Sports
Baseball slang 101: A guide to talking like you’re in an MLB clubhouse
![Baseball slang 101: A guide to talking like you’re in an MLB clubhouse Baseball slang 101: A guide to talking like you’re in an MLB clubhouse](https://cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2024/08/02094804/0903_BaseballSlang.png)
So you want to talk like a baseball person? Then you’ll have to curse a lot.
At least, that’s how Pat Murphy, the Milwaukee Brewers’ manager, explained it to his boss’ young son. As long as you’re wearing a baseball glove, Murphy told Tyler Arnold — the son of Brewers’ general manager Matt Arnold — you can use whatever words you hear in the clubhouse. That didn’t go over too well at home.
“A lot of it’s not very PG,” said Seth Lugo, a Kansas City Royals pitcher, who shares kid-friendly stuff with his own son.
“He wants to hit balls in the backyard, so he’ll hit ’em and I’ll say ‘steak dinner!’” Lugo said. “First time I told him that he’s like, ‘What is that?’ And I’m like, ‘RBI… rib-eye… steak dinner.’ So now whenever he’s hitting balls, he’s going, ‘Steak dinner!’”
The thing about baseball slang, though, is that a lot of it applies only to baseball. When a teammate strikes out a hitter with a fastball, for example, you might salute it by yelling “doors!” — as in, he blew the doors off that guy. Or there’s this, from New York Mets reliever Adam Ottavino, also for a strikeout.
“Go sit in the truck,” Ottavino said. “It’s just one of those things where your dad would get mad at you and tell you to go sit in the car. Like, ‘Go sit in the truck and think about what you just did.’ There’s probably something like that for almost every situation in baseball.”
Cheese. Uncle Charlie. Walk-off. Golden Sombrero. Platinum Sombrero. While narrow in scope, the baseball ecosystem has its own vast and peculiar vocabulary. Enough to fill a dictionary, in fact.
But what about those distinctive baseball expressions that could also apply to the larger world, where they’d sound laughably out of place? If you’re in the game, you know the feeling.
“The thing that comes to mind for me is the scouting scale, 20 to 80,” Arnold said, referring to the Branch Rickey grading system — still widely known — in which 20 is the low and 80 the high.
“So I’ll be like, ‘That’s a 70 sandwich’ or ‘That’s a 35 restaurant’ – like, it’ll play, but not a regular. And no one understands what we’re talking about. But when you’re in baseball, you’re like, ‘I get it.’ You know what a 35 is.”
One baseball person might ask another, “How hard is he throwing?” or “What was the velo on that pitch?” And yet baseball people would never, ever ask, “How fast was that pitch?”
They know this makes no sense.
“You wouldn’t say ‘What was your velo on your drive home?’” said Derek Falvey, the Minnesota Twins’ president of baseball operations. “You’d say, ‘How fast were you going?’ But if someone says, ‘How fast was that pitch?’, you know they’re not around baseball very much.”
Well, there are a couple of ways to change that. You could spend the bulk of your life embedded in dugouts, clubhouses, front offices or press boxes. Or you could read our back-to-school primer, with 20 tips on how to sound like a big leaguer in everyday life.
(Formal dictionary definitions are from the Merriam-Webster website.)
Bang
Everyday meaning: v. – to strike sharply
“Don’t bang your head on that low railing.”
Baseball meaning: v. – to postpone a game
“It was raining all afternoon, so they banged the game.”
When worlds collide: “It’s supposed to snow overnight. Do you think they’ll bang school?”
Boat race
Everyday meaning: n. – A race between boats
“That was an exciting boat race on the harbor today.”
Baseball meaning: v. – To rout another team by pulling away early, as if one team is in a speedboat and the other in a rowboat
“They got 10 runs in the first two innings and just boat-raced us.”
When worlds collide: “We were the same height till middle school,” the short man said of his friend, who grew up to be 6-foot-10, “then he just boat-raced me!”
Quatraro on the #Royals navigating the ups and downs: “That’s how baseball is. You’re going to go through little streaks here and there. When you’re in a playoff race, it’s very rare that you just boat race everybody and get out to a huge lead.” pic.twitter.com/v0QePd1VfF
— Bally Sports Kansas City (@BallySportsKC) July 28, 2024
Eye wash
Everyday meaning: n. 1 – an eye lotion, 2 – misleading or deceptive statements, actions or procedures
Baseball meaning: n. – false hustle
“He always makes a big show of bunting whenever we hit on the field, so people will think he’s this old-school player. But it’s all eyewash, because he’s never even tried it in a game.”
