Snuck into the Liberty Bowl. Any other goEMAW'rs in here right now? If so, 'pak?
Welp it's been over a year and many of you will be reading this post on the world famous Tapatalk app on your phones
in the parking lot of this very stadium, so I guess there's no better time than the present to dissect the world famous footballin' home of the footballin'
University of Memphis TigercatsIf you're at today's game you'll likely notice that this stadium has been renown through the years for many things, but most notable of all is that it has always maintained a 7:2 ratio of parking lot cones to press boxes.
When you bought your ticket for the Liberty Bowl did you have any idea that you were stepping into Curve City, USA? It's so weird. It's like some kind of fun house or something. The only other stadium I can think of that compares in wibbly-wobbly, woogily-googily curviness is the old Tampa Bay Bucccanneeers' stadium where Whitney Houston did the national anthem for the Super Bowl. (A performance which would later win a Nickelodeon Kids' Choice award, if I'm not mistaken.)
Look at this photo! Look at it! You can't find a straight line anywere. Except on the press box elevator shaft, which rises in stately, straight fashion against a background of trippy-ass curves. Oh, and look at that adorbs light post they put on top of it.
It reminds me of Quail Man's headpiece.
oh man, try to find the wee little baby scoreboard. omg, it's like a Mountaineer Field tunnel over here.
P.S. They really configured those lights like a buncha bozos.
This next photo here is a stadium reviewer's dream and nightmare. So much to talk about, where do I even start? Well I guess I'll just jump right in with those weird-ass end zones. Hopefully for the game today they've replaced the tiger stripes in the K-State end zone with the elegant stripes of our official bobcat mascot Touchdown IX. Hogs don't have stripes, but I can only assume they decorated the Arky end zone with green stink lines or something.
The press box on this side is weird. It doesn't match the other press box, so I'm assuming the one in this photo is actually mostly suites for Mario Chalmers' reading tutors or something. It reminds me of...I don't quite know what. Like some sci-fi character or cartoon character or something. Maybe Ickis from AAH! Real Monsters? Maybe Bender from that annoying Futurama show that everyone pretends is funny? Dunno. Either way, I like how they just decided to build it INSIDE OF THE STADIUM instead of over the top of it. Very pud. Many obstructed view seats up there in row 100 (and all over, for that matter). Oh and a warning to any qat fans sitting on the 50 yard-line in the top row: when Bazooka Joe does his thing today and slings it all over the field for 450 passing yards and 8 TDs, be careful of jumping up in celebration because you will straight bonk your head on the underside of that press box.
Also I like how they just sorta randomly threw in 3 or 4 rows of seatbacks. Weird placement, weird decision. Weird design. Doesn't even spell MEMPHIS across 7 sections or anything.
OMG look at the little portal entrance thingies that take you from the concourse into the stadium. The higher row is super duper crooked, like how a 7 year-old would freehand draw it. That's just the price of admission here in Curve City, USA.
If you are unlucky enough to have one of the literally tens of thousands of seats in this stadium with at least a slightly obstructed view, fear not: they have this huge jumbotron for replays.
omglolfartjk they have a real jumbotron. And you don't have to worry about it tumbling down during the game because it is
very well-supported. I'm no structural engineering major or Inspector 34 from Pete and Pete, but that thing looks pretty solid to me. Lots of beams and cross-beams and I-beams and stuff. It ain't goin' anywhere. You can just tell they got dat FedEx money.
Oh man, check out those tarps. Combine them with the small ESPN banner below and the rainy day I took these photos and I just get really sad.
True confession: I know that Inspector 34 actually only inspected underwear, not stadium jumbotrons. I'm just in it for the Nickolodeon references today. Will you reach the century mark at the 2016 Liberty Bowl? When I climbed this mountain my quads hurt worse than my pride did when I got slimed that one time on "You Can't Do That On Television"
Sure, go ahead and put a press box there, nobody's tryin to watch a game or anything. If I were sitting in row 100 and I had a word with the stadium architects I would tell them to MOVE THAT GIGANTIC COTTON CANDY. (My refs are all over the place today.)
Look at this old timey bench at the top row! It's so cute. It reminds me of like what the stadiums probably looked like in 1890 when K-State was playing Ft. Riley High School at the Bluemont Fairgrounds or w/e
So precious few Tigercats have paid for chairback seating
So there you go Cat fans, enjoy your experience today. In regards to playing in the Liberty Bowl, it's our first year ever so expect to walk in and hear the Marchin' Hogs Pep Band playing this: