Best/worst opposing stadium experience you've had?
- Thread starter Robcatt24
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Believe it or not but Tennessee fans aren't as bad as you think they are. Went to a game at Neyland and had the time of my life. I'm going to the game this year.
Best is a tie...Georgia, and LSU. Worst, and this one isn't even close...ul, papa john's
My favorite for an away game is SC. Surprisingly nice folks down there. Williams Brice at night is something else. I never dreamed it would be as loud as it was. We only had a problem with one fan down there in 2015. Everybody else was as nice as could be.
They're not bad at all - because they don't consider us a rival. Which is why it's such a joke when some claim UT is our biggest rival. The actual worst of course is Papa Johns.
As for the best, Alabama is the best game day atmosphere. Athens is the coolest town.
Unfortunately, I've only been to Vandy's stadium for an SEC road game. It really sucks there, but it's fun that we often/usually have more fans than they do in the stands.
I'd imagine. And that's an interesting question in and of itself (sadly, we don't have many recent examples to consider) - how do specific fanbases handle it when we win at their place?
Places I wouldn't want to be after we win:
UofL
Tennessee
Florida
LSU
Mississippi State
Places I think might be a little cooler about it (but could certainly be wrong):
Georgia
Alabama
Ole Miss
I've only been to regular season road games at UT, IU, and Vandy. None of them really qualified as offensive or friendly.
However, I will never forget eating dinner before a game in Nashville at a Mrs. Winners chicken shack, and my Dad and Grandad picking up a drunk passed out at a table (chair and all) with the female manager's blessing, and depositing him on the sidewalk while she called the police for pick-up. We had not finished our chicken before a cruiser rolled up. The subject barely acknowledged the arresting officer.
The whole restaurant cheered while they carried him out. He had been ranting and raving at everyone, but had seated himself and passed out just before we walked through the door. The manager brought us some pie on the house.
I think I was 13 or 14 at the time.
However, I will never forget eating dinner before a game in Nashville at a Mrs. Winners chicken shack, and my Dad and Grandad picking up a drunk passed out at a table (chair and all) with the female manager's blessing, and depositing him on the sidewalk while she called the police for pick-up. We had not finished our chicken before a cruiser rolled up. The subject barely acknowledged the arresting officer.
The whole restaurant cheered while they carried him out. He had been ranting and raving at everyone, but had seated himself and passed out just before we walked through the door. The manager brought us some pie on the house.
I think I was 13 or 14 at the time.
Best was Osu when they played ND for the first time in like 29 years... place crazy. Worst is pjcs. Had an adult flip me off coming out of the bathroom and I was 15 or 16yo. My mom and I got cussed from behind quite a bit that day... pjcs got inaugurated right though.
I haven't been to any away games as a Cat fan. My two favorite stadiums to watch a game in are:
Autzen Stadium (Oregon) - that place can get rocking. Went to a lot of fun games there.
Kyle Field (A&M) - been to a few games there. Midnight yell practice was a lot of fun too.
Autzen Stadium (Oregon) - that place can get rocking. Went to a lot of fun games there.
Kyle Field (A&M) - been to a few games there. Midnight yell practice was a lot of fun too.
I went to that OSU - ND game. That 1995 I believe. I had a shirt on that said, "I hate Notre Dame more than you". Never had so many people come up and scream at me, "No you don't man....no you don't!!!"
I have been lucky to go on the road with the cats at least once each year since 2012.
UT
USCe
LSU
Dirty Bird U
Bama
Mizzou
Nashville (vs WKU)
Hands down the best experience was LSU. Unreal how nice the people are. Gotta put up with some "tiger bait" chants, but as a UK football fan, I was just happy to be recognized. Also after the game everyone was telling us that we would get them come basketball. Weirdest part was being at a bar and a guy came up asking for a picture to send to his dad because they didn't believe UK football fans existed. The stadium itself is out of this world. Only heard it get loud a few times because we got blown out, but that place is deafening.
Went to Bama this year. Stadium was great. Crazy loud the entire time. But, the tailgate scene is much more old southern feel. The university has a tailgating system where you pay others to put up your tents. Definitely able to tell the difference between Bama grads and just Bama fans.
Worst experience:
2012 UofL was awful. Joker's last year. Made friends with the people around us but got stuff thrown on us by fans about 5 rows up. Our newly met friends actually walked out of the stadium with us to make sure we were good to go. Mind you we only cheered when UK was having success on the field, which wasn't often.
