Illinois (BIG 10) 2011

College:  Illinois (Big 10)

Year:    2011

Games:   Ohio State 17 Illinois 7

Rating:   3 out of 10

Cost:  Moderate

Tickets:   Moderate

Stadium:   Memorial Stadium is surprisingly decent.  The only saving grace in what was a truly dull day of football.

Description: 

"You can rob me. You can starve me and you can beat me and you can kill me. Just don't bore me!"
-- Gunnery Sgt. Tom Highway (Clint Eastwood), Heartbreak Ridge

We gave Illinois every possible chance to provide a memorable experience.  We waited until they had their biggest game in years (ranked #16, undefeated, hosting Ohio State).  The weather was perfect, the stadium was sold out.  The only memory I take away is that I’ll never attend another Illinois game.

If there was a tail gate I didn't see it. Well that’s not true, I saw one or two parking lots that might have had something other than a funeral going on in them.  It’s important to note that Illinois has one of the best setups for a tail gate: there are massive parking lots around the stadium and the campus in general has plenty of open space.  The stadium was packed but the crowd did nothing to help the home team.  The game itself was a colossal bore. 

Since this was only a couple of hours drive from Chicago it’s not a big deal but this is not a place worth going to if you have to spend any kind of money.  I mean, this fucking campus COULD NOT EVEN SUPPORT AN ANTONIO’S PIZZA PARLOR.  Enough said.  Fuck you Illinois.

Don’t Miss: 
If you want to make it part of a larger trip:  Chicago is 2 and a half hours away.  

Avoid:   

Attendees:  Bones, Polychronopolus, Dave

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=312880356

Illinois Football Ticket

Oregon State (PAC 12) 2011

College:  Oregon State (PAC 12)

Year:    2011

Games:   Oregon State 37 Arizona 27

Rating:   9 out of 10

Cost:  Moderate

Tickets:  Easy

Stadium:   Resser Stadium is almost perfect.   I walked around the concourse in wonder.  It’s a fairly new stadium with a minimalist design.  Nice mix of steel and cement.  Just really well done.

Description:  One of my favorite terms is SHIT EATING GRIN. I’ve pretty much had a SHIT EATING GRIN on my face every time I go to the state of Oregon, it’s one of my favorites.  I had a SHIT EATING GRIN the entire time I was on Oregon State’s campus and the entire time I was in Resser stadium. 

Let me set the stage:  Oregon State was winless, their rival down the road was ranked in the top 10 and has been dominating for the better part of a decade…in short there was not a lot of hope for a decent season for OSU….despite all that the place was packed, the crowd was into the game and the people were friendly.  I sat next to a dude named Keith who was traveling around in his van following college football games.  He was in his 50s and had played at Kent State, lined up at practice across from Jack Lambert.  He said it wasn’t much fun.

The crowd made an otherwise forgettable PAC-12 game between two bad teams fun (I believe this was Mike Stoops last game as Arizona’s coach).  I walked around the campus afterwards with my SHIT EATING GRIN and had a great day.

Also, no matter what I say elsewhere in this shitty blog OSU has the best looking campus I’ve ever been to.

Only complaint was the lack of bars and restaurants around the stadium.  This just have been a great time that year they upset USC in the prime time night game. 

Don’t Miss:  Walking around the campus with a SHIT EATING GRIN on your face
If you want to make it part of a larger trip:  You are two hours from Portland, an hour from the Oregon coastline (home of the most beautiful stretch of coast in the United States and Rouge brewery) and an hour from Eugene. This is one of the better "two birds with one stone" trips you can have as these schools tend to play one week night game per year. 

Avoid:  

Attendees:  Bones

Game Recap:  http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=312810204

Oregon State Football Ticket

Oregon (PAC 12) 2011

College:  Oregon (PAC 12)

Year:    2011

Games:   Oregon 43 Cal 15

Rating:   9 out of 10

Cost:  Moderate

Tickets:  Moderate

Stadium:   Autzen is LOUD.  Reminds me of the old Foxboro Stadium, just a slab of cement that the sound cannot escape from.

Description:  In 2011 I had a meeting to attend at the University of Oregon.  I scheduled this fucker for  the same Thursday Oregon had a home game. Co-incidence? I think not!  I also was lucky enough for Oregon State to have a Saturday game the same weekend. A CLASSIC TWO BIRDS WITH ONE STONE WEEKEND!  I can’t really even put in words how much fun I had driving around Oregon for a long weekend going to a couple of different games.  It was paradise, Oregon is paradise.  There is nowhere in the US that I have been that is prettier than the Oregon coastline.

Eugene is a very nice college town, campus is immaculate.   Eugene is split by the Willamette river.  There are a bunch of bars right near the stadium.  You can't go wrong there.

As far as the game itself, Oregon is a unique experience.  It’s not quite like a pro game, but it’s not quite a college game either.  We all know the whole uniform movement Oregon has launched (often imitated never duplicated:  right Maryland?).  The game experience is very similar.  It’s a very polished presentation but it retains its own uniqueness.   It’s almost how the pro game wants to present itself but can’t.  The pro game in all the major sports has become the same presentation at 30 or 32 different sites.  The same songs played during timeouts, the same advertisements.  It’s one big game of corporate copycat with a few exceptions here and there.  It’s completely homogenized and yet another reason not to bother with it outside of your living room.  I hope the college game does not go down that path, but I suppose it’s inevitable to a degree.

It was also a treat to watch a Chip Kelly offense live and in person.  It’s a very different experience compared to watching them on TV.   The first few plays of each drive they sort of toy with the defense and then all of a sudden one of their guys is breaking off on a 50 yard run.    Any time they run a passing play two guys are open by 5-10 yards.  Can you IMAGINE if Johnny Manziel had actually gone to Oregon? I mean, sweet Jesus.

Unfortunately at the end of this game there was a bad injury to LaMichael James.  Great player, he was fun to watch both in person and on TV.

Don’t Miss:  The bars right around the stadium, checking out the Oregon campus, the site where Animal House was filmed
If you want to make it part of a larger trip:  You are two hours from Portland, an hour from the Oregon coastline (home of the most beautiful stretch of coast in the United States and Rouge brewery) and an hour from Corvallis. This is one of the better "two birds with one stone" trips you can have as these schools tend to play one week night game per year. 

Avoid:  

Attendees:  Bones

Game Recap: http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=312792483

Oregon Football Ticket