IF
YOU ARE A
SPORTS FAN ..
IF
YOU ARE AN ‘NFL‘ FOOTBALL
FAN ..
ABSOLUTELY PUT ON YOUR :
‘BEFORE-I-KICK-THE-BUCKET‘
LIST I-MUST-DO-THIS ..
I MUST ATTEND .. IN-PERSON ..
AN ‘NFL‘ FOOTBALL
GAME AT THE DALLAS
COWBOYS FOOTBALL STADIUM .. IN
ARLINGTON, TEXAS ..
Literally .. Patti and I experienced
a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ event last night here in Arlington, Texas, when we saw
the Dallas Cowboys play the Philadelphia Eagles at Cowboys Stadium. It truly was a
‘life-enhancing’ event .. our lives are a little bit richer because of it. The stadium itself is a true work of art. The stadium experience .. in and of itself .. overwhelms, in many ways, the game ! All evening
long Patti and I kept saying to each other .. “Isn’t this absolutely amazing !”
The Stadium overhead roof was open ..
the gigantic doors at each end of the Stadium were also open .. a wonderful breeze
wafted through the Stadium all evening long .. it was in a word .. mesmerizing
!
OK ..
ASSUMING THAT YOU HAVE A CHOICE ..
and you may not have a choice because you may not be able to get tickets ..
this is the rule and not the exception because many ‘NFL’ games are sold-out ..
but if you do have the choice to attend-in-person a game or sit home and watch the
game on television .. you have two separate and you have two distinct opinions
/ attitudes regarding this DO WE / DON’T WE debate.
I must say that this pretty much
applies to watching a FOOTBALL game. In
basketball for instance .. because there are only ten players on the
light-in-color-floor and not twenty two players on a dark-green-grass-surface .. and because a basketball is larger in size
than a football .. and because a basketball game .. in general .. moves a
little slower and is much less complex .. the sit-home or go-to-the-game
decision is much less of a debate .. because being physically at a basketball game
you can see the game VERY well ..
So here is ‘my take’ on the debate ..
Do you .. Stay At Home .. OR .. Do you
.. Go To The Game In Person ..
1.
Stay At Home : In the comfort and
in the quiet of your home, to some large degree, YOU CAN SEE THE GAME MUCH BETTER ON TELEVISION THAN
YOU CAN when you are physically in attendance AT-THE-GAME .. and it does not
cost you an arm and a leg and several hundreds of dollars PLUS all of your necessary ‘facilities’ and
creature comforts are at-arms-reach when you are comfortably at home !
Note that above I do qualify the at-home experience saying .. 'to some large degree' you can see the game better at home. It is a fact that at-the-game you get an 'overview' of the entire scene you do not and can not and will never get at home !
Note that above I do qualify the at-home experience saying .. 'to some large degree' you can see the game better at home. It is a fact that at-the-game you get an 'overview' of the entire scene you do not and can not and will never get at home !
2.
Go To The Game In Person : There
are many negative factors in going to the game in person .. you must face the
traffic and the vehicle parking both going to and returning home from the game and you also have all of the cost(s) involved
(tickets / parking / gasoline / food / your time ) and then you have the great inconvenience
of public toilets and in some cases the weather could be poor and then you also have the general ‘hassle’ of
being elbow-to-elbow with literally tens-of-thousands of sporting fans .. at Cowboys Stadium you are talking about 80,000 people .. some are intoxicated and
some are a challenge to all that is civil and proper in society ..
Why on earth would you even want to
go to the game ? BECAUSE
THE ENERGY AND THE EXCITEMENT AND THE
PRE-GAME AND GAME ‘GIDDYNESS’ IS
ABSOLUTELY PHENOMENAL ! Sitting at
home you absolutely CANNOT DUPLICATE the
phenomenal giddy feelings and electric excitement and explosive energy you find
at-the-game. Sitting in the quiet of
your home in front of your television you are .. in a word .. quiet !
FOR ME THE AT-THE-GAME EXPERIENCE IS FUN AND AN ADVENTURE AND YES A CHALLENGE THAT I LOVE !
