Good things about Carbondale

[Newt99]

Other than the final score, I very much enjoyed my first ever trip to Carbondale. The town is quite nice and their campus and the surrounding areas on the drive down from St. Louis along the Mississippi were beautiful.

The tailgating atmosphere there is great, and their fans were all first class. I talked to many and they were knowledgeable and respectful and a lot of fun. I didn't get hassled even once, which is much more than I can say for road games in Ames, Iowa City, and Bloomington/Normal in past years. I had a nice conversation with several of them after the game in which we decided on a rematch on a neutral field in December in Chattanooga since the home team always wins this battle.

Highlight of the trip had to be while tailgating before the game, watching Ever Loyal climb the tower by the soccer fields south of the stadium and wave a big Panther flag for all to see. The Saluki fans were even pretty cool about that, some good-natured banter back and forth was all they did when they saw it.

It was nice meeting you and great tailgating with you Ever Loyal! Hope we see you out there again later this year.

[in_the_stands]

Re: Good things about Carbondale

Haven't been there for football, but I somehow ended up surrounded by SIU fans once at the MVC tournament. Decent folks, no complaints.

[Big Cats]

Re: Good things about Carbondale

I was there two years ago for the game, and you're right-the atmosphere in Carbondale is amazing and so are their fans. I thinks it's the best road trip in the conference for me so far. The only downside is that crumbling relic of a stadium they currently play in. I'm looking forward to going to Carbondale in two years to see their new stadium.

[06panther10]

Re: Good things about Carbondale

Is the new stadium going to be something special or what do we expect that do be like?

[TravelingPanther]

Re: Good things about Carbondale

The drive down is awesome until you get past St Louis. Driving HWY 51 down to Carbondale was miserable.

Enjoyed the atmosphere. The guy chanting over rated to our section right before halftime was a moron.

[06panther10]

Re: Good things about Carbondale

You can go tell that guy that the Panthers are still ranked higher than the Salukis as well, lol.

[alleycat]

Re: Good things about Carbondale

Enjoyed the atmosphere. The guy chanting over rated to our section right before halftime was a moron.

Did you see him get up late in the third and recant? Funny how that works.

[krusej23]

Re: Good things about Carbondale

I thought it was a great time down there. My roommates and I tailgated in the SIU student tailgating section and it was a great time. A fraternity next to us sang some song for us that was making fun of us, it was hilarious so of course I had to play them the UNI fight song and the panther growl. We played some drinking games with the sorority next to us. Of course when we walked to the bathroom everybody had to say something to us but it was all in good fun. Overall we had a great time and it was a good atmosphere.

[JayJ79]

Re: Good things about Carbondale

After the game, #10 from SIU (a linebacker, can't recall the name) stood over on the sideline/track pretty much right in front of the visitors section and was taunting the crowd and whatnot. I thought that was quite classless.
(to be honest, it kind of reminded me of something Parsons would have done. but maybe that was just to the jersey number)

[Newt99]

Re: Good things about Carbondale

The drive down is awesome until you get past St Louis. Driving HWY 51 down to Carbondale was miserable.

Enjoyed the atmosphere. The guy chanting over rated to our section right before halftime was a moron.

We didn't go that way. We went US-61 to I-270/I-255 around the south side of St. Louis. Then we took IL Hwy 3 (the "Great River Road") to Chester, then Murphysboro and Carbondale. It is two lane most of the way but I don't think it took any longer because it angles mostly southeast. Great views of the Mississippi, plus the added bonus of going through Chester, the "Hometown of Popeye." Half of the town was murals and monuments of Popeye-related things. They would not allow me, however, to "gladly pay them Tuesday for a hamburger today."

Try that way next time you go for a change of scenery. The forests and farmland along the route are reason enough alone!

[Saluki_Fury]

Re: Good things about Carbondale

Is the new stadium going to be something special or what do we expect that do be like?

Stadium

The picture is a little misleading as it will be a horseshoe stadium... seating capacity will actually go down from the 17,000-ish that McAndrew stadium holds to around 12,000...which is a little less than we had for homecoming last year. However this does leave room for expansion whereas expanding the ancient Mcandrew would have been a waste of money. Unfortunately, Carbondale is a Basketball town, so I don't see our attendance setting any precedence for expansion.

As for the game, I WISH I could have been there, but I was working at Buffalo Wild Wings and of course we couldn't get that channel because our satellite station didn't have it even though Mediacom did...however I did get to talk to some nice panther fans that came in afterwards and they were nothing but class.

[Panther-Sheik]

Re: Good things about Carbondale

From the article...

“As far as an on-campus facility, I think it will be, by far, the nicest stadium in the Gateway. Our football stadium will be a huge recruiting advantage." Moccia said.

They are also spending a total of $83M for upgrades to athletic facilities. Wow. Their renovation of the b'ball arena will cost more than the McLeod did to build. Funny that the article then says, "Saluki Way will, however, bring the Salukis respect they couldn’t buy." Hate to see what it would have cost if they had to buy it.