I'll leave the scheduling fights to others. Made the trip to UConn from Liverpool in a little less than 4 hours. (5 and a half back though - talk about that later) Gorgeous weather for a game and for traveling. Thank you to CTO for the hotel suggestion, it was great. Was fortunate to be able to see and even meet some of the new young staff and wish the players that I saw, my best for a fantastic game the next day. Thank you also to my sons for a great birthday present, seats in the 3rd row behind SU's bench at the 35 yard line.
I like the Rentshler,- wide, wide concourses easy to navigate. They had separate kiosk type booths separate from the food, selling individual brands of beer etc. Bud , Coors, Sam Adams etc plus some craft beer kiosks (Harpoon seemed very popular) helps keep lines very manageable at the food venues. There were no ushers double checking your ticket going to your seats, making it smoother, quicker to get to and from your seats. For old people( like me) and little kids ( like how I act) there is a handrail down the middle of wider aisles than the dome between sections, making it safer to get to, from your seat to the concourse. UConn also has issues with late arrivals. Lots of prime empty seats too, must be a more universal problem. Surprised to see UConn picking the sidelines looking right into the sun. Despite being 30 miles from their Campus, they had good student attendance.
Their band is huge. It looked like they had about 300+ or so members in their band. Definitely more than double SU's size. Hard to figure when we have so many locally nationally known high school bands. The CBS telecast had a cameraman on a platform lift obscuring views from the seats along SU's (visitor's) sideline following the action. That's something the prime seats in the dome don't have to contend with. The most noticeable difference between the teams right away was the size differential. UConn looked huge , taller and carrying much more "girth" than SU. Thankful that SU proved the old saying "the bigger they are... " . Our kids played tough. Got to love the human vacuum, Amba, - the UConn fans around me kept saying "we can't guard #7". True dat.
Not one of the policemen, security, nor various parking attendants had any idea where the Pratt and Whitney Aero Club nor lot was. We got there early and were able to checkout the entire stadium and most of the parking lots trying to find the Syracusefan.com tailgate with no luck. The UConn fans I met were very good sports. A few asked me my feelings about leaving the Big East, being in the ACC and their hopes to be in a P5 conference. There were a couple of loud jerks who were mocking Strickland and Frederick while riding bikes on the sideline but it was pretty much a drama free game between fans.
It was a beautiful day, perfect football weather so the venue was perfect. If it had been colder, rainy, more windy, cloudy day - to be honest... I'm also certain my thoughts on the venue and walking through mud lots, open concourses etc might be different. I could see how the wind could be a real issue there. It was a perfect day , a great venue for being outside watching football Saturday.
Went to the basketball Hall of Fame on the way home Sunday. Great seeing JB references everywhere, the Syracuse Nat's and all the SU greats honored etc. However leaving the Hall of Fame resulted for us being in the biggest traffic nightmare we've ever experienced. The city of Springfield closed the city on-ramps back to route 91 N. We were stuck on a 4 lane one way boulevard that moved 3 blocks in an hour and 40 minutes. Sunday morning vocabulary and traffic etiquette were definitely not on display. Springfield is now a dirty word in our house, at least until my husband's suppressed road rage dissipates. :noidea: Sorry for the length.
