My game day experience - Pics, Thoughts, Rants

[nynuk85]

So here's what my experience was like last night. As a season ticket holder in the old stadium, I was quite excited for last night's game in the new stadium and was anxious to enjoy all of the great things promised to me when I purchased club level seating (Section C308).

First of all, I call the guest services hotline early in the day to verify what time the gates opened. I was told 4pm. I get to my assigned gate shortly before 4:00 and was told it doesn't open until 5:00. Fail. I was then told I could go hang out in the plaza, which was to open at 4:00, where I could get food and beer. So I walk down there, stand in line until 4:30 (they were late opening the plazas), only to be told that those with club and suite tickets would not be allowed entry. Fail. I walk back down to my assigned entry point and was finally let in shortly after 5:00. Apparently, club seat holders can indeed go into the plazas, but not until our entrance opens at 5, where we then must go all the way up to level 4, walk around to the endzone, go back down to the 2nd level and out to the plaza.

I'm a simple girl...so one of the things I was most looking forward to, was having vendors serving beer in the seats, since we didn't have that luxury in the old stadium. I get to my seats just before the game starts and notice tons of beer vendors walking around in the levels below and above me, but none in my level. I ask an employee in my club about it at half time, and was told that the 3rd level is considered the elite level, so that's why they don't have the vendors out there. Um, what? I'm in an "elite" level, so I have to go get the beer myself? Fail.

Then here's the kicker...apparently being in the club seats means you pay more for beer. My friend was craving nachos, so she went down to the 2nd level and over to the non-club sections to find them. She saw a beer vendor walking around selling beer for $5. We paid $8 in our section. I guess they figured if you have enough money to purchase club seats, you can afford to pay more for your beer. That's just wrong!

Crowd noise was not good. I'm hoping it was just because of pre-season. I can't remember the last time I sat during an entire game...no one stood unless we scored or made a great play, and even then it was only for a second. The guy behind me never once got out of his seat, opened his mouth or clapped his hands. I was wondering what the hell he was doing there. I'm a little disappointed with the people sitting around me, I'd prefer to be with a rowdy bunch!

Some good things...
The stadium is beautiful, the jumbo-tron is amazing, and I admit I had a good chuckle when the punt hit it.

The seats were extremely comfortable (perhaps this is why no one got up out of them?), and I loved the fact that they had cup holders. Can't tell you how many times I came home with beer soaked sneakers at the old stadium!

Game thoughts...
Most of what I think has been said here already in other posts. I thought Romo looked great, I thought he did a good job spreading the ball around. Special teams needs to work on tackling!! Penalties were driving me nuts.

I also thought we had several bad spots given to us. At least from my angle (and it's kind of hard to miss on that big screen), it appeared that a couple times we had the 1st down and the ball was spotted just shy. Recorded the game last night and going to watch it again today and look more closely at some of plays, cause I could be wrong there.

So happy we won...was very afraid of opening the new stadium the same way we closed the old one, even if it was just a pre-season game.

Wow that was long. LOL Guess I had more to say than I thought! Hope you're not bored to death, if you're still reading this. :laugh2:

Anyway, here are some pics I took. They aren't the greatest, but thought I'd share!


Pre-game warmups..
http://img.***BLOCKED***/albums/v164/nynuk85/Cowboys%202009/PS1006.jpg

Took this one on the jumbo-tron...guys walking from locker room to head to the field:
http://img.***BLOCKED***/albums/v164/nynuk85/Cowboys%202009/PS1021.jpg

http://img.***BLOCKED***/albums/v164/nynuk85/Cowboys%202009/PS1029.jpg

http://img.***BLOCKED***/albums/v164/nynuk85/Cowboys%202009/PS1031.jpg

http://img.***BLOCKED***/albums/v164/nynuk85/Cowboys%202009/PS1036.jpg

http://img.***BLOCKED***/albums/v164/nynuk85/Cowboys%202009/PS1047.jpg

http://img.***BLOCKED***/albums/v164/nynuk85/Cowboys%202009/PS1050.jpg

Nice close-up of Romo from the jumbo-tron.
http://img.***BLOCKED***/albums/v164/nynuk85/Cowboys%202009/PS1052.jpg

http://img.***BLOCKED***/albums/v164/nynuk85/Cowboys%202009/PS1056.jpg

http://img.***BLOCKED***/albums/v164/nynuk85/Cowboys%202009/PS1058.jpg

Picture of the stadium as I was leaving the game:
http://img.***BLOCKED***/albums/v164/nynuk85/Cowboys%202009/PS1066.jpg

 

[RS12]

Then here's the kicker...apparently being in the club seats means you pay more for beer. My friend was craving nachos, so she went down to the 2nd level and over to the non-club sections to find them. She saw a beer vendor walking around selling beer for $5. We paid $8 in our section. I guess they figured if you have enough money to purchase club seats, you can afford to pay more for your beer. That's just wrong!

Jerry gotta lot debt to pay down.

 

[Hostile]

Oh please post more often. It took you 4 years, but that was outstanding again.

That picture of Romo close up is awesome.

 

[true blue]

I have to admit I was disappointed in the crowd noise level but I thought maybe it was louder in person and just not coming through on TV. Even Wade and Romo claimed it was but it did not come across that way in my living room. Then Fox did random shots of the crowd and it seemed like there were a lot of kids and families out there. Not sure it that had anything to do with it or not. I kept expecting the crowd noise to grow when our defense was on the field but it never seemed like it did except on a few occasions including when we were on offense trying to score. I thought wth and passed it off as Titans' fans. I really hope the crowd gets it together for the season. Maybe being a preseason game had something to do with it?