When worlds collide: “It’s such eyewash to post about it on social media when you won’t even give your time or money to the cause.”
For me
Everyday meaning: something done on behalf of the speaker
“Can you do a favor for me?”
Baseball meaning: In my opinion (the way anyone else would use “to me”)
“When I look at where he slots in their rotation, he’s more of a back-end guy, for me.”
When worlds collide:
“The neighbors’ new fence looks great, for me.”
4A
Everyday meaning: (from the Ford website) Four-wheel drive auto (4A) – Electronically controlled 4WD with power delivered to the front and rear wheels. Provides increased traction on varied road conditions.
“Make sure the Bronco is in 4A when you’re out on those wet roads today.”
Baseball meaning: adj. – better than most players in Triple A, but not good enough to stick in the majors
“He’s a 4A guy; he can fall out of bed and hit .280 down there, but he’s never been able to stick up here.”
When worlds collide: “I thought I was pretty good at Jeopardy! but it turns out I’m more of a 4A guy — the one time I got on the show, it was really hard to keep up.”
Fringy
Everyday meaning: an adjective describing something marginal, additional, or secondary to some activity, process, or subject
Baseball meaning: Not quite reaching a certain scouting grade.
“He’ll probably hit .300, but he’s a first baseman with fringy-average power.”
When worlds collide: “I liked the appetizers and dessert, but that was a fringy-average chicken parm.”
Guy
Everyday meaning: n. – a man, fellow
Baseball meaning: n. – An everyday player in the majors (as opposed to a “dude,” meaning superstar), often but not always used to describe prospects
“I went down to see our Double-A team, and that catcher has really improved since we drafted him. He’s a guy now, for me.”
When worlds collide: “I was listening to our state senator speak at the high school, and I’m telling you, she’s a guy. I could see her as a congresswoman someday.”
Hang with ’em
Everyday meaning: the closest non-baseball equivalent is “hang in there”
“I’m sorry you’re feeling sick. Hang in there!”
Baseball meaning: same as the everyday meaning… but sort of plural, for reasons unknown
“We lost tonight, we used the whole bullpen and we put our leadoff guy on the injured list. And now we’ve got a doubleheader tomorrow with their aces on the mound. Hang with ’em!”
When worlds collide: “Oh man, you spilled coffee on your shirt, your car wouldn’t start, it rained on your walk to the office and now you’ve gotta work a double shift? Hang with ’em!”
Horse
Everyday meaning: n. – a large solid-hoofed herbivorous ungulate mammal domesticated since prehistoric times and used as a beast of burden, a draft animal, or for riding.
“She grew up riding horses at her grandparents’ farm.”
Baseball meaning: n. – Someone who is durable and reliable (typically applied to pitchers)
“The Phillies have a couple of horses in that rotation with Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola.”
When worlds collide: “Jimmy’s a horse out on the road. He drives that big rig back and forth across the country several times a month.”
Kitchen
Everyday meaning: n. – a place (such as a room) with cooking facilities
“If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.”
Baseball meaning: n. – The area of space from the inside corner to a hitter’s torso, from the belt to the shoulders
“He knows I like to extend my arms, so he was really getting in my kitchen today.”
When worlds collide: “That guy was like the close talker on ‘Seinfeld,’ he got right up in my kitchen.”
Let it eat
Everyday meaning: v. – to allow something to consume food
“The zookeeper was holding a bird and let it eat right out of her hand.”
Baseball meaning: v. – to perform an action with conviction, as in throwing your best fastball or taking your best swing
“His stuff was better as a reliever, because he could really let it eat.”
When worlds collide: “When you give that speech tonight, don’t hold back, just let it eat.”
Plus
Everyday meaning: n. – a positive quality or factor
“The hotel has free parking, which is a plus.”
Baseball meaning: adj. – one grade up, or better than average (plus-plus means two grades up)
“He had plus speed and a plus arm, but the other tools were lacking.”
When worlds collide: “No wonder she got a solo in the school play, she’s always had a plus singing voice.”
Service time
Everyday meaning: the time required to serve a customer
“When taking someone’s order, the service time should be less than two minutes.”
Baseball meaning: the specific number of years and days spent on the active, 26-man major-league roster or major-league injured list, with 172 days counting as one year
“They waited until June to call him up, probably to hold down his service time.”
When worlds collide: “I forget when you started working at this coffee shop – how much service time do you have?”
