 | 4:08 PM Mon, Sep 21, 2009 | Permalink | Yahoo! Buzz Bio |  E-mail | News tips |
Okay here we go.
Yesterday was a great day. It could have been a GREAT DAY but a little thing called reality reared its ugly head late last night and brought us all crashing down to earth.
The day started off just fine. The parking lots, which were supposed to open at 1pm actually opened at 11:30 but guess what ? We were there and ready to tailgate so that’s just more time to enjoy ourselves.
Tailgating in Lot 11, right beside Collins St has changed the way I will feel about that street forever. Ya gotta understand that I have never even liked driving on Collins and now on Game Day it looks like Party Town.
One of the best things about tailgating is meeting the people around you, hearing their stories of why, when and how long they have been fans. Yesterday was one of the best for that. Our neighbors on one side were 2 couples from……..Pennsylvania !! They hated the eagles and they hated the stealers (sic) ! They had flown into DFW, rented rooms at an Arlington hotel, rented a car and spent hard earned money to help the Boys win and to help us lowly citizens of Arlington pay for the Stadium that somehow got compared to Taj Mahal, The Great Wall of China and the Pyramids. Those two couples then met a father and daughter, also from Pennsylvania at the Pro Shop and brought them back to tailgate with us. Great people who invited us up to tailgate with them at a Penn State game with them. The dad said his daughter bleeds silver and blue and he wasn’t going to let her miss opening day at the Crystal Cathedral.
Neighbors on the other side were ALL TEXAN. I mean big truck, satellite TV hook up, generator going, air filled Cowboy helmet on top kinda Texas tailgaters. Enough food to feed the 105,000+ people and willing to share kind of Texans. I like the way the new parking works for tailgating but I am sure there are folks who don’t. If you don’t get there early enough to grab a spot on the perimeter of the lots they don’t let you tailgate anywhere else.
The stadium was all I expected it to be for a game. The complaints about no scoreboard were addressed with information in each corner of the lower electronic ribbons, and yes it showed down, distance, score and timeouts. The video board was perfect for replays but I actually didn’t watch it as much as I thought I would. Our seats are in the lower level and so it isn’t “in my face” and I prefer watching the play on the field. My 25 year old son wisely decided he really liked the board after seeing the cheerleaders on it though.
The sound is pretty poor and the stadium announcer was pretty much non-existent for me but hey I am old so maybe somebody else could hear it better.
I know Mr. Jones wanted the huge crowd and he wanted everybody to see the Stadium from the blimp, but I gotta tell you I thought it was a bad decision to have the doors and roof open. It was hot where I was and the crowd noise was really bad for a football game against one of your division rivals. I have defended our crowd in the past for not being loud but the crowd didn’t get really loud until the last drive and even then it wasn’t as loud as it should have been.
The concession prices are concession prices. We bought some water, some quesadillas, (hey a 25 year old gets hungry pretty often) and sure enough it was high priced but it beat leaving the stadium and missing some football !
Getting out of the stadium for us was a walk in the park. We don’t jump up and rush to get out of the stadium. We casually walked to our car (strategically parked close to an exit), started it up, eased into the flow,(thank you to those folks who let us in ) and we were on our way. I will say most of the people were doing it right, a car from each direction would go, taking turns, alternating, just like it should. There were some drunk or just bad drivers once we got on the street. I am not saying it was like this everywhere, but Lot 11 worked well for us this time.
All in all I was thrilled with the whole experience. I am looking forward to seeing a game there when the hoopla dies down a notch. I loved seeing the Ring of Honor guys but to be honest I wouldn’t be surprised if the next time Jerry calls them they all say thanks but no thanks. Our current team seems to not play too well when those guys are around. ( see last years Baltimore game).
This is mostly from a guest blog I do on the DMN website but I added some pictures of the folks we met.
I will get around to cussing and discussing the game when my emotions have subsided, maybe in a year or two.
This will give you time to get the young children out of the room cuz they don't need to see words like the ones I would have to use to describe it.
