urbanSTL

Hard to say, but doubtful. I think those plans came about when SLU was still considering building the arena north of Lindell/Olive.



I just want to see something built at Grand and Lindell, but it's sounding like that could take a while. I don't see why SLU couldn't have stabilized the Marina Building and Feathers Apartments, eventually renovating them, but then again, I have no idea what condition they were in - SLU says they were too far gone to renovate.

I just received an email from SGA seeking input about housing changes with the possible loss of part of the Grand-Forest apartments this summer. The email said it is not for sure, but the ground breaking will most likely be in the Spring, necessitating the demo of part of Grand-Forest this summer.



So, as of right now, I would think it's safe to assume that construction will indeed start in the Spring.

The worst sight lines for basketball is at the EDJ Dome. I lay the blame at the feet of the EDJ Dome for my boys losing to KU in the 2004 STL Regional. They didn't shoot well because the sightlines sucked. At least that's what I want to tell myself so don't ruin it for me and tell me the real reason why we lost.

Welcome to NCAA basketball UAB. Sight Lines in all domes suck. But they can fit a ton of people in, so it's okay.



And KU was better.



And that takes a lot for me to say that, cuz I hate KU.



DeB, when are we going to a game? Anyone up for a forum meet at the Billikens game?

I have attended several Billiken games since I have lived in STL. As long as I'm in town I'll be up for one.



Does Charlotte come to town? I really hate them.

I'm in Blue Crew, so just come down and find me near the front, if not fron row. Just yell MattnSTL, and watch the guys stare at you, because half the guys in Blue Crew are named Matt.

DeB, when are we going to a game? Anyone up for a forum meet at the Billikens game?

I'm up for a meet-up any time, just pick the game! Just not one of the two games being played at the Family Arena! My season tickets are in section 120, and there's always plenty of empty seats around me.



UAB, we are playing Charlotte on 2/25, but in Charlotte. The way the A10 handles scheduling, you play every team at least once, and then you play three teams home and away. For us, those three teams are Xavier, Dayton and Rhode Island. I would have preferred to replace Rhode Island with Charlotte since we have a good historywith them.



I will NOT miss playing UAB - you guys always had tough, athletic teams that gave us fits. That constant full-court press is murder.



I'm not too big on KU either. I actually didn't have much of a problem with them until we played them at the Savvis in 99. The seats next to mine were occupied by some of the most obnoxious fans I've ever seen, but that just made beating the Jayhawks even sweeter.

KU Fans are pretty obnoxious.



I'll have to check my schedule, I'm coaching WGHS, so I'll have to make sure the games don't coincide.



For anyone interested (high school bball fans), WGHS is playing in the Shootout at 7 pm against a team from Birmingham. They have two Big East recruits (one already committed to UConn), and they return all 5 starters from last year when they went 28-4. WG was 25-5 last year, losing to Poplar Bluff in the state Quarterfinals. They return only 2 of 5 starters, but we should be pretty good. Come support you St. Louis schools at the Shootout. :D

I may be there - the shootout is always fun, and my fiancee is a WGHS grad.

Hehehe, Go Statesmen! Hope she's not one of my ex's.

Me too, brother.

You should be okay, I didn't date a whole lot in HS...had a pretty steady GF for a while, and now she's married with a kid. The others were not serious, take em to a stupid dance type things.



I caused more damage in college.

DeBaliviere wrote:I'm up for a meet-up any time, just pick the game! Just not one of the two games being played at the Family Arena! My season tickets are in section 120, and there's always plenty of empty seats around me.

I sit pretty much right below where you would be. I'll have to look for you at the next game at Savvis. And why not one of the Family Arena games. I'm going?

STL_Rising wrote:This arena will help the University in so many ways. Not only will it give the school more spirit in terms of students going to the game, but it will give SLU a state of the art arena, a great training room, a great practice facility, etc. Needless to say, this will dramatically improve the recruiting for SLU throughout the Midwest and the entire country. Go Bills.

What it does is increase the viability of the current students (particularly the ones who do not have cars) to attend the games. No one would argue that the Savvis Center isn't a top-shelf facility, but the fact is it does not prove to be a pragmatic option for most students when it comes to logistics. In fact, the Savvis Center is a major detrement because it ends up breaking up the continuity of the campus when it comes to their most important athletic endeavor, which, with all apologies to Soccer, is obviously Men's Basketball. As an aside, the decreased capacity in the new arena will make it seem more like a "pit" with the rowdy atmosphere college sports desire. The Savvis Center is much too quiet and empty feeling, even when attendance is significant.



