(05-16-2016 03:16 PM)Bearcat Otto Wrote:  

(05-16-2016 02:01 PM)bearcatmill Wrote:  Our group was originally planning on going. This is a game previous regimes would win easily. However, with our recent inept performance on the road and in bowl games, everyone is on the fence.

Are you saying you will not go because you think we will lose?

Nice!

I would never not go because I feared the team would lose.

I would consider not going if I feared the team would not try.

I don't think we are anywhere near that, yet. Not like the late 80's.

(05-16-2016 03:20 PM)Bruce Monnin Wrote:  

(05-16-2016 03:16 PM)Bearcat Otto Wrote:  

(05-16-2016 02:01 PM)bearcatmill Wrote:  Our group was originally planning on going. This is a game previous regimes would win easily. However, with our recent inept performance on the road and in bowl games, everyone is on the fence.

Are you saying you will not go because you think we will lose?

Nice!

I would never not go because I feared the team would lose.

I would consider not going if I feared the team would not try.

I don't think we are anywhere near that, yet. Not like the late 80's.

The USF and SDSU games left me wondering...

(05-16-2016 12:41 PM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  

(05-16-2016 09:23 AM)Murph29 Wrote:  Lot of pros (big ten opponent, nearby, road trips are fun). But one huge con...the ugly nasty unexciting hellhole that is Purdue University and West Lafayette, IN.

I went to Purdue for grad school and it was the nicest place I've ever lived.

The campus is nothing to write home about, and West Lafayette is mostly ugly suburbia, but Lafayette has a really neat downtown area. There's a lot more to do than you'd think - there's several wineries, two zoos, three waterparks, plenty of good golf courses, and surprisingly good collections of museums, bars, and restaurants. It doesn't have much of a night life, but I haven't cared about clubbing since I was in my early 20s.

West Lafayette bars are pretty college-y (other than Harry's Chocolate Shop and Nine Irish Brothers (not to be confused with Brothers' Bar & Grill)). The best bars are a few blocks away - on the other side of the river in Lafayette. My favorites are Black Sparrow and Lafayette Brewing Co. Sergent Preston's is also pretty cool - it's the only Canadian bar I've ever seen. Preston's is about 3 blocks from Harry's and 1 block from Black Sparrow and it's a very walkable area.

For food, XXX Root Beer is very unique - a must-try (If you want a smaller crowd, Route 66 is owned by the same group and serves the same food but is farther from campus). Bruno's Pizza sort of reminds me of Dewey's except it's a more attractive location and is filled with Purdue memorbilia.

For fine dining, La Scala is one of my favorite Italian places (and I lived in Cleveland's Little Italy for 5 years so I'm very picky about Italian food). It's on Main Street right across from the county courthouse. Or drive a few minutes South of campus to McGraw's, or drive north for 10 minutes to The Trails. Both are in beautiful settings.

I'm going to try to make the game but I'm living in California now and don't know if I can take the time off yet.

Okay Captain, I'll keep an open mind and thanks for all the bar/food reviews. My only experience was visiting a high school buddy there in college years ago, and I just recall the campus being pretty ugly. But people could say the same about UC 20 years ago compared to now.

(05-16-2016 03:20 PM)Bruce Monnin Wrote:  

(05-16-2016 03:16 PM)Bearcat Otto Wrote:  

(05-16-2016 02:01 PM)bearcatmill Wrote:  Our group was originally planning on going. This is a game previous regimes would win easily. However, with our recent inept performance on the road and in bowl games, everyone is on the fence.

Are you saying you will not go because you think we will lose?

Nice!

I would never not go because I feared the team would lose.

I would consider not going if I feared the team would not try.

I don't think we are anywhere near that, yet. Not like the late 80's.

My comments were regarding the completely lackluster effort given on the road. If I am going to take the time to travel and expend funds, I at least expect the team to be prepared and act as if they care about the outcome. The last three bowl appearances and USF games have me wondering.

