Happy Gameday Saturday Cougs, and yep, ‘ol Crimson is front and center yet again. Hats are off to the crew on the ground, led by Ashley Morely this week. Ashley is friends with our own LucasCoug, so we here at WSUFB salute her and her efforts!
And of course, thanks to Will Walker for getting the high-quality screen caps up for this week. Believe it or not, this now Gameday episode #122 where the Coug flags have been there, week after week! Check out some of the better shots from today…..
Tremendous job, yet again, representing the pride that comes with being Cougs!
As for today’s links, Christian Caple kills it yet again with his Saturday morning story on the mood of the game today. Basically a close W this time around where they sputter for half of it, and look good the rest of the time? Probably not good enough. If you have been following the news all week, there is a real tone that the team is emphasizing a complete, 60-minute effort where there is very little letdown or better yet, very little inconsistency. Playing in front of a Homecoming crowd today with a chance to please the folks in the stands might be all the juice they need to get it rolling, and with only about 1,000 tickets left, it should be a great atmosphere.
Speaking of atmosphere, it sounds like the haze from the wildfires could be a pain today? If they are advising just regular people to stay indoors to avoid breathing the haze, what does that mean for football players going at it for four quarters?? I guess we’ll see if it has any effect whatsoever, and it really might not once things get underway. Ever watched a sporting event in LA, during the summer? Talk about bad air quality, that’s just the worst, but maybe it’s not that big of a deal. I used to go to Dodger games in the heat of the So-Cal summer and there would be a brown ring around the sun as the smog would just be horrific, yet somehow they figure it out. I remember some days being so bad, when you would take a deep breath before jumping in the pool you would feel almost a pain in your lungs it was so bad. Anyway, we’ll see what happens.
Caple also has an update on the next round of Martin Stadium renovations. As has been reported for a while now, it looks like it’s all systems go to present to the board of regents later this fall. The hope would be for approval based on the Pac-12 revenue streams from the TV deal, and then they could begin construction once the 2012 season ends, shortly after the Apple Cup.
Some of the sketches and renderings and such of the football-only operations building have been a little scarce to find online, but thanks to YakiCoug in comments yesterday, we do have a few ideas on what it will look like:
Here you can see a side view, plus a look at it from inside the stadium. HOWEVER, it has already been decided that the scoreboard will NOT be built into the structure, but instead will be relocated to the east endzone/Stadium Way side of the stadium.
Here is another side shot, plus a look at it externally from the practice field side of the stadium.
Note – you can see the whole PDF presentation here.
Finally, here is one more shot, grabbed from the ALSC Architects renderings:
But even some of this is outdated in regards to the latest information, which will be finalized once the presentation is made to the board.
Anyway, it’s been said before, and we will say it again – the football OPS building is VITAL to recruiting! But I think aesthetically, it will really look nice inside the stadium and help complete the look and feel of the place. While the sun might cause some issues with the scoreboard in the east endzone, it may not be too bad. And the operations building rising up just off to the side of the new press box, it might help even more to give it a “walled in” feel and increase some of the echo that can bounce around with crowd noise. It may not be the biggest stadium around, but having the fans and these structures so close to the field could certainly make the crowd noise a real factor in the very near future!
That’s it for now. Enjoy the game, and of course, GO COUGS!
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