Harvard Big Red Boulevard

[stereax]

it was comical to the amount of people struggling to park on tower rd to find out that the access to the sidewalk at the soccer complex is gone and then the easy access to the biotech sidewalk is also gone.  no signage at all to make it easy to figure out where to go to get to lynah.

Since Harvard was going to be the best attended game maybe an email explaining to people who don't show up every week.

Agreed. I spent a solid 5-10 minutes trying to figure out how to get in before just following a bunch of others. I usually enter in the front near Section A, so...

[pjd8]

Can't speak as to the history of C-Town but I don't think I've really ever seen anyone pregaming a hockey game anymore. Doors open at 6 on a Friday when there are classes earlier in the day, plus getting to Lynah is a hassle especially when you're doing public transport and you're either hauling ass up a hill from Collegetown or taking an hourly bus to Bartels and cutting between a few buildings.

Do students really consider walking from C-town a haul? We always considered it a convenience in years I lived there. Easy compared to the haul up Libe Slope from West Campus.

[marty]

Can't speak as to the history of C-Town but I don't think I've really ever seen anyone pregaming a hockey game anymore. Doors open at 6 on a Friday when there are classes earlier in the day, plus getting to Lynah is a hassle especially when you're doing public transport and you're either hauling ass up a hill from Collegetown or taking an hourly bus to Bartels and cutting between a few buildings.

Do students really consider walking from C-town a haul? We always considered it a convenience in years I lived there. Easy compared to the haul up Libe Slope from West Campus.

West campus to upper ag quad at 8 AM was a nice walk as I remember.  20 something me didn't need coffee to get in gear either.

[stereax]

Can't speak as to the history of C-Town but I don't think I've really ever seen anyone pregaming a hockey game anymore. Doors open at 6 on a Friday when there are classes earlier in the day, plus getting to Lynah is a hassle especially when you're doing public transport and you're either hauling ass up a hill from Collegetown or taking an hourly bus to Bartels and cutting between a few buildings.

Do students really consider walking from C-town a haul? We always considered it a convenience in years I lived there. Easy compared to the haul up Libe Slope from West Campus.

West campus to upper ag quad at 8 AM was a nice walk as I remember.  20 something me didn't need coffee to get in gear either.

Consider: I am a fairly out-of-shape 20-year-old law student with a high resting heart rate that spikes into areas my heart rate tracker app considers "xtreme" when I'm dragging myself uphill (156 bpm, I measured it back in November when I wwas heading up for a women's game). The first time I walked up from Myron Taylor to Lynah, I had to take about three breaks because it was getting difficult to breathe. This probably says more about me than it does the slope, at this point.

[upprdeck]

What was the passport activity they mentioned in the questionnaire?

[Jeff Hopkins '82]

What was the passport activity they mentioned in the questionnaire?

They handed out a little card with a bunch of "stations" on it, e.g. one for the campus store, one for the meal table, etc.  As you went to each one, they'd give you a sticker.  Once you had stickers for every station, you could turn in the card for a bear keychain.

[billhoward]

Big Red Boulevard was a good idea, launched with all the promise and polish of early Windows 95. Or our first year fighting World War II. Or Tesla QC the first couple years.

"Boulevard"? It was a crowded street with imprecise traffic patterns. BRB was the left side of Newman Arena (as you'd look in from the concourse), with the practice netting up around the arena center (the basketball court itself) not available for use and the far right side not used. It was cramped after the first 15 minutes.

Cheese, crackers, cold cuts and excellent doughnuts were free. (The doughnuts reminds me of the Cornell farm store that we always stopped at in the fall, and now it's gone gone gone. I think because it wasn't making money.) Wine was $7 for a modest pour. Beer was available, ditto soft drinks. There were a couple real entrees at the far back, $10, that were okay but I believe not available when the doors opened. It was clear this was not catered by Hotel students with their grades on the line. I sometimes think we should wow visitors with Hotel School catering at Lynah/Newman/Schoellkopf alongside the usual burgers-hot dogs-popcorn fare there is now. Maybe CU couldn't turn a profit but I bet enterprising Hotel / Johnson School roommates could be in the black quickly.

The Campus Store pop-up was really, really crowded. PSP, the people who make the great hats and sportwear (and who have been at the Newman concourse for some games), was not in on this. Why not let in non-Cornell vendors?

