Madison Road Trip: Part II

and we begin Part II with the Kohl Center. This is Friday afternoon, and I had a couple hours to kill before meeting another professor and eventually meeting up with friends who were coming to the game. The women's hockey team had a 2PM game against Minnesota.... and while I didn't give a damn about a Wisconsin women's hockey game, tickets were only $5 and gave me a chance to snoop around the building.


The west side of the building. This is the basketball practice facility.


Looking back at the entrance to the Kohl Center.


Fans had to enter at the west entrance which had the ticket offices. The red door to the left of the girl is the entrance to the team store, where you can buy Wisconsin athletics gear.


detail of the south fascade of the basketball practice facility. At least judging by these reliefs I'm guessing its the basketball practice facility.


side entrance to the arena.


looking back towards campus.


again, looking towards what appears to be a dorm building from the Kohl Center.


and finally going inside.


Kinda grainy picture of the lobby. The upper levels were closed off, but the lower level concourse was ringed with murals and display cases featuring the achievements of Badger athletics. The displays were mainly geared towards the 4 teams that play at the Kohl Center (Men's Basketball, Women's Basketball, Men's Hockey, Women's Hockey). But other sports (especially football) were represented.


a concession stand.


walking around the arena.


staircase up to the second level.


I think this area is behind one of the goals/baskets (you can tell that 2PM friday women's hockey games aren't huge draws)


tables offering a kickass view of some railroad tracks.

one final shot of the concourse....


and heading down the vomitory (technical name for the portals into the seating bowl) into the arena itself.


and into the arena. The facility seats 17,190 for Basketball, and 15,237 for hockey.


The arena is named for Herb Kohl, a US Senator and founder of the Kohl's department stores. He kicked in $25 million for the construction of the arena.


The building opened in 1998, and cost $76.4 million to construct. If you assume 7% inflation for construction costs since then... this building would cost about $150 million to build today.

in addition to Badger hockey and basketball, the Kohl Center is used for concerts, graduation ceremonies, and other events. Prior to it's construction, the basketball team played at the aging Wisconsin Field House (pics of the exterior later), and the hockey team played at the municipal Veterans Memorial Coliseum (now called the Alliant Energy Center) located South of downtown.

Getting on my soap box here... the Kohl Center was built to fulfill the same role that Assembly Hall in Champaign was designed for... to consolidate sports and concerts into a single, modern, multipurpose venue.


The rink at the Kohl Center measures 200' x 97'... making it just 3' narrower than international hockey standards. The National Hockey League plays on 200' x 85' rinks. Most college teams play on the more standard 200' x 85' rinks, but there are several who play at or near the international standard size, including Wisconsin.


Looking up to the upper tiers. All of the lower suites and lower bowl seats are served by one concourse... there is no dedicated area for luxury suite holders. I believe the two upper bowls are served by a single concourse, but I wasn't able to go up there and check.


Two Zamboni's


I'll give Wisconsin some credit. The 3rd tier of the arena completely overlaps the 2nd tier... meaning that the top rows of the arena are closer to the court than they would be in an arena where the seating bowls don't overlap. this would be good, except because it's a hockey venue, the endzone seats are still far away from the basketball court. To wisconsin's credit again though, the upper tier in the endzones is situated so that it provides a decent view of basketball games... at the expense of hockey games. This might be sort-of an issue for Men's hockey, which gets large crowds, but clearly isn't impacting the women's hockey exerience.


Plenty of good seats available for this one.


Center scoreboard and Zomboni's finishing their work.


Notice the difference in the slope between the endzone seats and permanent sideline seats. The endzone seats are on risers, and this seating bank is raised up, allowing for more seats in front, when the smaller basketball court is laid down.


Walking through the concourse... Illini fan's will remember this (puke)


one of the displays around the lower concourse.


hm...

some weird sculpture in the lobby.


again with the weird blown-glass thingy.


Remember how I said that the suites shared a concourse with the plebeian fans... well, here is an entrance to one of the suites. the curtains hide a coat-rack area next to each suite.


some banners.


looking around the arena.


again.


