They did say a few nice things about it.

Gobears49 said:

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They did say a few nice things about it.

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Lol.

There are many ACC stadiums at the bottom of the list, Pitt, Virginia, Syracuse, Boston College, Duke, Georgia Tech....

The Florida State stadium looks very nice, great exterior.

The guy is a younger midwestern dude, judging by his accent, so he has a bunch of Big10 stadiums on top like tOSU, UofM PSU etc. and he bases his rankings on things like attendance and the programs rather than the stadiums themselves.

Cal88 said:

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The Florida State stadium looks very nice, great exterior.

The guy is a younger midwestern dude, judging by his accent, so he has a bunch of Big10 stadiums on top like tOSU, UofM PSU etc. and he bases his rankings on things like attendance and the programs rather than the stadiums themselves.

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He disses CMS because our football team hasn't been good.

Cal88 said:

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The Florida State stadium looks very nice, great exterior.

The guy is a younger midwestern dude, judging by his accent, so he has a bunch of Big10 stadiums on top like tOSU, UofM PSU etc. and he bases his rankings on things like attendance and the programs rather than the stadiums themselves.

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If he's young, I'm guessing he hasn't been to even a third of all those stadiums. It's kind of a worthless survey if he's just going on long distance impressions or team won/loss records for many of the schools.

calumnus said:

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Cal88 said:

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The Florida State stadium looks very nice, great exterior.

The guy is a younger midwestern dude, judging by his accent, so he has a bunch of Big10 stadiums on top like tOSU, UofM PSU etc. and he bases his rankings on things like attendance and the programs rather than the stadiums themselves.

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He disses CMS because our football team hasn't been good.

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That is his main complaint. Not filled with loud fans cheering their good team. Maybe we can fix that!

Also says it lacks cover: "must be really hot in California in the mid-afternoon" (paraphrase). Has he ever been to Berkeley? LOL!

Big C said:

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calumnus said:

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Cal88 said:

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The Florida State stadium looks very nice, great exterior.

The guy is a younger midwestern dude, judging by his accent, so he has a bunch of Big10 stadiums on top like tOSU, UofM PSU etc. and he bases his rankings on things like attendance and the programs rather than the stadiums themselves.

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He disses CMS because our football team hasn't been good.

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That is his main complaint. Not filled with loud fans cheering their good team. Maybe we can fix that!

Also says it lacks cover: "must be really hot in California in the mid-afternoon" (paraphrase). Has he ever been to Berkeley? LOL!

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Occasionally we get an afternoon kickoff which may not be hot but under direct sunlight can be pretty brutal on the west east side.

Strykur said:

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Big C said:

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calumnus said:

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Cal88 said:

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The Florida State stadium looks very nice, great exterior.

The guy is a younger midwestern dude, judging by his accent, so he has a bunch of Big10 stadiums on top like tOSU, UofM PSU etc. and he bases his rankings on things like attendance and the programs rather than the stadiums themselves.

---

He disses CMS because our football team hasn't been good.

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That is his main complaint. Not filled with loud fans cheering their good team. Maybe we can fix that!

Also says it lacks cover: "must be really hot in California in the mid-afternoon" (paraphrase). Has he ever been to Berkeley? LOL!

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Occasionally we get an afternoon kickoff which may not be hot but under direct sunlight can be pretty brutal on the west side.

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Don't you mean east side?

Big C said:

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calumnus said:

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Cal88 said:

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The Florida State stadium looks very nice, great exterior.

The guy is a younger midwestern dude, judging by his accent, so he has a bunch of Big10 stadiums on top like tOSU, UofM PSU etc. and he bases his rankings on things like attendance and the programs rather than the stadiums themselves.

---

He disses CMS because our football team hasn't been good.

---

That is his main complaint. Not filled with loud fans cheering their good team. Maybe we can fix that!

Also says it lacks cover: "must be really hot in California in the mid-afternoon" (paraphrase). Has he ever been to Berkeley? LOL!

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Those early season games get very uncomfortable.

dimitrig said:

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Big C said:

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calumnus said:

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Cal88 said:

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The Florida State stadium looks very nice, great exterior.

The guy is a younger midwestern dude, judging by his accent, so he has a bunch of Big10 stadiums on top like tOSU, UofM PSU etc. and he bases his rankings on things like attendance and the programs rather than the stadiums themselves.

---

He disses CMS because our football team hasn't been good.

---

That is his main complaint. Not filled with loud fans cheering their good team. Maybe we can fix that!

Also says it lacks cover: "must be really hot in California in the mid-afternoon" (paraphrase). Has he ever been to Berkeley? LOL!

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Those early season games get very uncomfortable.

