Stadiums & Arenas

[Shinobi Shaw]

One thing I will say about watching Football live is that the game just seems to go by so much faster.
Every time I go to a live game it just seems to fly by. I think it's because there's so much to pay attention to even when play isn't happening, instead of when you watch on TV and it cuts to commercial whenever there's down time.

That’s how I feel about baseball. Watching it on TV feels so long but to actually be at a game with good seats and not nosebleeds, it just flies by.

And that energy in a good game is infectious.

 

[Immortalfire]

As someone who grew up in Minnesota I have fond memories of the Dome. It was a dump toward the end but it was always fun.
I really miss the blimp, they used it for all kinds of gimmicks. It would sometimes drop t-shirts, gift cards, etc. I believe at one point they strapped a camera to it and it would fly around giving you a pretty unique view of the stadium.

I'll admit I don't remember them shooting processed meat but I wouldn't be surprised if that happened. I'm guessing it was spam since that's made here. I remember they used to throw hotdogs (Dome dogs.. they were delicious.) into the stands sometimes as well.


My fondest memory of the Dome was leaving though.. since they needed to use air pressure to keep the roof inflated that meant that they needed to keep the building sealed to maintain that pressure. Most of the doors to get in and out were revolving doors, they did have normal doors but they were usually closed.

Occasionally you'd find one area that had them open, and you'd be able to exit from there. Usually once you got close enough to the door the wind would basically just throw you out.

I remember the day I turned on ESPN and they had footage of the snowstorm that ripped open the metrodome roof, snow poured and brought down all the big speakers with it. It looked like something out of a movie

 

[InCali]

One thing I will say about watching Football live is that the game just seems to go by so much faster.
Every time I go to a live game it just seems to fly by. I think it's because there's so much to pay attention to even when play isn't happening, instead of when you watch on TV and it cuts to commercial whenever there's down time.

Yeah. I had season tickets to the Raiders for 11 years and it was a pretty great experience. You get to know the people around you and there's a lot of chatter and banter happening between plays (not to mention strategic exits to the beer lines before the quarters are over). This guy that sat behind us had this RV that he brought and we'd have parties after the game was over and throw a football around the parking lot.

 

[Captain Bryan]

I remember the day I turned on ESPN and they had footage of the snowstorm that ripped open the metrodome roof, snow poured and brought down all the big speakers with it. It looked like something out of a movie

I remember waking up that morning about half an hour before the game was supposed to start and turning the TV to whatever the game that day was supposed to be on, Fox I'm sure.
Basically the first thing I saw was that footage.
It was so wild. That storm was a really bad one. We got something like 18 inches of snow during it. I was working at a mall at the time and they closed half way through the day. I think it took me 45 minutes to get home despite living about 10 minutes away on a normal day.
When I saw what happened I was shocked but not surprised. I've had worse storms for sure, and I actually think the dome had something similar happen earlier but it didn't tear, definitely not as catastrophic as that event.

I've always wondered what would have happened that season if we were good, and made a playoff push. We ended up playing that "home game" at Ford Field, and then our next and final home game was at the college stadium TCF Bank, but there was a lot of noise about that because the stadium at the time was not really set up for winter games.

 

[Captain Bryan]

Yeah. I had season tickets to the Raiders for 11 years and it was a pretty great experience. You get to know the people around you and there's a lot of chatter and banter happening between plays (not to mention strategic exits to the beer lines before the quarters are over). This guy that sat behind us had this RV that he brought and we'd have parties after the game was over and throw a football around the parking lot.

That sounds so awesome.
I've never had a real tailgate experience, someday though. Seems like so much fun!

 

[Immortalfire]

I remember waking up that morning about half an hour before the game was supposed to start and turning the TV to whatever the game that day was supposed to be on, Fox I'm sure.
Basically the first thing I saw was that footage.
It was so wild. That storm was a really bad one. We got something like 18 inches of snow during it. I was working at a mall at the time and they closed half way through the day. I think it took me 45 minutes to get home despite living about 10 minutes away on a normal day.
When I saw what happened I was shocked but not surprised. I've had worse storms for sure, and I actually think the dome had something similar happen earlier but it didn't tear, definitely not as catastrophic as that event.

I've always wondered what would have happened that season if we were good, and made a playoff push. We ended up playing that "home game" at Ford Field, and then our next and final home game was at the college stadium TCF Bank, but there was a lot of noise about that because the stadium at the time was not really set up for winter games.

I vaguely recall a news report saying that outdoor field for the University of Minnesota, the turf basically frozen solid during that game?

 

[Captain Bryan]

I vaguely recall a news report saying that outdoor field for the University of Minnesota, the turf basically frozen solid during that game?

That sounds right. I believe there were either no heating coils for that game or the ones they had weren't adequate for late December weather, I think UofM only plays until November? They added/upgraded them later when it was decided we would play there while the new stadium was being built.
That game was Favre's last game as well, I believe he got sacked and was knocked unconscious. I'm sure there were other injuries that happened from that turf but that's the one that sticks out the most to me.