KANSAN.COM / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / MONDAY, APRIL 5. 2010 / APARTMENT GUIDE / 3
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Home is where the tailgate is Living near stadium has perks and pitfalls for students
BY ELLEN SHEFTEL
esheftel@kansan.com
Trying to find a house steps away from Memorial Stadium, north of campus, can be difficult. But two students who got that opportunity say it's nothing short of great.
Mike Paradise, a senior from Overland Park, said one of the main reasons he chose the house near the stadium where he lives now is because of the football games.
"It's basically a happenin' part of campus," Paradise said. "Since we are right across from the stadium, tailgates get pretty interesting and crazy."
Kelly Stewart, a senior from Cedar Rapids, Iowa and Paradise's roommate, said the fact that the house is across the stadium is more of a coincidence.
"I really liked the house and there were girls in my sorority that lived in it the year before and loved it," Stewart said. "It's definitely a perk to live across from the stadium, but I did more for the house."
Since Stewart and Paradise are so close to the stadium, sometimes they don't even have to go to the game to see it.
When it comes to disadvantages of living so close to the stadium, Paradise had to rack his brain to think of any.
"When we have tailgates, people like to wander from inside the game to our house," Stewart said.
Jayhwk athletic events can be loud for students living near Memorial Stadium or Allen Fieldhouse. Students also have to deal with traffic during game days, but can sell their parking spots to other attendees.
"I don't know if there are any disadvantages," he said. "I really don't think they are." he said
Stewart found a few more than Paradise by noting sometimes things can get a little loud.
Photo illustration by Deborah Fraser/KANSAN
"Sometimes when the team has practice before the season on early Saturday and Sunday mornings you will wake up to a few whistle blows," she said. "Also, when the stadium lights are on all night, that can be kind of annoying."
One nice part of living so close to the stadium is being able to sell the parking spaces. Paradise said his roommates mostly sell the spots to family and friends.
"We didn't want random people back there and luckily some families said they'd pay $25 for a spot," he said. "I remember one guy paid us an up-front rate for the entire season." Stewart said.
Stewart and Paradise said a football Saturday is always a good time.
"We have a big tailgate with keys and mug all our friends," Stewart said. "We don't open it up for random people we don't know either."
Stewart also said the roommates have had a DJ at their tailgate a few times and parents will make food.
"People can watch the game from the porch
or on the TV in our living room." she said.
Paradise agreed that the tailgats were always the place to be on game days.
"I think the Highlight of the season was the Nebraska game when we had 200 to 250 people in the house," he said. "I remember some friends and I walked outside and turned around to look at the house and it was pretty crazy."
"I know that during that tailgate we had people inside the stadium" texting us saying they could hear our music," Stewart said.
Fortunately for the roommates, they said
they haven't had many incidents where there was a person at one of their tailgates who wasn't invited.
"Occasionally we will get some random people who pass out on our couches and we just wake them up and tell them to leave." Paradise said. "For the most part we don't get a lot of random people wandering around." Stewart said.
Edited by Jesse Rangel
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