OT: Ryan Field renovation proposal creating controversy, pitting Evanston residents vs Northwestern (Not OT: resident describes visiting fans)
Interesting article in today's WSJ about the brewing fight between Northwestern U and the residents of Evanston around the proposed $800 million Ryan Field renovation.
In summary - residents around the current field are against a number of changes (including allowing concerts, which requires a zoning change, and other events, as well as alcohol at the proposed new venue. I don't really care one way or the other, but thought these key quotes were interesting, for those without a sub as it is paywalled:
"Mr. Starkman [local business owner], who is 56, said complaints about fans urinating on lawns and bushes after games are exaggerated and happen only when Northwestern hosts Ohio State."
"Wisconsin fans party very hard but are 'nice and respectful,' he said; 'Michigan State fans are 'brilliant, lots of doctors and judges'; Michigan supporters are 'ruffians' but generally well-behaved; Iowa's are the friendliest in the Big Ten, and Nebraska's fans are the most likely to show up in pickups."
"Ohio State fans are the only problem," Mr. Starkman said. "They have a monster following, and they think the world is their bathroom."
"Asked about that, Ohio State declined to comment."
NW is my favorite road game to go to, fun weekend in chicago, and taking the Purple Line up to the game is actually fairly convient, not much of a tailgate scene though. Been awhile since we had an away game there. I hope if this is approved our next home game there is after this is finished.
Obligatory:
American Pie (the four with the original cast) is the best movie series of all time. They're actually going to make a fifth one in the near future.
“The best movie series of all time” seems like hyperbole in this context. At least, I hope it is…
Does anyone else question NWU spending $800 large on stadium upgrades?
WOW
YEah, I was thinking that is an insane amount of money, even for stupid modern college sports.
Pretty good chance that stadium is being privately funded.
I believe they're doing it to make it into a multi-use venue (concerts). I've been an Evanston resident for 20 years, though I live on the opposite side of town as the stadium. It's right in the middle of a residential neighborhood on three sides, and so on game day, lots of fans are milling around people's yards and trying to park in those neighborhoods. But I do believe the motivation is the money that a venue like that could bring to Northwestern. There's been a rift between the city (and some of its residents) and Northwestern since I've lived here. They have some amazing real estate and pay no property taxes. Evanston isn't like Ann Arbor, where the university and the city are kind of like one. Northwestern is an island and doesn't involve itself in the city of Evanston much. A few things here and there, but they could contribute a lot more given all the money they have. They've built some amazing new buildings right along the lakefront part of their campus and a new athletic facility there, too. Evanston is pretty rundown in comparison. So that's why the hard feelings.
And here's a little secret: the university owns way more land than anybody thinks it does. They own tons of parcels all over the city that they sit on in order to barter when they really need it. Remember the kerfuffle over the parking lot property when the Trader Joe's was in development? That land was owned by the university for like 100 years because they got it in some deal where if someone handed over their land, their kid could go to NU for free. They've got tons of land everywhere which often has nothing to do with university operations at all.
I live behind Trader Joe's, one block to the south, so I do remember that. Northwestern is really not invested in Evanston at all. I know one set of married NU professors who moved to a neighboring town so their kids wouldn't have to go to the Evanston public high school. It's pure snobbery. A lot of Evanston kids go to the colleges that those two parents wanted their children to go to, and also get an education in pure diversity -- both racially and economically.
24-year Evanston resident and the town is mostly in favor of the new stadium (70-30 ish based on yard signs). The NIMBY-ism of the local residents wanes as as one moves further and further away from it. It's funded by the Ryan family, which funded the former Dyche Stadium for major renovations 2 decades ago (and also stole the stadium name to make it theirs).
If the new football stadium is anything like the new basketball stadium, it will be a hit. Absolutely love the new Welsh Ryan with its smaller size and close-to-floor sight-lines.
