Husky Stadium, Rhetorically Speaking
Brian Hawn
My
artifact for this paper is one of the most prominent and storied venues in the
world of college football today, Husky Stadium located on the University of
Washington campus and the shores of Lake Washington. In this paper I will argue
that Husky Stadium is much more than just a sterile building. In fact, Husky
Stadium has created a second home for the audience by constructing a deep
relationship built on everyday American values, with the specific purpose of
ensuring it survives as long as possible. To do this I will provide you with
three key points throughout the paper. First we will explore how the natural
decaying of the stadium over a long period of time has turned itself into much
more than a building in the fans’ eye. Second we will highlight the original design
of the stadium itself, and how through consubstantiality the stadium has
identified with the fans. Last we will dive head first into the everyday values
that are represented in Husky Stadium and how those values intertwine among the
fans inside the stadium to create a protagonist and antagonist. But before
getting to the meat and potatoes, let’s start with an appetizer to help you get
a more developed picture of Husky Stadium.
This
first thing you notice is that the stadium creates a sense of awe and sheer
strength when you approach it with its massive twin cantilevered roofs hanging
over the upper decks of each side of the stadium. It is as if the stadium
itself is waiting to envelope you in its cold grey steel with its metal jaws
hanging over the edges of the field. The
location of the stadium, right on the shores of Lake Washington with a view on
a clear day of Mt. Rainier, makes it one of the most scenic locations of any
stadium in the country (BleacerReport.com, Scott). The history of the stadium
itself, the iconic nature of its structure, and the success of the team on the
field has brought droves of people to this artifact. For many people they will
look back on it with fond memories as fans, for others they will speak of the
great feats they have seen in the stadium, some will lament the losses of their
teams in the stadium. However, for most, they will speak of the beauty of the
stadium with the backdrop that it presents for the game itself, and the noise
that rains down on them like a monsoon.
This tidal wave of noise comes from the overhanging roofs on
both sides which create a foreboding warning for the opposing team, one you
will not see anywhere else. As this ESPN story states, “The cantilever roofs
that cover the north and south grandstands have become famous for their unique
look and the reverberating effect that deflects sound from below back down onto
the field” (ESPN, Booth). I can remember going to my first game at Husky
Stadium with my father when I was ten years old, walking into the stadium,
hearing that noise coming from the stadium and crowd, and seeing the view; I
knew in that moment that this place would be special for me. To this day I go
to every game knowing that I have so many memories in this building that no one
can ever take away from me; that is why I chose this stadium as my artifact.
Family and Religous Representation
For
six or seven Saturdays in the fall I make the short trek down to Husky Stadium
with my fiancée. Quite honestly it is very similar to getting ready for church
on Sunday mornings. We wake up early, watch other college games from around the
country, get dressed in our specific game day attire consisting of a great deal
of purple, and pack onto the bus with other fans who have likely gone through
the same process that we have. As we arrive at the stadium a sea of purple
engulfs the stadium from all sides, excited for the opportunity to get together
with friends and family to cheer on our favorite team. For 18 years I have gone
through this same process for every home game of the University of Washington
Football team; as I said, my father took me to my first game when I was ten
years old and I have not missed a game since. I remember vividly watching games
with my dad from our cold metal seats in Husky Stadium and yelling at the top
of my lungs to try and help the team in any way I could. And now, 18 years
later, I am going to every game with my fiancée and we are developing our own
memories that will last us a lifetime.
For
me, and thousands of other fans that live and breathe Husky Football, the
experience of Husky Stadium is an all-encompassing event that is comparable to
a religious experience. The ideology that the stadium creates is the importance
of taking care of that which is dear to you; this ideology will be expanded
upon later. As you walk into the stadium you can see the wear and tear that it
has experienced over the years; layers upon layers of paint peeling off the
wooden bleachers in the lower bowl, rust forming under the metal seats in the
upper deck, cold water coming out of the faucets in the bathrooms every single
game. It is this run down nature of the stadium that endears the stadium to the
fan even more; we have seen this stadium grow old right alongside us. The
stadium has been alongside me from the days of acne and girl problems as a
teenager, to today as I am drawing closer to graduation and the day I get
married to my lovely bride-to-be. It is this natural decaying of the stadium
itself that naturalizes the overriding belief of the fan that Husky Stadium,
and thus Husky Football, is a part of our life just as a worn down cathedral is
a part of a devout Catholic’s life. As Barry
Brummett points out in his book, Sporting
Rhetoric: Performance, Games, and Politics, “Unlike other public spaces,
the college football stadium is sacred to the devoutly pious spectators who use
them as dwelling places during home football games” (Brummett, p. 227). This
quote goes straight to the heart of the connection people feel with the stadium
on a deep, even spiritual basis.