There was a photo booth with a step and repeat background with a cutout Big Red Bear and the human BRB (photo below), a couple of games such as throwing snow at a target. There were a couple things for littler kids. There were 10-15 small standup high-top table rounds the size of an X-Large pizza tray, not hardly enough for the crowd that surged in. We were in the first 50 in the doors and we did not give up our table.

There was a ~bingo card given to each person, and if you got ~9 stickers from visiting the locations, you got a prize but it was, I thought, an underwhelming trinket Big Red keychain. Would've been nice if 10 lucky fans who filled their cards were randomly picked for a T-shirt.

Yes, there were TVs there. Despite some comments ("How dare Cornell lure you away from watching the game in person?" ), I thought it was a nice way to see the game if you were in danger of missing the start of the first or second period. Lighten up, Lynah All Too Faithful.

BR Blvd. can only get better. Cornell under the new athletic leadership is trying. Give BRB Rev. 1.0 a C+ or if it makes Cornell feel better, a Harvard A-minus. Don't abandon this.

[billhoward]

Oh, yeah, forgot: Cornell is using Ithaca HS students rather than Cornell undergrads to work Big Red Boulevard. Then : They are not 15-year-old townies, rather we are, some of us are, getting really, really old.

[George64]

Oh, yeah, forgot: Cornell is using Ithaca HS students rather than Cornell undergrads to work Big Red Boulevard. Then : They are not 15-year-old townies, rather we are, some of us are, getting really, really old.

You don't look a day over 72!

[chimpfood]

I would do bad, bad things to get doughnuts in the dining halls.

[Trotsky]

nm

[stereax]

Big Red Boulevard was a good idea, launched with all the promise and polish of early Windows 95. Or our first year fighting World War II. Or Tesla QC the first couple years.

"Boulevard"? It was a crowded street with imprecise traffic patterns. BRB was the left side of Newman Arena (as you'd look in from the concourse), with the practice netting up around the arena center (the basketball court itself) not available for use and the far right side not used. It was cramped after the first 15 minutes.

Cheese, crackers, cold cuts and excellent doughnuts were free. (The doughnuts reminds me of the Cornell farm store that we always stopped at in the fall, and now it's gone gone gone. I think because it wasn't making money.) Wine was $7 for a modest pour. Beer was available, ditto soft drinks. There were a couple real entrees at the far back, $10, that were okay but I believe not available when the doors opened. It was clear this was not catered by Hotel students with their grades on the line. I sometimes think we should wow visitors with Hotel School catering at Lynah/Newman/Schoellkopf alongside the usual burgers-hot dogs-popcorn fare there is now. Maybe CU couldn't turn a profit but I bet enterprising Hotel / Johnson School roommates could be in the black quickly.

The Campus Store pop-up was really, really crowded. PSP, the people who make the great hats and sportwear (and who have been at the Newman concourse for some games), was not in on this. Why not let in non-Cornell vendors?

There was a photo booth with a step and repeat background with a cutout Big Red Bear and the human BRB (photo below), a couple of games such as throwing snow at a target. There were a couple things for littler kids. There were 10-15 small standup high-top table rounds the size of an X-Large pizza tray, not hardly enough for the crowd that surged in. We were in the first 50 in the doors and we did not give up our table.

There was a ~bingo card given to each person, and if you got ~9 stickers from visiting the locations, you got a prize but it was, I thought, an underwhelming trinket Big Red keychain. Would've been nice if 10 lucky fans who filled their cards were randomly picked for a T-shirt.

Yes, there were TVs there. Despite some comments ("How dare Cornell lure you away from watching the game in person?" ), I thought it was a nice way to see the game if you were in danger of missing the start of the first or second period. Lighten up, Lynah All Too Faithful.

BR Blvd. can only get better. Cornell under the new athletic leadership is trying. Give BRB Rev. 1.0 a C+ or if it makes Cornell feel better, a Harvard A-minus. Don't abandon this.

HARVARD A MINUS. 100% agreed with all your points - the "passport" (7 stickers) was really neat, at least to me, because it swayed my hand into actually going through the Boulevard and not just stopping at the 1 or 2 stations that piqued my interest. The little bear keychain, while a wee bit underwhelming, is still nice and I'll be keeping it as a memento. Didn't get to try the doughnuts, sadly

But yeah, the biggest issue I had with it was how cramped it all was. More space would have been really nice, as well as some way to form lines.

Wonderful pics, love Touchdown and his oversized fish friend!!!