Buck Bravo

Since 1982, Iowans have taken a biannual pilgrimage into Minnesota in order to support their beloved Hawkeyes in Kinnick North Stadium.  Officially known as the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, Kinnick North Stadium has been good to fans of Iowa football. 

Iowa, the home state of John Wayne, is one of the last states that still embodies the Midwestern image of the family farm, small towns without locked doors and honest, humble people.  Minnesota football fans have always dreaded the influx of yellow-clad Iowans into their territory.  The Iowa Hawkeyes have a record of 18-8 at Kinnick North.  But just as railroads ended the era of covered wagon caravans headed West, so will the 2009 opening of TCF Stadium Bank end the pilgrimage of Iowans to Kinnick North Stadium.  Progress has a price.  Iowa fans have but one last sentimental journey to Kinnick North Stadium, and their beloved Hawkeyes will face a determined opponent.

Both Minnesota and Iowa enter the game with a record of 7-4.  In addition to having similar records, the two teams should match up well.  Iowa’s offensive strength is their running game.  Shonn Greene is a legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate averaging 6.2 yards per carry and having 15 touchdowns.  Take away yardage from scrambling quarterbacks, and Minnesota has been strong against the run.  The Gopher defense should force the Iowa offense to open up the passing game, and sophomore Hawkeye quarterback Ricky Stanzi will be tested.  The Iowa defense has been strong against the run and will likely force the Gophers to pass.  The Gophers should have wide receiver Eric Decker back from an injury, and will likely likely respond to the Iowa defense with a passing frenzy.

Regardless of the outcome of Saturday’s game, the end of an era will be at hand.  Minnesota fans will be relieved to have finally escaped the sterile environment of the Metrodome.  In 2009, tickets will be in high demand for TCF Bank Stadium.  It will be one of the best stadiums in all of college football, while the Metrodome has been one of the worst.  The high demand for tickets at TCF Bank Stadium will greatly diminish the number of Iowans who are able to attend the 2010 game.  Hundreds of years from now, Iowans may actually ponder the question as to whether there was a mythical Kinnick North Stadium.  For now, many will inevitably shed a tear on Saturday for their memories at Kinnick North Stadium.

If you believe the impossible, the incredible can happen.  Such was the tag line from the movie Field of Dreams.  While fictionally evoking the spirits of baseball past is nostalgic entertainment, the University of Minnesota will in 2009 summon the spirit of football fans present to grace the opening of TCF Bank Stadium.  Walking across campus, those not long in the tooth know little of the football once played there by legends such as Bronko Nagurski, Carl Eller, and Heisman Trophy winner Bruce “Boo” Smith.  Epic battles, long forgotten by many, still haunt those grounds.  Gridiron gladiators clad in maroon and gold won six national championships but a generation ago.

From 1924 until 1981 Gopher football was played outdoors and on campus at Memorial Stadium.  Known as the “Brick House,” Memorial Stadium once had a record attendance of 66,284 fans at a football game on a Fall day in November of 1966.  Alas, in 1982 Memorial Stadium was abandoned and demolished as the University of Minnesota moved their football games to the newly built, state-of-the-art Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome.  All that is left of the Brick House is fond memories in the minds of long-time fans and the following archway which is now part of McNamara Alumni Center:

From 1982 through 2007, the Gopher football program languished in mediocrity, finishing no higher than third in the Big Ten Conference.  The Metrodome, once predicted to become a bastion of the new sporting era, became a functionally sterile environment for college football.  Known by Wisconsin as “The Toilet Bowl” and Iowa fans as “Kinnick North,” the noble concept that is the Metrodome has become the laughingstock of college football.  Yet, the faithful of Gopher Nation have remained steadfast in their hope that one day the University of Minnesota would return to football greatness.  If you believe the impossible, the incredible can happen. 

In the movie Field of Dreams, the protagonist built a baseball field in a cornfield upon suggestion by a mysterious voice that whispered If you build it, they will come.  Well, in an ambitious effort analogous to the movie, the University of Minnesota will be bringing Big Ten football back to campus in an outdoor stadium come Fall of 2009.  TCF Bank Stadium will not only reincarnate the greatness of the Brick House but will undoubtedly surpass it.  Let the seers be believers by clicking here for the official preview tour.

If you build it, they will come.  In Field of Dreams, “they” were the ghosts of baseball legends along with  fans who longed for America’s past-time passed.  In one scene, the legendary “Shoeless” Joe Jackson emerges from the cornstalks.  Who exactly is “they” for TCF Bank Stadium?  They are the students of whom now only the most loyal commute to the Metrodome for Minnesota home games.  They are the forlorn fans who long ago abandoned a program in perpetual mediocrity.  They are talented recruits in search of an exhilarating environment in which to play their college careers.

TCF Bank Stadium is more than an idea, a concept, or a fantastical dream.  It is becoming a reality.  The following pictures are courtesy of Chris (user name GoAUpher) at GopherHole.com.  The full collection of pictures and comments from his stadium tour can be found at GopherHole.com as Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3:

The stadium will initially hold 50,000 and can be expanded to 80,000. The design has acoustics that will retain noise for a LOUD home field advantage.

Notice that the above archways are in the same style as the old Brick House.

All of Minnesota's counties will be displayed on the outside wall of the stadium.

Fans and players will be able to view the Minneapolis skyline framed by the stadium.

The scoreboard, a 48 ft by 108 ft LED screen, will be the second largest in the nation. Fans will be able to see an instant replay of the terror in a quarterback's eyes before being sacked by a Gopher linebacker. Basically, it's a 9 million dollar flat screen.

The locker room will be the best in all of college football. It is enormous. Players will have name plates at their lockers along with tributes to players who have worn their numbers in the past.

The locker room will be lit by a giant LED University of Minnesota logo.

The "worst seat in the house" still looks great.

Recruits and their families will be able to relax in a deluxe recruiting lounge with six plasma televisions and leather couches.

 If you believe the impossible, the incredible can happen.  TCF Bank Stadium will be the most modern stadium in college football with a location, design, and view that very well may be the best in the entire nation.  With season tickets already in high demand, a sea of maroon and gold will flood Dinkytown once again come the September 12, 2009 home opener.  If you have the chance to walk by the stadium at dusk, peering at the field and imagining what will soon be, Bronko Nagurski just might emerge from a cloud of dust in the end zone.  If you build it, they will come.