Joey's Ongoing Sporting Event PTR Thread

^Me too and Lambeau Field is the place of gods!

Yay!! I'm not the only TPR member who is a Packer fan! I wore my Packer sweatshirt to SFGam yesterday. I had a few people say "Oh you're in Bear country." I just said "Yeah who cares. At least the Packers have a QB" and continued walking.

Joey, I can't wait to see more of your sporting adventures.

I am a HUGE Brewers fan, and love the stadium. It's also a great place for tailgating which is a must at any Brewers game (which you can't do in Chicago). However the BEST part of tailgating in Milwaukee, is that you could use beer as currency!! I don't know how many times people have come up to our group and say "hey, I'll give you two (insert beer name here) for a hot dog".

A good friend of mine made a baseball trip last summer through the midwest. He visited Cincinnati, St. Louis, Chicago, and Milwaukee. Of all of those, Miller was his favorite.

And as for the beer as currency thing. Yep, that's the greatest thing about tailgating, and I've found that to be the case at many of the stadiums I've been to. You don't always see much tailgating at baseball or hockey games, but everything else works out pretty well. My friends and I always brought a few extra offerings just for that very reason. If someone was cooking something unique, all it took was a good beer for an even trade.

Even at the 2002 Fiesta Bowl, some of our rivals next to us traded with us for certain things. Of course, after the beer and food was put away, it was all business, and we were back to hating each other.

First off, Scott has been doing a much better job updating his thread, so be sure to check out HIS as well!

Today's update is American Airlines Arena in Miami. It's got a sweet location right on the water in Downtown Miami, right next to the port of Miami and the Bayside shopping center. Other than that, I wasn't too impressed. It had that "70's arena feel" to it, with the design where the top deck doesn't go all the way around and there is video boards in each corner instead. The concourses only had 2 or 3 choices repeated numerous time to go all the way around the arena. Luckily the food was still decent.

On to the photos...

The Dewar's 12 Clubhouse. After the game, they leave the club open and it becomes an actual club. Thought that was pretty cool.

That's what she said?

The real reason the Heat managed to win a title. Screw you Shaq.

Obligatory action shot. Very exciting stuff.

Note to ALL NBA teams: More Hooters girls please.

Note to NBA teams that suck: you wouldn't need annoying as hell DJ's to "entertain" your fans if you had a quality product on the court.

Who knew SFMM sold their troll costumes?

My seats for the night. Courtesy of a scalper who was chased away by cops soon after he sold me my ticket. Apparently that is a common sight in Downtown Miami.

The booze selection was better than the food selection.

I did, however, dig the scoreboard design.

...Can't say the same from the inside. Not a fan of how the Heat colors look.

It looks pretty cool from the outside...

Joey, nice work on the AAA! I've been there several times, but never brought my camera. So yeah, I'm glad you captured it.

I caught a couple Heat games there, and one title fight from Roy Jones, Jr. You're right, the location is great! The arena itself....eh, not so much. Besides the kicka$$ scoreboard, I just felt *uncomfortable* there. I'm thinking the color patterns don't help much. Red and orange aren't the most soothing colors out there.

On the flip side, it is Miami, and technically, the design they went with manages to somewhat blend with the art deco culture that surrounds it. I also like the fact that the place doubles as a club afterward.

My seats for the night. Courtesy of a scalper who was chased away by cops soon after he sold me my ticket. Apparently that is a common sight in Downtown Miami.

Yeah, the scalping game has always been an interesting one at the downtown Miami locations. Back when the Miami Arena was there, I had to learn early on how to buy and sell without Johnny Law getting involved, or yourself getting jacked by other scalpers. For its international image on postcards and magazine covers, the real Miami can be a bit deceiving.

Hmm, I guess I'll have to finally go with that retro hockey report from Miami Arena next!

Is scalping still illegal in most places?

I guess it depends where you go. I don't wanna say for certain, but I think it's usually strictly enforced within a certain distance of the stadium/arena (like 100 yards maybe?). Again, it depends where you're at, and what event it is. I've seen cops turn their heads, I've seen 'em try to shake down anyone who even looks like they're trying to sell, and I've seen 'em allow face value exchanges before.

I think in general they know who they're trying to target (the hustlers), and which honest fans are just trying to unload tickets they can't use. It's such a huge gray area though.

It is definitely more strictly enforced closer to the stadium. On any given day there is some kind of sporting event in Phillies, and driving the on and off ramps of I-95 and I-76, you will always see at least one person with tickets in their hands, or with a sign stating they have tickets for sale. I have seen cops drive by these people, and they wave to each other.

