So I got up on Saturday morning and I can't really remember what I did before I took a short drive out to Fort Worth. It's a pretty cool city which has a part which seems completely untouched by modern society. I think it's official slogan might be 'Fort Worth: Where the West Starts', or something along those lines. And you can see why, from this only photo I took there from my drive back into the city (don't ask).
I spent a lot of the afternoon just driving around with the A/C on full blast and listening to country music to be perfectly honest. I only briefly stopped to get some wings at a Wingstop. It was a good choice.
The wings were perfect: nice and meaty with loads of sauce and a good bit of spice. There were ten varieties of flavour to choose from, but I played it safe with classic buffalo sauce. I'll be back to try something more exotic for sure. I got it all for about $8, with a drink. Which for 10 large wings is fairly great when compared to the price you pay back home for a portion of wings as an appetiser even. The fries were incredible, albeit with FAR too much salt. I could feel chest pains as fry touched tongue. Afterwards I guess I just felt a bit shameful and covered in buffalo sauce, so I went back and hung about the pool a bit before watching some baseball with the worlds largest iced tea.
Sunday was Game Day. My first Dallas Cowboys game, of who I've been a fan since childhood (and, strangely, my THIRD Tampa Bay game, having seen them twice in London in recent years).
Americans, or maybe just Dallas Cowboys fans, are absolute pros at making the most of a Sunday afternoon. The tailgating going on hours before the game was sensational, and truly surpassed all expectations I ever had of the phenomenon.
Like, I saw full on smokers being used out of the back of trucks the size of RVs, with (and I shit you not) 42" televisions being run off generators that SOMEHOW were showing pre-game footage. I must have missed the satellite dishes that were being lugged somewhere amongst the rest of the stuff. Cowboys Stadium has a load of carparks that are huge, and still they need to make use of the Texas Rangers parking on Sundays. But this is purely because every pickup truck takes up at LEAST two spaces, without even taking into account the further ten spaces needed to erect tents and so on. Everything about it is astounding. And brilliant.
Anyway, so when you actually get into the stadium it is no less awe-inspiring.
It really takes your breath away when you see it for the first time. Especially that screen. It's too big, really. (And I'll go into more detail in my next post for sure)
I got to my seat, which, like all good stadia these days, had a great view despite my location in the upper corner. And you've gotta love the show they put on in the NFL.
Which of course includes one of the greatest, spine-tingling, traditions in all of sport. (This one's for you Paul)
The Cowboys won in the end after an uninspiring offensive performance which included an absolute load of penalties and dropped passes (sadly a trend which doesn't look like going away this season). The defence played amazingly though, which was certainly a bright spot. The quality of the game didn't take away one bit from my enjoyment however, it was such a brilliant experience all around. Of course, aided by my enjoyment of the official beer of the Dallas Cowboys on a 95+ degree day.
That was just about that for Sunday then. Full of beer and popcorn I walked back to the hotel and caught the rest of Sunday's games, as well as the Emmys which aired that night. Definitely one of the more successful days of my life so far.
I don't want to bore you with more Cowboys Stadium stories just yet, so I'll leave that for the next post in a couple of days time hopefully.
Get some! (people actually say that here, I swear. It's amazing.)
Get what?
ReplyDeleteI really don't know. They say it in the army a lot, and I'd say anyone who says it here must have a gun. SO maybe something to do with that. Ammo? Human life?
ReplyDelete