Just A Stupid Road Trip

[Pounder]

Many moons ago, during the youth of a mostly forgotten message board at SoccerAmerica.com, I made a pledge to visit every new soccer-specific stadium in America in the first year of opening. Somewhat shockingly, I was sober when I said it. Since this was before the USL Timbers, I guess I meant MLS, because I hadn't really even heard of Blackbaud yet, so I'm already a partial failure at this.

Well, congratulations to FC Dallas. Gotta like the place, even if it's still on the unfinished side.

Of course, there's more to the story...

[Pounder]

Wednesday October 5

Naturally, I was held up at work until after 1 pm... but still managed to make Salt Lake by about 5:30. I didn't really speed much, either, but we're talking about departing from Mountain Home, not Boise, a decent 40 mile headstart.

From my hall of 100 bad ideas comes not investing in a real camera. Of course, if I hadn't have gone looking for the Fred Meyer near Trolley Square in the SLC to get a disposable, I'd never have seen this:



Our own god might be shocked to find that the building made in his honor is brick facade and concrete.

Onto Rice-Eccles (Olympic, for those hearty Englishmen who need to be impressed by something in this runt post) Stadium. For a Wednesday night Fake Salt Lake v DC United match in the cold, the best some of the older gang can muster is some chips and a "rack" of bottled water security left behind... but at least I got a hint of where the new stadium might be located, not to mention a free ticket in.



The lads in the black shirts are the Rogue Cavalier Brigade, the, um, closest thing to UC I found on this trip. The pregame festivities included one half-hearted attempt at a chant with a swear word in it... but do recall, MLS or no, this is highly repressed Utah we're talking about. Even stranger, security didn't spray bullets through the general area in response.

I never got a picture trying to capture all the Loyalists at once, but I'd compare their size to late 2002 'Shed on this night. It should be noted that I was advised that this was probably the low attendance (overall and in the section) for the season, for a team that was threatening the "Worst Record Ever" title held by the '99 Metrostars. Fake SL did land lower than '99 Metro, but Chivas USA beat the Lake to the record. 14K announced, probably 11K in the stands, including a decently full lower endzone (the Loyalists stand in the corner between that end and the east side where the sun would be beating down for midday games).



With me is John (Blitzz Boy, Arriba El Blitzz, etc.). He ably chronicled my daughter's hooligan run in that very stadium in 2000. Fortunately, for the rest of us, Sierra's been resting on those laurels since.



Kicking myself for forgetting this young lad's name, but he's also one of the old Blitzz contingent. I'm too close on this shot, which should have picked up 2 more of the drum line of 4 that fuel the Loyalists. They actually kind of have a signature drum beat rather than a song... although their well-used version of "My Darling Clementine" goes as follows:

I'm a raindrop, I'm a raindrop, just a raindrop in the sky
But I'd rather be a raindrop than a drip from Mile High.

Funny thing about that: before I heard that one, I introduced "Build a Bonfire" into the stream, using United and the Rapids. The RCB wasn't warming to it, but the older Blitzz contingent ran through it a few times in the second half. I've created a monster, but I'm surprised which half grew the horns. I'm dismayed that "O Referee" wasn't a hit.



Some of you probably saw the highlight of the Freddy Adu goal in this match. I had the camera out the moment I saw him take the ball and flip it over his shoulder to lose his mark, was ready to go as he started his run, pulled it back as Nelson Akwari bore down on him, then found myself rushing the picture after Adu blew by Akwari, before he tucked it inside the "far" post (near in the picture) past DJ Countess. I'm surprised the picture turned out as "well" as it did, frankly.

Two minutes later, Christian Gomez ices a breakaway for DC's third goal. The other highlight of the evening is Ben Olsen (heretofore warming up behind the north goal) trotting by and taunting the Loyalists with the universal "I can't hear you" sign. Why he wished to do that three more times is beyond me...



What RCB lacked in edge, they made up in cowbell. They do get kudos, however, for working to spread one chant around the corner to the end seats, and it worked for about 15 seconds.



Fake got a late penalty (the call was kind of a joke in context to the game and some other calls that should have been made... but it was Brian Hall, naturally), which Andy Williams converted. I don't know if this is coordinated, but every corner had someone throwing graffiti on the pitch to celebrate the goal, FWIW.

Game ends 1:3, fans figure they got what they paid for and file out, no partying planned on a Wednesday night.

One thing I found interesting in the car... post-game radio discussion of the game. One of the radio guys could barely get over Adu's persistent flopping, nor the fact that he was wearing mittens (at least the local media don't fawn all over the kid). Callers were taking sides between skilled lethargic Clint Mathis and skilled lethargic Andy Williams. Too bad it didn't last another hour.

