By Jim Coffman
I have a friend who loves Soldier Field as currently constituted. He loves the way it looks, the way it sounds, the way the setting sun creates a warm, reflective glow in the eastern stands as a November afternoon turns to evening (okay, that’s a bit of a stretch). Actually what he really loves is that it is a comfortable, convenient place for him to watch a game – approximately 100 times more so than it was before the renovation was completed in 2003. He remembers the last game he attended at the old Soldier Field – a playoff loss to, coincidentally enough, the Philadelphia Eagles in 2001. That game was marked by a huge halftime surge to the toilets (even more so than usual perhaps because it was the post-season). After a while (as the 10-minute halftime drew to a close), scores of male Bears fans in that part of the stadium decided they couldn’t wait any longer to relieve themselves at the woefully lacking facilities (mostly overmatched Port-o-Potties). The resulting mass wall-piss created what could only be described as a river of urine flowing down the ramps leading out of the place. Ah, yes, the good old days – although it must be said that golden phenomenon was a fitting metaphor for the Bears’ play, both in that specific playoff game and during so many other Chicago football fiascos.
So in my friend Jon’s honor (he is a good guy, a great meteorologist . . . and he has almost perfect season tickets), I will start this column with neither snarky snippets nor a broad architectural critique (as if I could muster such a thing) about that big, wacky place the Bears call home. “Wacky” is alright isn’t it? It’s kind of fun, kind of crazy and it is definitely the best I can do.
Sunday evening, after all, was my once every year or two pilgrimage to the actual site where the team that has forever been my fall obsession plays its home games. And so I had a chance to yet again contemplate the stadium in question and to note that . . . wait, don’t go there. The place is undeniably so much better than it used to be for the most important constituency (and no, that’s not you Mr. Architecture Critic). We were able to get in and out smoothly thanks to cabs (we both live on the North Side) that dropped us off and then picked us up on Columbus Drive, a little more than a mile north of the Field. Although be careful where you try to pick up a cab over there. Cops on ATVs were patrolling areas where cabs aren’t supposed to stop, ready to crack down on miscreants who dared defy fencing put in place to try to force fans to wait to hop in their ride until they are a suitable distance away.
Like I noted earlier, we sat in great seats but the percentage of seats at Soldier Field that can be classified as at least “good” is remarkably high. It seems like there are an incredible number of luxury suites (the stadium overall seats 61,500, the lowest capacity in the league – I wonder where it ranks in total number of suites). But perhaps that makes it more economically viable to be so much smaller (and comfortable) than so many of the huge football bowls (with tens of thousands of not-good seats) that dot the land. Anyway, we had decent beer (Honkers) and decent food (Italian beef) nearby and besides the ever-mysterious “there’s a timeout – where – on the field – awww” thing that has to be one of the stupidest rituals in the history of spectator sport, the extra-curricular entertainment was solid (hey Bears, how about more of the drill team, not just little snippets before the game and at the start of the second half). In particular I cannot get enough of the digital scoreboard clip of the bear squishing the dear, departed John Candy under a door. I vote that alternating timeouts be filled with John Candy clips (culminating with the bear on the door) and the drill team. Who’s with me?
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Posted on November 23, 2009
