Ames compared to other Big 12 College Towns

zach · 02-26-2008, 05:18 PM

I love Ames, however, Austin is a wonderful city with lots too do... I like them both for different reasons....I can't compare the campuses.

Z

Sousaclone · 02-26-2008, 05:44 PM

My sister went to KU and I thought it was a nicer town than Ames to be honest. Seems like the town embraced the university and used it to it's advantage. My brother went there for a year before transferring to NU and he could use the KU equivalent of CyCash at the local restaurants and such. Seems like they had a better selection of restaurants. The campus is pretty decent also, much hillier than Ames which has it's ups and downs (pun not intended). Haven't spent any major time in Lincoln so I can't sy anythign about it. That's also the limits of my Big XII travels.

mpc4isu7 · 02-26-2008, 05:47 PM

Manhattan is a terrible town...it is really run down and out in the middle of nowhere..

cyfan964 · 02-26-2008, 05:49 PM

If we are talking about campuses I would say College Station is one of the nicer ones. If Lake Laverne didn't smell like a sewage waste site we would be the best.

Cy Hard · 02-26-2008, 05:50 PM

DON'T GO TO WACO!!!! Could not find a more desolate boring place to witness any sporting event.

Wesley · 02-26-2008, 05:55 PM

Originally Posted by zach

I love Ames, however, Austin is a wonderful city with lots too do... I like them both for different reasons....I can't compare the campuses.

Z

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Klubber · 02-26-2008, 06:29 PM

As a follow up question, which Big XII towns have the most potential for growth in population, retail space, restaurants, etc.

I always thought Ames had/has a lot of development potential, but it seemed the city council or whoever controls these things always chose a conservative route towards development. What does everyone else think?

travman23 · 02-26-2008, 06:36 PM

I disagree about Lincoln, it's not bad at all and they have the Sidetracks bar that is pretty fun even if you aren't a Husker fan. I had this misconception about Husker fans till I actually went to Lincoln and they are knowledgable folks that love their football, very friendly to the visitors, but they will go overboard on their team if they don't win or in the case this year not play well but still win.

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Flag Guy · 02-26-2008, 06:45 PM

I've been to a lot of the stadiums but haven't really had a chance to explore the towns too much...

Austin seemed nice but parking was random and getting tailgating spots was challenging. Nice scenery though (and I'm not talking about the buildings or trees...) the Texas fans were also pretty nice to us, though we weren't exactly a threat to them...

Lubbock sucked. Middle of freak'n no where, fans were *** holes for the most part, we were told by a stadium guy taking the night off and sitting with us that they regularly have to remove people from the stadium... right after the police escorted some people away. As my roommate likes to put it, "Everyone there wanted to make love to us" (We got a lot of **** yous) Walking to the stadium and back was quite interesting... I think the only place I've seen that was worse was Toledo

Norman was cool, they had beer gardens in their equivilant of Welch, some of the fans were decent. Problem was getting back to the interstate, I think it took almost an hour to get back to it, and it was stop and go on the interstate leaving... (we probally got there faster too because we were given back road directions that let us avoid the direction 80% of people were going...)

Manhatten was alright, they had the closet thing to us in terms of tailgating. Didn't see much of the town

Lawerence was interesting, we tailgated away from most people (we were in the free lot that you could have alcohol, next to the Fog). People were decent enough, only saw the campus though

Nebraska wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it'd be, though driving through town we got some crap

Columbia... again mostly just tailgating (hey, when you have to be back for class on monday...). Some jerks, some nice people. One thing I liked is the lot we tailgated in, they parked all the Cyclone fans in one corner (and it was the one closest to the stadium) If you didn't get there early to tailgate though... you'd wind up parking along the roads, in some cases quite far away. Tailgating got started pretty late, most people were just getting going as we were leaving to go to the game. Saw a lot of Tiger tails on vehicles...

