Wrigley wrap-up

The day began with a bleary-eyed 6:30 wakeup on a Saturday morning, which was compounded by staying up way too late the previous night.  I grabbed my bagel and a Coke Zero, and headed for the red line to take me up to Addison.

There were already people milling about prior to 8am, decked out in purple and orange as they took photos by the redecorated Wrigley Field.  I followed the crowds to the parking lot of McDonald's, where ESPN's GameDay crew had set up shop to tape their 3 hour college football pregame show.  Students were bused down from Evanston at 4am to be the first ones in line on the set, so purple was firmly entrenched in the front of the cameras.  I had no desire to get there so early, and was pleasantly surprised when the ESPN officials ushered me in with no wait at 8am as the show went on the air.

I watched the first half of the show alone, as Rachel was busy with a Model UN program at school and other friends were too lame to wake up on a Saturday.  After some time, my east coast sports fanatic friend, Dave Kalan, arrived in a spiffy black trenchcoat and kept me company for some time with his endless supply of sports-related banter.  The whole event was a fun experience - except for NU-hater Lee Corso, who donned an Illinois helmet at the end of the show.  Sigh. 

Afterwards I headed to "Wildcat Way," a heated tent decked out with food, drinks, and TVs.  The team came through on their way into the stadium - all wearing suits, and looking very nice.  Coach Fitz was a little scary though.  He did not even crack a smile as fans cheered the team on.

The crowds were THICK at this point, and it took considerable effort to get anywhere.  I headed outside to listen to the band play (and a good thing I did, because the band could NOT be heard at all during the game from where we sat) as I waited to meet Rachel.

Once Rachel was there we snapped some photos and headed into the stadium.

Giant Fitz bobblehead!!

I would say that at this point, the day started going downhill.  It was a tremendous pregame atmosphere.  Tons of purple, great decorations, people were festive and excited about the game.  ESPN gave NU lots of publicity.  It was everything I could ask for in a gimmicky game like this.

Inside the stadium, I have more problems.  Our seats were okay - but paying $100 each for where we sat is pricey by any standards.  We could see, but it felt like we were watching something way off in the distance, because we were behind home plate in the corner of the stadium.  Great baseball seats, lousy football seats.  In general, I was not thrilled with the atmosphere inside.  No replays, people were way too drunk, and the announcers could not be heard on the speakers very well.  Plus, we could not hear the band or the students cheering.  Finally, the sun going down made it dang cold to sit there for 3 hours.  It is a lot of little stuff, but given the added cost, I would have far rather watched this game in Evanston - or even on TV!  

That is to say nothing about the actual outcome of the game - of which I will choose to forget and say nothing at all.

-alan