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Post by firemedic619 on Sept 28, 2011 13:16:58 GMT -8
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Post by azdick on Sept 28, 2011 13:24:41 GMT -8
One of my great memories as an alum was to have played in an intermural flag football championship game in Aztec Bowl in 1963 or 64.  |
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Post by longtimebooster on Sept 28, 2011 14:08:08 GMT -8
One of my great memories as an alum was to have played in an intermural flag football championship game in Aztec Bowl in 1963 or 64. I have several great memories in Aztec Bowl: 1. Going to a Police/Oingo Boingo concert around '83 and getting to hang out back stage, where I got to meet Sting, as well as that really cute chick from MTV. 2. Playing intramural softball games in Aztec Bowl. Our division was slated for Friday afternoon games around 4 p.m. We would go play softball, and by about the 6th or 7th inning, we could hear the band warming up for the weekly TGIF party at the D.U. house. After the game, we went straight to the TGIF party all sweaty in our softball unis (yes, the chicks dig guys in a uniform), where we got to drink beer and listen to great tunes. 3. Playing intramural fball games in Aztec Bowl. And I had a couple of bad memories: 1. I was playing left field in an intramural softball game. It was a tight game and the opposing player launched a rocket. Being young, nimble and stupid, I took off full speed, chased the ball down, ignored that I was getting close to the wall, made a spectacular catch and then ran into the cobblestone wall at nearly full speed. It really, really hurt. And it was amazing I didn't end up in the hospital. If I did the same thing today, I'm sure I'd break at least three bones and pop at least two ligaments. 2. Arthur Schlessinger -- Pulitzer Prize winning writer and Kennedy biographer -- spoke at my graduation on the 20th anniversary of Kennedy's commencement address at SDSU. The first 5 minutes of the speech were vaguely interesting. However, it was 95 degrees, sunny and we were dressed in black. To top it off, I had gone out with friends pub hopping in P.B. the night before. Dude droned on for 1h 45m. Un-freakin'-believable. I felt like the POWs in The Bridge Over the River Kwai who were made to stand at attention in the tropical sun until they dropped. It was pure misery. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 28, 2011 15:13:22 GMT -8
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Post by zollner on Sept 28, 2011 16:14:07 GMT -8
Back in the early 70's. coached Pop Warner. We played another team from San Diego, their coach was a business prof. at SDSU. His name was Bob Reinhart, he arranged for us to play a practice game at Aztec Bowl. Man what a treat! They even had the Tribune writer cover the game, photos included. The kids were really stoked when the article and photos came out in the paper. Something I will never forget!!
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Post by AztecWilliam on Sept 28, 2011 16:24:22 GMT -8
Best memory of Aztec Bowl: the "Fog Bowl" game against Fresno State in '62. Aztecs win 29-26, with most of the second half so shrouded in fog that even half way up in the stands the action on the field was just a rumor! Kern Carson ran for 3 TDs, one of 88 yards. The win essentially completed the turnaround orchestrated by Don Coryell. From then on for a decade and a half SDSU never won fewer than 8 games except in 1963 (the San Francisco St. game canceled due to the Kennedy assassination) and 1971. Furthermore, the team won 10 or more games 6 times!
AzWm
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Post by AztecWilliam on Sept 28, 2011 16:30:07 GMT -8
Read the linked article and you will note that Aztec Bowl was intended from the very first to be expanded to 45,000 capacity. You think maybe the school made a huge blunder when it decided to forgo the possibility of upgrading what was already and on-campus venue for football?
AzWm
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Post by 99levi on Sept 28, 2011 19:27:16 GMT -8
I'm right there with you brother! And The Police/Oingo Boingo concert? WOW! I can only imagine what that must've been like. One of the best 3 pc rock bands ever IMO. |
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Post by tuff on Sept 29, 2011 6:30:11 GMT -8
Read the linked article and you will note that Aztec Bowl was intended from the very first to be expanded to 45,000 capacity. You think maybe the school made a huge blunder when it decided to forgo the possibility of upgrading what was already and on-campus venue for football? AzWm I was pissed that they built cox Arena at this site. And I still think they should move it down by the freeway and build a new football stadium on this site. Cost be damned. |
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Post by 1611Luginbill on Sept 29, 2011 7:16:51 GMT -8
You think maybe the school made a huge blunder when it decided to forgo the possibility of upgrading what was already and on-campus venue for football? AzWm No. |
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Post by AztecWilliam on Sept 29, 2011 9:25:47 GMT -8
You think maybe the school made a huge blunder when it decided to forgo the possibility of upgrading what was already and on-campus venue for football? AzWm No. I admit that the school did not feel it was a mistake. Perhaps they should have considered more carefully the problems associated with an aging football stadium (the Q). AzWm |
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Post by aztecnole on Sept 29, 2011 9:37:20 GMT -8
Are there any pictures of the stadium or events involving it? Can't find anything on the net.
