Alternate Headline: “Did Someone not MEASURE the freaking space?”
ESPN Gameday travels to Wrigley Field for an exciting, acceptable, meh matchup between Illinois (3-4 in the Big Tweleven) and Northwestern (3-3) this weekend.
Clearly, it’s the venue that draws Gameday and not the competition. Because, really? UI and NW? Meh.
Now, there’s some additional intrigue, as they will only use one endzone.
How weird is that?
Player: “Hey Coach, I thought we were defending this end? No? Oh, okay.”
Coach: “NO! WRONG WAY IDIOT, OTHER WAY OTHER WAY!!!!!!!!!!!”
Fan: “WTF?!?!?! I bought these freaking seats thinking I’d see some action, and it’s always at the other end of the field. This right here is some Bull…”
I also find it kinda funny that they think they’ll be able to only use one. What happens with a fumble recovery return, or a pick? Oh, I know. Once you get to the 50, everybody stops, freezes and then flips positions? Then you can start running again? Yeah, that’ll be great.
This is really weird. Just odd. If you can’t fit a field in a venue, should you use the venue? Who f-ing planned this fiasco?
PS: Just to torture BK, (Bad Kermit that is) here’s a video of some dudes painting the famous cubs sign….Purple.
Don't take me, yourself, or life so seriously. This is supposed to be fun.
Biscuit co-founded HerLoyalSons in partnership with his ND roommate (Dillon Hall baby!), MQ, in 2006 and has been ranting about ND Football and everything Notre Dame since. He strongly believes in the mission of ND and its football program. Biscuit expects logic and data in arguments and will absolutely crush you if you come to a debate missing one or the other. He despises everything Michigan, and his favorite pastime is mocking Purdue.
- (Re)Introducing: DANCING LEPRECHAUNS - August 29, 2019
- Ticket Auction: ND vs USC - August 22, 2019
- No Respect! - December 14, 2018
What an effing joke!!! They didn’t realize they would only have 6 inches from the back of the endzone to a wall when they planned this?
I thought someone was joking when they posted on another website that both teams would use the same endzone. Crazy!
Interceptions, fumbles, kickoffs and punt returns are not the problem. Those players can just run into the endzone and stop or turn. It’s the fade routes to the back corner of the endzone that would either no longer be an option in the redzone, or would potentially cause some major injuries. I’m glad they decided to do it this way (one offensive endzone), but it really does screw the fans sitting in the right field bleachers.
Plus, if Gameday wanted to have both an interesting venue (baseball stadium converted to football stadium) AND an interesting matchup between two historical powerhouses with huge crazy fan bases, you’d think they’d have come to the Bronx rather than Chicago. Maybe the instate rivalry and the proximity of Wrigley to the Northwestern campus will make for a more raucus environment, but seriously no one outside of illinois cares about UI vs. NU.
I dont think our game is a Gameday Game either, but this one certainly isnt.
The whole thing is a mess though, that’s for sure.
I doubt Disney/ABC/ESPN want anything to do with drawing attention to a prime-time NBC telecast game that’s in direct competition with their own lineup of relative stinkers.
Yeah, Gameday only does games that are broadcast on ABC/ESPN. I suppose there is a chance that next week the ND/USC matchup might be “Gameday Worthy.”
Playing any sport at Wrigley is beyond stupid. Yay, let’s all be big yuppie poseurs and overpay for crappy draft beer to sit on crappy seats in a stadium that smells like urine (at best).
Amen. Wrigley is where traditions go to die.
(And I don’t even care about baseball. It’s just a horrible gameday experience.)
Screw you, DTK. That’s not urine. That’s the smell of failure.
Ive been talkin to a friend of mine about this and i keep wondering why the hell they didnt orient the field like the Yankees did– Home plate to CF? it’s not like this is the first time theres been a fb gm on a baseball diamond, so surely theyd know the space just wouldnt work.
The only justification I can think of is that they wanted to get fans RIGHT on the field and charge extra for those EZ seats than what tey could get if they were further back. I know if i had those tix right now, id demand a refund or an upgrade to better seating.
Prediction- low scoring game because even in the EZ that theyll be headin into, one corner has the same issue of being way too close, effectively inserting a
Free defender for that side of the field. Both teams can load up to the open side without much fear of getting hurt.
Some more rules changes for this game:
-Replace the coin flip at the start of the game with a round of 500 with the starting WRs for both teams
– Count to 3 Mississippis before blitzing
– The best QB on either team gets to be all-time qb for the day
– Smear the Queer halftime show with the walk-ons, band members, and cheerleaders
#4…im in for that. Love that game
Also, if there is a pic, everyone is “frozen”. Freeze tag games begins, and the kickers for both teams have to come out and un-freeze their guys.
What if they just made 49 yds midfield? That would give them 2 more yds. Wouldn’t that be enough? Wouldn’t that make the game a little less like a circus?
The rules state that there must be at least 6 yards past all directions of the edge of the playing field, so even doing something like that would still make this a field in violation of NCAA rules.
When Bears played at Wrigley (for 50 years) the field was aligned north to south, like a real football field should be aligned — basically from first base line to left field.
See attached (assuming link works).
http://www.suntimes.com/sports/football/-1,wrigley-field-football-072809.photogallery
Note the room behind the end zones (the north end zone is hard to see).
Because the Tribune company wanted to squeeze more cash from the Cubs, in the past few years they have added extra rows of seating on the field just past the dug out on at least the 3rd base side (and probably on the first base side as well – I just don’t recall). I know because a friend has season tickets in the 3rd row — which is now the 6th or 7th row because they added Row A, Row B, etc, in front of the first row.
“Note the room behind the end zones”
Were you being sarcastic? The goalposts in that picture are on the zero-yard line, not the minus-ten yard line like nowadays, and it doesn’t look like there’s *any* room in that corner on the far left and likely not much room on the bottom right corner.
People who pay for tickets at Wrigley are used to getting ripped off. Cubs suck.
Go SOX!
and Irish!
Anyone feel like this is sort of karma payback for the Integer flirting with all those schools in the offseason. Trying to screw with all of CFB instead of accurately planning this, which is a huge embarrassment.
I just think they used the same calculator to figure out the measuements of the field to make sure it would fit when they planned this game as the one they used to name their conference… just maybe.