(05-17-2016 08:31 AM)Murph29 Wrote:  

(05-16-2016 12:41 PM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  

(05-16-2016 09:23 AM)Murph29 Wrote:  Lot of pros (big ten opponent, nearby, road trips are fun). But one huge con...the ugly nasty unexciting hellhole that is Purdue University and West Lafayette, IN.

I went to Purdue for grad school and it was the nicest place I've ever lived.

The campus is nothing to write home about, and West Lafayette is mostly ugly suburbia, but Lafayette has a really neat downtown area. There's a lot more to do than you'd think - there's several wineries, two zoos, three waterparks, plenty of good golf courses, and surprisingly good collections of museums, bars, and restaurants. It doesn't have much of a night life, but I haven't cared about clubbing since I was in my early 20s.

West Lafayette bars are pretty college-y (other than Harry's Chocolate Shop and Nine Irish Brothers (not to be confused with Brothers' Bar & Grill)). The best bars are a few blocks away - on the other side of the river in Lafayette. My favorites are Black Sparrow and Lafayette Brewing Co. Sergent Preston's is also pretty cool - it's the only Canadian bar I've ever seen. Preston's is about 3 blocks from Harry's and 1 block from Black Sparrow and it's a very walkable area.

For food, XXX Root Beer is very unique - a must-try (If you want a smaller crowd, Route 66 is owned by the same group and serves the same food but is farther from campus). Bruno's Pizza sort of reminds me of Dewey's except it's a more attractive location and is filled with Purdue memorbilia.

For fine dining, La Scala is one of my favorite Italian places (and I lived in Cleveland's Little Italy for 5 years so I'm very picky about Italian food). It's on Main Street right across from the county courthouse. Or drive a few minutes South of campus to McGraw's, or drive north for 10 minutes to The Trails. Both are in beautiful settings.

I'm going to try to make the game but I'm living in California now and don't know if I can take the time off yet.

Okay Captain, I'll keep an open mind and thanks for all the bar/food reviews. My only experience was visiting a high school buddy there in college years ago, and I just recall the campus being pretty ugly. But people could say the same about UC 20 years ago compared to now.

I'd agree - Purdue's campus is ugly. Probably the ugliest college campus I've been on in the Midwest, except Bowling Green. There's only 3 or 4 buildings on their campus that wouldn't be on the tear-down list if they were at UC.

But the town itself is pretty nice. A lot of the houses close to campus in West Lafayette would fit in nicely in the gaslight district of Clifton. So would the downtown area of Lafayette (although the buildings are a bit taller there than the gaslight).

Exit 172 was always kind of a halfway point of my drive back to Chicago when i visited family in Cincinnati.

I'd be up for going to the game then zipping on up to Chicago for the rest of the weekend. Actually hopefully some of the Chicago area UC alumni will make the trip. I met a few of them to watch the UC-Florida bowl game.

I miss Chicago.. have a super stable job here in Columbus, but miss Chicago bad.

(05-17-2016 08:34 PM)BearcatDave Wrote:  Exit 172 was always kind of a halfway point of my drive back to Chicago when i visited family in Cincinnati.

I'd be up for going to the game then zipping on up to Chicago for the rest of the weekend. Actually hopefully some of the Chicago area UC alumni will make the trip. I met a few of them to watch the UC-Florida bowl game.

I miss Chicago.. have a super stable job here in Columbus, but miss Chicago bad.

Who would not miss the nightly multiple shooting deaths.

(05-17-2016 07:58 PM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  

(05-17-2016 08:31 AM)Murph29 Wrote:  

(05-16-2016 12:41 PM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  

(05-16-2016 09:23 AM)Murph29 Wrote:  Lot of pros (big ten opponent, nearby, road trips are fun). But one huge con...the ugly nasty unexciting hellhole that is Purdue University and West Lafayette, IN.

I went to Purdue for grad school and it was the nicest place I've ever lived.

The campus is nothing to write home about, and West Lafayette is mostly ugly suburbia, but Lafayette has a really neat downtown area. There's a lot more to do than you'd think - there's several wineries, two zoos, three waterparks, plenty of good golf courses, and surprisingly good collections of museums, bars, and restaurants. It doesn't have much of a night life, but I haven't cared about clubbing since I was in my early 20s.

