Posted on 03/22/2013 1:25:34 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd
HOUSTON -- Behold what has become of the eighth wonder of the world. The Astrodome sits dark, dusty, dilapidated and haunted by Houstons history.
Giant signs touting bearing outdated logos for corporate sponsors like Continental Airlines hang over orange seats with ripped cushions. Skyboxes are furnished with outdated furniture and old Zenith television sets. Astroturf sits carelessly tossed on the stadium floor, folded over like discarded carpet left behind in an abandoned home.
What do I see? said Edgar Colon, chairman of the Harris County Sports and Convention Corp., as he looked around the empty stadium. I see a lot of history.
Once a centerpiece of civic pride, the Astrodome now sits at the center of a squabble between civic leaders. On one side sits a couple of very influential tenants, the Houston Texans and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, which lease Reliant Stadium and Reliant Center. On the other side sits leaders of Harris County, which owns the complex that includes the long-vacant Astrodome.
For the Texans and the HLSR, the dome is the eyesore next door, a grungy and rundown neighbor next to one of the finest football stadiums in the nation.
For Harris County leaders, its an expensive and politically vexing conundrum thats costing millions of taxpayer dollars and will inevitably cost tens of millions more.
(Excerpt) Read more at khou.com ...
That was done at Texas Stadium before the implosion. I got a couple of seats from there.
Can’t really disagree with you. Of course you know you have committed an unpardonable by saying anything good about the hated Evil Empire. Back in the ‘50s when I was a kid, the first thing I learned at my mother’s knee was to hate the Yankees. (My father didn’t give a hoot one way or the other but my mother sure did!)
Last big league stadium I was in was Milwaukee and that was VERY nice. Well located and I love the retractable roof. No more rainouts. It was open the night I was there - about a month before 9/11. Very pleasant, friendly and welcoming.
My a a Blues Brothers movie to gut the insides and then blow it up with a Die Hard over and again movie.
If nothing else a mushroom farm.
Another idea.
Fill it up with sickos of the like that kill babies and let them eat each other.
Send them from around the country.
Please!
Tear it down before New Orleans floods again!!
While we're at it, the New York Mets should also change their name. "Mets" sounds like a city in France.
But I do remember going to see Elvis at the Rodeo.
And Evil Knievil make some success jumps.
Connecticut may be a beautiful state but I make it a point to avoid driving through it whenever we go south. I only wish I could do the same for New York but it would mean a very long detour and involve a foreign country.
Within the next five years, due to lawsuits by the perpetually offended, the names of all sports teams will be changed to a random mix of numbers and letters.
My first job, sold popcorn, sodas, etc when I was 11 years old....lied about my age, sposed to be 12. Great life lessons in those years there, big dorky white guy working with all kinds of teens, grown men, old men, most had just been paroled. I was stuck once selling hot dogs, carrying around a metal box with a sterno can keeping those dogs warm. I hated it, heavy and hot, up and down those stairs. One old black man knew I was struggling, not selling many. He said, “lemme show ya how to sell them dogs.” I reluctantly let him strap that box on that held my hot dogs and therefore, all my money. He started sliding down the aisle, all smooth and suave. He yelled out, A loaf of bread, a pound of meat, and all da mustard you can eat, HOT DOGS!!!” He sold 5-10 real quick and when he got back up the stairs, he just smiled and said, “dats how ya do it boy!” Somehow it never sounded the same coming out of my white bread self.
Oh, you live in New Hampshire. My husband worked in Manchester for years. We still have many friends in the area.
What a wonderful story. Thanks for sharing it. :)
Hadlock Field, the Portland Sea Dogs stadium is small, but an order of magnitude more pleasant. It is in downtown South Portland, but there’s plenty of on street parking and reasonable parking lots, the views are great, the fans are great.
Half the idiots who go to Fenway, go there to be seen (e.g., John Kerry) and the other half are tourists who watched Field of Dreams and Fever Pitch and don’t the difference between the on-deck circle and the infeild fly rule.
You either have to park in a hospital parking lot a mile away and walk or take the Green Line packed in like a sardine. It’s easy to find because the wave of humanity walking from Kenmore Square T-stop to the security maze outside the Park.
Why is it that any thread about any ballpark in North America is hijacked by Fenway lovers?
I would assume it’s short for astronaut, it being Houston.
One day at work I referred to artificial grass as "Astroturf." A guy in his thirties laughed.
"Astroturf?! It's called 'field turf' these days."
Man, that made me feel old.
I don’t know. Perhaps because Fenway Park is baseball perfection?
We have a winner!
Make it section 8 housing. Then in 5 years it will be gone without having to pay expensive demolition people.
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