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I hope you aren't planning on going to the Auburn or FSU games LOL...

In just the pac-12 I'd put Memorial Stadium in the upper top half. My personal fav was Washington's followed Utah then Oregon I think Cal would be somewhere between 4 and 7 depending on personal taste. Some would place the rose bowl high but I personally hated it. I don't like that there's nowhere to escape the sun if its a middle of the day game because it just becomes a pit of sun burns with those metal seats bouncing the sun rays back up.. In fairness there is 2 stadiums I have not been too and that's Colorado and Arizona's. SC's home is okay when the place is sold out and bumping. Colorado would probably pretty upper tier as a guess, great picturesque atmosphere similar to Cal's.

Michigan's Big House ranked as #2 just indicates what a clown the author of this video is. It's a good stadium to watch a game in, but it's really is just a hole in the ground. When you're in there, you have a view of absolutely nothing. No restaurants nearby and it's a few blocks from the campus academic buildings. Think of CMS being a hole in the ground near University and MLK or College and Ashby.

MinotStateBeav said:

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In just the pac-12 I'd put Memorial Stadium in the upper top half. My personal fav was Washington's followed Utah then Oregon I think Cal would be somewhere between 4 and 7 depending on personal taste. Some would place the rose bowl high but I personally hated it. I don't like that there's nowhere to escape the sun if its a middle of the day game because it just becomes a pit of sun burns with those metal seats bouncing the sun rays back up.. In fairness there is 2 stadiums I have not been too and that's Colorado and Arizona's. SC's home is okay when the place is sold out and bumping. Colorado would probably pretty upper tier as a guess, great picturesque atmosphere similar to Cal's.

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I've been to a game at CU. I'd put the scenery up there with anyone's.

Big C said:

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calumnus said:

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Cal88 said:

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The Florida State stadium looks very nice, great exterior.

The guy is a younger midwestern dude, judging by his accent, so he has a bunch of Big10 stadiums on top like tOSU, UofM PSU etc. and he bases his rankings on things like attendance and the programs rather than the stadiums themselves.

---

He disses CMS because our football team hasn't been good.

---

That is his main complaint. Not filled with loud fans cheering their good team. Maybe we can fix that!

Also says it lacks cover: "must be really hot in California in the mid-afternoon" (paraphrase). Has he ever been to Berkeley? LOL!

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to be fair the sun has kicked my ass sitting in the student section despite 80 degree weather. it isn't as bad as the rose bowl, but it can still be miserable as the 3rd quarter hangover kicks in

MinotStateBeav said:

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In just the pac-12 I'd put Memorial Stadium in the upper top half. My personal fav was Washington's followed Utah then Oregon I think Cal would be somewhere between 4 and 7 depending on personal taste. Some would place the rose bowl high but I personally hated it. I don't like that there's nowhere to escape the sun if its a middle of the day game because it just becomes a pit of sun burns with those metal seats bouncing the sun rays back up.. In fairness there is 2 stadiums I have not been too and that's Colorado and Arizona's. SC's home is okay when the place is sold out and bumping. Colorado would probably pretty upper tier as a guess, great picturesque atmosphere similar to Cal's.

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I hate the overhangs on UW's stadium but its great otherwise. Cal's stadium is great and the location is up there with any... when its full. When half the seats aren't full, that is.

It also would have been nice if we could have renovated the full stadium, and not just the west half. Granted the west side needed it more and the students can deal with it, but continuing to rely on porta potties is a bit embarassing. $450M doesn't buy what it used to I guess (and didn't 15 years ago either).

B1G and SEC stadiums do tend to be bigger, flashier and certainly louder. I don't generally disagree with them populating most of the top 20. But if the Coliseum (USC's) is anywhere near the top 10, throw that list right out.

From a personal perspective, one advantage to a <50k crowd at CMS is that you can frequently move from east to west depending on the temperature. In sunny September with a 1PM kickoff, moving from the east side to the west side at half-time is the way to go. But for a November game you might do the opposite - moving to the east side up in the row 50 range to maximize your sun exposure.

Ouch! "Doomed to be an irrelevancy...playing a lot of irrevelant games as they are irrelevant team..."

southseasbear said:

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Strykur said:

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Big C said:

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calumnus said:

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Cal88 said:

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The Florida State stadium looks very nice, great exterior.

The guy is a younger midwestern dude, judging by his accent, so he has a bunch of Big10 stadiums on top like tOSU, UofM PSU etc. and he bases his rankings on things like attendance and the programs rather than the stadiums themselves.

---

He disses CMS because our football team hasn't been good.

---

That is his main complaint. Not filled with loud fans cheering their good team. Maybe we can fix that!