West Lafayette bars are pretty college-y (other than Harry's Chocolate Shop and Nine Irish Brothers (not to be confused with Brothers' Bar & Grill)). The best bars are a few blocks away - on the other side of the river in Lafayette. My favorites are Black Sparrow and Lafayette Brewing Co. Sergent Preston's is also pretty cool - it's the only Canadian bar I've ever seen. Preston's is about 3 blocks from Harry's and 1 block from Black Sparrow and it's a very walkable area.

For food, XXX Root Beer is very unique - a must-try (If you want a smaller crowd, Route 66 is owned by the same group and serves the same food but is farther from campus). Bruno's Pizza sort of reminds me of Dewey's except it's a more attractive location and is filled with Purdue memorbilia.

For fine dining, La Scala is one of my favorite Italian places (and I lived in Cleveland's Little Italy for 5 years so I'm very picky about Italian food). It's on Main Street right across from the county courthouse. Or drive a few minutes South of campus to McGraw's, or drive north for 10 minutes to The Trails. Both are in beautiful settings.

I'm going to try to make the game but I'm living in California now and don't know if I can take the time off yet.

Okay Captain, I'll keep an open mind and thanks for all the bar/food reviews. My only experience was visiting a high school buddy there in college years ago, and I just recall the campus being pretty ugly. But people could say the same about UC 20 years ago compared to now.

I'd agree - Purdue's campus is ugly. Probably the ugliest college campus I've been on in the Midwest, except Bowling Green. There's only 3 or 4 buildings on their campus that wouldn't be on the tear-down list if they were at UC.

But the town itself is pretty nice. A lot of the houses close to campus in West Lafayette would fit in nicely in the gaslight district of Clifton. So would the downtown area of Lafayette (although the buildings are a bit taller there than the gaslight).

I disagree. Purdue has a nice campus and most of the buildings and facilities are very nice and have a nice uniform look. The bulk of the private housing near campus is east or north of campus, and it is nowhere near as nice as the Gaslight district in Cincinnati.

Purdue has some ugly 50's 60's era dorms and the strip center on the western edge of campus is ugly, south campus the Agriculture part is not sexy but really should it be? Hilltop Apartments next to Ross Ade Stadium should be torn down.







Ross Ade is at the Northern edge of campus, practice facility next door, and Mackey Arena next to that. Golf course is just west, 2 courses






And tailgating on the golf course is a hell of a nice touch.

^^ That shot of a full stadium must have been when Ohio State or Michigan came to town and brought all their fans.

(05-18-2016 10:01 AM)CliftonAve Wrote:  ^^ That shot of a full stadium must have been when Ohio State or Michigan came to town and brought all their fans.

It's funny because I didn't realize how cheap tickets would be. When I posted earlier there were tickets for under $20 available on Stubhub, I didn't realize that face value for single game tickets in the south end zone is actually $15. Looking at their season ticket packages, the 'best' season tickets are in an area called the 'Prime' section which is between the 40s as you'd probably expect. Those are $224 plus a $250 donation. Pretty amazing (or maybe embarrassing is a better word for the lack of demand) for a Big 10 team with 7 home games.

(05-18-2016 10:34 AM)Racinejake Wrote:  

(05-18-2016 10:01 AM)CliftonAve Wrote:  ^^ That shot of a full stadium must have been when Ohio State or Michigan came to town and brought all their fans.

It's funny because I didn't realize how cheap tickets would be. When I posted earlier there were tickets for under $20 available on Stubhub, I didn't realize that face value for single game tickets in the south end zone is actually $15. Looking at their season ticket packages, the 'best' season tickets are in an area called the 'Prime' section which is between the 40s as you'd probably expect. Those are $224 plus a $250 donation. Pretty amazing (or maybe embarrassing is a better word for the lack of demand) for a Big 10 team with 7 home games.

