Rocket facilities soar above Peden
By Michael Weisman, Senior Sports Writer
October 26, 2007 | 2:05 p.m.
Expectations were high. Many people had told me the Glass Bowl, home of the Toledo Rockets, was the nicest stadium in the Mid-American Conference. Granted this was before Temple University joined the MAC this year. Despite Temple being a laughing stock in college football, they play at Lincoln Financial Field, home of the Philadelphia Eagles, making their stadium far and away the nicest in the conference. However, after watching Ohio fumble away a potential victory over the Rockets 43-40 live in person, the Glass Bowl certainly impressed my colleagues and myself.
The stadium isn’t some huge cement oval like the Horseshoe, though it’s shaped like one. Rather, it has the rustic look of an old fort. The stadium is lined with a stone wall that is six feet high which is similar to Peden Stadium’s brick wall. The Glass Bowl, which opened in 1937, blends in with the rest of the old stone buildings on campus just like Peden’s bricks blend with the rest of Ohio’s campus. It is nuzzled in the middle of campus. In two corners of the field are towers that resemble lookout towers. They post famous football alumni on them, such as Chester Taylor and Bruce Gradkowski.
Inside the stadium is even more impressive. The stadium only holds 26,248 people (Peden holds 24,000), despite having a record crowd of over 36,000 in 2001 with standing room only (don’t ask me how they pulled that off). But the press box towering high on one side and a two-tiered stadium on the opposite side cannot be missed. With the lights shining bright, the Glass Bowl, named after the glass industry in Toledo, looked all the more glamorous. Many aspects of the stadium were similar to Peden’s from their turf grass called NeXturf, to their Allstate net behind one upright, to their video board playing cheesy graphics (not as many as OU) after big plays. There is also a booming cannon shot after each score and a yellow T painted in a section of the bleachers which is exactly like Peden’s white O in its green bleachers.
As we ascended to the press box on the top floor of the tower, I was a bit concerned. If it was anything like the concessions down below, we were in for a rough night. The concession area on both sides of the stadium had a sewer smell to them with vendors everywhere and individual carts galore. It lacked any sort of organization whatsoever.
Once we exited the elevator, directly in front of me was the President’s Suite. My fears exited, and shock took its place. The whole floor was nicely carpeted with pictures of former Rockets lining the walls, and to our left was a huge spread full of food. I instantly became hungry despite eating a huge meal only a few hours earlier. One table had lemonade and water, cookies, brownies and assorted pastries. The second main table had two types of subs and two types of Panini sandwiches, along with pasta salad and green salad. This was a feast compared to the usual hot dogs and grilled chicken sandwiches provided at Peden. I felt like royalty as caterers wearing tuxedoes brought out trays of food.
I snagged a brownie and cookie before kickoff and found my seat in press row. The view from the box was impressive, but being partial to OU, the view from the top of Peden is better. From the top of the Glass Bowl I could see parts of campus, the tennis courts and apartments. I could also see the somewhat empty stands of the Glass Bowl (attendance was 18,928 which is similar to Ohio’s) and the 200-300 Bobcat faithful that made the trip.
The Rockets had fewer students at the game than the Bobcats had which is stunning considering the success UT has had in the past. I could also see the Toledo mascots, if that’s what you call them. One looked like a futuristic NASCAR driver with a blue and yellow astronaut suit and a helmet with a dark visor. I couldn’t tell you what the other one were, other than a plastic suit. It was similar to the University of Nebraska plastic blow-up Cornhusker suit that bounces on its head. Only, Toledo’s didn’t resemble anything other than a blue and yellow blob. Press row was no laughing stock either. We weren’t rubbing elbows, which is the typical case at Peden.
I spread my supplies out and conveniently found an outlet below my seat. This is something every seat in press row had and something that lacks in Peden. The Internet was lightning fast and the room had four televisions above our heads, rather than the one flat screen television OU has that I would need eyes in the back of my head to see. The press tower was redone in 1989, as Peden was in 2001, to make the tower taller and more impressive. The tower is able to hold 1,070 people and the pressroom alone can hold 108 media members. Peden has trouble with more than 30. At halftime I downed a sub, had to grab another cookie and snagged a soda from the cooler in the pressroom. The spread was made even more unbelievable with the fancy plasticware (as fancy as plasticware can be) and hard plastic cocktail cups used for the food and drinks.
When I returned to my seat for the second half, much to my surprise, there will still fans at the game. Apparently only Ohio fans leave at the half. Everyone in the press box was friendly, helpful and very accommodating. In addition to the usual statistics handed out after each quarter, scores from games around the country were also handed out which was a nice touch. After the devastating loss, my colleague and I made the trek back to our car.
I saved the parking situation for last because it was a) a good story and b) the worst part of the accommodations. It was an eight to 10 minute walk from where we were staying to the stadium, but since Toledo was gracious enough to grant us a parking pass, we decided we should use it. Little did we know the lot in which we were to park was across the street from where we stayed and an even longer walk to the stadium. When we first parked upon arrival, we realized it was a good 15-minute walk to the stadium. Rather than turn around and just walk from our place of residence, we attempted to shave time by hiking through some woods. Although the hike worked out and perhaps saved a few minutes, it was definitely the first time I ever hiked to a football game.
The walk back was in the dark, and we had to resort to the expected 15-minute walk to the parking lot, followed by the 30-second drive back to the apartments in which we were crashing. It was great to see another football facility, especially one more luxurious than Peden Stadium, but nothing beats being at home. I’ll just make sure to eat before I go to the game.
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