Wreckage.

Post-game:



This was the scene at the base of the pedestrian bridge crossing University Avenue near the football stadium yesterday, here in Madison. Alternate view:




IN THE COMMENTS: Some people attribute the problem to a lack of trashcans, and I say:

As for the lack of trash cans, it seems to me that if people are going to tailgate before the game and appropriate a public space that isn't designed for picnicking, they need to carry out their own trash.

There are parking lots adjacent to this space, and anyone who partied at their car ought to have had their own trash bag at the car, left it in the car, and driven home with it.

But this place I've photographed is on the walk from their car to the stadium, so what happened here is, I assume, people didn't want to leave their containers at the car. They wanted to walk and drink, and then they didn't want to keep carrying the container, so they set it down on this ledge, which seemed convenient. Perhaps they sat there for a while, finishing their drink, before attempting the arduous haul up the steep stairway that you see in the picture.

That ledge was just asking for it.

But you'd like a trashcan there too, like an invitation to stage an entire party right here at the base of the bridge, where hundreds of people squeeze through during the prime times of going to and from the game. (Meade and I walked in the opposite direction both pre- and post- game, as we chose to walk downtown to the Farmers Market and in search of protests, and we could barely walk across, going single file, such was the crowd going to the game.)

And even if you can forgive people for setting their drink containers down on the ledge, in the absence of trash cans, do you not see the broken glass? There are shards of brown glass all over here, including some big curved points, here where hundreds of people, many in flip flops, many of whom have been drinking, will need to walk.

Sorry, this is wreckage.