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Post by 1611Luginbill on Sept 29, 2011 9:39:24 GMT -8
Perhaps they should have considered more carefully that problems associated with an aging football stadium (the Q). So lets get this straight... The University should have have shunned the benfits of a 30 year old, newly renovated, NFL stadium that was about to host a Super Bowl, in favor of a 60 year old set of WPA constructed concrete bleachers that had been out of use for 30 years? They did consider an aging football stadium....Aztec Bowl. It had not hosted the Aztecs since the Johnson adminstration. It was time to make good use out of that site. |
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Post by AztecWilliam on Sept 29, 2011 10:06:02 GMT -8
Perhaps they should have considered more carefully that problems associated with an aging football stadium (the Q). So lets get this straight... The University should have have shunned the benfits of a 30 year old, newly renovated, NFL stadium that was about to host a Super Bowl, in favor of a 60 year old set of WPA constructed concrete bleachers that had been out of use for 30 years? They did consider an aging football stadium....Aztec Bowl. It had not hosted the Aztecs since the Johnson adminstration. It was time to make good use out of that site. Ah, sir, your perspective is too constricted. The value of Aztec Bowl lay not so much in its architecture as in its location and land. It would have been possible to complete the entire horseshoe so that seating would have gone all the way around including where Viejas is now. Chair back seating could have replaced all or at least half of the existing seating. Also, a large end zone section could have been added, as well as upper deck sections (about 20 rows deep) along the sides to about the end zone's back line. Since I am not an architect, I can only speculate as to the final seating capacity if the stadium had been modified according to the plan I just outlined, but I'll bet that 40,000 would have been quite possible. Maybe 45,000. Do you think we would be in better shape with a 40-45,000 seat stadium on campus? I do. As for a basketball arena, something could have been worked out, perhaps even tearing down Peterson Gym and building there. In any event, it takes less land to build a gym than it does a stadium. As things stand now, our BB program is in good shape for the next several generations. Football, unfortunately, does not rest on so secure a foundation. While it is true (as I an others have argued) that the Q would not be torn down for some time after a departure of the Chargers, there is no guarantee that it would never be razed. Would the school be able to build a new stadium, somewhere, were the city to definitely pull the plug on the Q? I would hope so, but there is no guarantee. The bottom line is that building Cox/Viejas on Aztec Bowl looked like a great deal at the time. But the very long range problems that such a decision might produce seem to have been ignored or discounted. It was a gamble, a gamble that there would never be enormous pressure to get a "new" new stadium. At the moment there is no way to know whether we will eventually lose that gamble. AzWm |
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Post by 1611Luginbill on Sept 29, 2011 10:22:48 GMT -8
Ah, sir, your perspective is too constricted. The value of Aztec Bowl lay not so much in its architecture as in its location and land. It would have been possible to complete the entire horseshoe so that seating would have gone all the way around including where Viejas is now. Chair back seating could have replaced all or at least half of the existing seating. Also, a large end zone section could have been added, as well as upper deck sections (about 20 rows deep) along the sides to about the end zone's back line. Since I am not an architect, I can only speculate as to the final seating capacity if the stadium had been modified according to the plan I just outlined, but I'll bet that 40,000 would have been quite possible. Maybe 45,000. Do you think we would be in better shape with a 40-45,000 seat stadium on campus? I do. As for a basketball arena, something could have been worked out, perhaps even tearing down Peterson Gym and building there. At least you were rational enough to admit it. More speculation. You call it a gamble, I'd like to call it a wise investment of student fees that built a great arena and award winning student fitness center. The gamble has already paid off. The amount of public support and school spirit that has been felt via the basketball team is something that no marketing/fundraising plan could have accomplished in 50 years. That success would have not been possible without the arena. Without the site and student fees, the arena is not built. Nostalgia and hindsight make one toxic cocktail. That's why I am going to advocate that we tear out the underground trolley stop because that land can clearly function better in the future as a flying car marina in 2040. When flying cars become the norm, we won't be able to recruit top faculty, coaches, staff, athletes, and students. A poor use of land and a bad gamble IMO. |
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Post by AztecWilliam on Sept 29, 2011 12:34:46 GMT -8
Ah, sir, your perspective is too constricted. The value of Aztec Bowl lay not so much in its architecture as in its location and land. It would have been possible to complete the entire horseshoe so that seating would have gone all the way around including where Viejas is now. Chair back seating could have replaced all or at least half of the existing seating. Also, a large end zone section could have been added, as well as upper deck sections (about 20 rows deep) along the sides to about the end zone's back line. Since I am not an architect, I can only speculate as to the final seating capacity if the stadium had been modified according to the plan I just outlined, but I'll bet that 40,000 would have been quite possible. Maybe 45,000. Do you think we would be in better shape with a 40-45,000 seat stadium on campus? I do. As for a basketball arena, something could have been worked out, perhaps even tearing down Peterson Gym and building there. At least you were rational enough to admit it. More speculation. You call it a gamble, I'd like to call it a wise investment of student fees that built a great arena and award winning student fitness center. The gamble has already paid off. The amount of public support and school spirit that has been felt via the basketball team is something that no marketing/fundraising plan could have accomplished in 50 years. That success would have not been possible without the arena. Without the site and student fees, the arena is not built. Nostalgia and hindsight make one toxic cocktail. That's why I am going to advocate that we tear out the underground trolley stop because that land can clearly function better in the future as a flying car marina in 2040. When flying cars become the norm, we won't be able to recruit top faculty, coaches, staff, athletes, and students. A poor use of land and a bad gamble IMO. Oh, come on! Now you are just being mean. What are you trying to do, humble me before the assembled multitude on AztecMesa?  Okay, I admit that the arena deal did look very good when it was being planned 20 or more years ago. I still say that it would have been more sensible not to have forfeited for all time the possibility of using the Aztec Bowl site for football. Yes, I know, that's a dead issue. (It's so ironic to contemplate that fact that schools such as Wichita State, Fullerton, and Pacific all have on-campus stadiums that sit idle virtually the year round when we can only dream of something similar on the Mesa.) AzWm |
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