I thought I might reach central Utah afterward, but I didn't make it past Provo before needing a room for the night.

[Pounder]

Thursday October 6

While I was still researching for this trip, I sought a decent inexpensive restaurant in Santa Fe. Where my folksy Route 66 guide and AAA converged was a placed called The Shed. Obviously, I had to be there. Unfortunately, for not making time out of greater Salt Lake, my "late lunch" was already looking like "early dinner," so I skipped any pretense of a second visit to Arches National Park or looking for a bar in Moab that (I think) Totalnerd pointed out. For the most part, it was a drive I've done before, except for continuing on US 160 past Durango, Colorado until intersecting with US 84 en route into New Mexico. I definitely recommend that segment of the drive over faster alternatives (four lanes to Albuquerque out of Farmington NM, or what used to be US 666 between Monticello UT and Gallup NM). I also ended up skipping / passing by Georgia O'Keeffe's Ghost Ranch ( www.ghostranch.org/ ) en route. Reached Santa Fe sometime around 6:30 (so no Palace of the Governors either, dammit).



Definitely good food (red snapper tacos, if you have to know). Not as yuppified as the rest of Santa Fe, but some may still have a reaction to the atmosphere.

Spent time walking through town afterward, then spent a stupid hour and a half deciding whether or not to stay before taking off for the little on-66 burg of Santa Rosa for the night.

[Pounder]

Friday October 7

I've run the whole length of Route 66 before. I still took some of the route I traveled previously, and it only took me 60 miles to realize that I only had so much time on this trip, so it wasn't long before I hit the freeway. One of the promises I made to myself was a visit to Oklahoma City, a place I don't generally see people making that promise for...

Well, first things first. England has Stonehenge. Texas has the Cadillac Ranch, just west of Amarillo.



So, yes, I scarfed a Caddy, if you can see it...





If I write any bigger, it either starts to look Cyrillic or Arabic (besides, if Rosie's a looker, it's bad karma to overwhelm that writing, no?). What's really sad was that there was no visible space on one of the other cars where some Brescia residents had etched in.

NOTE: the first time I visited this, the Caddies were blue. They obviously paint over the things about every 3 months or so.

Not too many miles on down the road...



I'd like to submit this as an example of Red State intelligence. Thing is, it leans intentionally, for advertising purposes. Warped lot, this.

I stopped later on in Clinton, Oklahoma, just to find out that two of the more famous Route 66 restaurants bit the big one (not to mention another one later down the road). I was getting dismayed that the 2,000-mile "Route 66 Museum" seemed to be taking over in place of the institutions that truly marked it. F***ing modernization.

So, Oklahoma City. I walked Bricktown for a while (long story that the baseball board might be interested in) before heading over to the Oklahoma National Memorial. It was kind of funny that I walked by all the "chairs" that memorialize each of the people killed in the blast and wonder and ponder some... but the stuffed animals tied to the fence on the sidewalk outside the west wall of the memorial really kicked me in the gut. Outside of that, it's a place better visited than described.

[Pounder]

Saturday October 8

First off, don't know if it was karma or location... but while points north of Oklahoma City had stabilized gas prices and points south were paying uncommonly high prices (probably to gouge hurricane refugees), a gas war in the OKC brought prices down to 2.279 that fine Saturday morning.

Nearly everyone in OKC that I saw wore red... Longhorns v Sooners in Dallas, after all. Does "Sooner 'til I die" work?

OKC to Dallas is relatively short and sweet... and since I needed to catch up on sleep and wash some clothes, the timing was perfect to get down to the Metroplex quickly and TCB. Well, I did have plans to visit The Sixth Floor that day, but decided to push it back. I ended up running a half hour late anyway, but we're just talking about making a tailgate.

My room was in Lewisville, right off the freeway to Dallas and almost equidistant to Frisco. There was lots of traffic on the roads leading to Frisco, in an area that's just beginning to be choked by urban sprawl. Most of this direction was a mess of road construction, updating the highway extending out of Lewisville, and the nearing completion extension of a tollway leading from the center of Dallas up to and past Frisco.

Pizza Hut Park is right off the tollway on the way into the center of Frisco. There's something of a "faux town square" about two-thirds completed across Frisco's main drag from the stadium complex. I continued on through town for a bit to get the flavor... it somehow reminded me of a flatter, straighter version of Boring, the main exception being that Frisco has annexed land about the size of a Hillsboro or two around it as the Dallas sprawl perceptibly sweeps over it from south to north. There's a complex for hockey and baseball a couple miles south, so it was probably only natural that Frisco provide the land for FC Dallas as well.



