Texas Stadium: Death by Implosion (7 am CST Sunday April 11; link to live feed)

dallassportsfans.com ^ | March 24, 2010 | by Matt Lawrence

[Paleo Conservative]

When the construction of Cowboys Stadium started, we all new that it was only a matter of time before the demolition of Texas Stadium. The fate of Texas Stadium has been set, the Dallas Cowboys old home will be destroyed on April 11th. The implosion will be sponsored by Kraft Macaroni & Cheese oddly enough, because nothing says buy macaroni & cheese like an implosion. That aside lets take a look at the Texas Stadium history and honor the longtime home of the Dallas Cowboys.

Now that we have the boring statistics out of the way lets take a look at the odd facts that made Texas Stadium great. It was in Irving, which as the Dallas Cowboys names implies is close to Dallas. The iconic hole in the roof was not planned, Texas Stadium was actually supposed to be a dome. The hole came about because the roof supports could not handle the weight of a dome. The supports were not modified because back in the day when the public funding for a project ran out, you stopped spending. Cowboys linebacker D. D. Lewis is responsible for the famous quote, “Texas Stadium has a hole in tis roof so god can watch his favorite team play”.

As we have seen with the new Cowboys Stadium, Texas Stadium also played host to plenty events that were not Dallas Cowboys Games. Events such as Concerts, Pro Wrestling, College Football, Religious Gatherings, High School Football, and even a Major League Lacrosse game.

Texas Stadium was the place that I became a fan of football, and it will suck to see it go. I know the stadium is not as high tech or cool as the new Cowboys Stadium, but you could still watch the Cowboys play there and I was lucky enough to see quite a few games there. Texas stadium didn’t do big video boards or 3-D glasses, it did football.

[Paleo Conservative]

Here's a link to a live video feed.

Link to live video
http://www.cityofirving.org/ictn/watch-ictn-pages/watch-ictn-1-and-ictn-2.html

Link to City of Irving's Texas Stadium Implosion home page
http://www.cityofirving.org/texas-stadium/index.html

Link to City of Irving's Texas Stadium Implosion Public Implosion Viewing page with info on viewing it from the Texas Stadium parking lot and broadcast TV in DFW
http://www.cityofirving.org/texas-stadium/pvd.html

[Jukeman]

They should stick Jerry Jones in there before the implosion.

[Walkingfeather]

Is this the right room for an argument?

“That aside lets take a look at the Texas Stadium history and honor the longtime home of the Dallas Cowboys....”

Let’s not... not because I hate the cowboys but hate football and texas all in the same breath....

[fkabuckeyesrule]

Might be fun to watch. I remember when they exploded three river stadium and atlanta stadium.

[Paleo Conservative]

Texas Stadium Statistics
Location: Irving, Texas
Opened: October 24th, 1971
Implosion: April 11th, 2010
Capacity: 65,675
Cost: 35 million (Cowboys Stadium: 1.15 billion)

[dfwgator]

They should stick Jerry Jones in there before the implosion.

Why? For winning 3 Super Bowls and finally bringing the Super Bowl to the Metroplex?

[GeronL]

Its pretty sad really

[dfwgator]

I wonder if Dallas is the first town to have two sports complex demolitions in the same year, Reunion Arena was taken down earlier this year.

[al baby]

Better yet put Al Davis in it

[basil]

No—for the disgusting manner with which he treated Tom Landry.

[Jukeman]

Jerry Jones had nothing to do with winning 3 super bowls - ask Jimmy Johnson. I said in 1995 that the Wowboys would not win another super bowl as long as Jerry Jones owns that team. Pretty good prediction I would say.

[Paleo Conservative]

Theres room for both of them plus Paul Tagliabue.

[onyx]

Thanks for the ping.
7:00am... I might try to be up in time to watch.

[dfwgator]

It's also probably another end of an era here in Dallas:

This the end? Modano returns to where it started

If anyone did not get a chance to see the Stars fans paying tribute to Modano the other night, try to find it on YouTube, it was truly a special moment.

Thanks Mike for all the great memories.

[Doogle]

..."hmmmm a preview of the Cowboys season?"

[Sen Jack S. Fogbound]

Hey, he did apologize for that behavior! He didn’t know Landry that well nor did he know Texas!

I do idolize Landry, and respect him as the Leader of the Cowboy! Always will!

[Paleo Conservative]

No—for the disgusting manner with which he treated Tom Landry.

For decades broadcasters would talk about Tom Landry being the only head coach the Cowboys have ever had. Now we have Jerry Jones who has fired every coach the Cowboys have ever had.

[DeFault User]

I first watched the Cowboys play in the Cotton Bowl when Eddie LeBaron was the quarterback. I left Texas in 1967 and never watched them play in Texas Stadium. I only saw the place from the outside, coming in/out of DFW on later visits, but I thought it was the ugliest stadium I had ever seen. Glad to see it go.

[Canedawg]

They should stick Jerry Jones in there...

When they implode the old Giants Stadium next year, there will be a brief memorial service for Jimmy Hoffa.

[dfwgator]

Yes it could have been handled better, but let’s face it, the Cowboys were 3-13 in his last year, and it was time for a change.

I’m more upset at how Jerry treated Jimmy. They were on the verge of pulling off the three-peat, but Jerry’s ego got the best of him.