theStearns

Houston Astrodome (photo by Kenn Stearns)

When it opened in 1965, the Harris County Domed Stadium was nicknamed the “Eighth Wonder of the World.” Today the Houston Astrodome is living on borrowed time, one of many major city stadiums eclipsed by more modern corporate-friendly facilities. As a young boy I recall watching the Houston Colt .45s which were renamed the Houston Astros when the new stadium opened.

Opening with a Bermuda grass field and semitransparent Lucite panes in the domed roof,  players complained about glare so two large sections of panes were painted white which killed the grass. A year later a new type of artificial grass was installed and AtroTurf was born. Of my many visits to the Astrodome over the decades that followed, I most recall the scoreboard. It was four-stories tall and was animated with indoor fireworks and thousands of lights. After every Astros home run, the scoreboard would come alive with a long animated celebration featuring pistols, bulls, and a baseball bursting through the domed ceiling. Houston Oilers owner Bud Adams caused the scoreboard to be removed in September 1988 to make way for renovations.

From Mickey Mantle’s first Astrodome home run in 1965 to the NBA All-Star Game in 1989 and many years of Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo performances to Hurricane Katrina relief for 25,000 New Orleans evacuees in 2005, the Astrodome has lived a long and memorable life as a Houston landmark.

Godzillatron at the Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium (photo by Kenn Stearns)

When the University of Texas at Austin decided to invest $160+ million in a new stadium it seemed only fitting the $8 million allocated for “audiovisual improvements” should include the largest high-definition video screen in the world. After all, this is Texas. Advertising on the screen at times fills more than 50% of the viewable area leading some to refer to it as “Adzillatron.” Non-stop audio from the device frequently drowns out the school’s popular band which was coincidentally repositioned to temporary bleachers directly below the display.

The “scoreboard” is 55-feet high by 134-feet wide totaling 7,370 square feet. With a pixel resolution of 2064 x 848, the screen delivers 4.4 trillion color capability. It weighs 52 tons and was assembled from 36 large pieces that were transported on flatbed trucks to Austin from the manufacturer Daktronics in South Dakota. The screen is no longer the largest in the world but remains among the loudest and can be “enjoyed” by virtually everyone in the stadium, except the band.

Tomorrow The University of Texas at Austin will meet the The University of Alabama for the controversial BCS National Championship Game at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA. Longhorn coach Mack Brown told ESPN, “It is very unusual to have two undefeated teams in the national championship. The BCS got lucky.”

• Longhorns v. Crimson Tide
• Mack Brown v. Nick Saban
• Colt McCoy v. Greg McElroy
• Longhorn Band v. Million Dollar Band
• Burnt orange v. Crimson

The Longhorn Band arrives at the Rose Bowl

My youngest daughter is a fourth-generation student at UT, a proud member of the Longhorn Band, and frequently causes us to send the university money for tuition and other expenses. She got to SoCal yesterday, performed with the band at Universal Studios today, marches in the game tomorrow, performs at Disneyland on Friday, and was just captured in the local Houston ABC affiliate evening news story from Pasadena, CA on the championship game. Win or lose, our daughter and all the other students are the real winners by enjoying the opportunity to participate in what promises to be a  memorable event. Let the games begin, and on behalf of our tuition dollars: Hookem!