Show-and-go
Everyday meaning: v. – to cause or permit to be seen (and) v. – to move on a course (two common verbs not used together very often)
“Take out your phone, open your boarding pass, show (the gate agent) and go through the gate.”
Baseball meaning: a manager’s decision to give players a later reporting time than usual, allowing them to skip batting practice and take the field with minimal preparation
“We played 12 innings tonight, so with the early start tomorrow, we’re gonna do a show-and-go.”
When worlds collide: “I’m not coming in early tomorrow morning to cram for the test with you guys. Gonna be a show-and-go for me.”
Spin
Everyday meaning: v. – to revolve rapidly (gyrate), n. – the whirling motion imparted (as to a ball or top) by spinning
Baseball meaning: also both verb and noun. While both fastballs and breaking balls revolve rapidly, the word spin almost always refers to the kind that causes the ball to break — except as a noun following “efficient” (a fastball that stays tight and does not wobble has “efficient spin”)
v. – “He doesn’t throw hard, but he can really spin the ball.”
n. – “You can still hit the fastball at those 4:00 starts, but the shadows make it hard to pick up spin.”
When worlds collide: “It could be a challenging day for surfers, because those waves have really good spin.”
Spit
Everyday meaning: v. – expectorate
“The mama looked down and spit on the ground every time my name gets mentioned.”
Baseball meaning: v. – to take an off-speed pitch, meant to deceive, without even starting to swing
“It looked like he saw that really good, because that changeup was nasty and he just spit on it.”
When worlds collide: “The movie was set up to make you suspect the husband, but you spit on that theory and knew it was the wife all along.”
Show
Everyday meaning: n. – a performance or public spectacle
“He starred on the show for seven seasons, then left to marry Holly.”
Baseball meaning: adj. – fashionable, stylish and probably expensive, as befitting someone who has established himself in “The Show” (the major leagues)
“He had a great rookie year and rolled into the locker room this spring with Louis V bags and everything. That’s show.”
When worlds collide: “She used to take the bus to work, but she got that big promotion and bought herself a Mercedes. That’s show.”
Waffled
Everyday meaning: v. – equivocated, vacillated
Baseball meaning: v. – to be the victim of an emphatic hit, as a pitcher
“Last time I faced this guy, he waffled me. He hit it so hard I thought it was gonna go through the wall.”
When worlds collide: “It’s gonna take a while for the roads to clear; that ice storm waffled the whole town.”
Wear it
Everyday meaning: v. – to bear or have on the person
“That suit looks good, I think I’ll wear it to the wedding.”
Baseball meaning: v. – to absorb a humiliation for the good of the team
“It was already 6-0, but the bullpen was worn out so the starter had to stay in and wear it.”
When worlds collide: “I would normally have the kids rake the leaves, but they’re studying for midterms so I just had to wear it.”
Wraparound
Everyday meaning: n. – an object that encircles or especially curves and laps over another
“I’ve always wanted a home with a wraparound porch.”
Baseball meaning: adj. – a rare weekend series that extends beyond Sunday to include a final game on Monday; n. – the Monday game of such a series
“I thought we were leaving town but forgot we have the wraparound game on Monday.”
When worlds collide: “It’ll be a wraparound visit; the weekend flights are too expensive, so we’ll come home Monday night.”
That is, unless they bang the flight. And if they do, you may find yourself in this condition.
(Top photo: Getty; Mark Cunningham/MLB Photos)
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Sports
Travis Kelce says Taylor Swift's Chiefs plays are only focused on him
![Travis Kelce says Taylor Swift's Chiefs plays are only focused on him Travis Kelce says Taylor Swift's Chiefs plays are only focused on him](https://static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/09/travis-kelce-taylor-swift.jpg)
Taylor Swift might be trying to do a favor for any fantasy football players out there who drafted Travis Kelce this year.
The Kansas City Chiefs star addressed the news that Swift has been drawing up plays for the team’s offensive playbook, which Patrick Mahomes revealed in an interview with NBC last week.
Kelce says that all of Swift’s plays are focused on him, during an interview on the Rich Eisen Show on Tuesday.
“She’s a little biased and just creates plays for me,” Kelce said.
Taylor Swift wears a Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce jacket as she arrives before an NFL wild-card playoff football game between the Chiefs and the Miami Dolphins Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga)
Kelce added that none of Swift’s plays have made it to the desk of head coach Andy Reid yet. However, Kelce believes Swift has been a fast learner in terms of understanding how the plays work and did not rule out them being used by the Chiefs this season.
