Nice day yesterday

bb fan

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I will tell you up front, this is gonna be a weird post. And it will rankle a few of our posters here. But so it goes. Yesterday, Saturday was a beautiful, mild sunny day. Driving to the game I could see a glistening Watterson Towers in the distance, and approaching campus, the pretty new, beautiful facade of the East side of Hancock 2.0. I have been so pleased this project we executed the way it was, with an impressive view from Main Street, that has added such classy, impressive front door to the campus.

I parked in our lot there on the north side of Hancock, and walked past the beautiful new field turf and the view of the new east side stands. I look off to the right and saw the nearly brand new Duffy Bass field. And the new softball dugouts. All was nice and green for this time of year. The whole north side of the athletics complex looks fantastic. Going through Horton and remincising a little about all the great stuff that has happened there, I always get a little excited seeing the beautiful Redbird Arena coming out the other side. Still, after all of these years, the place holds up very well.

Walking into Redbird, the brand new lights seemed to have added a crisp brightness. The new ribbons and excellent vivid scoreboards. And it was a fun game. A very nice, lively crowd, especially for a break game. The Arena is such a nice bright place, that will get even nicer after this summer. OK, I might be a little biased, but I think it is still RA is one of the best venues I have been to, and I have been to a lot. The band sounded great. We have been sooo fortunate in this regard, both the Big Red Marching Machine and the pep band. Ok, I might be biased here, too, as my daughter has been with the bands since she was a freshman and even today helping out over breaks. It is always special for me to see her there as I did yesterday.

So I left campus with a smile on my face. The sun was setting on a shining Watterson Towers as I drive away from B/N. It was just another great day to be a Redbird. So, thanks for reading through what was probably a senior moment for me writing this. And I am sorry if it was too drippy, and I even apologize ahead of time to those few posters that just can't seem to stand anything positive. And Quinnie, if you want to move this or even delete, I understand. You are best at what you do, and I appreciate your efforts. Have a good rest of the weekend, Redbirds.
 

MadBird

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Good stuff, bb fan.

Now let's see if the "geniuses" show up on this thread and wreck your vision and tell us how much more we could have if the administration got off its arse, raised millions and millions of dollars, blah blah blah!! ;)
 

CaliRdBrd

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Very nice!!
It’s been almost 25 years since I’ve been back ...thanks for the visual!

Peace
 

Baltimore Bird

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I love the visual BB fan. I have only been to 2 home games since 1997 but I can see everything you are doing. Thanks to this website, EPSN3 and the MVC tourney I still feel part of the program.

GO BIRDS!
 

TIMMY

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Great post bb fan. Don't you love those SR moments? I get them too. It's a great place and a big part of all of our lives.
 

Tpguy

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All facilities have also upgraded to 2-ply tp
 

stats

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bb fan said:
Going through Horton and remincising a little about all the great stuff that has happened there, I always get a little excited

This happens to me every time I enter that place. If I won the Mega Million, I would pay whatever it would take to get that place ready so ISU could play one more game there.
 

ISU FAN 1

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bb fan said:
I will tell you up front, this is gonna be a weird post. And it will rankle a few of our posters here. But so it goes. Yesterday, Saturday was a beautiful, mild sunny day. Driving to the game I could see a glistening Watterson Towers in the distance, and approaching campus, the pretty new, beautiful facade of the East side of Hancock 2.0. I have been so pleased this project we executed the way it was, with an impressive view from Main Street, that has added such classy, impressive front door to the campus.

I parked in our lot there on the north side of Hancock, and walked past the beautiful new field turf and the view of the new east side stands. I look off to the right and saw the nearly brand new Duffy Bass field. And the new softball dugouts. All was nice and green for this time of year. The whole north side of the athletics complex looks fantastic. Going through Horton and remincising a little about all the great stuff that has happened there, I always get a little excited seeing the beautiful Redbird Arena coming out the other side. Still, after all of these years, the place holds up very well.

Walking into Redbird, the brand new lights seemed to have added a crisp brightness. The new ribbons and excellent vivid scoreboards. And it was a fun game. A very nice, lively crowd, especially for a break game. The Arena is such a nice bright place, that will get even nicer after this summer. OK, I might be a little biased, but I think it is still RA is one of the best venues I have been to, and I have been to a lot. The band sounded great. We have been sooo fortunate in this regard, both the Big Red Marching Machine and the pep band. Ok, I might be biased here, too, as my daughter has been with the bands since she was a freshman and even today helping out over breaks. It is always special for me to see her there as I did yesterday.

