Shout-Out to the Shovel Crew
Email from one of the ushers:
I’ll try this avenue to convey some praise on snow removal from the Stadium. Two and 1/2 hours before game time the upper rows of sections 6 and 7 still had not been cleared from Monday’s snowstorm. Many of me and my fellow ushers (along with the stadium cleaning crew) grabbed snow shovels and spent about 40 minutes clearing these many hundreds of seats . Special shoutout to Harold from section 8. He is a 79 year old Korean War veteran who was shoveling the whole time with a smile and his ever present laugh. The second veteran of the game.
There was also this from MLive:
I'm sure I speak for all the fans who were there on Saturday in sending out the highest appreciation for their efforts.
November 17th, 2019 at 8:36 PM ^
Props to these guys. In all honesty, though, for a top tier engineering school, the method and efficiency of the snow removal from the stadium was borderline embarrassing.
November 18th, 2019 at 12:21 AM ^
What would have constituted a more sophisticated engineering solution?
November 18th, 2019 at 8:15 AM ^
Burning down the Big House and rebuilding it.
November 17th, 2019 at 8:42 PM ^
Props to those who helped.
I also thought the university seriously mismanaged this. There was a lot of snow in the sections near me. I didn’t see any evidence of salt being used either. They had 5 days, and could have asked for volunteers to shovel and finish the job. I would have loved to spend a few hours in the Big House shoveling snow.
November 17th, 2019 at 8:54 PM ^
Agreed, it was almost like they were hoping it was going to melt away by gametime. The seats were clear of snow but the area below the seats were full of wet slush which wasn't a big deal to me but I am sure it made it hard for others
November 17th, 2019 at 9:07 PM ^
I saw tons of salt everywhere I looked. It was very frustrating as I couldn’t sit down one second the entire game or halftime cus I’m sure as hell not sitting in salt and whatever else chemicals are in there.
November 17th, 2019 at 9:28 PM ^
Yeah the salt everywhere was super annoying.
November 17th, 2019 at 9:39 PM ^
Probably a better situation than having residual ice on the bleachers and stairs, resulting in possibly dozens (or hundreds) of people slipping, falling, getting hurt, and suing the university.
If a person can't stand a little salt, spending any time in the Midwest between Oct and Apr is probably a bad idea.
November 17th, 2019 at 10:30 PM ^
I’m not sure if walking on salted sidewalks is the same as sitting in a pile of it ? But yeah, the Midwest OCT-April should be avoided. Sadly I’m not rich enough to leave often. I would love to fly to Florida every single weekend and come back Sunday night for classes. I only make it down south about twice a semester.
November 17th, 2019 at 10:35 PM ^
I've got salt rings on my shoes that say salt was used. A hell of a lot of it.
November 17th, 2019 at 11:11 PM ^
My seats were covered with salt.....
November 17th, 2019 at 8:51 PM ^
After seeing this, I'm now incredibly thankful for what snow was removed. That's just a massive undertaking.
Had a halftime conversation with someone about how disappointed he was in some of the snow that was lying around and the seeming total lack of salt.
November 17th, 2019 at 8:55 PM ^
One quick question: Are you sure Harold is a Korean War vet if he is 79 years old? That would mean he was born in 1939 or 1940 and only 13 or 14 at the start of the war. Maybe he is a lot older than that and even more kudos for shoveling at such a high age!
November 17th, 2019 at 9:23 PM ^
Also must question the university's lack of preparation if they're counting on a septuagenerian usher to shovel some last-minute snow. That's how old guys go down from heart attacks.
November 17th, 2019 at 10:27 PM ^
I'm sure Dave Brandon would've pointed out that liability immediately if he were still the AD
November 18th, 2019 at 12:17 AM ^
Thankfully saw this one before posting the same question. Would love to know.
November 18th, 2019 at 7:42 AM ^
He probably mentioned the wrong war. A guy who still works at my family's barbershop was in the Korean war. He is 92 years old.
November 18th, 2019 at 2:10 PM ^
Oh, let it go Blue Eyes.....
He may have fought for the other side and they had soldiers younger than that.
And, Praise Harold and give his a raise!
GO BLUE!
November 17th, 2019 at 9:32 PM ^
So far in this thread the score is tied 2-2.
Two people annoyed by the salt everywhere and two stunned by the complete lack of salt.
So yeah.
November 17th, 2019 at 11:06 PM ^
Section 39 was a total salt show!
November 17th, 2019 at 9:40 PM ^
You would think there would be a more sophisticated way to do this.
Also: Please don't show this to recruits.
November 17th, 2019 at 9:41 PM ^
Salt and mud over the benches, flipped over our cushions and it was worse. Expected this so brought paper towels and napkins to clean things off and then no one was sitting during this game anyway. Most importantly, ice and snow was removed, could not have been an easy feat, so I have to express my gratitude to the people who did this difficult work.
November 17th, 2019 at 10:45 PM ^
We were in Sect 3 and thought things were good all things considered. Seats were cleared with some ice/snow/slush at our feet but we were prepared for that. All and all we thought things were good.
November 17th, 2019 at 11:03 PM ^
Many of me.
November 17th, 2019 at 11:42 PM ^
I love that they did my driveway so I could get out to get some beer for the game.
No snow on my couch--HUZZAH great job guys!
November 18th, 2019 at 5:53 AM ^
Damn! That looks tedious
November 18th, 2019 at 7:00 AM ^
Those of you complaining in this thread are ridiculous. My section was mostly clear except for some slush around our feet. There was some salt on our cushions and on the bench but I just brushed it off. We knew what the conditions were so we dressed in boots and snow pants and coveralls and had a great time.
Thank you to everyone who helped get the stadium cleaned out.
November 18th, 2019 at 8:20 AM ^
It was kind of a pleasant amazement that the stadium was as clear as it was. Remember that there was abut 10 inches of the wet heavy stuff that fell and the temps didn't creep up about freezing until about 24 hours before game time. It was a bit of a freak storm- I can't recall ever getting this much this long before Thanksgiving. Most communities are still busy removing leaves at this time.
But yes, we still live in the upper midwest. You have to be prepared for this stuff.
The University screws up a lot of things on the game experience, but this was not one of them.