“She didn’t know much about the rules and everything, but what I think makes her so good in her profession is that she’s so detailed in every aspect of it,” Kelce said.
Kelce added that if those plays ever do make it to the Reid’s desk, “I’ll make sure everyone knows they were her creation.”
Mahomes has expressed similar support for using Swift’s plays when he revealed she was designing them on Aug. 30.
TAYLOR SWIFT’S ‘CURATED’ HOLLYWOOD IMAGE IS ‘BLUEPRINT’ FOR TRAVIS KELCE’S TINSELTOWN DREAMS
![Travis Kelce, Chris Jones and Patrick Mahomes celebrate after winning the AFC Championship](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/08/1200/675/kansas-city-chiefs.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
Travis Kelce, Chris Jones and Patrick Mahomes are pictured celebrating in January 2024 after winning the AFC championship. (Emily Curiel/The Kansas City Star/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
“We might have to put one in,” Mahomes said of the plays to NBC.
The Chiefs have a history of incorporating dancing elements into their trick plays in the past.
In their season final against the Las Vegas Raiders on Jan. 7, the Chiefs offense, led by Mahomes and Kelce, broke huddle and then immediately huddled and spun around in a circle for a few seconds before quickly breaking into formation to snap the ball. The play was dubbed, the “snowglobe” play.
In the Super Bowl LIV matchup against the 49ers in 2020, the Chiefs offense were standing in full-house formation at the goal line on a critical fourth-down play. Then, suddenly, all four players in the backfield rhythmic motion over one spot, Mahomes moved over one spot and the ball was snapped right to Damien Williams for a critical first down that eventually set up the first Chiefs touchdown of the game.
Kelce was at the center of one Kansas City’s famous trick plays when he took the snap and threw his first career touchdown pass in the 2021 wild-card playoff game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, replacing Mahomes as the team’s quarterback for one play.
Swift would have plenty of inspiration to draw from if she wanted to get Kelce more involved in replacing Mahomes as a passer on certain plays from the New Orleans Saints long-time utility tight end Taysom Hill. Hill is listed as a tight end. However, Hill has thrown 298 passes for the Saints dating back to 2018. He’s thrown for 2,348 yards with 11 touchdowns and eight interceptions. He’s done this on both trick plays on offense and as the team’s starter for nine games in 2020 and 2021.
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Sports
USC quarterback Miller Moss part of 2022 dispute that triggered university investigation
![USC quarterback Miller Moss part of 2022 dispute that triggered university investigation USC quarterback Miller Moss part of 2022 dispute that triggered university investigation](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/4b37a18/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3342x1755+0+0/resize/1200x630!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F30%2F8c%2Fae79c82649a691a17d36db457de8%2F1473245-sp-0901-usc-lsu-rcg-5697.jpg)
A dispute between USC star quarterback Miller Moss and his former roommate and fellow Trojan quarterback Mo Hasan escalated to the point that the university investigated the feud in early 2022.
The dispute was resolved through USC’s usual student conduct resolution process, a person familiar with the situation not authorized to discuss it publicly told The Times. Police were never involved, nor was any legal action taken.
Moss, who was just named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week for his stellar performance during USC’s win over LSU, expressed remorse for his handling of the dispute in a statement on Tuesday.
“I fully cooperated and took accountability for my decisions, and the matter was resolved,” Moss said. “I regret my actions and have grown and learned from this matter, and my focus is on the season ahead.”
In a video, which was first obtained by TMZ, Moss can be seen first telling someone off camera that he’s “stealing this shirt, dude” and insisting to the person off camera that they’re not going to wear it.
In another clip, Moss, who was a freshman at the time, is shown with others rummaging through what appears to be his roommate’s closet. He then grabs pillow off the bed, placing it behind his butt and releasing what appears to be a fart. He later suggests to one of the others in the room to take a jacket from out of the closet.
The roommate, a person with knowledge of the video said, was Hasan, who at some point filed a complaint with the university that initiated a student conduct resolution process. Moss eventually had to write a paper apologizing for the incident.
“We take all student conduct complaints seriously and are legally obligated to keep those matters private and confidential,” the university said in a statement. “Each and every case follows a prescribed and thorough adjudication process as described in the USC Student Handbook. If a student has been found responsible and has fulfilled all of the terms of their discipline, the matter is considered closed. In this case, the matter was resolved and settled two-and-a-half years ago.”
