It looks like they put some dirt over the top of the black material on the hill.

Nevermind

Facilities arms race continues in Lafayette...

http://footballscoop.com/news/video-tour...ce-center/

(10-20-2015 10:24 AM)owl40 Wrote:  Facilities arms race continues in Lafayette...

http://footballscoop.com/news/video-tour...ce-center/

That sports building ULaLA just built is quite impressive for $30 million. I hope that our facility turns out to be just as impressive once completed. I think it should finally give us a competitive edge in facilities - watching that video makes me want to play football at ULaLa.

(10-20-2015 10:42 AM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  

(10-20-2015 10:24 AM)owl40 Wrote:  Facilities arms race continues in Lafayette...

http://footballscoop.com/news/video-tour...ce-center/

That sports building ULaLA just built is quite impressive for $30 million. I hope that our facility turns out to be just as impressive once completed. I think it should finally give us a competitive edge in facilities - watching that video makes me want to play football at ULaLa.

Beautiful facility. I really hope the EZF turns out that nice. I never saw any renderings of the inside so I guess I'll just imagine the frills for now.

On a side note, what is a University like ULaLa doing spending that type of money on a football facility? Better have been private donors, it's bad enough when schools like UH are taxing their students to build this completely unnecessary BS (like 60" TVs on every wall of the locker room)

Looking at the progress of the EZF and the construction of the walkway down to the field. I know they are planning to put greenery in the area, but how cool would it have been to seats in the areas around the walkway for the MOB and students. Something to have given a more possible homefield advantage at HRS. The flip side to that being that it would really empty those areas of the eastern stands that the MOB and students currently occupy.

(10-20-2015 11:24 AM)Pimpa Wrote:  Looking at the progress of the EZF and the construction of the walkway down to the field. I know they are planning to put greenery in the area, but how cool would it have been to seats in the areas around the walkway for the MOB and students. Something to have given a more possible homefield advantage at HRS. The flip side to that being that it would really empty those areas of the eastern stands that the MOB and students currently occupy.

Endzone seats suck.
Endzone seats in front of and facing away from the big screen suck even more.
I want to be able to watch the game.
Aside from the AC, I don't know why anyone would want to watch from the R-Room.
I appreciate the desire to maximize home field advantage, but I don't see how seating The MOB and the students in the end zone would accomplish that.
The students would also miss the opportunity to practice their shouted clean-language innuendo skills, moved that far from the opponent's bench.

(10-20-2015 05:23 PM)Grungy Wrote:  

(10-20-2015 11:24 AM)Pimpa Wrote:  Looking at the progress of the EZF and the construction of the walkway down to the field. I know they are planning to put greenery in the area, but how cool would it have been to seats in the areas around the walkway for the MOB and students. Something to have given a more possible homefield advantage at HRS. The flip side to that being that it would really empty those areas of the eastern stands that the MOB and students currently occupy.

Endzone seats suck.
Endzone seats in front of and facing away from the big screen suck even more.
I want to be able to watch the game.
Aside from the AC, I don't know why anyone would want to watch from the R-Room.
I appreciate the desire to maximize home field advantage, but I don't see how seating The MOB and the students in the end zone would accomplish that.
The students would also miss the opportunity to practice their shouted clean-language innuendo skills, moved that far from the opponent's bench.

I would imagine they are going to flip the student section to the other end of the west side (with the EZF). I wonder if there are any amenities you could put in the student section that would get more students out... Maybe some misters/fans? Something in the front row that showed cheers for people to follow or scores of other games? I know it's probably a stretch but making drinks available would be nice... But if we are going to move the student section for next year I think we should rebrand that whole area with some special incentives that make it uniquely the "student zone".

Students? Put a nice awning over 500 seats and let 'em enjoy the game dry and shaded. Throw some donated food in there and it will be a popular spot. Maybe.

(10-20-2015 10:42 AM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  

(10-20-2015 10:24 AM)owl40 Wrote:  Facilities arms race continues in Lafayette...

http://footballscoop.com/news/video-tour...ce-center/

That sports building ULaLA just built is quite impressive for $30 million. I hope that our facility turns out to be just as impressive once completed. I think it should finally give us a competitive edge in facilities - watching that video makes me want to play football at ULaLa.

I noticed Virgil Eikenberg's name on their "Wall of Honor"....what gives? Virgil was from Boling, played his college ball at Rice exclusively, I thought....was he on a WWII era team at SWL Normal School?

Many of our players including Weldon Humble joined the Marines and spent a year at SW Louisiana and played ball there. I don't think it counted against their eligibility at Rice.

(10-20-2015 07:20 PM)Ricefootballnet Wrote:  

(10-20-2015 10:42 AM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  

(10-20-2015 10:24 AM)owl40 Wrote:  Facilities arms race continues in Lafayette...

http://footballscoop.com/news/video-tour...ce-center/

That sports building ULaLA just built is quite impressive for $30 million. I hope that our facility turns out to be just as impressive once completed. I think it should finally give us a competitive edge in facilities - watching that video makes me want to play football at ULaLa.

I noticed Virgil Eikenberg's name on their "Wall of Honor"....what gives? Virgil was from Boling, played his college ball at Rice exclusively, I thought....was he on a WWII era team at SWL Normal School?

Quote:Quick, who was the first UL quarterback to play in the NFL? Well, surprise, the answer is Charles Virgil Eikenberg, who was another member of that undefeated 1943 UL team, coach by Louis Whitman. Eikenberg threw for 116 yards, and two touchdowns, in 1948, his only season with the Chicago Cardinals. Eikenberg, now 88-years-old, is one of the oldest living ex-NFL players, today.

source: http://espn1420.com/former-ragin-cajun-f...fl-part-i/

He would appear to be the same person that played at Rice. His NFL.com stats list his college as Rice, though he was drafted in 1945.

(10-20-2015 05:35 PM)cr11owl Wrote:  \I think we should rebrand that whole area with some special incentives that make it uniquely the "student zone".

Replace the stairs with a St Arnold's slip and slide?

(10-20-2015 10:24 AM)owl40 Wrote:  Facilities arms race continues in Lafayette...

http://footballscoop.com/news/video-tour...ce-center/

I've heard many times that our current locker rooms are dilapidated. Are there any pictures out there one could peek at? Very curious. At least can someone describe in words what exactly is so terrible about the current facility?

I had a former player tell me he had to go home to shower.

(10-20-2015 10:26 PM)ChicagoOwl (BS 07) Wrote:  

(10-20-2015 10:24 AM)owl40 Wrote:  Facilities arms race continues in Lafayette...

http://footballscoop.com/news/video-tour...ce-center/

I've heard many times that our current locker rooms are dilapidated. Are there any pictures out there one could peek at? Very curious. At least can someone describe in words what exactly is so terrible about the current facility?

Zero maintenance dollars for 30 years. Same as every other Rice athletic facility. We can hope that policy is changing.

Looks like the winds have blown the camera off target. Would be nice to have a Help Desk number for the camera when needed.

Looks like it's back on target now.

(10-26-2015 04:22 PM)rice-76-03-06 Wrote:  Looks like it's back on target now.

I'm impressed. 6:32 AM and the structure is lit up like a Christmas tree and work is ongoing.

The white footprints on the black material covering the dirt on the sides of the image remind me of "Family Circus" tracks of the kids wandering aimlessly.
The tapered foam panels are going down on the roof.
They're also nearly ready to pour the upper half of the player ramp.