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Ohio Basketball Topic
Topic: College Hoops Road Trip
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OU_Country
1/19/2017 3:13 PM
A year ago, some friends and I instituted the first year of what I call the College Hoops Road Trip. We started at Hinkle, and had just an all-around great day. Thanks to bornacatfan, and Mrs. bornacatfan, and his son for recommendations and meeting up with us last year in the Meridian area of Indy, and for recommendations for establishments. It was a day that will be tough to top this year.

This weekend, the second edition of the trip takes us to Ann Arbor, and the Crisler Center for Illini vs Wolverines. I'll be donning Orange & Blue for the day in support of Coach Groce. I'm sharing this to see if anyone has recommendations on good beer establishments up there, or go ol' dive bars with cheap beers and dart boards or the like. Planning to meet up with Buckeye to Bobcat, so he'll appreciate the feedback as well!

Thanks to the glory of ESPN3, we'll be able to catch the Bobcats at NIU almost in it's entirety.

Cheers!
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Recovering Journalist
1/19/2017 4:21 PM
I can't speak to Champagne, but Ann Arbor (and Michigan in general) is spectacular for craft beer. If you like European-style sours, Jolly Pumpkin is a can't-miss stop downtown, and they have good food at their brewpub. Arbor Brewing is also directly downtown with a big selection of good beer and food. Grizzly Peak is also downtown. I haven't eaten there and thought their brew was just OK, but YMMV. For a good shot at all the beer Michigan and beyond has to offer, try Hop Cat or Ashley's, two excellent beer bars right downtown. Most stuff is pretty walkable, including the arena.
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Obc2
1/19/2017 4:30 PM
Great idea!

Hold off on cincy until uc renovates 5/3 arena. Xu and nku have awesome facilities.
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OU_Country
1/19/2017 5:18 PM
Obc2 wrote:expand_more
Great idea!

Hold off on cincy until uc renovates 5/3 arena. Xu and nku have awesome facilities.
As a Bearcat fan, I've been to the Shoemaker Center each of the last two years as well. Down there, Keystone Pub, and Hangover Easy are both great spots walkable in Clifton. Never been to Cintas, but it's on my to visit list.
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BillyTheCat
1/19/2017 8:03 PM
Obc2 wrote:expand_more
Great idea!

Hold off on cincy until uc renovates 5/3 arena. Xu and nku have awesome facilities.
Have not heard this, is this in the plans? I'd personally love to see this happen!!!
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bigtillyoopsupsideurhead
1/19/2017 8:47 PM
BillyTheCat wrote:expand_more
Great idea!

Hold off on cincy until uc renovates 5/3 arena. Xu and nku have awesome facilities.
Have not heard this, is this in the plans? I'd personally love to see this happen!!!
Renovations are starting this Spring and will be done for the 2018-2019 season.

Here's a mockup fly-through video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDcS5IHXqsk
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BillyTheCat
1/19/2017 11:14 PM
bigtillyoopsupsideurhead wrote:expand_more
Great idea!

Hold off on cincy until uc renovates 5/3 arena. Xu and nku have awesome facilities.
Have not heard this, is this in the plans? I'd personally love to see this happen!!!
Renovations are starting this Spring and will be done for the 2018-2019 season.

Here's a mockup fly-through video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDcS5IHXqsk
Thanks, I'm glad to see this!
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OU_Country
1/20/2017 12:11 AM
Recovering Journalist wrote:expand_more
I can't speak to Champagne, but Ann Arbor (and Michigan in general) is spectacular for craft beer. If you like European-style sours, Jolly Pumpkin is a can't-miss stop downtown, and they have good food at their brewpub. Arbor Brewing is also directly downtown with a big selection of good beer and food. Grizzly Peak is also downtown. I haven't eaten there and thought their brew was just OK, but YMMV. For a good shot at all the beer Michigan and beyond has to offer, try Hop Cat or Ashley's, two excellent beer bars right downtown. Most stuff is pretty walkable, including the arena.
Thanks for the heads up. One of our crew loves sours.
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Buckeye to Bobcat
1/22/2017 9:31 PM
Had the pleasure of tagging with OU_country for this. Definitely is a great concept and was a blast, just the part of how heavy drinks are made got me off balanced today.

Would encourage any folks despite affiliations to the evil empire in Columbus to make a trek north. Great arena, great town, pretty darn good beer.
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greencat
1/22/2017 10:23 PM
Memorial Gym in Nashville is one of a kind and the town has turned in an almost non-stop party recently. If they aren't playing Kentucky, tickets are not outrageous to get.

It really is like the Wrigley Field or Fenway Park of college basketball.

http://www.vanderbilt.edu/commodores/images/Gym2.jpg
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OU_Country
1/23/2017 2:20 PM
greencat wrote:expand_more
Memorial Gym in Nashville is one of a kind and the town has turned in an almost non-stop party recently. If they aren't playing Kentucky, tickets are not outrageous to get.

It really is like the Wrigley Field or Fenway Park of college basketball.

http://www.vanderbilt.edu/commodores/images/Gym2.jpg

That's a great suggestion! I could see a trip to Nashville that also includes a stop to a Belmont game over the same weekend.

We're discussing the Breslin Center or Assembly Hall as the next stop. TBD.

Year one was Hinkle, which I'd recommend to everyone. If it were an hour closer to home, I'd probably do it every year.
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OU_Country
1/23/2017 2:32 PM
Buckeye to Bobcat wrote:expand_more
Had the pleasure of tagging with OU_country for this. Definitely is a great concept and was a blast, just the part of how heavy drinks are made got me off balanced today.

Would encourage any folks despite affiliations to the evil empire in Columbus to make a trek north. Great arena, great town, pretty darn good beer.
Glad it worked out for you to join us. I agree on the reviews of the Crisler Center. They've done some nice things to it that could be applied to The Convo for some simpler dressing up. At $25 per, I'd call it good value. The game result wasn't a good one in terms of a good, exciting game.

I can't say enough good things about how nice uptown/downtown Ann Arbor is, other than traffic. Tons to do there, tons of brewery options as a few mentioned in prior posts.
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greencat
1/23/2017 4:13 PM
OU_Country wrote:expand_more
Memorial Gym in Nashville is one of a kind and the town has turned in an almost non-stop party recently. If they aren't playing Kentucky, tickets are not outrageous to get.

It really is like the Wrigley Field or Fenway Park of college basketball.

http://www.vanderbilt.edu/commodores/images/Gym2.jpg

That's a great suggestion! I could see a trip to Nashville that also includes a stop to a Belmont game over the same weekend.

We're discussing the Breslin Center or Assembly Hall as the next stop. TBD.

Year one was Hinkle, which I'd recommend to everyone. If it were an hour closer to home, I'd probably do it every year.
Belmont and Lipscomb have fairly new and nice but somewhat generic cookie-cutter gyms. EA Diddle arena at WKU has tons of history compared to those. And they sell beer at Diddle. But as we unfortunately found out not long ago... it also has "home cooking" officiating.
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