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I'm talking general school sports culture, not winning culture. Big 10 schools have larger stadiums and by what I've seen, bigger tailgates and more pride culture. More what I'm used to with the SEC and ACC.
No I totally agree with you. Just pointing out the Pac's dominance in a wide variety of sports.
Being on the West Coast, the Pac 12 just doesn't have the same intensity when it comes to basketball and football as a few other conferences (exceptions: Arizona bball, Washington fball, SC fball, Oregon fball).
Not exactly sure why this is, but some theories are:
1. Proximity to big cities (many other forms of entertainment)
2. Proximity to outdoor recreation
3. Traffic, traffic, traffic (particularly week night basketball games)
4. Lack of consistent success
5. Large population of transplants with no deep ties to local schools
Evanston only feels old money like, on the northwest part of town(west of NU's football and basketball stadiums). It feels more middle class to upper middle class in the parts of town that are south of its actual downtown, and the west and south part of it are poor.
If anything, I'd argue the 'North Shore' communities to the north of it(i.e. Kenilworth, Winnetka, Glencoe, Highland Park, Lake Forest) are a lot more old money-like, vs. Evanston. At least Evanston does have an urban feel to it(outside of the area by the Century/CineArts movie theater, lol), and has both commuter rail(Union Pacific North Metra) and subway/rapid transit train service(Purple Line 'L) there.
Yes, agreed. I should have specified that near the campus, it feels like an old money town. But yes, Evanston itself is larger than most college towns, and quite diverse. I feel you. I've been all over that place, the good and the bad. My grandmother, aunt, and two cousins live in Evanston. All in separate homes in the city.
College towns in general are fantastic. I'd have to say Madison is my favorite, in any conference. Would love to tour many others.
I think that both Big Ten and Pac 12 college towns are great.
IMHO, I will give the edge to the Big Ten. Why? They have a much higher percentage of being in non-major urban areas, creating a true college town environment.
If we compare the two conferences, I would say they match up this way in college towns being removed from major metro regions:
BIG TEN
Iowa City
Madison
Champaign-Urbana
Bloomington
Lafayette
East Lansing
State College
PAC 12
Pullman
Corvallis
Eugene
Tucson
College towns on the metropolitan fringe:
BIG TEN
Ann Arbor (Detroit)
PAC 12
Boulder (Denver)
College town in major metro areas:
BIG TEN
Minneapolis
Evanston (Chicago)
Columbus
College Park (Washington)
New Brunswick (NYC)
PAC 12
Berkeley (Bay Area)
Palo Alto (Bay Area)
Los Angeles/Westwood
Los Angeles/South Central
Tempe (Phoenix)
Seattle
Salt Lake City
Again, strictly IMHO, but I like the way the Big Ten has innumerable college towns that truly seem to revolve around their universities and create that real college town environment. I would put Iowa City, Madison, Bloomington, Ann Arbor, and State College as among the best.
I think that both Big Ten and Pac 12 college towns are great.
IMHO, I will give the edge to the Big Ten. Why? They have a much higher percentage of being in non-major urban areas, creating a true college town environment.
If we compare the two conferences, I would say they match up this way in college towns being removed from major metro regions:
BIG TEN
Iowa City
Madison
Champaign-Urbana
Bloomington
Lafayette
East Lansing
State College
PAC 12
Pullman
Corvallis
Eugene
Tucson
College towns on the metropolitan fringe:
BIG TEN
Ann Arbor (Detroit)
PAC 12
Boulder (Denver)
College town in major metro areas:
BIG TEN
Minneapolis
Evanston (Chicago)
Columbus
College Park (Washington)
New Brunswick (NYC)
PAC 12
Berkeley (Bay Area)
Palo Alto (Bay Area)
Los Angeles/Westwood
Los Angeles/South Central
Tempe (Phoenix)
Seattle
Salt Lake City
Again, strictly IMHO, but I like the way the Big Ten has innumerable college towns that truly seem to revolve around their universities and create that real college town environment. I would put Iowa City, Madison, Bloomington, Ann Arbor, and State College as among the best.