Still working on getting to A&M, Baylor and CU, hopefully since I'll be able to spend a little time in the towns with those...

vanillathrilla · 02-26-2008, 06:46 PM

For the places I have been in the Big 12, rankings for tailgating:

1. aTm
2. Mizzou
3. K-State
4. Nebraska
5. KU

When it's nice out, ISU tailgating beats all.

I went out in Manhattan after the game and had a great time.

cyclonenum1 · 02-26-2008, 06:48 PM

Originally Posted by cybsball20

I have been to them all. I would put Ames right around the middle. The WORST is bny far Waco. The next teir would be Lubbock, Stillwater, and College Station. Lubbock is in the middle of nowhere, same with College Station. In fact, with CS the campus is pretty much the only thing there. Stillwater has Eskimo Joes and that is IT... The low middle would be Ames, Manhattan, Norman, Lincoln. Upper Middle Columbia, Lawrence. Then a slight uptick to Boulder and Austin far and away the best college town in the big 12.

Pretty good assessment. I've been to most (not all).

I do like the Dixie Chicken in College Station. And Eskimo Joes is a nice spot. I'm not a big fan of the "Little Apple". I like Lawrence...beautiful campus (second behind ISU) and decent night life...The Wheel and one other place I cannot remember the name of (for good reason). Austin is not really a "town"...it is a "city"...great night life...music, food, etc.

Flag Guy · 02-26-2008, 06:48 PM

On a side note, I think ISU fans are generally pretty decent to visitors, we have great tailgating, the tailgating lots are near the stadium, plenty of parking around, and something I've come to appreciate is HOW CLOSE WE ARE TO THE INTERSTATE.

If you think traffic is bad trying to leave the game, it's not. You only have to go for a mile or so in it... with the exception of Austin, we're probally the closest to the interstate that I've seen. And since our parking is closer than theirs is... I think that is negated. To quote SF and reitterate it, "Norman is HORRIBLE" (2x as many people leaving on smaller roads or roads the same size, driving much much much further and through down town or residential neighborhoods)

We've got it good in that regard

CYCLONE STATE · 02-26-2008, 06:55 PM

Nebraska tailgating is way spread out but most of the people are friendly and "N"owledgeable. Traffic much worse than in Ames. Football atmosphere/stadium is awesome and something everyone should experience.

Boulder is a cool atmosphere and it's awesome with the mountains in the backgound. The best though is mountain biking opportunities all over.

IOWASTATE · 02-26-2008, 06:55 PM

Austin is ok, campus being landlocked makes it kinda small, aTm i thought was really nice campus and town they have kinda their own campustown with bars and such. lawrence was nice, manhatten terrible theres nothing there, lincoln is right next to the state fair so refer to manahatten haha ames is pretty decent i think, i definitly like our tailgating but obviously im a little biased! those are the ones ive experienced

clone2011 · 02-26-2008, 06:58 PM

I've been to Austin, Lubbock, Lawrence, Lincoln, Boulder, and Stillwater.

Not including Ames, here's how I rank them:

1.) Austin--lively city, huge college student population, people I met were generally pretty friendly.

2.) Boulder--love the mountain views, the "laid back" culture, maybe a bit too liberal for my liking, but otherwise a fabulous city. The fans didn't seem to have their "A Game" though

3.) Lincoln--for a college student "O Street" is a great hangout when in town for a game--bars, clubs, restaurants, etc. Parking near the stadium sucks/is virtually non-existant, but good city to visit

4.) Stillwater--Eskimo Joe's is a cool restaurant, was only there a day but not a bad experience. Nice campus w/ a lot of construction going on at the time

5.) Lawrence--again, wasn't here long, wasn't that impressed. Honestly don't remember much of it.

6.) Lubbock--not much to see here, folks. no, really, not much. they are rejuvenating the campus area with expansion and a bunch of nice new buildings but we didn't get away from the campus area much to see what else was around. been told by students there that we didn't miss much. The "Depot District" has some good bars and clubs, and the entry age is 19+.....but you can't buy any alcohol in town unless you're at a bar. found that out by visiting a gas station and realizing there wasn't an alcohol section.