Wall Street Journal report presents colorful description of Big Ten fans

The Wall Street Journal recently reported on community feedback over Northwestern’s proposed new football stadium.

The topic is over friction from the community as the university seeks a zoning change for a new, $800 million stadium complex. As the WSJ reported, Northwestern has raised hundreds of millions of dollars and launched a public-relations campaign with a descriptive if not exactly catchy tagline: “Rebuilding Ryan Field: A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to transform lives in Evanston.”

While some residents are concerned about parking, others raised more detailed descriptions of activities around the stadium.

As part of the reporting, there was an interview with Steve Starkman and his brother Lonnie, who co-own Mustard’s Last Stand, a hot dog shop their father opened in 1969 in front of the stadium.

Here is the more colorful part of the story:

Mr. Starkman, who is 56, said complaints about fans urinating on lawns and bushes after games are exaggerated and happen only when Northwestern hosts Ohio State.

Wisconsin fans party very hard but are “nice and respectful,” he said; Michigan State fans are “brilliant, lots of doctors and judges”; Michigan supporters are “ruffians” but generally well behaved; Iowa’s are the friendliest in the Big Ten, and Nebraska’s fans are the most likely to arrive in pickups.

“Ohio State fans are the only problem,” Mr. Starkman said. “They have a monster following, and they think the world is their bathroom.”

Asked about that, Ohio State declined to comment.

Keith Farner

Keith Farner has written about college football for newspapers and web sites since 2005.