Also says it lacks cover: "must be really hot in California in the mid-afternoon" (paraphrase). Has he ever been to Berkeley? LOL!

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Occasionally we get an afternoon kickoff which may not be hot but under direct sunlight can be pretty brutal on the west side.

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Don't you mean east side?

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Correct, I finally over to the west side when we played Arizona in 2022 because I had been baking in the sun for 3 straight weekends (Notre Dame was brutal).

BearinOC said:

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Ouch! "Doomed to be an irrelevancy...playing a lot of irrevelant games as they are irrelevant team..."

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It is possible to be a bad team playing in a great stadium just as it is possible to be a great team playing in a horrible stadium. Again, if he means "game day atmosphere" that would include both, but he is ranking stadiums not teams, fan support, etc.

Strykur said:

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southseasbear said:

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Strykur said:

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Big C said:

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calumnus said:

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Cal88 said:

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The Florida State stadium looks very nice, great exterior.

The guy is a younger midwestern dude, judging by his accent, so he has a bunch of Big10 stadiums on top like tOSU, UofM PSU etc. and he bases his rankings on things like attendance and the programs rather than the stadiums themselves.

---

He disses CMS because our football team hasn't been good.

---

That is his main complaint. Not filled with loud fans cheering their good team. Maybe we can fix that!

Also says it lacks cover: "must be really hot in California in the mid-afternoon" (paraphrase). Has he ever been to Berkeley? LOL!

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Occasionally we get an afternoon kickoff which may not be hot but under direct sunlight can be pretty brutal on the west side.

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Don't you mean east side?

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Correct, I finally over to the west side when we played Arizona in 2022 because I had been baking in the sun for 3 straight weekends (Notre Dame was brutal).

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Okay, you guys are right: There are usually 1-2 uncomfortably hot games at CMS in September. But I think they're usually more "surprisingly hot" than they are "Tallahassee hot". (Agreed, I don't like to be on the east side for those.)

Those are when we should have the night games scheduled (if we had a choice).

southseasbear said:

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Strykur said:

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Big C said:

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calumnus said:

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Cal88 said:

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The Florida State stadium looks very nice, great exterior.

The guy is a younger midwestern dude, judging by his accent, so he has a bunch of Big10 stadiums on top like tOSU, UofM PSU etc. and he bases his rankings on things like attendance and the programs rather than the stadiums themselves.

---

He disses CMS because our football team hasn't been good.

---

That is his main complaint. Not filled with loud fans cheering their good team. Maybe we can fix that!

Also says it lacks cover: "must be really hot in California in the mid-afternoon" (paraphrase). Has he ever been to Berkeley? LOL!

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Occasionally we get an afternoon kickoff which may not be hot but under direct sunlight can be pretty brutal on the west side.

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Don't you mean east side?

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You're correct.

Here's an interesting Big House story around two apparently unrelated facts:

• On September 29, 1979, UM beat Cal at CMS 14-10 in front of 57,000 fans (per Wikipedia).

• Since 1959, the UM stadium announcer, when reading other college scores during half-time, would always include Division 2 Slippery Rock State U's result and it became a tradition for UM fans to cheer wildly.

The previous year, Don Canham, UM's savvy AD, realized he had an open stadium date on 9/29/79, and so scheduled Slippery Rock to play another Div 2 school, Shippensburg St in the Big House. These two schools aren't even located in Michigan, they are Pennsylvania public universities. I was a UM student at the time and, out of curiosity, routed my morning run past the Big House an hour before kickoff and it was rockin! The game drew a Div 2 record 61,000 fans!

HearstMining said:

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The previous year, Don Canham, UM's savvy AD, realized he had an open stadium date on 9/29/79, and so scheduled Slippery Rock to play another Div 2 school, Shippensburg St in the Big House. These two schools aren't even located in Michigan, they are Pennsylvania public universities.

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UM's Don Canham was a marketing genius in intercollegiate athletics. The man understood the value of branding. As AD, he slapped that block 'M' or 'MICHIGAN' across anything and everything, and the collegiate apparel and licensing business took off like a rocket. Canham's probably on the list of top-10 most influential people in Michigan athletic history, maybe even top-5 given his creativity in marketing of college sports and understanding of apparel/licensing deals.

Meanwhile we have Jim Knowlton.

As for this thread, if judging a stadium on its beauty, classical look, and fit within its surroundings/location, California Memorial Stadium is right up there. Yeah, it still has porta-potties on the east side, yeah the place is almost always half-full, yeah our students are not as rah-rah as other student bodies, but the stadium itself -- the classic old bowl tucked into the mouth of Strawberry Canyon -- is a thing of beauty. John Galen Howard -- you rock. Not to mention our hallowed field is not located 25 miles from the Cal campus, so s*ck it, Uclans.

calumnus said:

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Cal88 said:

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The Florida State stadium looks very nice, great exterior.
The guy is a younger midwestern dude, judging by his accent, so he has a bunch of Big10 stadiums on top like tOSU, UofM PSU etc. and he bases his rankings on things like attendance and the programs rather than the stadiums themselves.

