Track Work

Goodbye Old friend


Thanks to an astute reader, I now know of a major subway disruption that will curtail service to Wien Stadium for much of the next TWO seasons!

But don’t worry… there are still plenty of options for getting to the game. And in my opinion, even the preferable subway option is still going to be available.

Here’s the story:

The northbound #1 subway train will terminate at Dyckman Street pretty much every weekend for the next YEAR.

Then the southbound #1 subway train will terminate at Dyckman Street for the year following that.

In other words, the #1 train is really not a good option until 2012.

Luckily, from most parts of Manhattan the A train option is faster and nicer anyway. That’s especially true if you like to walk just a little bit around the neighborhood of Inwood, which is enjoying quite a renaissance.

The A train runs on the far West side of Manhattan, through Brooklyn, past JFK airport, and all the way to a neighborhood where I did a lot of my growing up called Far Rockaway. The uptown or Manhattan bound A takes you the 207th Street stop, which is the last stop. Exit at the 211th Street exit and then you can either walk the seven blocks along Broadway, (about a third of a mile), to Baker Field or better yet, enter Isham Park on your left and enjoy a nicer trip that will take you to Seaman Avenue along the left side of the park and you will see Wien Stadium right in front of you at the end of the avenue. This is a more scenic walk and will give you a better idea of what Inwood is like.

You can also still take a Metro North train from Grand Central Terminal in Midtown Manhattan.Take the HUDSON RIVER LINE to the Marble Hill stop and simply walk over the footbridge to Baker Field. You can check the schedules here, but there is a train making the 20-minute trip every 25 minutes or so.

The “City Ticket” fare is $3.50 each-way, meaning it will cost about $3 more for a round trip than taking the subway, but let me make some strong arguments for using the Metro North option if you’re in Midtown.

-You get a solid schedule rather than just waiting on a subway platform and hoping for the best.

-The Metro North trains are much more comfortable.

-The trip on Metro North takes less than half the time of the subway ride from Midtown and potentially 5-6 times faster than taking a cab.

-$7 roundtrip is 567% cheaper than cab fare, (approximately).


If you’re on campus, there will most likely be free shuttle buses to the game as there have been for more than a decade. But you can also walk down the hill on 110th Street and Amsterdam, get the uptown C train at 110 and Central Park West, and switch to the A at the 125th Street stop.

Driving to the game yourself is also still an option and the increased number of parking garages very near the stadium has made this a lot less stressful than it once was. I will have more driving tips and shortcuts when we get closer to the season.

The Flip Side of Greatness

For those of you who are wondering, the team that holds the record for fewest points scored in a season in Ivy League history is the 1961 Brown Bears who scored an incredible 24 points... for a whole nine-game season! That's just 2.6 points per game!


The team that has allowed the most points in Ivy history is the 1982 Columbia Lions, who gave up an astounding 390 points or 39 ppg. The 2000 Dartmouth Big Green are a close second at 388 points allowed.