Mystery Monday (7/4)

Posted on 07/04/2011 by Lance Roper in Mystery Monday

New twist for this week; the mystery is to reveal who Michigan State was playing in this game. Hint – “The photo is from 1984”

Another week, another mystery – now with the ability to zoom! (Zoom.It) Read the guidelines below, then comment and be sure to include a link to a corresponding map. Then, this Friday we will reveal this photos location in the comment section of this post! And, enjoy the latest twist, brought to you by Zoom.It.

Here are the guidelines,

  • If you can correctly identify the photo with a link to Google Maps showing where it is, or should be*, you win! Leave a comment here on the blog or on our Facebook Page.
  • Every Friday we will reveal the photo and congratulate the winner! (The first to post the correct answer & link)

(*It is estimated that 40% of photos document places that are no longer standing. So, if you can tell us where the subject of the photo used to be, that will work too.)

Enjoy!

Visitor Comments

Logic tells me 1984 would be BYU, but the Smoke Stack in the photo (like the zoom) says HSC, I can only find Hiram Scott College in Scottsbluff, NE....and can't find they ever played each other....so off I go to search a little more.

I like the reverse clue, sort of fun....of course I know nothing about sports, unless it has a saddle on it.

I don't know if two teams can play in someone elses stadium...that would be nice if I knew about sports.

The 1984 schedule was:

at Colorado
24 - 21 W Sep 8, 1984

Notre Dame
20 - 24 L Sep 15, 1984

at Illinois
7 - 40 L Sep 22, 1984

vs Purdue
10 - 13 L Sep 29, 1984

at Michigan
19 - 7 W Oct 6, 1984

vs Indiana
13 - 6 W Oct 13, 1984

vs Ohio State
20 - 23 L Oct 20, 1984

at Minnesota
20 - 13 W Oct 27, 1984

vs Northwestern
27 - 10 W Nov 3, 1984

at Iowa
17 - 16 W Nov 10, 1984

vs Wisconsin
10 - 20 L Nov 17, 1984

Army
6 - 10 L Dec 22, 1984

With the outer parts of the field darker, I'm guessing that it was raining earlier that day. Anyone know the weather for Lansing in the fall of '84?

What is the lettering just outside the "rain" or darker markings on the field....they are big but I can't read them.

This is Spartan Stadium, but I'm not sure how to figure out which game it was.

To again show what I don't know about sports,.... could it be Michigan vs Michigan ???the Spartans against the Wolverines. OK, stop the laughing, I am trying, does it have to be two different states? ....no one liked BYU.

Many trees appear to have lost most of their leaves (especially along the road in the foreground, and among the buildings in the top right). Typical peak fall colors in Lansing are early to mid October, so I think we can rule out the September games.

Of the remaining games, according to http://www.almanac.com/weather/histor..., the only remaining home game (assuming Frank's schedule is correct) which had precipitation on game day or the day before was the Northwestern game (there was 0.75" precip on Nov 2).

So, that's my guess: Northwestern.

So, the home games were Notre Dame, Purdue, Indiana, Ohio State, Northwestern, and Wisconsin.

The trees look like they may be changing color. Although it's hard to tell from a black and white photo. The peak fall colors for that area is early to mid-October. Regardless, the trees still have their leaves, so September or October may be most likely.

The game is a sell-out. Not sure if Michigan State games usually had sell-outs in the 80's. If not, I'm guessing Ohio State would be the most likely to sell out, and Notre Dame the next most likely.

I believe it is Ohio State on Oct 20, 1984. I agree that it appears there is rain on the edges of the playing field, but not noticeable outside the stadium. The only home game day that had rain and was early enough in the season to have foliage was October 20. It began drizzling around 3pm with little real accumulation throughout the evening.

I'll try this again and see if this post sticks. Most of the trees which stand alone (i.e. not in the wooded area) and which are not clearly coniferous, have lost all their leaves. As Frank mentioned in his 7/6 post, peak fall colors in Lansing are early-mid October; so I think we can rule out the two September home games.

There are no hard shadows in the photo, so it is mostly overcast. Nov 3 was mostly sunny all afternoon, so we can rule out that game.

Oct 13 was foggy and drizzly all day, the photo shows no sign of fog or the general dampness that drizzle would cause.

Some types of trees in mid-Michigan do not loose their (brown) leaves until winter. So I'm not sure we can rule out the Nov 17 (Wisconsin) game, yet. The only other game still in contention is the Oct 20 (Ohio State) game.

I cannot find what time any of the games during the 1984 season started. I don't think TV had as much influence on the starting times then as they do today; so most games probably started at noon or 1pm.

Thursday before the Wisconsin game, there was a little rain (0.13"); and then snow showers were reported from 8pm thru 8am Friday. No accumulation was reported during this time, though. It was bright and sunny Friday afternoon (though chilly), and remained clear until 8am Saturday. It was overcast by game time, but it seems unlikely the field would have remained as damp as it appears under these conditions.

That only leaves the Ohio State game. It was overcast at game time, light rain began near the end of the game. We know the photo wasn't taken near the end of this game, because one team's score is a single digit. There was 1/2" of rain on Friday Oct 19th, but the afternoon was sunny and not very humid, and it remained clear and dry until about 9am Sat. The field would have been soaked, and although it seems like the field should have dried out during this time, maybe it didn't drain as well back then.

I guess I have to agree with Randy, though not entirely with his reasoning.

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