 

[JBS]

who is your spouse? and what does that guy think of your cowboys addiction? I can tell you one thing for certain....I wouldn't have an issue with it.

 

[FLcowboy]

Thanks for sharing your experience. I miss the early 90s when I had season tickets at Texas Stadium.

 

[Hostile]

Looking at the game shots again. Does anyone besides me think the Titans uniforms are hideous? I actually thought the old Oilers unis were kind of cool. These just suck.

 

[EPL0c0]

man that last shot is a beauty...

 

[CATCH17]

Looking at the game shots again. Does anyone besides me think the Titans uniforms are hideous? I actually thought the old Oilers unis were kind of cool. These just suck.

I think it looks a lot better when they wear the white pants with the blues.

I don't really care for it when they mix their blues.


But yes the old oiler uni's were awesome.

 

[nynuk85]

Jerry gotta lot debt to pay down.

Then you'd think he'd be charging everyone $8!

 

[Chocolate Lab]

Looking at the game shots again. Does anyone besides me think the Titans uniforms are hideous? I actually thought the old Oilers unis were kind of cool. These just suck.

That baby blue and flaming T has always been the absolute pits. I'm really surprised they haven't changed them yet.

 

[RS12]

That baby blue and flaming T has always been the absolute pits. I'm really surprised they haven't changed them yet.

Strange Titans and Ravens get franchises at same time, and have the worst looking unis.

 

[zrinkill]

They aren't the greatest, but thought I'd share!

Yes they are ..... and please keep sharing.

Post more.

 

[SA_Gunslinger]

awesome pics. looks like you have nice seats. i can't wait to get in there next saturday!!!

 

[nynuk85]

A few more pics...

A couple of shots from the locker room shown on the jumbo-tron:
http://img.***BLOCKED***/albums/v164/nynuk85/Cowboys%202009/PS1019.jpg

http://img.***BLOCKED***/albums/v164/nynuk85/Cowboys%202009/PS1020.jpg

And a little eye candy for all you guys.
http://img.***BLOCKED***/albums/v164/nynuk85/Cowboys%202009/PS1062.jpg

 

[bbgun]

Procter is uglier than his play.

 

[Hostile]

Procter is uglier than his play.

He was actually decent again last night.

Don't get me wrong I will still celebrate if he is gone. That non block against Arizona last year haunts me.

 

[Gemini Dolly]

Thanks for those pictures. You know which is my favorite.

 

[goons]

I arrived a little later, about 6:00. The route I had was down 161, and they said it was open. Well, it was for a while, and then the traffic lights. It was a slow go after that, and it took about an hour to finally get parked in our lot. We walked over to the stadium and had our tickets out, where they were checked, checked, and checked again. I think 5 or 6 times just to get inside the doors. We have club seats on the lower "Hall of Fame" level. Hadn't had a chance to get anything to eat and we wanted to check out the stadium food. I got a $13 "Kobe Burger", which was a nice sized, thick burger patty with some cheese melted over the top, a dollop of sauce, and some onion rings on top, served on a cold (as in chilled) bun, some fries, and a soda. As I stood at a table and a waitress came by to clear off our used plates, we could see multiple screens showing on-field warmups. I remember plopping my food wrapper down on a trash can lid while foul water dripped from above and a wall of smokers ringed the only fresh air breeze you could get in the place. It was nice. Really nice.

I had knee surgery a while back and it's still bugging me on stairs some, so we took the elevator down. Coming off the elevator, some folks stopped to talk to ushers, and we headed to our seats. One of the ushers called us back. We had to put our sodas on the ground and dig out our tickets so she could scan them AGAIN and we had to show them twice more before we could sit down. Next week, lanyards!

The screen is just enormous, and it changes the game experience in a very good way. Not so sure how it is for the people on camera, but for fans it's great. Patrick Crayton had that punt return go through his hands and look up at the board and Crayton is 70 feet tall with the ball going through his hands. Ouch!

Bad calls by the refs... it's right there in 1080p high def being replayed, hard to miss on the replay.

They had an interview with Witten and he had a piece of fuzz stuck to his chin. On a regular monitor, nobody would have noticed but up there that piece of fuzz is the size of a city bus.

The new stadium announcer is bad. Constant mistakes, misidentifying players, he called out "Jones" after Felix had a big play and obviously couldn't remember his name... then figured it out as he went on about it and identified him as JULIUS Jones. The crowd boo'd him for it, and that was one of many.

They have too much music and it's too loud. The music, I mean. It's so loud and then they cut it for the play and it was very quiet. As far as crowd noise goes, there wasn't a lot, but it's preseason and everyone was there to check out the stadium as much as watch the game. By the regular season, it'll be different. Some of the ads they played were ear-shattering. They need to put a limiter on that thing and cap the DB's.

It looked pretty full. The place is amazing and beautiful. Everyone was happy. Where at Texas Stadium you had to jostle your way through the crowd to your seat, at the new stadium you can walk with your arms spread out most places.

The cheerleaders spent a lot of time on the screen. If they need dental work or have a zit or a mole on a butt cheek, it shows up HUGE. Better not fall out of that top either, or it's gonna be the biggest nip slip in history.

They were showing a face closeup of a player who was making a funny face. You could see where he missed shaving, etc. Someday, they're gonna do that and the guy's gonna reach up to pick a booger and you'll have a 10' tall booger on screen.

Amazing place. Great game. OK, let's get this party started!

 

[DallasEast]

And a little eye candy for all you guys.
http://img.***BLOCKED***/albums/v164/nynuk85/Cowboys%202009/PS1062.jpg

A whole lot of sons of season ticket holders are gonna grow up REAL fast. Wowsers!

Great pics!