So I left campus with a smile on my face. The sun was setting on a shining Watterson Towers as I drive away from B/N. It was just another great day to be a Redbird. So, thanks for reading through what was probably a senior moment for me writing this. And I am sorry if it was too drippy, and I even apologize ahead of time to those few posters that just can't seem to stand anything positive. And Quinnie, if you want to move this or even delete, I understand. You are best at what you do, and I appreciate your efforts. Have a good rest of the weekend, Redbirds.

I’ve forwarded this post to NPD. DUI, drunk on Redbird Kool-Aid.
 

JHBird

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Hey BB! You should've checked out the construction going on at the Bone center, especially the north side. It's going to be awesome when done. First time visitors will now walk up a large set of stairs as they enter the campus for the first time. While walking up they can look to their right and see the beautiful east side of Hancock. That will I'm sure leave a lasting first impression (especially compared to what it looked like 10 years ago). Good things happened for sure, all except for that practice facility.
 

ISU FAN 1

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“Nice day yesterday” ... not anymore. The passing of another day just means the Bears choke left this tortured fan with a miserable yesterday. Waiting until next year again.
 

bb fan

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JHBird, it was so nice yesterday, I almost walked over the Bone and around the quad. I just did not have enough time. I have heard terrific things about the new Bone Student center. I was there about a month ago, and it was coming along nicely.

Really, it is borderline amazing the number of new projects and initiatives we turn out with the state's situation as it is. In spite of the Springfield mess.
 

JHBird

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Working here it's fun to watch the near daily progress of construction. The Waterson dining expansion is coming along fine too. It was nice to watch the new side of Hancock slowly go up. I got a big kick out of walking by that each day.
 

Chi-bird

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Redbird has had some nice updates over the years (painting the green and yellow??) vents up top grey, the videoboards, the addition of the suite, etc. It is a beautiful arena. The only thing that really bothers me about it is the incredibly large lifeless, concrete moat that separates the fans from the court. That moat alone is why it can't be one of the best, imho. If they can bring the fans close to the floor next year, then it will be a spectacular arena.
 

Buffett

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RedBird is a nice facility, not far to the west though Is the ILL State Tennis courts that have an embarrassing porta potty and no running water on sight. Coaches will drive their student athletes to the Golf club house to use the restroom.
 

birdlife

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Chi-bird said:
Redbird has had some nice updates over the years (painting the green and yellow??) vents up top grey, the videoboards, the addition of the suite, etc. It is a beautiful arena. The only thing that really bothers me about it is the incredibly large lifeless, concrete moat that separates the fans from the court. That moat alone is why it can't be one of the best, imho. If they can bring the fans close to the floor next year, then it will be a spectacular arena.

anyone know if the moat will remain when they update the lower bowl?
 

TIMMY

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Buffett said:
RedBird is a nice facility, not far to the west though Is the ILL State Tennis courts that have an embarrassing porta potty and no running water on sight. Coaches will drive their student athletes to the Golf club house to use the restroom.
We host meets out there. That's an embarrassment.
 

Chi-bird

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birdlife said:
Chi-bird said:
Redbird has had some nice updates over the years (painting the green and yellow??) vents up top grey, the videoboards, the addition of the suite, etc. It is a beautiful arena. The only thing that really bothers me about it is the incredibly large lifeless, concrete moat that separates the fans from the court. That moat alone is why it can't be one of the best, imho. If they can bring the fans close to the floor next year, then it will be a spectacular arena.

anyone know if the moat will remain when they update the lower bowl?

I could see them refraining from having the main seats go all the way to the court (for versatility sake), and having a mini-moat... but if that happens, they need to come up with filling it in with a sub-section of seating, and maybe even a row or two of folding chairs. The Beslin Center in East Lansing would be a good example.
 

SgtHulka

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birdlife said:
Chi-bird said:
Redbird has had some nice updates over the years (painting the green and yellow??) vents up top grey, the videoboards, the addition of the suite, etc. It is a beautiful arena. The only thing that really bothers me about it is the incredibly large lifeless, concrete moat that separates the fans from the court. That moat alone is why it can't be one of the best, imho. If they can bring the fans close to the floor next year, then it will be a spectacular arena.

anyone know if the moat will remain when they update the lower bowl?
I heard a truck load of crocodiles was headed this way.
 
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