU.

Mostly, though, I guess I miss being a naive student of 17, and not understanding what a blessing it was to be in Ann Arbor at the University of Michigan. Youth is wasted on the young.

I miss walking all the way around the stadium in sunshine. Walking under the structures in the dark kinda sucks. And more grass to sit down on if you wanted. Other than that nothing really.

Howard King's pregame lineup announcements, especially his powerful, drawn out, "In his X season as head coach, LLOYD. CAAARRRRRR."

The renovations have been, I believe, very good overall. I do, however, miss the open bowl. Our season tickets have always been the top row of the bowl, but now we have a larger wall behind us and club seats above us. You used to be able to lean over and check out what was going on outside the stadium on the concourse. So when Michigan got up 30 points on whoever they were drubbing that week, you could see how long the lines were for pretzels and hot dogs, people-watch, maybe even see someone hauled away in handcuffs. Ah, good times.

Sure the boxes make it louder... but Michigan Stadium was plenty loud.  I'm tired of the myth otherwise or that boxes were needed.

I remember Bo having to ask the student section to knock it off or Michigan would get penalized for crowd noise.

Somehow over the years sitting on your hands or shaking your keys replaced noise.

I don't know that it's much louder because of the structure, which mostly doesn't cover the student seats. I kind of reject this argument as revisionism. See, back when i was there around 2001-2002 i recall tons of articles in the Daily whining about lack of noise. During the UW game, i even recall a couple guys in their 40s urging us to get louder. There was just general apathy

Then i returned for a game against freaking Miami(NTM) and i was on the opposite sideline and it seemed much louder. This was in 2005 i believe, before the monstrosity was added

And rest assured, it was NOT built so that the stadium would be noisier. If you've ever been inside that thing, you know the admonishments you'll get for even clapping. It was built for $ period. So whatever credit it gets for improving other things is not deserved

I preferred the look of the old bowl without the boxes. That said, I like the boxes and the way they keep sound in and provide some shade. But from outside, they just don't look 'right' to me. I also miss the grass, even though we didn't always have it and it was pretty shitty quality. There's something to be said for occasional mud.

Fuck it, I'm bringing back toilet paper n marshmallows this year!

progress is what it is...