Got to Kansas City around 3 p.m. The airport is brand new, I think it opened in the last year. The former airport was quite unique and unfortunately was obsolete on the day it opened in the early 1970s - it featured a "drive to your gate" design - which sounds great - but that was formulated right before they required passenger screenings. The entire airport was a cluster - TWA moved their hub from KC to St. Louis as a result. Wikipedia is an interesting read.
Anyway, it's a solid two-hour drive to Manhattan, but took a quick detour to Lawrence for a quick drive-by. I know I'll be there in a couple weeks, but wanted to have a quick look. It's about 45 minutes from the airport. Then made it to Manhattan around 6 p.m.
The quick assessment from a quick drive, at least from an athletics facility standpoint: K-State blows Kansas out of the water.
Of course, Kansas is getting ready to completely overhaul their football stadium next year. But the current version looks fairly rough and is showing its age. I didn't venture inside though.
The KU stadium is kind of isolated in its own area, smack dab in a residential area. Parking looks sparse. Most of the other facilities (Allen Fieldhouse, baseball) are in another part of campus. Their baseball stadium looked kind of average.
On the other hand, the K-State athletics area looks fantastic - obviously a lot better than what I remembered from 2010. Football stadium has massive upgrades, it kind of looks like a castle from the exterior. Basketball got a face lift and there's a new arena for volleyball. Baseball also looked great from the outside. It was getting dark though, I'll try to explore a bit more tomorrow.
When the schedule was released, the first thing I did was book a hotel in Manhattan. Even so, I'm paying $250/night for Friday/Saturday (much cheaper tonight) for a rundown Comfort Suites. There aren't many options unless you drive one hour to Topeka or two hours to Kansas City. BYU is playing at Kansas and they've booked up a lot of hotels in Topeka (which is closer to Lawrence). If the game was super early or super late, I wanted to be in Manhattan.
Decided to eat the restaurant next to the hotel - Cox Bros. BBQ - it was pretty bad. Do not recommend. I should have feasted at the Pizza Ranch Buffett a block away.
Anyway, it's a solid two-hour drive to Manhattan, but took a quick detour to Lawrence for a quick drive-by. I know I'll be there in a couple weeks, but wanted to have a quick look. It's about 45 minutes from the airport. Then made it to Manhattan around 6 p.m.
The quick assessment from a quick drive, at least from an athletics facility standpoint: K-State blows Kansas out of the water.
Of course, Kansas is getting ready to completely overhaul their football stadium next year. But the current version looks fairly rough and is showing its age. I didn't venture inside though.
The KU stadium is kind of isolated in its own area, smack dab in a residential area. Parking looks sparse. Most of the other facilities (Allen Fieldhouse, baseball) are in another part of campus. Their baseball stadium looked kind of average.
On the other hand, the K-State athletics area looks fantastic - obviously a lot better than what I remembered from 2010. Football stadium has massive upgrades, it kind of looks like a castle from the exterior. Basketball got a face lift and there's a new arena for volleyball. Baseball also looked great from the outside. It was getting dark though, I'll try to explore a bit more tomorrow.
When the schedule was released, the first thing I did was book a hotel in Manhattan. Even so, I'm paying $250/night for Friday/Saturday (much cheaper tonight) for a rundown Comfort Suites. There aren't many options unless you drive one hour to Topeka or two hours to Kansas City. BYU is playing at Kansas and they've booked up a lot of hotels in Topeka (which is closer to Lawrence). If the game was super early or super late, I wanted to be in Manhattan.
Decided to eat the restaurant next to the hotel - Cox Bros. BBQ - it was pretty bad. Do not recommend. I should have feasted at the Pizza Ranch Buffett a block away.