Purdue season ticket base is at a 50 year low. Tell you what, I can tell you the moment the program lost their mojo. 2004 against Wisconsin.
Purdue was 5-0 ranked in the top ten and had Wisconsin beat at Camp Randall. Erasmus James hit Orton and he fumbled, Whisky scored after recovering the fumble and the rest of season they lost more than they won. Then came the 7-5s, 6-6's. Purdue let Tiller go a few years down the road and then Danny Hope had 6-6, 5-7, 7-5 stuff like that. They canned him and Hazell has been bad.

South endzone is the beer zone, see if you need a special pass for that.

Back in the Pitt, Louisville, and WVU days (remember when we could drive to a road game?) - and of course for the BCS bowl games - it seems that students were traveling in significant numbers, often supported by UC renting buses. The Purdue game sure seems like the perfect opportunity to pack a few buses full of students for an easy road trip. I hope that's in the works......

(05-18-2016 08:19 AM)doss2 Wrote:  Who would not miss the nightly multiple shooting deaths.

Don't forget the stabbings...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local...story.html

Anybody who has ever lived in Chicago knows there are areas where you do not enter. I am sure that Bearcat Dave knows and he would not be anywhere near where these shootings and stabbing have taken place. It is not a widespread Chicago problem. It is mostly localized.

(05-18-2016 09:12 AM)SuperFlyBCat Wrote:  

(05-17-2016 07:58 PM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  

(05-17-2016 08:31 AM)Murph29 Wrote:  

(05-16-2016 12:41 PM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  

(05-16-2016 09:23 AM)Murph29 Wrote:  Lot of pros (big ten opponent, nearby, road trips are fun). But one huge con...the ugly nasty unexciting hellhole that is Purdue University and West Lafayette, IN.

I went to Purdue for grad school and it was the nicest place I've ever lived.

The campus is nothing to write home about, and West Lafayette is mostly ugly suburbia, but Lafayette has a really neat downtown area. There's a lot more to do than you'd think - there's several wineries, two zoos, three waterparks, plenty of good golf courses, and surprisingly good collections of museums, bars, and restaurants. It doesn't have much of a night life, but I haven't cared about clubbing since I was in my early 20s.

West Lafayette bars are pretty college-y (other than Harry's Chocolate Shop and Nine Irish Brothers (not to be confused with Brothers' Bar & Grill)). The best bars are a few blocks away - on the other side of the river in Lafayette. My favorites are Black Sparrow and Lafayette Brewing Co. Sergent Preston's is also pretty cool - it's the only Canadian bar I've ever seen. Preston's is about 3 blocks from Harry's and 1 block from Black Sparrow and it's a very walkable area.

For food, XXX Root Beer is very unique - a must-try (If you want a smaller crowd, Route 66 is owned by the same group and serves the same food but is farther from campus). Bruno's Pizza sort of reminds me of Dewey's except it's a more attractive location and is filled with Purdue memorbilia.

For fine dining, La Scala is one of my favorite Italian places (and I lived in Cleveland's Little Italy for 5 years so I'm very picky about Italian food). It's on Main Street right across from the county courthouse. Or drive a few minutes South of campus to McGraw's, or drive north for 10 minutes to The Trails. Both are in beautiful settings.

I'm going to try to make the game but I'm living in California now and don't know if I can take the time off yet.

Okay Captain, I'll keep an open mind and thanks for all the bar/food reviews. My only experience was visiting a high school buddy there in college years ago, and I just recall the campus being pretty ugly. But people could say the same about UC 20 years ago compared to now.

I'd agree - Purdue's campus is ugly. Probably the ugliest college campus I've been on in the Midwest, except Bowling Green. There's only 3 or 4 buildings on their campus that wouldn't be on the tear-down list if they were at UC.

But the town itself is pretty nice. A lot of the houses close to campus in West Lafayette would fit in nicely in the gaslight district of Clifton. So would the downtown area of Lafayette (although the buildings are a bit taller there than the gaslight).

I disagree. Purdue has a nice campus and most of the buildings and facilities are very nice and have a nice uniform look. The bulk of the private housing near campus is east or north of campus, and it is nowhere near as nice as the Gaslight district in Cincinnati.

