My Trip to Jerry World

After spending the night in Houston, we got up early and raced 300 miles northward to Arlington, Texas, home of the largest stadium in the National Football League, Cowboys Stadium. Much has been made of the $1.15 billion dollar Texas Temple, and rightly so. The Palace in Dallas, built by the most recognizable owner in the NFL, for one of most celebrated fan bases in the country, had to be larger than life to measure up to all the preseaon hype. I'm excited to report that it deserves all the accolades it's been getting. Jerry Jones set out to built the biggest and baddest stadium the league has ever seen to offer his fans an experience unlike anything they might have sitting in their living rooms. With its massive HD scoreboard (the largest in the NFL), $30.00 party passes, and signature hole in the roof, "to allow God to watch His team", Cowboys Stadium is every bit the spectacle and tribute to the Dallas Cowboys organization that Jerry Jones had envisioned when construction began. I actually entered the stadium an hour and half before gametime just to make sure I had enough time to take it all in. My advice, if you get the oppotunity to take in a Cowboys home game, by all means DO IT!

Stadium #20 - Texas Stadium

Texas Stadium, the longtime home of the Dallas Cowboys (America's Team), was definitly on my list of Stadiums to visit this year before its monstrous replacement opens up next season in Arlington. With it's widely renowned trademark hole in the roof allowing "God to watch His team", Texas Stadium is an imposing facility that every stadium trekker has to see in person. I actually took a tour of Texas Stadium that allowed you to get down on the field and was able to stand on the star at the fifty yard line and look through the hole in the roof. pretty exciting stuff for your average kid froim Buffalo, NY. Anyway, Crystal and I drove down to the State of Texas during the hurricane Ike disater and barely made it out of Houston, but once we entered the friendly confines of Dallas, TX the disater that was Ike was like a distant memory. Texans are great tailgaters and excellent hosts. we hooked up with several tailgating groups that were eager to offer food and beer to these wary travelers fom the north. when we headed into the game, Texas Stadium was all that I hoped it would be. The atmosphere was incredibly electric as the division rival Philadelphia Eagles we in town to take on the Cowboys in a old fashioned shootout. Donovan McNabb and Tony Romo were locked and loaded in what became a 41 - 37 offensive explosion that the Cowboys prevailed in. How 'bout them cowboys!

Stadium #9 - Georgia Dome, Atlanta Falcons

Stadium #9 was to be the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia. Myself and Jeremy as part of a three city, eleven day stadium tour, would round out our third game with the hometown Atlanta Falcons taking on the visiting Dallas Cowboys. The incomparable Mike Vick was in his prime and scandal free as he led the NFL’s most prolific ground attack against a surging Tony Romo led Dallas Cowboys offense. It was December 2006 and the weather was fantastic. The Falcons would lose the game, but not without some exceptional offensive maneuvering by the human highlight reel himself, Michael Vick.