Another
example of this connection is a quote from Kim Grinolds, an owner of the fan
site Dawgman.com, that shows how Husky Stadium can endear itself to those who
attend games there, “She’s not doing well these days: The paint is peeling; the
rust is seeping through; the wiring is dangerous; the press box feels like it’s
going to fall down. She’s a mess” (Grinolds). You get the sense through this
quote that he is talking more about a family member in the final stages of
their life rather than an old rundown stadium.
This
deep connection is crucial for the existence of the stadium and this connection
is maintained by the stadium itself through the feeling it creates within the
fan. As was evidenced by the quote from Kim Grinolds, many fans view Husky
Stadium and Husky Football as part of their family, it is something they love
and cherish and the fan will go to great lengths to make sure it is supported.
One example of the lengths that the fan will go to in order to support Husky
Stadium is to look at it today while it is undergoing a massive $250 million
renovation that is overwhelmingly supported by the money that the fan pays for
their seats as well as through donations. A recent quote from University of
Washington Athletic Director Scott Woodward in the Seattle Times illustrates
how much the fan is willing to give to support Husky Stadium, “UW has raised
$51 million in private money --- the goal had been $50 million --- with $30
million cash in hand” (Seattle Times, Condotta). Husky Stadium has
legitimated itself to the fans. What should a son or daughter do when their
parents become elderly and need help? They should do everything in their power
to make sure they are taken care of, just as their parents have taken care of
them; they should help pay their medical bills if need be, take them in to
their home and care for them. Incredibly Husky Stadium has created its own
ideology by being so impactful in the life of the fan and by slowly wearing down
in plain view of the fan; by legitimating and naturalizing itself as part of the
family of the fan it has, in a sense, paid for its own revival.
Rhetorical Tools
At
first glimpse Husky Stadium is just another building that houses a college
football team; there is not really much else to think about it. However, when
you dig deeper and look beyond the metal and paint you understand that there is
much more to be told. Husky Stadium as a rhetorical entity displays a dense
epideictic discourse with spectators flocking to the stadium six to seven times
a year in a ceremonious display with the hopes of raining praise on their beloved
football team. The telos, or as
Aristotle defined it, “the end to which people (in this case a stadium) strive”
(Sourcebook on Rhetoric, Jasinski), of this grand stadium molds quite well with
the epideictic nature of the stadium. The stadium itself was built originally
with the purpose of expanding to allow more people to come take part in the
College Football Saturday’s that were becoming so successful in the University
of Washington community, while also helping to ensure that a large majority of
the patrons remained dry under the unique overhanging metal roofs that protect
them from the Northwest rain. And it is these metal roofs, which are part of
the original telos of Husky Stadium,
which made it into a stadium known throughout the college football world.
This leads to the premise of the
stadium itself: Husky Stadium is a unique Seattle artifact designed to deter
rain and bring in fans to support the team; and the conclusion: Husky Stadium
is one of the loudest stadiums in America today because of the original goal of
protecting fans from rain. The conclusion would not be possible in this case
without the premise of the stadium; without the overhanging roofs surrounding
the field of play that protect fans from the rain all the noise would escape
into the atmosphere, the roofs now act as a noise amplifier that sends the
voice of the fans back down toward the field. This delivery that the stadium imposes
is what separates it from its counterparts throughout the country, and it is
what lasts with people, even if they have attended just one game.
In
looking at Husky Stadium as a rhetorical tool it is fairly easy to see that the
rhetor has achieved its goal; more than 70,000 people can now experience what
Husky Stadium is all about while still being protected from the rain. But what
makes this artifact so exceptional is the fact that the original goal of the
stadium is no longer the current goal of the stadium; it is as if the stadium
itself is evolving. The stadium achieved the current goal of immense noise
levels by relying on a rhetorical tool that Kenneth Burke called
consubstantiality. Burke defined consubstantiality in his book Rhetoric of Motives as, “A is not
identical with his colleague, B. But insofar as their interests are joined, A
is identified with B” (Burke, p. 20).