Also, I'm shocked about people saying USCe was a nice fan base. I was treated worse there than at UofL. I went in 2015 when we upset them at USCe, and the entire tailgating experience was awful. People constantly making threats. Was told by a nice group of fans that if we strayed away from our tailgate to go in packs. After the game went to a bar and was told to leave because we were causing a disruption, we had just walked in. Nicest fan was a former player that said he didn't understand the hostility and congratulated us on the W. Funny to see someone that actually played be the level headed one rather than the random fans.
UT
USCe
LSU
Dirty Bird U
Bama
Mizzou
Nashville (vs WKU)
Hands down the best experience was LSU. Unreal how nice the people are. Gotta put up with some "tiger bait" chants, but as a UK football fan, I was just happy to be recognized. Also after the game everyone was telling us that we would get them come basketball. Weirdest part was being at a bar and a guy came up asking for a picture to send to his dad because they didn't believe UK football fans existed. The stadium itself is out of this world. Only heard it get loud a few times because we got blown out, but that place is deafening.
Went to Bama this year. Stadium was great. Crazy loud the entire time. But, the tailgate scene is much more old southern feel. The university has a tailgating system where you pay others to put up your tents. Definitely able to tell the difference between Bama grads and just Bama fans.
Worst experience:
2012 UofL was awful. Joker's last year. Made friends with the people around us but got stuff thrown on us by fans about 5 rows up. Our newly met friends actually walked out of the stadium with us to make sure we were good to go. Mind you we only cheered when UK was having success on the field, which wasn't often.
Also, I'm shocked about people saying USCe was a nice fan base. I was treated worse there than at UofL. I went in 2015 when we upset them at USCe, and the entire tailgating experience was awful. People constantly making threats. Was told by a nice group of fans that if we strayed away from our tailgate to go in packs. After the game went to a bar and was told to leave because we were causing a disruption, we had just walked in. Nicest fan was a former player that said he didn't understand the hostility and congratulated us on the W. Funny to see someone that actually played be the level headed one rather than the random fans.
I was at UK and we went to visit a buddy at Columbus. Kinda just lucked into free student tickets.
I'm glad you had a good time.
My Neyland experience was the worst. This was the game during the Mumme era that the week prior Jason Watts had the car accident that killed another player (Steinmetz? 98/99?)
I was lied to about where to park and had to walk a good mile to stadium - then had water thrown on me as I was walking into stadium. Seats sucked (nosebleeds) - pressbox covered the bottom 3rd of red and end zones on my left. Everyone in the row below us was over-the-top nasty to my pal and I - one guy even telling my friend to "go back to Lexington and cry over your dead players" I just kept my mouth shut as I was completely outnumbered and in enemy territory.
It was so uncomfortable that we decided to leave at the end of the 3rd Q - game was unfortunately out of reach. Some obnoxious *** clown in front of me said "I'll see you in Lex next year" and I couldn't hold my tongue anymore and said "you had to sneak a mt. dew into the game, how can you afford to get to lexington?" That got me a couple of high-5's from some UT guys right behind us.
At least the walk back to the car was peaceful, and traffic wasn't bad.
Yep. I was there... It was awful. Took over 2 hrs to get back to hotel.
Worse stadium is ark little rock. It was a death trap. Single file in and out. Similar to the old soldier field.
A lot of the sec places could be in there for me. They all have different highlights that could be argued as better than another. All different but all good. Vandy has a terrible in stadium atmosphere but does have the city of Nashville and the West End area going for it so I still put it ahead of papa johns which has no feel of a college experience because of the location and type of fan they have.
BAD= Louisvlle and Tennessee always
BEST=Auburn and Ole Miss by far
best atmosphere= LSU
BEST=Auburn and Ole Miss by far
best atmosphere= LSU
Best place is Alabama/Bryant-Denny Stadium. The fans were the more gracious than any other place I've been. The surroundings and atmosphere on game day is unmatched.
Worst place is UofL/Papa Johns Stadium. The fans are horrible and run their mouths before, during and after every UK/UofL game I've ever attended there.
Worst place is UofL/Papa Johns Stadium. The fans are horrible and run their mouths before, during and after every UK/UofL game I've ever attended there.
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The hospitality is great at LSU and I love it but the best experience I've ever had was in 2009 down in Auburn. Those fans were the absolute nicest fans that I have encountered and it's not even close. We took a huge crowd down to that game despite the drizzling rain and unseasonably cold 40 degree temperatures on the plains. The fans would always stop us to say welcome and talk about our team. After the game, even after we beat them, they were very complimentary to us. At Auburn, there are a lot of fans who stand on the ramp to watch the game leading to the upper deck. That ramp is behind the visitor section and they said that we were the loudest and most rowdy fanbase that they have ever seen come to auburn. That included LSU and Alabama.
Alabama by far the best. Auburn was a close second.