Yesterday was a great day. It could have been a GREAT DAY but a little thing called reality reared its ugly head late last night and brought us all crashing down to earth.
The day started off just fine. The parking lots, which were supposed to open at 1pm actually opened at 11:30 but guess what ? We were there and ready to tailgate so that’s just more time to enjoy ourselves.
Tailgating in Lot 11, right beside Collins St has changed the way I will feel about that street forever. Ya gotta understand that I have never even liked driving on Collins and now on Game Day it looks like Party Town.
One of the best things about tailgating is meeting the people around you, hearing their stories of why, when and how long they have been fans. Yesterday was one of the best for that. Our neighbors on one side were 2 couples from……..Pennsylvania !! They hated the eagles and they hated the stealers (sic) ! They had flown into DFW, rented rooms at an Arlington hotel, rented a car and spent hard earned money to help the Boys win and to help us lowly citizens of Arlington pay for the Stadium that somehow got compared to Taj Mahal, The Great Wall of China and the Pyramids. Those two couples then met a father and daughter, also from Pennsylvania at the Pro Shop and brought them back to tailgate with us. Great people who invited us up to tailgate with them at a Penn State game with them. The dad said his daughter bleeds silver and blue and he wasn’t going to let her miss opening day at the Crystal Cathedral.
Neighbors on the other side were ALL TEXAN. I mean big truck, satellite TV hook up, generator going, air filled Cowboy helmet on top kinda Texas tailgaters. Enough food to feed the 105,000+ people and willing to share kind of Texans. I like the way the new parking works for tailgating but I am sure there are folks who don’t. If you don’t get there early enough to grab a spot on the perimeter of the lots they don’t let you tailgate anywhere else.
The stadium was all I expected it to be for a game. The complaints about no scoreboard were addressed with information in each corner of the lower electronic ribbons, and yes it showed down, distance, score and timeouts. The video board was perfect for replays but I actually didn’t watch it as much as I thought I would. Our seats are in the lower level and so it isn’t “in my face” and I prefer watching the play on the field. My 25 year old son wisely decided he really liked the board after seeing the cheerleaders on it though.
The sound is pretty poor and the stadium announcer was pretty much non-existent for me but hey I am old so maybe somebody else could hear it better.
I know Mr. Jones wanted the huge crowd and he wanted everybody to see the Stadium from the blimp, but I gotta tell you I thought it was a bad decision to have the doors and roof open. It was hot where I was and the crowd noise was really bad for a football game against one of your division rivals. I have defended our crowd in the past for not being loud but the crowd didn’t get really loud until the last drive and even then it wasn’t as loud as it should have been.
The concession prices are concession prices. We bought some water, some quesadillas, (hey a 25 year old gets hungry pretty often) and sure enough it was high priced but it beat leaving the stadium and missing some football !
Getting out of the stadium for us was a walk in the park. We don’t jump up and rush to get out of the stadium. We casually walked to our car (strategically parked close to an exit), started it up, eased into the flow,(thank you to those folks who let us in ) and we were on our way. I will say most of the people were doing it right, a car from each direction would go, taking turns, alternating, just like it should. There were some drunk or just bad drivers once we got on the street. I am not saying it was like this everywhere, but Lot 11 worked well for us this time.
All in all I was thrilled with the whole experience. I am looking forward to seeing a game there when the hoopla dies down a notch. I loved seeing the Ring of Honor guys but to be honest I wouldn’t be surprised if the next time Jerry calls them they all say thanks but no thanks. Our current team seems to not play too well when those guys are around. ( see last years Baltimore game).
This is mostly from a guest blog I do on the DMN website but I added some pictures of the folks we met.
I will get around to cussing and discussing the game when my emotions have subsided, maybe in a year or two.
This will give you time to get the young children out of the room cuz they don't need to see words like the ones I would have to use to describe it.
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1 comment:
Thanks for the review.I was actually looking into a party pass,but glad I didnt after hearing how well that worked and the fact that parking cost more than the pass
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