Mid-Michigan Dining

• 1 Birch Road
• East Lansing, MI 48824
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The view from our seats for a Michigan State basketball game at the Breslin Center

A year ago, when I stood in the Peoria Civic Center and watched Bradley University almost upset Michigan State, I never imagined that I would see this year’s Bradley/MSU from a seat in the Breslin Center.  Earlier in the week, J and I made sugar cookies like we do every year from my grandma’s recipe.  She took a few to work and one of her co-workers said he’d like some more.  He’s got access to MSU basketball tickets and I offered up a trade.  Two dozen home made sugar cookies for two tickets to the Michigan State vs. Bradley basketball game.  I lived up to my end of the bargain and two days later, J came home with a pair of tickets.

I have been to a number of college basketball games, but surprisingly, never as a spectator.  I do a lot of work for sports networks that broadcast these games and that’s how I usually go…including last year’s MSU/Bradley game that was aired on ESPNU.  I had been to the Breslin Center one other time, but that was for a volleyball game earlier in the year, so I was really looking forward to getting to go to a game.  J had never been to a college basketball game either, so it was a treat for both of us.

Before we ever got inside the Breslin Center, I already had a sour taste in my mouth.  Parking sucks.  Really sucks.  I tried looking online for a parking map before we left, but couldn’t find anything.  There were no signs directing you to a public lot and everything near the arena had a temporary sign out front that said those lots were for passes only.  I finally found a paid lot on Kalamazoo heading back towards Lansing and by the time we got there, it was almost full.  We were one of the last cars they let in and one of the parking attendants had to move their car to create more parking spaces.  The spaces were really tight and my mid-size truck didn’t want to fit very well.  Had we not left the game five minutes early, leaving would have been a mess.

Once we got inside, things got a lot better.  It was bitterly cold the day of the game (close to zero with the wind chill) and the short walk seemed to take forever.  Once we got to the building, things were marked much better.  There was an announcement over the outdoor PA that said something about upper deck tickets entering through Gate A.  We were in front of Gate D, but found A right around the corner.  Our tickets were scanned and we went looking for a bathroom. 

After a quick pit stop, we started to walk around, but since we just ate, neither of us were hungry yet.  We decided to pass on food for the time being and go find our seats. 

The Izz Zone in action at the Breslin Center

Our tickets were in Section 203 which is in the end zone in the upper deck.  The upper deck has two different seating zones.  For the first 12 rows, there are individual stadium seats.  From row 13 up, there’s bench seating.  We were in row 16.  The upper deck is fairly steep and by the time we got to our seats, we both had a little bit of vertigo.  Looking down at the floor and all the movement played tricks on my eyes, but by the time the game started, I had gotten used to it.  The Breslin Center is not huge so even that far up, you don’t feel removed from the game.  They’re actually pretty good if you want to see the whole floor.  We could even hear Bradley coach Jim Les yelling at his players from the team bench on the other side of the arena. 

The fans are much more into basketball than what I saw across the street at Spartan Stadium.  The Izzone wraps around most of the lower bowl and the students are on their feet, bouncing around, taunting the opposition, and cheering on the Spartans the entire game.  The energy in the Breslin Center is what I expect from a Big Ten sporting event.  When things were going good for the Spartans, J and I couldn’t even talk to each other the place was so loud.

After the under 8:00 media time out, J and I headed down to the concourse to get something to drink.  I still wasn’t hungry, so we found a concession stand to get drinks.  We both got a souvenir cup.  I had a Pepsi, J had a Diet.  The two pops only cost seven bucks which I thought was pretty cheap.  As far as food goes, the Breslin Center concession stands didn’t have much.  There were a few other stands that had much more interesting food.  There was a My Gyro stand next to our section and not far down was a Turkeyman (review HERE) stand.  J didn’t really want anything other than a cotton candy, but they were sold by vendors walking through the crowd and we never could find one. 

We really enjoyed our day at Breslin.  The first half of the game was really good, but MSU pulled out their A game in the second half and blew Bradley out.  There were only two or three guys on Bradley’s team that I remember from last year, so I’m gonna call it a rebuilding year for Jim Les and the Braves.  The atmosphere at Breslin was so much better than the atmosphere at Spartan Stadium.  I can see us going back to a few more games once the Big Ten season gets underway……if only the parking wasn’t so damn bad.