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My Trip to Spartan Stadium, New Scoreboard?, Photos of the Field, and Etcetera

I was lucky enough to go on a tour of Spartan Stadium and the Football building, sponsored by the Mid-Michigan Alumni Club.  Thanks y'all!  As part of the tour there was a talk before hand, and from what I can tell, a new scoreboard for the North end of Spartan Stadium is a go, and will be constructed next year (Note;  I'm not 100% on this, just passing along information I heard in the Q&A portion before the tour).  Here's to sitting in the south end zone and being able to see replays!  I was able to snap a new pictures in the boxes and such, and here they are (Note -- these were taken with my cell phone camera, so I apologize for the quality in advance):

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To the naked eye, the grass appears to be coming along nicely.  It's hard to tell from this photo, but Spartan helmets are on each 30 yard line.

Star-divide

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From what I can tell, there'll either be a new entry to the Ring of Fame, or I forgot to count the ones on there and they just redid one of the signs.  Either way, INTRIGUE!

 

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Note -- if you give the largest gift any athlete has ever given MSU, you get your own suite on the top of Spartan Stadium, right next to the press box. 

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A gorgeous view of campus.  That's Hubbard Hall off on the far left.

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Even bleachers need a new coat of paint every now and then.

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Like the sign says, this is the Varsity Alumni Club.  What are those large wooden circles you ask?

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On the tables are the names of each varsity athlete from a given time period.  These tables used to be in the Union, and they were rescued from storage when the new addition to the stadium was constructed.  This table is from the MAC days, 1915-1925.

 

 

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A map of campus, circa 1915.  Sorry I couldn't magnify the text for you.  Once upon a time, everything was north of the Red Cedar.

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The 2010 Big Ten Champions plaque, in case you haven't seen it.  For future reference, it's on the southwest corner of Spartan Stadium.

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The 2010 Big Ten Champions display in the Demmer Football Building.  It shows all the wins, so it should be obvious why the panel depicting the Northwestern game is twice as long as the others.  Still, that's quite the awesome photo, no?

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The Football building also has images from many memorable Spartan games, including Larry Caper's run to beat Michigan in overtime two years ago.  I wish they would've picked the picture of him doing the high kick though.

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Lastly, Le'Veon Bell showed up, and he was nice enough to have his picture taken with all the kids that were on the tour.  I can't emphasize enough how nice he was to all the children -- he took time out to talk with each of them, and was nothing but gracious.

That was my tour of Spartan Stadium and the football building.  A couple other notes:

  • The monitors in the team meeting room all have countdown clocks.  Not to the Michigan game, but to the Youngstown State game a little more than two weeks away.
  • The Rose Bowl emblems are everywhere: they're on the banners in the practice field, they're even on the mats in the team meeting room with the "P4RB" (play for Rose Bowl) motto below the roses.
  • The Land Grant Trophy was made by a company in Ohio, and is completely bare on one side.  Lame.

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Pshaw!

It’s the tallest and the best!

Seriously, that’s the Hubbard Hall motto.

by Pete Rossman on Aug 17, 2011 8:48 PM CDT up reply actions  

Three years through MSU so far

And thank God I only have gotten stuck in a class in East Complex once so far

Schadenfreude ist die schoenste Freude

by Seer on Aug 17, 2011 10:44 PM CDT up reply actions  

I Think Im the Only Person Who Loved Hubbard.

I thought it was great, I was on the eleventh floor and had a great view. We also had… lenient RAs which meant we could misbehave a bit (like all students should) pretty safe from trouble. The interior was nice, I was there when they had the new Sparty’s put in, and the food was good and it was close to Holmes and Akers in case it wasn’t. There was an auditorium showing free movies literally 80 feet away. There was a bus station and it was only a 15 minute walk to any classes. Plus its easy to get to from the interstate lol.

Anyways, not trying to be an advertisement for Hubbard, but I really enjoyed it. Maybe Im just nostalgic for my freshman year.

by Loneytunes on Aug 18, 2011 12:32 AM CDT up reply actions  

It's likely mostly nostalgia

Most of east campus hasn’t been touched since the 80’s. Hubbard itself is just a tall building with not much else to give. It’s still 60’s brutalist architecture, like a lot of campus south of the river unfortunately is. The entire area around east complex is completely crumbling – roads, sidewalks, all of it.

