When I tell people I went to college at the University of Missouri, that’s often the “wrong” answer in Emporia given the large percentage of Jayhawk and Wildcat fans.
I’m here to tell you that I can help you. Depending on where your allegiance lies, you need to circle either Nov. 13 or Nov. 20 on your calendar and make a road trip this year. The former will be Kansas’ last trip to Lincoln to play Nebraska. The latter will be the last time Kansas State travels to Boulder to play Colorado (of course, both of those are based on the assumption that the schools will not schedule each other once they are in different conferences).
In my four years at Missouri, I saw sporting events at nine Big 12 schools (Austin was my only foray into the state of Texas.) Boulder and Lincoln are two places you shouldn’t let slip by. For clarity’s sake, I should tell you that my trip to a football game in Boulder was as a writer and my trip to Lincoln was among the fans.
I wish I had spent more time in Boulder itself because it is a nice-looking campus and a unique place (it remains the only press box I’ve ever been to that collects compost). We spent most of our recreation time in Denver, 30-40 minutes away from Boulder. Denver was everything I could have asked for and more.
The 16th Street Mall is a must-see. It is a large shopping mall, except instead of being indoors, it runs along city blocks. Other than a shuttle service, it is pedestrian-only. I remember being mesmerized by the kiosks in the middle, just like it was an indoor mall. Kiosks. Outside in the middle of the block. Still hard for me to process how awesome that looked.
We arrived in the Denver area at night and our hotel was in Thornton, a suburb that is about halfway between Denver and Boulder. When we woke up in the morning, we realized the beautiful view of the Rocky Mountains that we had missed at night.
The drive into Boulder from Thornton was a beautiful view of the mountains, something I can safely tell you is a unique site as far Big 12 road trips are concerned. The view of the mountains we experienced, both on the way in during the late morning, and the late afternoon on our way out, is something I still haven’t forgotten.
Lincoln is more of a classic college town that’s probably a bit larger than what you’re used to. Experiencing the downtown on game day is quite a thrill, with tailgating taking up a variety of city parking lots over a somewhat large area. There’s a nice string of restaurants and bars in the area as well. I recommmend Lazlo’s.
Lazlo’s is also the only restaurant that I ate in while I was in Lincoln, but it was good enough that I would definitely return. One of my friends, a Kansas City-bred Boulevard drinker, tried to order a Boulevard Wheat to no avail.
Lazlo’s also brews its own beer, so our server was a little bit offended when my friend’s die-hard allegiance to Boulevard prevented him from trying one of theirs (I wasn’t yet 21 at the time; I was drinking water and laughing at the awkward situation my friend’s stubbornness created). Fortunately, the server was nice enough that she remained pleasant and it didn’t become an issue.
When you reach Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, you will see the true marvel. Given the sellout streak the Huskers have enjoyed, your seats will likely be up high in the 81,067-seat stadium. But don’t worry.
Thanks to an amazing stadium design that I like but still do not understand, the seats way up high don’t seem very high at all. The view is great and you feel much lower. This became even more impressive to me when I found out recently that the Nebraska sellout streak began in 1962 when the Huskers drew 36,501 fans for a game against Missouri. Over the almost 50 years in the interim, they’ve managed to more than double the size of the stadium while including nosebleed seats that don’t feel like nosebleeds at all.
Trust me Jayhawk fans, you will appreciate this when you are up among the crimson and blue in seats so high you suspect you can see Omaha. But Omaha is too far away for that and your view of the game will be great. If you are sitting up high, make sure you get any concession stand items before you head up, the process of getting back down is a little bit annoying.
I didn’t notice any hostility from Nebraska fans toward supporters of the away team (though one street vendor was selling a shirt that referred to Missouri with a phrase I can’t repeat in The Gazette.) And given the track record of kindness Nebraska fans have, you should expect plenty of love for your coach.
Over my four years in college, I learned that there’s nothing better than a great football-game road trip. Take my Boulder trip, for example, when the three football writers who had become close over the season got to hang out with two photographers we had never met who were hilarious the entire weekend.
No matter how exciting the game turns out to be, I’m confident that the most fun you have will come from spending a weekend with some close friends or family members.
“Our school will probably never go there again,” is the perfect excuse to plan a college football road trip, no matter if you’re a current student, an alum(na) or just a fan of your team. “I suggested we all take this trip,” is the perfect excuse to take shotgun on the way there and back.