Worst-ul. White trash at its finest
Worst-ul. White trash at its finest
Yep, uavel is the worst. Been twice, both times nearly coming to blows with their fans screaming in my face so closely I could tell what type of bourbon/beer they were drinking during their tailgating.
Best & worst - LSU.
I lived in Louisiana from 1990-1998 and went to UK-LSU games in the even-numbered years when we played them in Baton Rouge.
The Best was 1992 when we beat them 27-25. The Cats went to 4-2 with the win. Little did I know at the time that UK would not win another game that season to finish 4-7. Still, that night was great, there's nothing better than beating a team at their home place.
The worst by far was 1996. In hindsight I made the mistake of parking on the street off campus. As my wife and I were leaving the car to walk to the stadium, a guy in the house we had parked in front of apparently noticed my UK gear and asked me to pay $10 "to ensure safe parking", I blew him off and kept walking. We got trounced that night 42-14 or something like that. When I got back to the car it had shaving cream, lotion, etc all over it. Talk about getting a chapped ***, but that's what I get for ignoring that a%%hole at the outset Should have just parked somewhere else. Luckily we drove right by a car wash about five minutes down the road so I could clean the car.
My other times at LSU (including 2014) were pretty good. The majority of the fans down there are great.
I lived in Louisiana from 1990-1998 and went to UK-LSU games in the even-numbered years when we played them in Baton Rouge.
The Best was 1992 when we beat them 27-25. The Cats went to 4-2 with the win. Little did I know at the time that UK would not win another game that season to finish 4-7. Still, that night was great, there's nothing better than beating a team at their home place.
The worst by far was 1996. In hindsight I made the mistake of parking on the street off campus. As my wife and I were leaving the car to walk to the stadium, a guy in the house we had parked in front of apparently noticed my UK gear and asked me to pay $10 "to ensure safe parking", I blew him off and kept walking. We got trounced that night 42-14 or something like that. When I got back to the car it had shaving cream, lotion, etc all over it. Talk about getting a chapped ***, but that's what I get for ignoring that a%%hole at the outset Should have just parked somewhere else. Luckily we drove right by a car wash about five minutes down the road so I could clean the car.
My other times at LSU (including 2014) were pretty good. The majority of the fans down there are great.
I was there and share the experience. Just an awesome game.
Auburn fans were absolute fantastic hosts (albeit quietly so after we pulled off the W - they were noticeably "shell-shocked").
And you are right on point...there weren't a lot of us Kentucky fans there, but we were absolutely making some noise (especially on the way out).
I've had great experiences (with fans) at Bama, Auburn, Ole Miss and UGA.
Not so great at USCjr, UL, UF, Indiana (way back). It's really luck of the draw.
The worst by a country mile was Tennessee (and I took an oath that I'd see our win in person and had to go there 6 times during our losing streak).
Watched an older redneck man take a Kentucky hat off a little boy and throw it off the back of the stadium (in the bleeds). Most of the people in the section laughed and I got booted for coming unglued about the situation. I could go on and on, for the most part, they just suck.
Not so great at USCjr, UL, UF, Indiana (way back). It's really luck of the draw.
The worst by a country mile was Tennessee (and I took an oath that I'd see our win in person and had to go there 6 times during our losing streak).
Watched an older redneck man take a Kentucky hat off a little boy and throw it off the back of the stadium (in the bleeds). Most of the people in the section laughed and I got booted for coming unglued about the situation. I could go on and on, for the most part, they just suck.
My worst was Papa Johns . As we filed in guys with no shirts , bodies panted red, drunk as skunks got up in our faces and our wives yelling f$&@ you and all kinds have of insults . Spit coming out of their mouths hitting us.
The scariest part of it was the police were there and laughed at it . Thought it was funny . Had I taken a swing at one of them I would have been billy clubed by the gendarmes and sent to jail.
However, I have an even worse story which a guy at the gym told me this week when my workout buddies were telling of bad experiences at Papa Johns and the UL guys their bad experiences at U.K.
A very large muscular guy built like a pro lineman said he couldn't help but hear our conversation and had a story to beat all stories.he said he was a UL fan and at one of their games he observed the following.
Across the aisle from him two drunks in their twenties were continually standing up cheering for the Cards. The guy in back of them said very politely " I lost my leg in Afghanistan and would appreciate it if you all didn't stand so much because I can't get up without difficulty . "
One of the young punks responded " Buddy it's not my fault you were dumb enough to step on a landmine. I'll cheer for our team whenever I want. "
The guy said he went over and said to the vet " I appreciate your service . The people in front of me seldom stand I'll be glad to switch seats with you. Which they did.
He said for some reason the punks didn't stand the rest of the game .