Purdue has some ugly 50's 60's era dorms and the strip center on the western edge of campus is ugly, south campus the Agriculture part is not sexy but really should it be? Hilltop Apartments next to Ross Ade Stadium should be torn down.

I spent 4 years on that campus, just graduated last summer. About half the pictures you posted are from the golf course (not on campus) or the IM fields (at the very edge of campus).

There are some positive points: They have some nice fountains on campus. And once you get off campus, it's a very pretty area. There's golf courses, open fields, and plenty of parks.

Also their basketball arena is the best one I've ever been in. It seats 15,000 and the worst seats there are significantly better than half the seats at 5/3.

But I have a long list of complaints about their campus.
1. The vast majority of the buildings are 2-4 stories tall. The result is that the academic side of campus is 2-3 times the acreage of UC and has less green space than UC, despite having room for fewer employees than UC.
2. I can count on two hands the number of academic buildings that would not be on the tear-down list at UC. Most of the campus buildings are in similar or worse condition than UC's management building that we're desperately trying to replace.
3. The main student library is underground with no windows. It's the most depressing library I've ever been in.
4. About half of the student parking is in gravel lots. They have acres and acres of them.
5. The student rec center - they just spent $98 million to rehab & expand it, and it's a dreadful space to work out in. My wife says it's significantly worse than the one she went to at Rose-Hullman. They spent Big Ten money to get a MAC facility.
6. There are 62 dorms south of State Street that are positively ANCIENT and flat-out ugly.
7. Ross-Ade. The club area is nice (it's really the only nice reception center in town), but the rest of it is like an overgrown high school stadium. Oh yeah, and it doesn't have permanent lights - they have to rent lights if they ever have a night game.
8. When I started, their non-revenue sporting facilities were about the same as most high school facilities (not exaggerating in the slightest). They finally reinvested some money into athletics and built some cool new baseball, softball, tennis, and soccer facilities - but they're over a mile away from the closest portion of campus.


As for the residential areas, I agree that it's not as nice as the nicest parts of the gaslight. But it's easy to forget that about half of the gaslight district is actually smaller houses.

Some (not all, maybe about half) of the areas immediately north and east of Purdue's campus have similar architecture to the gaslight. Most of it would fit in very nicely among the smaller houses in the gaslight. There's also a few secluded side streets that are actually really, really nice old houses similar to the nicest areas of the gaslight (it's easy to miss them, but I was invited to a couple of them and was very impressed).

[/quote]

I spent 4 years on that campus, just graduated last summer. About half the pictures you posted are from the golf course (not on campus) or the IM fields (at the very edge of campus).

There are some positive points: They have some nice fountains on campus. And once you get off campus, it's a very pretty area. There's golf courses, open fields, and plenty of parks.

Also their basketball arena is the best one I've ever been in. It seats 15,000 and the worst seats there are significantly better than half the seats at 5/3.

But I have a long list of complaints about their campus.
1. The vast majority of the buildings are 2-4 stories tall. The result is that the academic side of campus is 2-3 times the acreage of UC and has less green space than UC, despite having room for fewer employees than UC.
seems like 99% of their buildings are 4 stories or taller. They have more real estate than UC so building up vs. uniformity does not make sense.

2. I can count on two hands the number of academic buildings that would not be on the tear-down list at UC. Most of the campus buildings are in similar or worse condition than UC's management building that we're desperately trying to replace.
That is highly subjective. I doubt they have people in unsafe building.

3. The main student library is underground with no windows. It's the most depressing library I've ever been in.
4. About half of the student parking is in gravel lots. They have acres and acres of them.
here is the parking plan, which ones are gravel lots?
http://www.purdue.edu/pat/graphics/parking_map.jpg

5. The student rec center - they just spent $98 million to rehab & expand it, and it's a dreadful space to work out in. My wife says it's significantly worse than the one she went to at Rose-Hullman. They spent Big Ten money to get a MAC facility.
what is so dreadful about it? I pulled up the website and photos and it looks very nice, modern, large.