March 29th, 2023 at 10:49 PM ^
Got to do something with all that Big Ten $$$. Their practice facility adjacent to the lake is insane.
Why don't the local stores sell coolers?
Reading this is never off topic:
"Mr. Starkman [local business owner], who is 56, said complaints about fans urinating on lawns and bushes after games are exaggerated and happen only when Northwestern hosts Ohio State."
That was…. somethin.
I was there in 2002. Only thing missing was some footage of state troopers spraying teargas in the endzones to keep fans away from the goalposts. They eventually ran out of teargas.
Pigs sleep and root in shit. That's a filthy animal. I ain't eatin' nothin' ain't got sense enough to disregard its own feces
-Jules Winnfield
"Michigan State fans are 'brilliant, lots of doctors and judges'; Michigan supporters are 'ruffians' but generally well-behaved"
Ummmmmm????
The author, Douglas Belkin, covers education, you would think he would know the difference.
'Michigan State fans are 'brilliant, lots of doctors and judges';
Wait, what?
He meant "defendants and parolees."
I understand the angst from the neighbors. The stadium is surrounded by residential areas mainly. At least with Michigan Stadium, you really have a residential area on only one of the four sides (to the west). But like with Michigan Stadium, if you buy a house anywhere near a football stadium, you have to expect the noise and congestion for the handful of days a year when there's an event there. My solution for Buckeye animals peeing on the guy's property is to line the perimeter of his yard with a heavy plastic construction dust barrier and put a rottweiler outside.
better yet, electrify your lawn and bushes. water/urine will conduct the electricity. problem solved....
You win the internet today. Exactly…
Or scatter books on your lawn: that'd scare the tOSUs away.
or sit on the porch with a cooler full of beer and shoot them with a paintball gun when they try to poop in your cooler
A single small sign that says "Caution: We Have The Flu" ought to do it.
Assuming they're literate...
He lost me when he said only suckeys pee in the bushes. I know that I see fans from all schools including Michigan peeing behind houses and in bushes in the neighborhood next to Michigan Stadium.
March 29th, 2023 at 11:07 PM ^
Or he could put out some tables with books on them as a natural deterrent
As someone who attended the 2021 B1G championship game and visited Kinnick, can confirm Iowa fans are the nicest fans I've ever met.
Couple of thoughts. First, I wanted to think the quotes were the OP’s attributed to a made up Mr.Starkman because they’re hilariously inaccurate WRT UM and MSU but hilariously accurate WRT OSU. Second, and in all seriousness, I would have concerns as a local resident or business owner as well. The school and stadium are right in a regular neighborhood, although that doesn’t seem to affect folks in Wrigleyville who deal with Cubs and visiting fans and big name concerts.
Different people. The ones in Evanston are older with families. A lot of Wrigleyville is rentals, with people choosing to live there because of the proximity to Wrigley and the social scene.
Mr. Starkman:
"Well-behaved ruffians" would make for a good band name or mgoblog banner.
Out here in Boston BC has a similar issue because of the school being in the middle of tony Chestnut Hill and that's been a constant tug-of-war with the school and the owners of the million-dollar homes around them. But at the same time...that's part of the deal with those schools. It's not like they snuck a college campus in Evanston.
Also, the fact he said the MSU fans are all doctors and judges is hilarious - I promise you the average MSU fan is indistinguishable from an OSU or PSU grad, for example - but the fact UM is full of well-behaved ruffians cracks me up.
Oh yeah. Back in the 90s, when I was a student there, I urinated on lawns all over Chestnut Hill on game days. Hell, sometimes when there wasn't a game. Hey, I was young and stupid, and it's a looong way around the Rez when you live off-campus. When you have to do Newton Campus freshman year...forget about it.
80%+ of Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State fans are NON-alums, folks who were never once a student at the school, not even for a fleeting moment.
Pick a random fan from each one of those fanbases, and more likely than not it will look a lot like the average resident of said state.
