The mothership

So yesterday, thanks to my new favorite friend Elizabeth, I was able to attend the World “Futbol” challenge. Chelsea played Club America, it was a great game, Chelsea won 2-0, but that’s not what I’m here to write about, though I most likely could jabber on about that for far too long, I’ll save everyone the trouble. What I am here to jabber about is the venue, that’s right; I attended the game in the mother-ship, the beast that rises out of the horizon while streaking down I-30, the new Cowboy’s stadium. Let me tell you, if a stadium can spur a team on to victory, there is no greater force in the world than this place. I wanted to write about it the second I got back, but I didn’t want to sound too sensational while talking about a building. A night’s sleep later and a few hours of the next day I can still say with assured confidence that this stadium is truly, truly amazing. Now I will say the traffic is a fairly serious problem, but you shouldn’t have to worry about it. What you should worry about is when the doors open, because you should be there at that exact moment, to allow yourself a few hours to wander this incredible feat of engineering. The huge HD screen, the unbelievably nice areas, the glass walls at both endzones can open, the hole in the roof can open, and it really is quite something. What I liked most though is how close the fans are to the field, and how the stadium stares down onto the field. An interesting architectural anomaly with some stadiums is it feels too open, the lower level fans are engaged, but if you’re up too high, there’s too much of a disconnect. Granted I sat in a box very close to field level, but from the lower section looking up, it really feels like the entire stadium is watching intently what is happening on the field, or at least the big screen. The seating really has the feeling that it’s engulfing the field, and that seats have been placed almost everywhere possible to cram as many Cowboys fans in as possible. Also it’s a dome, which means we can get some serious noise going in there. What I’m trying to express is it’s a very intimidating stadium. It’s huge, and yet I don’t believe there is a seat in there that I would consider a bad place to have to sit, and coming down the tunnel to play the Cowboy’s is going to mess with almost every opposing players head, because I can almost guarantee the noise will be deafening. I don’t care how quiet Cowboys fans have been in the past, stick 80,000 people in a stadium and it’ll get loud, I don’t care who you are. The Cowboys are in for a real treat this season, let’s hope they earn this stadium and christen it the right way. Anyway, this is less analysis and more me still freaking out about the stadium, but the Cowboys are a very lucky team, and the fans, if any of us are lucky enough to enter the place, are very lucky fans. Hopefully our boys can step up and play to the level of that stadium, because let me tell you, if they do, it will be a really great season.