Obviously the stadium and the fan are not identical in this situation. However,
the roofs that were designed to shelter the fans eventually became a tool for
the fans. As they poured into the stadium they realized the roofs that protect
them from rain have now turned into noise amplifiers. This joined interest is
what allows the stadium to be identified with the fan. And people from all over
the world have taken notice as this article from StadiumJourney.com points out,
“What is the number one thing you
notice in a stadium? Not the food, not the color schemes of the uniforms. It's
how loud a stadium is. Trust me, Husky fans have got this down to an art”
(StadiumJourney.com, Hollander). Where Husky Stadium was first built to
house more fans while protecting them from the elements, it is now seen as a
point of pride for the fans that attend these football games to say that they
are a part of the loudest stadium in America. In that way the rhetor has
achieved not just its original goal, but they have also achieved the current
goal in congruence with the fan by using Burke’s idea of consubstantiality.
Creating
a Protagonist and Antagonist through Everyday Values
The
idea of discovering and pinpointing the values of a football stadium certainly
seemed daunting; how can an inanimate object have values, or even portray
values to the audience? What I looked for in this analysis is the apparent
values that are represented by Husky Stadium and how those values interact with
and are perpetuated among the very special audience of Husky Stadium. After
looking back to past games that I have attended and viewing Husky Stadium over
and over again it becomes very obvious which values are represented by the
stadium, and these values share a deep connection with the audience itself.
The
first and most obvious value that stood out to me was that of friendship on a
massive scale, with 70,000 people coming together, wearing their school colors,
and engaging in action to do everything they can in their power to will their
team to victory. In fact this sense of friendship starts in the shadow of the
stadium with friends getting together and eating, drinking, and having a
general good time before filing in to the stadium. Another value that is
represented by the stadium is togetherness. There has to be some place for the
70,000 patrons in the stadium to sit, and because space is at a premium, seats
must be built very tightly and with not much room to stretch out and relax.
This lack of space, over the course of many years, eventually allows you to get
to know your neighbor on a level that you probably would not expect. And these
two values tie in with the last value that is represented through the stadium:
excitement.
This
excitement is also the catalyst of the story; it is what drives the stadium on
game days. When there is a close game in the stadium the elements of the story
work together beautifully and show a strong narrative probability; the sound in
the stadium surrounds you and is amplified by the metal roofs and aluminum
seats throughout the stadium, the reaction of the crowd and the euphoria, hugs,
high-fives and tears that follow with your new friends around you after a big
play are moments that will last with you forever. In a sense, the elements of
the story together create the fan as the protagonist in this situation because
they help to generate the excitement in the stadium. The way the fans are
identified as the protagonist in this situation through the stadium’s story is
most easily noticed through the colors and symbols that are most noticeable in
the stadium itself. Everywhere you go in the stadium there is purple and gold
displayed, or a “W” perched on a wall that stands as a symbol, an identifier,
for the University of Washington. Therefore, when you see a fan making noise to
help their team succeed, you realize they are sharing the colors and symbols
that the stadium itself is wearing as well. You then identify that person as
the protagonist in this rhetorical situation. Likewise, this situation also
easily identifies the antagonist as well. When the opposing team comes on the
field it practically clashes with everything you have seen with the rest of the
stadium. The colors they are wearing are wrong, their symbols do not mix with
what has been seen throughout the stadium and in the stands, and the attitude
towards them from the protagonist does not match that of a friend or family member.
This creates an immense amount of excitement in the stadium itself; for the
protagonist the enemy has entered your sacred grounds and you must do
everything you can to show the antagonist out as a loser. And because of the
excitement that the protagonist/antagonist relationship creates, Husky Stadium
thus becomes the place to be on Saturdays in the fall.
By
using friendship, togetherness, and excitement together as its values the
stadium has helped to develop an environment that can be sustained over and
over again by the community of fans that it has created on its own. 
Conclusion
Now
you can see how there is much more to Husky Stadium than meets the eye. Over
the years it has developed its own way of maintaining itself and ensuring its
existence lasts as long as possible by molding itself as part of the audiences
family. Through its unique design and epideictic nature it has given itself
credibility in the community by developing shared interests with its patrons
through the concept of consubstantiality. And lastly by creating a protagonist
and antagonist Husky Stadium has confirmed that there will always be an act to
see inside its doors that will draw people to see it played out. What is now
evident, as I suggested at the onset of this paper, is that Husky Stadium is
not just a building that was erected to hold football games; in fact it is a
building that is trying to survive and evolve just as we do.
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Facelift." ESPN News Wire.
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Web. 5 March 2013. http://washington.scout.com/2/1124701.html
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