Sports
How Michigan built the Big House, a symbol of college football controversy and lore
![How Michigan built the Big House, a symbol of college football controversy and lore How Michigan built the Big House, a symbol of college football controversy and lore](https://cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2024/09/02131107/GettyImages-2169673135-scaled-e1725297101860.jpg)
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Before the first scoop of dirt was raised from the farmstead where Michigan Stadium was built, controversy was brewing about the professionalization of college sports.
By 1926, Michigan’s football program had outgrown Ferry Field, where big games prompted far more demand than the 42,000-seat stadium could accommodate. Fielding Yost, Michigan’s athletic director and the coach of the famous “Point-a-Minute” teams that dominated college football in the early 1900s, was the chief advocate for building a new stadium, just as many of Michigan’s competitors had done.
Yost’s proposals sparked mixed reactions from the campus community. Many supported the idea, but some faculty members protested that a bigger stadium would deepen the divide between football and the university’s academic mission. In a victory for Yost, a faculty committee issued a report that generally endorsed his view that intercollegiate athletics could contribute to a thriving campus. The report also raised a note of caution about the win-at-all-costs culture that could arise as football became more popular.
“One of the most serious difficulties in intercollegiate football at the present time is the insistence of the alumni upon winning teams,” the report said, as recounted in Robert Soderstrom’s book “The Big House: Fielding Yost and the Building of Michigan Stadium.” “Efforts must be made to keep alumni opinion essentially sane and conservative in matters of athletic policy. Excessive and unwise publicity is a general evil.”
Today, there’s no greater spectacle on Michigan’s campus than a big game at the Big House. Michigan Stadium will be the center of the college football world Saturday as Fox’s “Big Noon Kickoff,” ESPN’s “College Gameday” and upward of 110,000 fans converge on Ann Arbor for a matchup between No. 4 Texas and No. 9 Michigan, one of the first Big Ten-SEC showdowns since both mega-conferences expanded. It’s also one of the biggest nonconference games in the storied stadium’s history: The Longhorns are the first non-Big Ten team ranked in the AP top five to visit Michigan Stadium since Florida State in 1991.
Top-10 nonconference visitors
Year
Team
Result
2019
W, 45-14
1997
W, 27-3
1994
L, 27-26
1991
L, 51-31
1991
W, 24-14
1989
L, 24-19
1988
L, 31-30
1984
W, 22-14
1981
W, 25-7
1979
L, 12-10
1977
W, 41-3
1975
W, 31-7
Top-10 nonconference visitors
Year | Team | Result |
---|---|---|
2019 |
W, 45-14 |
|
1997 |
W, 27-3 |
|
1994 |
L, 27-26 |
|
1991 |
L, 51-31 |
|
1991 |
W, 24-14 |
|
1989 |
L, 24-19 |
|
1988 |
L, 31-30 |
|
1984 |
W, 22-14 |
|
1981 |
W, 25-7 |
|
1979 |
L, 12-10 |
|
1977 |
W, 41-3 |
|
1975 |
W, 31-7 |
Since 1970
The 2024 season is a groundbreaking one for Michigan and college football as a whole, as the reigning national champions enter the era of the 12-team College Football Playoff with a new head coach in Sherrone Moore. NIL has altered the economic landscape of the sport, and revenue sharing with athletes is right around the corner. The debate that raged on Michigan’s campus in the 1920s never really ended; it only got louder.
“What will a larger stadium mean? It will only mean greater Roman holidays than we now have,” professor Robert C. Angell wrote in the Michigan Daily in 1925. “The players themselves will be forced into even more rigorous training than they are now subjected to. We have spring football now; we will have winter football soon. These men will think and act football the year round.”
The history of Michigan Stadium is, in some ways, a history of college football’s tug-of-war between innovation and tradition. The stadium opened in 1927 with temporary bleachers that increased capacity to 85,000, making it the largest college-owned stadium in the country. To pay for it, Michigan issued 3,000 bonds to the community at $500 apiece.
Many of the stadium’s seats sat empty during the Great Depression, but the end of World War II brought renewed enthusiasm for college football. Fritz Crisler, coach of the undefeated “Mad Magicians” of 1947, succeeded Yost as athletic director and oversaw two expansions that pushed Michigan Stadium’s capacity past 100,000.
Crisler, the man who introduced platoon football and the winged helmet, was both a forward-thinker and a traditionalist. Before he went to the University of Chicago and played for Amos Alonzo Stagg, Crisler thought about becoming a pastor, his grandson said. He found a different calling as a coach and athletic director but retained a spiritual outlook on the value of football.