The scariest part of it was the police were there and laughed at it . Thought it was funny . Had I taken a swing at one of them I would have been billy clubed by the gendarmes and sent to jail.
However, I have an even worse story which a guy at the gym told me this week when my workout buddies were telling of bad experiences at Papa Johns and the UL guys their bad experiences at U.K.
A very large muscular guy built like a pro lineman said he couldn't help but hear our conversation and had a story to beat all stories.he said he was a UL fan and at one of their games he observed the following.
Across the aisle from him two drunks in their twenties were continually standing up cheering for the Cards. The guy in back of them said very politely " I lost my leg in Afghanistan and would appreciate it if you all didn't stand so much because I can't get up without difficulty . "
One of the young punks responded " Buddy it's not my fault you were dumb enough to step on a landmine. I'll cheer for our team whenever I want. "
The guy said he went over and said to the vet " I appreciate your service . The people in front of me seldom stand I'll be glad to switch seats with you. Which they did.
He said for some reason the punks didn't stand the rest of the game .
Alabama fans were great this year. When I attended both Auburn and Ole Miss games both fan bases were really great as well. I have really never had a bad experience. I have been to Knoxville, Nashville, Baton Rouge, Gainesville, Birmingham, Athens and Morgantown. Worst experience was probably at Indiana many years ago.
Go Big Blue!
Attend all road games, but will NEVER go back to Otis's pizza pit...I guess it's because of being KENTUCKY , but they are easily the worst. Have had flags torn off of car, head lights broken, garbage poured on my vehicle and my wife called every name under the sun by drunk old men and the young punks who can't handle their alcohol...best would be Muzzou, Ala, Lsu
Best pregame in the league Bar none, SC... wish UK could come up with something similar to it
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Worst experience ever with opposing fans was at Neyland. Was the game after the Jason Watts DUI accident that killed his friend. Those drunken stupid bastards thought it was a funny topic.
Best is UGA. Great fans and great experience.
And UofL fans weren't bad either.
I actually agree about the UT fans in Knoxville. My wife and I went to the game in Neyland 2 years ago and most everyone we encountered was very polite and welcoming. I do know some Vol fans who are obnoxious as hell though and still think Volunteer football is relevant but that's another story. Only other SEC venue I've been to is Vanderbilt. Went down to that game in 07 with some friends and had a great experience, but by accident, I kept hitting the hood of this woman's hoodie sitting in front of me and she and her husband got really pissed off. I wasn't doing it on purpose, it just kept happening when I was cheering, but they went and told the Cops on me and I had to tell the VU Police that it wasn't anything intentional. Stupid Vanderbilt fans.
UK v LSU 2007 at Commonwealth was one of the wildest games I've been a part of. My brother and I went with no tickets but our cousin was friends with a Big LSU booster who we bought lower level tickets from for a really good price. Should have known that our seats were in the heart of the LSU section. The fans were great (early on) other than commenting on how Commonwealth looked like a "high school stadium" and they didnt stand or stop talking during the playing of our Old Kentucky Home. The four guys behind us were college aged and all wore purple pants with gold blazers and ties. By the fourth quarter they were shirtless. They snuck in two handles of Beam and a log of skoal. They had been pretty cool through the course of the game but had gotten more and more physical as the game tightened up. Light shove from behind turned into a punch in the shoulder as we went to OT. I told my Brother that if we won we needed to leave as quickly as possible.....Braxton makes the stop and we literally sprint 20 rows to the railing and then jump onto the field. Will never forget that game.
I've been to a few Iowa games as a neutral spectator. I much prefer Commonwealth Stadium to Kinnick.
- Iowa fans start with profanity towards visiting fans on the way into the stadium, then continue it with cheers and chants inside.
- The stadium itself is old and dated. Seats are very tight compared to Commonwealth.
- There is only a ground level concourse, so on entry, exit, and halftime, it is wall to wall people.
- Iowa fans consistently booed the other team any time there was an injured player on the field.
- Parking was easy for me since I work nearby.
- Tailgating was decent because I know Iowa fans that live near the stadium, but Iowa plays a lot of 11 AM kickoff games. I'm not really in the mood to drink beer at 8 or 9 AM.
Sat among some of the LSU fans. My best friend's uncle officiated the game, and his comp tickets wound up in our hands. I think we were on the edge of the visitors section. They were heels even during the National Anthem, and actually doing yells during MOKH. Pre-game conversation was totally condescending. It should have already been clear to them they could expect a ball game, but they just saw business as usual. Obligatory Bluegrass Miracle references late in the game. Kelley makes the stop, and we went so nuts everyone around us just ran to the exit cursing us, Lexington, UK, and anything else that came to mind. I don't like LSU fans. They really do smell of BO, cotton candy and corn dogs.