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He disses CMS because our football team hasn't been good.

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Bad toilet rooms and poor restaurant / food facilities exceed team achievements.

BearBoarBlarney said:

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HearstMining said:

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The previous year, Don Canham, UM's savvy AD, realized he had an open stadium date on 9/29/79, and so scheduled Slippery Rock to play another Div 2 school, Shippensburg St in the Big House. These two schools aren't even located in Michigan, they are Pennsylvania public universities.

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UM's Don Canham was a marketing genius in intercollegiate athletics. The man understood the value of branding. As AD, he slapped that block 'M' or 'MICHIGAN' across anything and everything, and the collegiate apparel and licensing business took off like a rocket. Canham's probably on the list of top-10 most influential people in Michigan athletic history, maybe even top-5 given his creativity in marketing of college sports and understanding of apparel/licensing deals.

Meanwhile we have Jim Knowlton.

As for this thread, if judging a stadium on its beauty, classical look, and fit within its surroundings/location, California Memorial Stadium is right up there. Yeah, it still has porta-potties on the east side, yeah the place is almost always half-full, yeah our students are not as rah-rah as other student bodies, but the stadium itself -- the classic old bowl tucked into the mouth of Strawberry Canyon -- is a thing of beauty. John Galen Howard -- you rock. Not to mention our hallowed field is not located 25 miles from the Cal campus, so s*ck it, Uclans.

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Hey, we're not too proud to borrow his "M"/"MICHIGAN" idea are we?

We can slap the block "B" or "BERKELEY" across anything and everything!

^^^ just kidding on the above ^^^

HearstMining said:

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Michigan's Big House ranked as #2 just indicates what a clown the author of this video is. It's a good stadium to watch a game in, but it's really is just a hole in the ground. When you're in there, you have a view of absolutely nothing. No restaurants nearby and it's a few blocks from the campus academic buildings. Think of CMS being a hole in the ground near University and MLK or College and Ashby.

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I didn't double check, but wasn't it rated #4 nationally?

Gobears49 said:

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HearstMining said:

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Michigan's Big House ranked as #2 just indicates what a clown the author of this video is. It's a good stadium to watch a game in, but it's really is just a hole in the ground. When you're in there, you have a view of absolutely nothing. No restaurants nearby and it's a few blocks from the campus academic buildings. Think of CMS being a hole in the ground near University and MLK or College and Ashby.

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I didn't double check, but wasn't it rated #4 nationally?

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You are correct - my error. He still ranks it too high.

HearstMining said:

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Gobears49 said:

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HearstMining said:

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Michigan's Big House ranked as #2 just indicates what a clown the author of this video is. It's a good stadium to watch a game in, but it's really is just a hole in the ground. When you're in there, you have a view of absolutely nothing. No restaurants nearby and it's a few blocks from the campus academic buildings. Think of CMS being a hole in the ground near University and MLK or College and Ashby.

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I didn't double check, but wasn't it rated #4 nationally?

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You are correct - my error. He still ranks it too high.

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In pictures:

My son toured Michigan when looking to colleges. He asked at a meeting where the students sit at their stadium. They stated that they sit in the end zone. He said that "at Cal they sit at the 50 yard line". He did not go there. He did not go or apply to Cal either. He had no interest in riding the 51 bus to college! We got him his own season ticket at 10 and still roots for the Bears.

If they still do it at UM like they did in the 1980s, student seating is seniority-based in the section. First-year students (undergrad or grad) start in the lower rows of the endzone and as you continue to buy a student season ticket over the years, your seating improves. I was only there for two years, but my former roommate got his PhD and eventually was on the 35 yard-line. We received individual tickets, and you could re-sell them, which I did about half the time.

Since my previous posts dumped on The Big House, I should say that Ann Arbor was (and I assume still is) a lovely college town and as a Berkeley native, parts of it felt like home. When I first visited the town, hosted by a friend, we were wobbling back from a night of drinking and approached an intersection that, through the alcoholic haze, reminded me of a spot in Berkeley. I thought to myself, "At home, there'd be an ice cream shop around the corner." We got to the intersection and sure enough, there was an ice cream shop. I thought to myself, "If I get accepted, I think I'll go here".

Winters were rough, though, and I high-tailed it back to the west coast as soon as I got my degree.