“My recollection is, although he thought winning was important and he wanted to win, it was not the main focus of what athletics were to him,” said Crisler’s grandson, F. Adams Crisler. “He always thought in terms of, at least as he told me, the mind, body and spirit of an athlete.”
In 1956, Crisler oversaw the construction of a new press box and additional seating that raised the stadium capacity to 101,001. The final digit was not a mistake: According to newspaper reports at the time, Crisler initially intended capacity to be 100,001, with a mysterious extra seat tucked away somewhere in the stadium.
“It has its spot,” Crisler told Sports Illustrated in 1963. “And I am the only man who knows where that spot is.”
Many theories have been offered about the location and the significance of the extra seat. Some claimed it was set aside for Stagg, Crisler’s coach. Others said it was dedicated to Yost, who died in 1946, or reserved for Crisler himself. As a child, Adams Crisler climbed a ladder to the roof of the press box and surveyed the entire stadium, hoping to spot the seat in some hidden location. He never found it, and his grandfather never gave him any clues.
“You’ve just got to find it,” Adams Crisler recalled his grandfather saying. “When you think you find it, you let me know.”
As a student at Michigan, Adams Crisler had a summer job replacing the stadium’s concrete steps. He held out hope the crew would discover a lone seat hidden in some secret passageway, but no such seat was found. Since then, Adams Crisler has been agnostic about the existence of the seat, though he appreciates its place in Michigan Stadium lore.
“It captivated imaginations,” he said. “It wouldn’t surprise me if there was that seat, but it wouldn’t surprise me if there wasn’t.”
Michigan has been running under the M Club banner since 1962. (Danny Moloshok / Getty Images)
The stadium’s seating capacity, now listed at 107,601, has fluctuated through the years, but the “01” remains as a nod to Crisler’s famous seat. It’s one of those traditions, like announcing the Slippery Rock score or players touching the M Club banner, that has weathered decades of change to both the sport and the stadium.
Don Canham, who succeeded Crisler as athletic director, is widely credited with marketing Michigan football to the masses and ushering in a new era of commercial success that coincided with Bo Schembechler’s tenure as coach. After years of sagging attendance, the stands were full again in the 1970s and 1980s. ABC broadcaster Keith Jackson, the voice of college football for generations, popularized a nickname that stuck: The Big House.
“This is no doubt my favorite place, to see four generations rise up and appreciate it, for the pageantry, the ambience,” Jackson told The New York Times before a 1998 game at Michigan Stadium, where the band feted the broadcaster, who had been planning to retire, by spelling out “THANKS KEITH” on the field. “Michigan has such grandiosity.”
The purity and pageantry of college football have always existed in an awkward embrace with the commercial side of the sport. Both aspects will be front and center in 2024 as teams like Texas and Michigan, representatives of college football’s super conferences, compete for spots in the expanded CFP.
College football’s 100,000-seat stadiums
Rk | Team | Stadium | Capacity |
---|---|---|---|
1 |
Michigan Stadium |
107,601 |
|
2 |
Beaver Stadium |
106,572 |
|
3 |
Ohio Stadium |
102,780 |
|
4 |
Kyle Field |
102,733 |
|
5 |
Tiger Stadium |
102,321 |
|
6 |
Neyland Stadium |
101,915 |
|
7 |
Bryant-Denny Stadium |
101,821 |
|
8 |
Darrel K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium |
100,119 |
The Wolverines will play Big Ten games against USC, Washington and Oregon and could host a Playoff game at Michigan Stadium for the first time in school history. The Ohio State rivalry, still in its customary spot on the final Saturday of the regular season, could be repeated a week later if both teams make the Big Ten championship game. And in a development that might have horrified Fritz Crisler, fans can now buy beer at Michigan Stadium.
“He was one that was not that crazy about pro football or commercialism in sports,” Adams Crisler said. “He made a comment that the purpose of pro football was to sell beer. He greatly disliked beer, so he didn’t have a lot of use for the pro game.”
Even so, Adams Crisler thinks his grandfather would be proud to see Michigan Stadium as it stands today. Especially one part of it: the new signs beneath the video boards celebrating the 2023 CFP championship.
“He would have loved to see this last year’s national championship team and the kind of precision they had and the types of plays that they used,” Adams Crisler said. “He would have been amazed and happy with it.”
(Top photo: Aaron J. Thornton / Getty Images)
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