The arena, along with the new student union, should provide a cohesive environment of student activity which SLU noticeably lacks, especially when it comes to student events. In addition, I am hoping that the new arena proves to be a catayst for retail development on its periphery. SLU needs not only the new arena, but more restaurants and practical services for students (dry cleaners, A GROCERY STORE, etc). Also, lets face it: a new sports bar is badly needed. Who goes to Humphrey's to watch the games? Answer: Nobody does...because Humphrey's doesn't get the Billikens games on Charter. "Sure, come on in and have some food served on paper plates before the game, but if you aren't actually going to the game, you can forget watching the game here. However, you are free to stare at Anthony Bonner's jersey from 15 years ago. That will get you in the Billiken spirit, and maybe once in awhile, ESPN will scroll the score across the bottom of one of our 22 inch T.V.'s for you. Humphrey's, your Saint Louis Billikens HEADQUARTERS!!!!" Puuuhhhhleeeeze.



Get it right SLU. You've got the big idea right (the arena), now it is time to follow through on the little things that enhance your new investment. Encourage new development. Development that will mean something to the students, and the Midtown community.

I agree. Having the new arena will make a huge difference - home games will finally feel like home games. It will be fun to start out with a few drinks at Humphrey's or Laclede Street and then walking over to the arena for the game. Friday and Saturday games could be especially rowdy. During my junior and senior years, soccer games were played at the soccer park, instead of on campus, and bringing the team back to SLU has been a major improvement as far as attendance and spirit goes.



If I had my way, they'd cut the size of the arena down to about 10,000 instead of 13,000. We had about 7,500 for the game at the Family Arena last week, and that size seemed just about perfect. 10k is also comparable to Xavier's Cintas Center, which is a great facility.

SLU_Alum wrote:The arena, along with the new student union, should provide a cohesive environment of student activity which SLU noticeably lacks, especially when it comes to student events.

You mean the Busch Seminar Center. Sure, the new Center is nice, but it still lacks any reason for me to go there except for the occasional bite to eat, or to use the very nice restrooms. I know some students get good use out of it, but theres just not much that draws me in there. Nice building, but could have been designed more for all students to have a reason to go in there. Sorrry about going off topic.

Hmm interesting MattSTL, now i have a question:

Why is it that you don't use the new center? Is it the location (east of most of the classroom and dorm ie. center of campus)? Is it the offerings(does it have the school dinning hall)? It is sad to think that SLU work feverioushly to get a new center done and didn't think about if they were building something students would use.

STL_Alum,

Great post. Couldn't agree with you more. Good to see there is alumni in different cities that still take an interest in SLU, Billiken Basketball and the state of Midtown St. Louis. The jabs at Humphrey's are always fun too, although I have great memories there as I'm sure you do too Hope they start construction soon . . . [/quote]

MattnSTL wrote:

SLU_Alum wrote:The arena, along with the new student union, should provide a cohesive environment of student activity which SLU noticeably lacks, especially when it comes to student events.

You mean the Busch Seminar Center. Sure, the new Center is nice, but it still lacks any reason for me to go there except for the occasional bite to eat, or to use the very nice restrooms. I know some students get good use out of it, but theres just not much that draws me in there. Nice building, but could have been designed more for all students to have a reason to go in there. Sorrry about going off topic.

You should have seen it when I went there. Nowhere near the amentities you have now. I'll be the first to admit that the new student union isn't the greatest thing in the world, but is it a BIG step up from the empty, disgusting, obsolete abomination it used to be? Most definitely.

The student center is for sure better than what it was before, at least from what I have heard since I'm only in my second year. I don't have any problem with the location, and Au Bon Pain and Salsarita's (the two main food places) are nice, but a large amount of the building is meeting rooms, and the massive ballroom in the basement, which is used for some speakers, but mainly rented out. There is the Cross Cultural Center, which is a draw for many people, and offices for Student Government, KSLU, and other things like that, and also the rip off book store. There's just not much there that makes me want to go there daily. I really don't know what would make it better though.



Btw, I got to carry the flags twice at tonights game. The I at the begining, and the U at the begining of the second half. Great game, crappy officiating, and glad to see a crowd at Savvis that would have pretty well filled the new arena.

Definitely a great win last night. Good atmosphere and great turnout by the Blue Crew. I even donned my vintage Billikens hockey sweater.