National Anthem before the game.


again.


during the game.


another photo of the game being played. Technically the teams were OK... but hockey without checking sucks.



I only stayed for the first 10 minutes of the game, I had more wandering to do... I think the final score was a 2-2 draw.


On to Part III... more wandering around Madison.

Madison Road Trip: Part I

Driving Up I-39

Toll Booth just north of Rockford at the Illinois/Wisconsin Border

Passing through the Cheddar Curtain


Passing through a small river valley.


a lake.


almost to Madison.


after a 3 hour drive... finally near Madison


and I'm there....


One thing that becomes apparent as you enter town is that the major roads in the older part of town (before suburban sprawl took over the extremities of town) is that the major avenues all orient towards the state capital.


An intersection at the edge of the campus and downtown area.


Newer looking building near campus.


getting closer to campus, railroad bridge over the avenue.


bike lanes are found throughout the Madison area... in many cases, such as this one, the curb lane is reserved for bikes and right-hand turns.


From the top of the parking deck near campus looking east towards the capital.


from the parking deck looking southeast..


Looking to the south from the top of the parking structure.


The densification of urban centers...
New multipurpose building located across the street from older 2 story commercial structures. This is located in the "State Street" district, which is located between downtown and the campus. This neighborhood is very college-oriented and has a number of bars and shops aimed towards young adults. This part of town is doing well, and this new 13 story building is proof.


looking to the northwest. I think this building on the left is the Main Library. (our library is better!)


Looking east down State Street. The road is a pedestrian-only thoroughfare, and is open only to emergency vehicles, buses, and little other traffic.


the "Red Gym"... this is the oldest gymnasium on campus, and served as the Armory and from what I was told the original home to the basketball team.


looking to the west, the red building is called "Science Hall".


Bascom Hall, which is probably the iconic building on the UW-Madison Campus. It is located at the top of a rather long and steep hill (at least long and steep in the eyes of someone who lived in East Central Illinois for 4 years)


The green space in front of Bascom Hall is called the Bascom Mall. It empties out into State Street, and offers a view straight down to the capital rotunda. The rest of the campus is much more compact and less formal, but this space is very well oriented.


Old Music Building. I was in town early to look into Graduate School options, and the department I would be in is located in a wing of this building.


details on one of the buildings. I think that is the State Seal, which would explain those stupid "Forward. Thinking." commercials Wisconsin has.


I think this is the back end of Science Hall.


switchback in a road leading up a hill. You can see Lake Mendota in the background. More on the lakes later.


public hearing notice in front of one of the buildings.


Looking out over Lake Mendota.


A small natural park is wedged up against the lake at this point in campus.
There are three lakes that are close to downtown Madison: Lake Mendota, Lake Monona, and Lake Wingra. Lake Mendota is the largest lake and is located to the north of downtown and the Campus. The entire UW Campus overlooks Lake Mendota, and part of the lake is called University Bay.

Downtown Madison itself is wedged in between Lake Mendota to the north and Lake Monona to the South. The capital is located at the center of a narrow isthmus... more pics of that later. Lake Wingra is smaller and located SW of downtown and south of campus... I didn't really see it.


Bus service on Campus.


the College of Business.

I think this is called the "Humanities Building"... although i'm not sure, and I'm too lazy to look it up. This is a fine example of 1960's Brutalist Architecture... and a fine example of kinda-interesting but not functionally good architecture being thrown up in the middle of college campuses next to older clasically proportioned buildings.... which happened everywhere.


back to the tall multipurpose building I walked by earlier... with a paratransit bus driving down University Avenue.


closeup of the shops and upper floors.


looking down the street towards downtown Madison.


The end of Part I of my ridiculously long photo tour of Madison.... the front steps to the Kohl Center.

Big Ten Pick 'em Week 8:

Week 7 Results:


Overall Standings:


Week 8 Picks can be made here:

Big Ten Pick 'em week 7:

Big Ten Pick 'em Standings:

Week 5 Results:


Week 6 Results:


OVERALL Standings:

Week 6 Pick 'Em

I've been out of town all week, the picks for last week are safe, and will be scored and put up in the new few days.