There ARE plans to upgrade the area around Hubbard, though, and I’m sure the wave of improvements to dining halls will eventually make its way east.

"The open threads on game days are like fevered dreams: Everyone is hammered and then shit gets burned." - Truffle Shuffle

by The Ghost of John Hannah on Aug 18, 2011 6:24 AM CDT up reply actions  

Stadium Tour

I did the stadium tour with the alumni club a few years ago. It was mostly a sales pitch for the suites. Not like timeshare hard-sell but they went out of their way to make sure you knew just how affordable it was for a group of families (hah!).

I did get to go in the radio booth though. I sat in the chair and did my best Blaha “Touchdown, M-S-U!”. Best day ever? Best. Day. Ever.

by duaneste on Aug 17, 2011 9:16 PM CDT reply actions  

This post is waaaay cool!

Well done, Pete! Thanks for sharing this awesome experience.

"And how much are intangibles worth? 10%? 20%?" - kj@theonlycolors

by intrpdtrvlr on Aug 17, 2011 9:47 PM CDT reply actions   1 recs

Very Original.

Most blogs wouldnt think to do something like this, it’s so fan oriented yet ESPN wouldn’t call it “News”.

by Loneytunes on Aug 18, 2011 12:33 AM CDT up reply actions  

Demmer is absolutely amazing inside

That’s awesome you got to go there.

"The open threads on game days are like fevered dreams: Everyone is hammered and then shit gets burned." - Truffle Shuffle

by The Ghost of John Hannah on Aug 18, 2011 6:24 AM CDT reply actions  

Somewhat related to Spartan Stadium

If you watch videos of last year’s games, you’ll see big pockets at the top of the student section that are empty. Either the fans left early (too much booze) or they never even showed up (too much booze). Regardless, I would hope that on the heels of a 11-win season, we could get a better showing by the student section as well as the rest of the top portions of the stadium. This is as good as its been here for football at MSU since any of us can remember. The students and the fans should be 100% behind this team.

by B-Race Miles on Aug 18, 2011 6:58 AM CDT reply actions  

Student tickets sold out a week or two ago

So there’s that, though that doesn’t mean they’ll show up. There’s always a large group of students who go to the games for the social aspect of it rather than the actual game.

Schadenfreude ist die schoenste Freude

by Seer on Aug 18, 2011 9:08 AM CDT up reply actions  

spartans text in the endzone.

i really hope it stays outline. i know it won’t, but it looks really cool as an outline.

by robb. on Aug 18, 2011 7:25 AM CDT reply actions  

Great Photos

Loving that pic of campus.

Nice to hear the stuff about Bell. I just finished up a near-2200 yard season (2012) with him on NCAA Football. Dude’s a boss.

http://pittsfieldindex.blogspot.com/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pittsfield-Ratings-Index/142673082487903

by PittsfieldIndex on Aug 18, 2011 12:09 PM CDT reply actions  

I set...

…the HB sub out pretty high, so I end up spreading the carries around. I feel bad for my imaginary players not getting in the game. And that’s what a wise coach would do in real life.

by witless chum on Aug 18, 2011 3:27 PM CDT up reply actions  

I just realized there's something very critical missing from that picture.

So sad. I’m still pissed they tore it down, even if it was unstable.

"The open threads on game days are like fevered dreams: Everyone is hammered and then shit gets burned." - Truffle Shuffle

by The Ghost of John Hannah on Aug 18, 2011 10:56 PM CDT up reply actions  

I made sure to get a photo of it after the Spring Game. It’s the current wallpaper on my phone.

http://pittsfieldindex.blogspot.com/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pittsfield-Ratings-Index/142673082487903

by PittsfieldIndex on Aug 18, 2011 11:13 PM CDT up reply actions  

Prepare 4 Rose Bowl

Great post. I do believe I heard Cousins use the phrase “PREPARE for Rose Bowl” rather than “Play for Rose Bowl.” Although.. maybe now that the season is here, they are beginning to “play” rather than “prepare”? I would like to know for sure. I think it’s a great phrase either way.

by SpartyPregame on Aug 19, 2011 12:06 PM CDT reply actions  

great pics and post

thanks for sharing the tour with us!

by mmwhitman on Aug 19, 2011 8:44 PM CDT reply actions  

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