I drove five hours from Albuquerque to Lubbock just in time to catch a great game between Dallas Baptist Patriots and Texas Tech Red Raiders. TTRR won the game in the bottom of the ninth inning scoring two runs with two out to win 5-4. The campus was impressive along with the sports facilities. However, I was not impressed with the baseball stadium at all. “If” a remodel was done, evidently, they had a very slim budget. The structure doesn’t work with the existing architecture. “If” it was a remodel around the existing dugouts, which looked very cool, with the remainder of the stadium built around them, as a whole the finished look seemed goofy. The mix of the old with the new didn’t work very well! Also, the field was covered with artificial turf which I despise! I know it makes it easier to maintain but it looks odd and makes all the fielding plays routine. If this stadium was built new and not remodeled on an existing site, I might be okay with it for a college summer league team in the Northwood’s League. However, on this campus with all the prominent Spanish Renaissance styling, it stands out like a sore thumb!
After the game, I wrote up yesterdays blog post at a local Starbucks (need to contact them about sponsoring me) and then drove the five hours to Dallas. Texas is a very big state and not a lot of towns on the route I chose to take. But, the intrastate, as they are, was very busy all night long. I reached the Dallas area about 1 a.m. I was just going to pull into a rest stop and sleep but figured I would get a “cheap” hotel. The game I am going to tonight (Texas vs Seattle) didn’t start until 7 p.m., so figured decent “bed rest” would be better. I found a Motel 6, parked, went into the lobby and I should have walked right out. The lobby was home for their vending machines, there was empty 12 pack soda cartons on the floor and some other garbage strewn around. The clerk that waited on me seemingly was oblivious to the garbage on the lobby floor. I did ask if everything was alright when I pointed the stuff out, he just shrugged his shoulders saying the people who filled the machines must have left it. I was tired and wanted to get to my room. In most of the Motel 6 hotels I have stayed in have been clean with recent remodeling. This was not the case at this one. Besides the definite criminal activity that was going on, the room I was assigned to had ripped up carpeting, stains of I don’t know what on said carpet, of which it probably wasn’t vacuumed in a month. I kid you not! The place looked lived in. I tired taking pictures but since only one dull lamp worked it was hard to get. I took the blanket off the bed to make sure I could sleep on the bed, it “seemed” clean. Even though, my precaution took over with laying my own linens out. I heard some noise outside and got nervous. I shut off the light and TV, peaked through a “rip” in the curtain and was able to see some kind of transaction was going on in a car. I decided to pack-up. I considered asking for my $45 back but I just wanted to get out of that ?*& hole. Lesson learned, when the lobby is a pigsty, the rooms probably are too! I went to a LaQuinta and slept very well, it was a $100 but the bed was well worth it!
Today, I went on a tour of Cowboy Stadium, what an impressive place it was. Jerry Jones went all out on this thing. I was lucky and got a private one-on-one VIP tour (I was the only one that signed up for the 1pm tour). My tour guide took me all over the place. Troy Aikman was there giving a speech for United Way so we didn’t do the regular tour route which allowed me to see a lot more than normally seen. I was overwhelmed at the sheer size of the place. Everyone was very friendly and told me they won’t hold it against me for being a Packer fan. They do have a trivia question they ask on the tour, “Who was the only other team to use the Cowboys locker room?” The answer of course is the Packers during the 2011 Super Bowl. There are so many different features and great site lines it was hard to comprehend what I was looking at. The video screen is hard to describe in this massive stadium because it’s one of these places you just have to see to believe. Then your eyes play tricks on you! That is the post for today! I think I am going through a little funk with my profiles, or writers block. I hope that I can work through it and you will keep reading. I figured I would go through some of this, but it is frustrating not to have great stories everyday!
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Did the Aikman dub you “Honorary Chairman Baseball Buddha”?
Hey John glad you made it to Texas and years ago I walked around the old Texas Stadium parking lot and Ive seen the new Cowboys stadium when Ive gone to Rangers games. Bad memories for me as a Steelers and Wisconsin fan. Glad Youre surviving the motels and not sleeping in parking lots as well. Talk later and enjoy your baseball. Are you taking in a Rangers game this weekend as well I suppose since they’re in town. They have a minor league team in Frisco too. Sorry I can’t get to see you but talk later. Paul