RT if you think this is beautiful.
— Cal Bears (@CalAthletics) August 2, 2012#WelcomeHome#MemorialStadium twitter.com/CalAthletics/s…
Some more cool stuff from Jim McGill of Bear Insider (we already showed off his detailed practice report), as he decides to walk completely around the new Memorial. Click the link above or here to view it.
And good news to all! The visiting locker room is still terrible.
Starting around the 3:56 mark of the video, we get a glimpse of lockers that look like incomplete IKEA furniture compilations.
Those narrow corridors look tough enough for me to fit through--imagine a Furd defensive tackle trying to cram through those surroundings. And the walk to the stadium looks just as inconvenient as before. Down hallways (at best double-file), down a staircase, through the deafening noise, and up the staircase. Based on the designs, it shouldn't be too far off from its original concourse location; I hope the concession smell wafts straight back through the lockers! No, it isn't the dungeon it once was, but it's going to give the claustrophobic some very tough hours maneuvering in what amount to hallways with bookshelves.
There are some other cool things, but they've probably all been mentioned before. The digital scoreboards look better than anything we've had before. They're not exactly huge, but they should provide a more modern feel and better quality video for watching replays and live action from the rougher angles of the stadium.
The press box looks sweet (I've never seen the old presser, but I've heard the chilly stories--it got cold in there). I'll be interested to see what happens to the overflow press box on the other side of the stadium. Maybe that's where we'll end up going one of these years.
Another thing that interested me: The lower bowl/sunken surface has been mentioned multiple times, but you can also see the stadium rows have a more upright feel to them (old Memorial looked a bit more staggered), so with this arrangement and the larger press box to keep noise in, it should flow right down below into the stadium bowl. This should be crucial for keeping noise into the stadium.
Also, nice view, everywhere up there.