ESPN ranks Alabama, Auburn stadiums among top 25, but only 1 is in top 10 LSU at #1, Bama at #9. Our Swamp is in at #20. How the mighty have fallen, used to be in the Top 5 back in the 90s and early 2000s.
I didn't read it, but why?? The Swamp (more like "The Wetland" lately) has not been daunting for a while.
It goes to show you that the program itself has been flagging for so long, a dozen writers don't really see much with the Swamp. This is of course a popularity contest, there were no rules or guidelines on how each stadium was ranked. But Army was ranked 12th probably because their pre-game festivities makes ours look pedestrian: We don't have that - we do have Mr 2 Bits, but barely anyone outside of Gainesville knows about it.
BHG was heads and shoulders better than both LSU and Alabama in 1990. They have continued to expand and refine their stadiums while we've stagnated the last 15 years and are talking about reducing seating by the 1,000's to put in seat backs and larger aisles and rows. There is a real dichotomy in direction between the schools as far as resources committed to Football.
This is why we shouldn’t reduce capacity. We should want the Swamp to be a tougher place to play, not an easier one
From the article: “So we asked 14 of our college football writers to rank the best stadiums in the sport. No parameters, no criteria. Writers were asked to submit their top 20 stadiums in order. We then awarded points: 20 for first-place votes, 19 for second and all the way down to 1 point for a stadium voted No. 20.” This instantly invalidates pretty much the entire article.
2 Bits was actually on the wallpaper background for CBN's main room press conference for SEC Media Days.
Off the top of my head, Utah was better home game than most I can remember at some of those other Stadiums at The Swamp. Swamp when it matters even a bit is #1-3
A list without criteria is rather meaningless. The SWAMP has one of the best designs in the country from the standpoint of quality vantage points and keeping the noise in. Now if the list is intending on factoring in quality play, then we're sure to get dinged a bit for that. Some of the best features that help make the atmosphere easier to generate: Distance from row 1 to the field of play. It's something like 21 feet from the wall to the playing field, all down the entire sideline. Take a look at Bryant-Denny Stadium or the GATOR Bowl in Jax, the middle sections are ridiculously far from the field. That's not a plus for the fans. Percentage of seats that are more than a football field away from the playing area. The incline gets steep after about row 25, and that helps keep more fans closer to the field as compared to other stadiums; also helps to hold the noise in. Max distance of upper level endzone seats to the field of play. Just another area where our fans are more on top of the action than other locations. If our fan base had the passion of LSU's fan base, our stadium would be #1 for atmosphere on a regular basis (I know we have lots of great fans and some have the energy to match some of LSU's best fans, but as a base, we just don't have their level of enthusiasm). There are lots of features that we apparently lack that lots of other fans may have a preference for, but for me, I just care about what goes towards making the atmosphere as great as it can possibly be: quality football, structure, passionate fanbase, challenging schedule. Couldn't care less about most of the bells and whistles that get bandied about; some of them will detract from the best atmosphere we could possibly have. Go GATORS! ,WESGATORS
It seems to be the fad thing these days to create lists about stuff. The problem is, the lists are usually generated by uninformed people with little subjective research, solely for the purpose of clicks. I think I see one or more of these lists pumped out every day. They're not worth the bytes they are broadcast on.
We were halfway down the mountain with a full head of steam by the time they went wokey and pulled the plug on Gatorbait (over some phantom boodeyman or another...). Not saying dropping the GB chant was good, but it was hardly impactful. Upon recollection, that was after the double whammy of Muschamp and McElwain (McElchump), and into Mullen's tenure.
"we asked 14 wonks what their opinion is on X". Apparently a gigly teenage sleep over 'survey' constitutes a basis for journalism at ESPN.