Did you go to Iowa, lol? I've never heard of anyone putting Iowa City up there with Madison or Ann Arbor. Iowa City is nice, but I personally don't think it's any better than Lincoln, Champaign, East Lansing, or West Lafayette.
Did you go to Iowa, lol? I've never heard of anyone putting Iowa City up there with Madison or Ann Arbor. Iowa City is nice, but I personally don't think it's any better than Lincoln, Champaign, East Lansing, or West Lafayette.
I totally agree. Big10 standouts are Madison, Ann Arbor, and even Evanston. Iowa City, State College, and Bloomington never made a stronger impact on me than Champaign or Lincoln or W. Lafayette. Of course Columbus and Minneapolis are also on their own tier.
I think that both Big Ten and Pac 12 college towns are great.
IMHO, I will give the edge to the Big Ten. Why? They have a much higher percentage of being in non-major urban areas, creating a true college town environment.
If we compare the two conferences, I would say they match up this way in college towns being removed from major metro regions:
BIG TEN
Iowa City
Madison
Champaign-Urbana
Bloomington
Lafayette
East Lansing
State College
PAC 12
Pullman
Corvallis
Eugene
Tucson
College towns on the metropolitan fringe:
BIG TEN
Ann Arbor (Detroit)
PAC 12
Boulder (Denver)
College town in major metro areas:
BIG TEN
Minneapolis
Evanston (Chicago)
Columbus
College Park (Washington)
New Brunswick (NYC)
PAC 12
Berkeley (Bay Area)
Palo Alto (Bay Area)
Los Angeles/Westwood
Los Angeles/South Central
Tempe (Phoenix)
Seattle
Salt Lake City
Again, strictly IMHO, but I like the way the Big Ten has innumerable college towns that truly seem to revolve around their universities and create that real college town environment. I would put Iowa City, Madison, Bloomington, Ann Arbor, and State College as among the best.
I think the 'College Town' feel has to do with how the towns developed, rather than if they're part of a bigger metro now. In the case of Ann Arbor, Boulder, Berkeley, Evanston, and possibly Palo Alto(Haven't been there) the town's developed around their colleges and mostly independent from the bigger metros they now run into. These cities all have great walkable downtowns and have a very similar feel to College town's far away from metros. They have the additional benefit of access to major airports and to the larger metros cultural amenities.
That differs from Minneapolis-St. Paul, Seattle, University Park in LA, Westwood, Salt Lake City, and to some degree Tempe, where the school was placed at the then edge of a bigger city which was already growing to surround it. Tempe is sort of unique in that both the school and the town had existed for a while, but were tiny until the early 1960's, by which point they were already turning into a big Phoenix suburb. Downtown Tempe, while better than a lot of Phoenix burbs, doesn't stack up well agaoinst most of these other college town's. Most of these city schools are in neighborhoods where there is a college atmosphere, but there are understandably more commuter students and the cities don't revolve around the University the way true College Towns do.
I totally agree. Big10 standouts are Madison, Ann Arbor, and even Evanston. Iowa City, State College, and Bloomington never made a stronger impact on me than Champaign or Lincoln or W. Lafayette. Of course Columbus and Minneapolis are also on their own tier.
I went to Iowa.
Iowa City ranks high in the college town rankings. Not everyone can be Madison, but Iowa City is one of the best atmospheres in the midwest.
I'd put it behind Madison and Ann Arbor, well ahead of Champaign, W Lafayette or Lincoln. Probably more in line with a State College or Bloomington.
It was an awesome place to go to school.
I personally don't put much weight into ranking lists for something as highly subjective as "which college town is best?" Even your own quoted list doesn't rank Champaign, Iowa City, and State College very far from one another, but fails to even list Evanston, which is a very nice college town, or even ranks Fargo as a better college town than Cambridge.
Glad you enjoyed Iowa City, I just didn't personally think it was a dramatic standout among its Big10 peers.
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