New Husky Stadium Hopes

You might not have heard yet, but a new and improved Husky Stadium will be opening up on August 31 of this year when the Huskies host Boise State. As someone who has spent the bulk of their life attending nearly every home Husky game for years, there are certainly some things that I grew to love about the old stadium and while I don't expect things to be that incredibly different, there are some traditions from the "Old" Husky Stadium that I hope stick around for the "New" Husky Stadium.

The driving touchdown helmet

Some of my earliest memories at Husky Stadium consist of just waiting for the Huskies to score a touchdown so the driving helmet would circle around to our seats on the South side of the stadium and hoping that I would be able to splurge nine dollars on a pizza that was the size of a hockey puck. I can't remember exactly when it happened, but I know that sometime around when I was in high school, the helmet quit coming over to the South side and then seemed like it was completely retired. Regardless, the driving helmet needs to return so kids who don't yet understand the game of football and quality pizza have something to enjoy.

The Wheedle

Some of you youngsters (Basically anyone younger than 25) may not know about The Wheedle and if you want a detailed history go to Wikipedia, but to sum it up, The Wheedle was kind of a group mascot for Seattle that seemed like sasquatch's soft little brother. He served as the Sonics' mascot, the Space Needle's mascot and was last billed as KOMO's mascot like 20 years ago, but his whereabouts have been unknown ever since. He can't be the Huskies mascot, but how about we make him Husky Stadium's mascot.

On a side note, seeing the Butch the Coug pin The Wheedle on the track at an Apple Cup in the mid-90s is still one of the best things I have ever seen.

Psychotic guy who hates the roving camera car

I don't know your name, I don't know anything about you at all, other than the fact that you sit somewhere in the lower half of the Southeastish stands and that you hate nothing more in this world than when a TV camera car gets in the way of your line of sight. I believe that sideline camera transportation technology may have improved to the point where this might not be a problem anymore, but none the less, I hope to see you slinging ferocious demands at innocent cameramen come this Fall.

Cow Chip Cookies

I honestly have no idea, if these cookies exist outside of Husky Stadium and if naming food after fecal matter is a very good marketing strategy, but whatever, I really miss these and am now going to spend the afternoon seeing if there is a way I can get a nutty calf or two mailed down to LA.

Keep the student section where it was

I may just be hearing this on the "Something my uncle supposedly heard on KJR but may or may not be true grapevine," but I heard that the student section will be in the end zone of the new Husky Stadium and that is not only gross, but eliminates a great advantage that has made Husky Stadium such a tough place to play for decades. The fact that the noisy student section was so situation between the end zones had a lot to do with why the stadium was so loud and if they are replaced with a bunch of blue hairs it will make a difference and not a good one on the decibel level on opponents' third downs.

Giant advertisement for the country of Tanzania

This thing stuck out like the sorest of sore thumbs this year... oh wait, that was in CenturyLink Field.

Akemi Takei and random ACC highlight breaks

I want to keep seeing Akemi break in during the third or fourth quarters with highlights that are always riddled with blowouts taking place in the ACC and/or Big East. I don't know what the deal is and assuming it has to do with a licensing thing, but for some reason the highlight packages they would show on the jumbotron would always be meaningless East Coast games that would be greeted with boos. Oregon and USC could be facing off in a triple-overtime game with both teams undefeated and they wouldn't have highlights, but would have plenty from Clemson blowing out Georgia Tech for some reason.

Fans trying to kick field goal competitions

Everyone might not like these, but I always enjoyed watching people who may have never even tried to kick a football before getting their first audition in front of 70,000 people. Also, need to keep the tradition of a number of fans jokingly suggesting that they should "sign up" anyone who gets remotely close to making one and explaining that they are better than John Wales, or I mean Travis Coons.

Band day

The joys of band day aren't overt, they are very intricate and nuanced. For example, a pleasure may include trying to figure out why Centralia's band has four bass players plugged into tiny Marshall practice amps that are playing the exact same notes or trying to figure out whether or not anyone on the Gig Harbor band knows, or cares that the Huskies best player hails from their school.

The Track

Wait. Nevermind.