It sounds like the Busch Center is trying to make more of an effort to be the social center of campus with having the busses for the Billiken games leave from there instead of from behind Gries. They should make Salsarita's the game day headquarters, especially for road games so that all the students, alums and other fans can gather together to watch the games.



Like SLU Alum said, the Busch Center was pretty awful back when I was in school - there was an old bowling alley that no one ever used, a bar that was closed, and a bunch of other worthless stuff. The new center is a definite step up. Now that it's been improved, it's up to the administration to find ways to best utilize it. I do think that its location (east of Grand) does hurt it somewhat.

DeBaliviere wrote:Definitely a great win last night. Good atmosphere and great turnout by the Blue Crew. I even donned my vintage Billikens hockey sweater.



It sounds like the Busch Center is trying to make more of an effort to be the social center of campus with having the busses for the Billiken games leave from there instead of from behind Gries. They should make Salsarita's the game day headquarters, especially for road games so that all the students, alums and other fans can gather together to watch the games.



Like SLU Alum said, the Busch Center was pretty awful back when I was in school - there was an old bowling alley that no one ever used, a bar that was closed, and a bunch of other worthless stuff. The new center is a definite step up. Now that it's been improved, it's up to the administration to find ways to best utilize it. I do think that its location (east of Grand) does hurt it somewhat.

The bookstore is 1,000 times better. They actually have a reasonable selection of SLU apparel. Having a coffee shop, bank, multiple restaurants, and lounging areas helps as well. The key is to keep these things open on the weekends or at least a few hours before/after home basketball games when the arena opens. In an ideal world, the student union is a "home base" for the students. Head to any major school in the Midwest (Wisconsin, Michigan State, etc) and the student union is exactly that.



I have heard that you now have to pick up your mail at the student union, and that SLU is doing this in an effort to boost traffic at the new building. Can one of you SLU youngsters confirm that? It is a decent idea by the university, but I would prefer that they didn't have to use coercion to get students over to the new union.

Yeah, you do have to pick up your mail there now. At least I assume it's still that way.



SLU opened the new BSC in my senior year of undergrad. Aesthetically, it's a big improvement. Otherwise, I respectfully disagree. Like Matt said, it doesn't feel necessarily designed with the student at the forefront. It wouldn't be a far stretch to call it a convention center with a whole lot of amenities.



There are little places to sit and "study," I suppose, but the problem with the seating areas is that they are right off the main walkways. So as you're trying to read, scores of people are tromping by laughing, talking, etc. Not that enjoying one's self is a bad thing, but the new BSC is not conducive to people who would like to study. The old Busch had that coffee shop, which I loved. Studied there everynight (and used all my flex points on sweet, sweet mochas). It was also cool that you could smoke in the back, which as a cancer fiend I definitely appreciated. We used to hold philosophy club meetings there, but didn't have them in the new BSC.



I don't know. The new BSC is "nice," a good snapshot in the brochure and a stop on the tour, but it's not very cozy and inviting. Pick up the mail, and get the hell outta there.

Steve,



I think that is a very accurate and fair description of the BSC. Given the times I have been there, I can certainly see exactly where you are coming from.



I still think that it is a noticeable step up from the old BSC. I think your description of the new center as a 'convention center with ammentities' is right on the money. But compare that to the old BSC, which I would say resembled someone's basement after a flood, crossed with an office building.



Regarding the coffee shop that used to be there: Totally agree. I studied there a lot. It was the saving grace of the old BSC.



I think a prime opportunity for the new BSC will be the opening of the new arena. Perhaps they will capitalize on some obvious things they could do there that are more student focused; a sports bar or something with discernable campus spirit would be a good start, as SLU sorely lacks in that department. Maybe they could sell the game tickets at the BSC. Who knows.



I would say though, in typical SLU fashion, you would expect them to "sell out" and provide the typical corporate style ammentities (Au Bon Pain) in lieu of providing quiet space for students to study (which generates no money).



Money is the answer to 99 out of 100 questions.

SLU_Alum wrote:.... the old BSC, which I would say resembled someone's basement after a flood, crossed with an office building.

True, but that's what I liked about it. The basement--where the coffee shop was, and the only place I hung out--had a comfy, broken-in feeling. It was like hanging out with your goofball younger brother at his place.



The upstairs was pretty depressing, though. I always imagined that a Soviet comissary must have looked something like that. The new BSC is much cheerier, and that's something of an improvement.



But anyway, I'm definitely pumped about the new arena.