This is a view from near the Inferno tailgate in the Northeast corner... still looks under construction. A west side picture would have looked more complete... but it should be noted that the players have to use trailers in the parking lot as changing rooms for now.

Thankfully, I was warned about how the Inferno divvies up... CBC (Cheap Beer Crew) and IBSF (Beer Snobs). I brought some Bridgeport IPA... people were scattered about, I got into some long discussion, so the only chance for a trade put me in the position of having to decide if I was suddenly going to become a cider boy. Surprisingly, I passed.



I called that stage a monolith. Thing is, if you put a beer garden there...



Near end of halftime, the required shot. There was probably 11K here too, 13K announced. Some of the Inferno talked about the nice open concourses having a habit of causing people to stand up there a while to watch. There's no deck here (just luxury suites on the west side), so every seat is closer to the action than in Home Depot, and while much is under construction, this isn't "ghetto" like the Columbus seating. For the most part, PHP combines the better qualities of both those parks.



Inferno in action. Probably the same numbers as in Salt Lake on Wednesday, but more space to spread out a bit. Preference towards referring Colorado players to Frisco ambulances. They didn't take to "O Referee" either. They also have a signature drum beat. Probably one too many references to "Super Hoops." However, it's never wise to complain about anyone who gives you a ticket to get in. One did admit that it was about their crappiest night of the year, and both FCD and Colorado's uninspiring play didn't help matters. This was one of those 0:0 matches (BTW, the only one in the league since mid-June) that didn't really have any redeeming qualities. Should be noted that both those teams and DCU played much quicker and more in sync than I'd been used to this year.



While a shot goes wide here, please note one Byron Foss, Colorado keeper, second string. Worse than any starting USL1 keeper. Worth noting that the 3rd choice keeper for Dallas was playing, made one excellent save, and generally squelched other opportunities with the more roaming Latin style.



Lots of wigs in both SLC and Frisco.



I had thoughts of finding a sports bar afterward that might have Arizona State v Oregon... instead, I hung with the tailgaters for a long time, getting into discussions about Eddie Johnson (surprising consensus that he should shut down- stress fracture in toe- and be ready for World Cup rather than try to help FCD to MLS Cup this year), some stories about pitch invasions and general mayhem and almost getting banned by management before coming to an agreement on conduct (the most threatening thing out there was a blow-up T-Rex with a work helmet that kind of looked like a bicycle helmet), discussions about management playing the cheaper talent and generally dealing with money situations in a manner very similar to what I'd been hearing in Portland all year, including the odd thought that Carlos Ruiz may not have anyplace better to go. Mind you, in all this, everyone else is bundled up by now, I'm in my TA shirt and shorts... while it got kind of cold to me at around 11:30 pm, I hung around until the party basically broke up at about 12:20 am. So much for extracurriculars... but even I was shocked about how time flew after the game.

[Pounder]

Sunday October 9

Made sure I got some rest, even though I wanted to catch opening time at The Sixth Floor... yes, that's where Lee Harvey Oswald took his shots at President Kennedy, now a museum to the assassination and the Kennedy legacy. No pictures allowed. I was encouraged by the AAA recommendation to spend an hour and a half there. Three hours later, I'm sprinting out of Dallas.

I made Tucumcari, New Mexico at 11 pm Mountain Time. Go figure. If I could call anything a highlight en route, it was listening to a New Orleans radio station for a couple hours... what sounded like a guy normally assigned to right-wing radio was basically discussing the Saints, helping people with tax issues, and generally being the next-door neighbor listening to large and small frustrations from around the block. The "advertisements" were almost exclusively public service (the lone exception being some mold eradication company), generally guiding people through literally dozens of considerations they're having to face right now in the aftermath.

Monday October 10

Well... Albuquerque, Winslow (no girls in flatbed Fords, though they've certainly played that up in the last few years), Flagstaff, Kingman... oh, you think I'm going back the way I came?

Made Vegas at 9:40 pm Pacific. I'm a stinker. This time I was a cheap stinker, anyway.

Tuesday October 11

The maps all say it's about 633 miles from Vegas to Boise. My car said 623. Go figure.

Wednesday October 12

Well, someone got a couple trinkets out of this deal, anyway.

[Kurt]

Awsome!! Great stuff!

[rick]

Thanks Pounder!
That made a great read. Thanks for putting it together.
I've only been to Dallas once and spent most of the day in/on the The Sixth Floor.