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October 27, 2003
OGIC: Stop me before I tailgate again
If I've been scarce around here, you can blame my recent initiation into the fine American art of tailgating. The rumors are true; I gave over my entire Sunday to football and associated activities. You have to hand it to the diehard fans out there every Sunday in the parking lots of America with their grills and coolers; they really know how to turn a football game into a mere occasion for more important pursuits. Never let it be said, pace Oscar Wilde, that they don't take meals seriously; in this respect, at least, there is nothing shallow about them. I've only lately recovered from yesterday's demonstrations of their depth.Like I said, this was a first for me (and, for a while at least, a last). On the strength of my native sympathies with the Detroit Lions, I was invited to the Lions-Bears game here in Chicago. Read: sacrificial lamb. The Bears fans who brought me even provided a honolulu-blue Barry Sanders jersey for me to wear, the better to be picked out by the orange-and-navy-clad multitude as an object of pity and curiosity, if the Bears prevailed, or--well, I didn't find out what my role would entail in the unlikely case of a Lions victory. All for the best, I'm sure.
Left in relative peace thanks to the Lions' harmlessness on the field, I was able to enjoy the $3,000 view from inside the architectural bête noire of the year, the new Soldier Field. ($3K being what my friend paid for the license to the seat I warmed yesterday.) So I can confirm what both the stadium's detractors and the enthusiasts have said about the interior: it rocks. The new design brings the field closer to the fans, giving the proceedings an old-timey, college-bowl feel that contrasts thrillingly with the steel-glass-and-angles modernism of the structure around you. Both the interior and the exterior bring together disparate styles, but the former stages a bold, dynamic clash while the latter makes a hapless muddle (much like the Lions!).
From the outside, the colonnade uncomfortably constricts the bowl, while the bowl bears down on the colonnade; the nostalgic effect of the one, and the futuristic effect of the other, cancel each other out. Inside, the intimate dimensions of the field below and the soaring reach of the steel above make room for each other. They lend each other high definition, with an effect that's additive rather than negating. Inside, you can imagine simultaneously that you have been spirited back to 1955 and that you've been zoomed ahead to 2103. Outside, you're in nowhereland.
This is my third post about a building I'm exposed to a lot, whether driving or biking by it. I've taken the whole thing rather personally. I'm going to stop now and just get used to it.
Posted October 27, 2003 6:33 AM