This being said I cannot justify for anyone else the
cost(s) of going to a game. It does not exactly 'compute' in a positive number ! By-the-way, I did not mention that recently there have been horrific and terrible stories of fan- violence towards each other before and during and even after games.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE NOTE: In Detroit .. In New Orleans .. In Dallas last night .. at each of these three venues there were a good number of uniformed and plain clothes security personnel. Over public address systems and on various video and television screens 'Rules of Acceptable Conduct' were repeated. In each venue spectators were advised to IMMEDIATELY call or IMMEDIATELY text security IF ANY PROBLEMS WHATSOEVER AROSE. And let me tell you all .. Patti and I had the feeling this was SERIOUS BUSINESS AND THAT NO NONSENSE WOULD BE TOLERATED P-E-R-I-O-D !
Back to Cowboys Stadium .. I CAN discuss the debate about the quality of SEEING THE GAME at home or watching the game at the Stadium ..
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE NOTE: In Detroit .. In New Orleans .. In Dallas last night .. at each of these three venues there were a good number of uniformed and plain clothes security personnel. Over public address systems and on various video and television screens 'Rules of Acceptable Conduct' were repeated. In each venue spectators were advised to IMMEDIATELY call or IMMEDIATELY text security IF ANY PROBLEMS WHATSOEVER AROSE. And let me tell you all .. Patti and I had the feeling this was SERIOUS BUSINESS AND THAT NO NONSENSE WOULD BE TOLERATED P-E-R-I-O-D !
Back to Cowboys Stadium .. I CAN discuss the debate about the quality of SEEING THE GAME at home or watching the game at the Stadium ..
At the Dallas Cowboys Stadium YOU CAN
PRETTY MUCH HAVE-IT-ALL .. BECAUSE OF THE INCREDIBLE AND BECAUSE OF THE
PHENOMENAL ‘JUMBOTRON’ .
The ‘JUMBOTRON’ .. is (this is an
understatement !) a gigantic television set located directly above the football
field .. the ‘JUMBOTRON’ is so large that it extends from one 20-yard-line to
the other 20-yard-line and is properly proportioned to duplicate your
television set at home. There are also two smaller ‘JUMBOTRONS’ facing each end
zone ..
SO BECAUSE OF THE ‘JUMBOTRON’ AT THE
DALLAS COWBOYS STADIUM .. YOU CAN SIT
COMFORTABLY INDOORS AND WATCH THE GAME
ON TELEVISION AND AT THE SAME TIME EXPERIENCE ALL OF THE BENEFITS OF BEING
AT-THE-GAME IN PERSON !
Of course you do NOT have to watch the 'JUMBOTRON' because you can also just watch the game as it unfolds on-the-field
and NOT look up at the ‘JUMBOTRON’. At times the ‘NBC PEACOCK LOGO’ was
visible on the ‘JUMBOTRON’ so we were watching in-the-stadium what the rest of
the country was watching on the NBC Televison Network ! Patti and I were having our cake and eating our cake too ! Sucha-deal-you-wouldn't-believe !
I can't add too much more about the
experience of sitting in Cowboys Stadium yesterday and watching the game. To
fully understand what I am trying to express you MUST experience it
yourself !
TO REPEAT MYSELF : IF you are a fan of the ‘NFL’ .. you
owe-it-to-yourself to .. at least once in this lifetime .. come to Dallas /
Arlington, Texas, and experience a game at Cowboys Stadium !
Much MUCH Joy .. Patti and Cap ..
Hi Patty and Cap,
ReplyDeleteI am now just reading your postings. I am so happy for you both that you can enjoy this time together. I love the heads carolins tails california.... I love that song. The spirit of it is beautiful!!! I am happy that Patty was able to take care of her medical issues and allow you you travel this way. It is just awesome. We received your post cards. I have some great memories in New Orleans and Texas actually. a place called Witchita Falls Texas north of Dallas. Look forward to hearing more of your adventures!!!
How long has it been since you were in New Orleans .. I worked for a racing car driver .. Lloyd Ruby .. who was from Witchita Falls Texas .. Smiles from Patti and myself .. Cap ..
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