6. There are 62 dorms south of State Street that are positively ANCIENT and flat-out ugly.
South of state street is ugly no doubt.

7. Ross-Ade. The club area is nice (it's really the only nice reception center in town), but the rest of it is like an overgrown high school stadium. Oh yeah, and it doesn't have permanent lights - they have to rent lights if they ever have a night game.
besides that and Memorial Union there is not much

8. When I started, their non-revenue sporting facilities were about the same as most high school facilities (not exaggerating in the slightest). They finally reinvested some money into athletics and built some cool new baseball, softball, tennis, and soccer facilities - but they're over a mile away from the closest portion of campus.

As for the residential areas, I agree that it's not as nice as the nicest parts of the gaslight. But it's easy to forget that about half of the gaslight district is actually smaller houses.

Some (not all, maybe about half) of the areas immediately north and east of Purdue's campus have similar architecture to the gaslight. Most of it would fit in very nicely among the smaller houses in the gaslight. There's also a few secluded side streets that are actually really, really nice old houses similar to the nicest areas of the gaslight (it's easy to miss them, but I was invited to a couple of them and was very impressed).
[/quote]

(05-18-2016 01:03 PM)SuperFlyBCat Wrote:  1. The vast majority of the buildings are 2-4 stories tall. The result is that the academic side of campus is 2-3 times the acreage of UC and has less green space than UC, despite having room for fewer employees than UC.
seems like 99% of their buildings are 4 stories or taller. They have more real estate than UC so building up vs. uniformity does not make sense.

No. I can't think of a single academic building over 3 stories except the Math building and the 2 management buildings. I just double-checked this on Google Maps and couldn't find any others.

(05-18-2016 01:03 PM)SuperFlyBCat Wrote:  2. I can count on two hands the number of academic buildings that would not be on the tear-down list at UC. Most of the campus buildings are in similar or worse condition than UC's management building that we're desperately trying to replace.
That is highly subjective. I doubt they have people in unsafe building.

I didn't say they're unsafe. Lindner is safe. I said they're in poor condition - 40 year old windows, poor lighting, inefficient heating, paint peeling, etc.

That's ok if they're architecturally landmarks. But Rawles, Armstrong, & the student Union are the only academic buildings that are anything more than just a big plain square box. In short, the campus looks like it was designed by engineers (I've heard many others voice that opinion too).

(05-18-2016 01:03 PM)SuperFlyBCat Wrote:  4. About half of the student parking is in gravel lots. They have acres and acres of them.
here is the parking plan, which ones are gravel lots?
http://www.purdue.edu/pat/graphics/parking_map.jpg

Every red lot South of state street except the one by Lynn, as well as the blue lots at the corner of Nimitz & Jischke. Also 2 of the red lots by the rec center (although apparently they paved the biggest of those 3 lots in the last year). (during working hours students can only park in red lots, or light green lots if they have a res hall permit)

It also annoys me that they don't bother painting full parking lines in about half of the paved lots - the lines are only about 5 feet long. Just like the rest of the university, it's cheap.

(05-18-2016 01:03 PM)SuperFlyBCat Wrote:  5. The student rec center - they just spent $98 million to rehab & expand it, and it's a dreadful space to work out in. My wife says it's significantly worse than the one she went to at Rose-Hullman. They spent Big Ten money to get a MAC facility.
what is so dreadful about it? I pulled up the website and photos and it looks very nice, modern, large.

The entrance is very nice. But the workout areas & many of the hallways (yes, it has lots of hallways - not exactly modern design work) are dark and claustrophobic. I get that they wanted to use a gold and black color scheme because they're Purdue's colors, but black carpets & walls don't work when you combine it with an 8 ft ceiling and low lighting.

When I went to the Illinois game a few years back I was very unimpressed with their campus. Dead plants and trees with weed choked flower beds. Dumpy looking buildings with peeling paint on the window sills. What passed for green spaces were largely crab grass and full of ruts or not mowed. Very spread out with poor use of space. B10 sucks.

the sparrow is a guaranteed good time

So what sections are most of the Bearcats' fans sitting?