When you think North Carolina you think Jordan’s game winner. Vince Carter throwing down dunks. Phil Ford holding up four corners. you think of greatness on the basketball court and rightfully so. No other basketball team has won a national title in each of the last four decades 82,93,05,09,17. I think if the dominance from 05-09 should have won 3 titles in that span but I digress. There are many football diehards. Anyone reading this is probably one of them. I want to just stress my opinion (for what it’s worth) on game day experience and expectations
Well before I dive deep into the rabbit hole of North Carolina football let me give a little back ground on myself when it comes to big time football and game day experiences.
I like many could not afford going to UNC. I had the grades (4.0) but I didn’t want the student debt. I chose to go to a great school the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga yea weee Terrell Owens went. Yes I believe he could make a NFL roster right now. He’s just a freak of nature. During my time there we had great football teams. They were in the Socon and when I was there they won the conference 2 years in a row. They had a lot of talent even some NFL talent like Buster Skrine that played in the NFL for a decade. They had others make rosters and stick around for a while. When UTC won the socon. They let classes out early one Friday to celebrate campus wide. They had the cheerleaders handing out cake slices in UTC colors the football team celebrating and the coaches gave speeches to the students about the need to support the team during their run in the playoffs. The next season they had their first Thursday night game and they made sure students had a huge lot to tailgate. It was fun and UTC was good. I was friends with a lot of the players and they enjoyed the culture and most importantly they were winning and fans showed up. Yes this is FCS level football but still every high school football player in the area wanted to go to UTK (the orange school up the road) or UTC. Things were great and they have maintained a culture except for a few down years.
Let’s talk about North Carolina Football now. The first game I went to was the hurricane game. Horrible I won’t go there. However I make it out to a at least a game a year. I live 6.5 hours away but it’s always fun for me and my family. When I do go to the games if I didn’t have a group of friends I tailgate with it would be difficult to enjoy. There is not much tailgating culture around campus. It’s like most college towns not a lot of parking and tough luck if you can’t get up here and get a spot. Now for me being an out of town fan I will go enjoy Franklin street and go to my favorite places I’ve become good friends with some of the owners. I have even donated UNC memorabilia to one restaurant. It’s a lot of fun but the tail gating culture (not the fans) but the entire structure of UNC seems to not want to have this kind of culture for football. There are some good places to tailgate the Friday center and some other lots the boyles lot by the Dean dome is good but there aren’t many other than those. Look at other schools their tailgating culture is outstanding. UTK not far from me has it like a well oiled machine. I’m related to a UTK legend by marriage (he will not be named) and he tail hates with the fans and he would rather be in the stands other than his luxury box the boosters provide for him. It’s just different up there.
Now let’s get to the game I’m not talking about the product on the field that’s later in the post. Chapel hill is the most beautiful college campus in America. Yes I am biased but the walk to kenan is amazing. In kenan you can see it’s a bit dated. The seats aren’t as comfortable as they should be. The stadium can’t hold as many it’s about 55k or so if I remember correctly. The bathroom situation is pretty bad. Another thing too that’s a gripe of mine is the food situation. Why on earth do they not have local restaurants and venders at every concession stand. I can get hunt brothers pizza at the gas station down the road from my house I don’t want that at a UNC football game. Put the investment in the local businesses and get them in the concessions everywhere. I am aware that topo serves their beer there which is awesome I need it sometimes watching the game but even my wife has said she wishes that was an option for her because we didn’t drive 6.5 hours to watch North Carolina football and eat hunt brothers. Get the cookout in there I’ll slam a NC style bbq sandwich any day of the week at a UNC football game. That’s just a few gripes I have from the gas day experience I want it to be better but gosh I love this university and I went to see football do well. Also the tent idea with the seats for several grand a game is the dumbest idea. I thought it was fake but surely it’s not. That should sum up your UNC football experience if you ask me. When it comes to the product on the field … just to prove UNC is a basketball school I’ll quote Roy Williams “everything looks better when it’s going in the net.”
Leave your comments below and I want to hear what others think and their experiences.
Well before I dive deep into the rabbit hole of North Carolina football let me give a little back ground on myself when it comes to big time football and game day experiences.
I like many could not afford going to UNC. I had the grades (4.0) but I didn’t want the student debt. I chose to go to a great school the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga yea weee Terrell Owens went. Yes I believe he could make a NFL roster right now. He’s just a freak of nature. During my time there we had great football teams. They were in the Socon and when I was there they won the conference 2 years in a row. They had a lot of talent even some NFL talent like Buster Skrine that played in the NFL for a decade. They had others make rosters and stick around for a while. When UTC won the socon. They let classes out early one Friday to celebrate campus wide. They had the cheerleaders handing out cake slices in UTC colors the football team celebrating and the coaches gave speeches to the students about the need to support the team during their run in the playoffs. The next season they had their first Thursday night game and they made sure students had a huge lot to tailgate. It was fun and UTC was good. I was friends with a lot of the players and they enjoyed the culture and most importantly they were winning and fans showed up. Yes this is FCS level football but still every high school football player in the area wanted to go to UTK (the orange school up the road) or UTC. Things were great and they have maintained a culture except for a few down years.
Let’s talk about North Carolina Football now. The first game I went to was the hurricane game. Horrible I won’t go there. However I make it out to a at least a game a year. I live 6.5 hours away but it’s always fun for me and my family. When I do go to the games if I didn’t have a group of friends I tailgate with it would be difficult to enjoy. There is not much tailgating culture around campus. It’s like most college towns not a lot of parking and tough luck if you can’t get up here and get a spot. Now for me being an out of town fan I will go enjoy Franklin street and go to my favorite places I’ve become good friends with some of the owners. I have even donated UNC memorabilia to one restaurant. It’s a lot of fun but the tail gating culture (not the fans) but the entire structure of UNC seems to not want to have this kind of culture for football. There are some good places to tailgate the Friday center and some other lots the boyles lot by the Dean dome is good but there aren’t many other than those. Look at other schools their tailgating culture is outstanding. UTK not far from me has it like a well oiled machine. I’m related to a UTK legend by marriage (he will not be named) and he tail hates with the fans and he would rather be in the stands other than his luxury box the boosters provide for him. It’s just different up there.
Now let’s get to the game I’m not talking about the product on the field that’s later in the post. Chapel hill is the most beautiful college campus in America. Yes I am biased but the walk to kenan is amazing. In kenan you can see it’s a bit dated. The seats aren’t as comfortable as they should be. The stadium can’t hold as many it’s about 55k or so if I remember correctly. The bathroom situation is pretty bad. Another thing too that’s a gripe of mine is the food situation. Why on earth do they not have local restaurants and venders at every concession stand. I can get hunt brothers pizza at the gas station down the road from my house I don’t want that at a UNC football game. Put the investment in the local businesses and get them in the concessions everywhere. I am aware that topo serves their beer there which is awesome I need it sometimes watching the game but even my wife has said she wishes that was an option for her because we didn’t drive 6.5 hours to watch North Carolina football and eat hunt brothers. Get the cookout in there I’ll slam a NC style bbq sandwich any day of the week at a UNC football game. That’s just a few gripes I have from the gas day experience I want it to be better but gosh I love this university and I went to see football do well. Also the tent idea with the seats for several grand a game is the dumbest idea. I thought it was fake but surely it’s not. That should sum up your UNC football experience if you ask me. When it comes to the product on the field … just to prove UNC is a basketball school I’ll quote Roy Williams “everything looks better when it’s going in the net.”
Leave your comments below and I want to hear what others think and their experiences.