I've said this before, and it tends to get neg-bombs, but I'm a PSU alum who lived in each of Michigan & Ohio for 9 years ----- I 100% DO view the fanbases of those schools as rather indistinguishable from each other. Include MSU in there too.
Besides, I don't view "ruffians" as an insult. Who would instead want to be labeled as part of a "wine and cheese" crowd?
Oh, I'm totally fine being referred to as a ruffian, and frankly it feels like they got a random guy willing to give them some quotes for that article. And yeah, any good sports team is going to basically have the same type of fans.
As you noted, fans vs. alumni is probably where a bunch of grads from those schools draw the line but in reality they make up a minority of the fanbase. The MSU, PSU, OSU, ND, etc. grads I've met are all largely the same people while the fans are probably all the same with the usual cooler pooper disclaimers for the fringe.
When I was a UM student in the 80s, MSU still had a "School for Animal Husbandry" which made for many jokes, even from our stadium announcers.
I've lived near, tailgated, and / or parked cars very near the stadium for MANY years.
Most visitors are generally pleasant, fun and respectful. Even OSU fans pregame are fine. MSU is the worst by far (many drunks who don't even make it to the game). Contrary to many, I enjoyed the Notre Dame alums and going to games in South Bend ( very similar to UM, high expectations, very devoted but not over the top crazy).
I had the same experience with Notre Dame, everyone was very cool except for one superbly drunk and obnoxious asshole we had to sit in front of. Not too far off from our Big House environment on occasion if I’m being honest
Yup, every school has that drunk idiot fan, including ours. It will be interesting to see the OSU fanbase coming up to the Big House. They have been quietly confident for the past six or so games, with good reason, but now they have to have really serious doubts with a first year QB and what we have returning.
I have heard that most M fans who visited Nebraska were treated very well ( and Nebraska fans thanked UM visitors for attending as we stole another game from them). Craziest venue was Wisconsin back when they literally brought kegs into Camp Randall.
Illinois is the unfriendliest ( non OSU) big10 venue for me as a visitor. They just hate us and have had decades of underperforming versus Michigan in all sports ( Still smiling about '89 hoops semifinals). TCU besides the most disappointing game was an interesting fanbase at the Fiesta Bowl ( lots of rich dolled up women with perms and cowboy boots) like JR Ewing and the cast of Dynasty ( yeah I'm old).
Very accurate on TCU fans at the Fiesta Bowl.
One guy in my game text thread wrote at the end, "The reason TCU won was that they brought a lot of very cute sorority girls dressed up in short shorts and cowboy boots, and the reason we lost was that we brought a bunch of middle-aged men with their teenage sons."
So true.
I'll second that emotion.
Lived a couple years near an Illinois fan. It was a toss-up which mattered more to him, rooting for Illinois or hating Michigan.
I’ve been to a few stadiums and I can confirm that Iowa and Northwestern have the nicest fans in the BIG. I was very surprised when we visited Iowa STATE, they were even nicer than regular Iowa. It’s like Iowa’s nicer little brother they can be proud of.
edit: I realized this info was 25+ years old a moment ago, so info may be dated. Not sure if Iowa St. is still as relaxed now that they found more success and popularity
Michigan supporters are 'ruffians' but generally well-behaved
Ruffian: a violent criminal or troublemaker
Restated: "Michigan supporters are [violent criminals and troublemakers] but generally well-behaved.
confused emoji
Purdue fans are definitely the biggest nerds.
NU season ticket holder here. The new stadium is entirely privately funded and they're lowering the capacity - of an already small stadium by something like 12k. The crowds are generally really well-behaved even when entering and leaving the stadium. (OSU, as the author notes, is probably the exception.) If the neighbors don't like this proposal they won't like anything.
Having lived in Evanston, I'd agree. For many residents, simply saying "Northwestern" prompts a diatribe. That's true even with those who enjoy activities and the cachet of having a world-class university in their midst.