Its legal here 2600 feet from the venue. I usually use this to upgrade my seats if I don't like what I have. Four ok seats usually trades fairly easily for 2 great ones

Cool stuff Joey.

I've been neglecting this thread long enough...

I intended to end the basketball portion of this thread with pictures of the Galen Center, but I can't seem to find them at the moment, so we are moving on to football! And what a better way to start than with the grand daddy of all college football games: The Rose Bowl.

The Rose Bowl is a very bitter sweet place for me...

The Bitter: Vince Young. It's UCLA's home. Upset loses to Stanford/Oregon State/UCLA forced USC into the Rose Bowl instead of the national title game. It shows its age.

The Sweet: four straight Rose Bowls=domination of the PAC-10 and BIG-10. It shows its age. Death Dogs.

My pictures from the 2006 game are on my old laptop, so I'll upload those another time. For now here are some pictures of the 2008 and 2009 games.

OK, I lied: this is how every night at the Rose Bowl should end.

The perfect way to close this update.

The post game celebration.

Our reward for being loyal season ticket holders: endzone seats 3 rows from the top. Thankfully the Rose Bowl doesn't have luxury boxes or a club level, so the top isn't THAT bad.

...Damnit, I meant the 2010 Rose Bowl.

I hope to see this again next year...

They never even had a chance: they can thank the old farts on the Rose Bowl Committee who wanted "tradition" over a good football game. Jerks.

...and Erin Andrews (not sure what the infatuation is with her: there's much hotter female sports journalists out there now)

...right above the visitors tunnel...

My view for 2008...

This is what the Rose Bowl typically looks like when USC is playing: one end zone will be the opponents colors, and the rest of the stadium will be Cardinal. Afterall, it is USC's home away from home. UCLA just borrows it for the regular season.

The 2009 flyover: a B-2.

The 2008 flyover: FA-18's.

Here's another downside of being such an old stadium: unless you pay a premium for the seats between the 20 yard lines (which are real seats), this is how close the bench "seats" are from eachother. Which is great fun and not really great fun at the same time.

One of the downsides of being such an old Bowl: the entrance gates are VERY narrow. Get into the stadium early! Otherwise you will be fighting a giant crowd to get in, and then another giant crowd to get to your seats since they constantly have to close tunnels from being too full.

Here's what you see when you finally do make it to the Bowl

This was the line to take the shuttle from the alternate parking lots in Old Town Pasadena to the Bowl.

Here's a tip: it's only about a mile and a half to walk to the stadium from the Metro Gold Line Memorial Park station. Highly recommend using the Gold Line unless you are hosting a tailgate...parking is AWFUL at the Rose Bowl.

The 2009 game ticket

The 2008 game ticket

The 2007 game ticket

The 2006 game ticket (screw you Vince Young!)

You always take silly photos in front of religious signs!!

I totally agree with Erin Andrews. She is hot, but there are many more reporters that are hotter.

Thanks for bringing back painful memories of the '08 shellacking. I was just happy the Illini made a bowl after winning a total of 4 games the previous 4 years. I knew when they announced that they would be playing USC though that it wouldn't be pretty.

I'm still disappointed that I didn't get to go to the 2002 Championship Game. My friend had tickets, but I couldn't make it out there.

You're right, without luxury boxes, at least the top rows still aren't too bad. Also, any USC cheerleader > Erin Andrews.

Cool report. Quit slacking and keep 'em coming.

I will always have fond memories of the Rose Bowl. I scored tickets to Super Bowl XXVII via an incredibly unlikely method and got to watch the Cowboys eviscerate the Bills. It was one of the best times I ever had with my now dearly departed dad. Good times.

Yeah I'd like to see USC in the Rose Bowl this January again too, although I'de like it to be the National Championship game against Florida. USC is the best big game team in the country, and Florida is, well the best team in the country, so thats the matchup I want to see in Pasadena this year.

You know as a stadium I've never been much of a fan of the Rose Bowl. I think it looks great on TV, and you have to love the history, but I always thought the stadium was uncomfortable.

Oh yeah, go UCLA!

So my intention was to bump this thread with photos supplementing Scott's Excellent Sporting TR Thread with the pictures I took at the Braves game, but then Dan and I decided on a whim "Hey we got nothing better to do...lets buy Padres dugout club seats on stubhub and head down. At 3:30pm. On a Tuesday. Leaving from Sherman Oaks."

We actually did make it on time for the game, since once you get passed the awful LA Traffic, it really lightens up. And aside from one douchebag security guard, the experience was incredible. Petco is an awesome little stadium.

Welcome to Petco Park. The stadium PETA hates (but really, what don't they hate?) and I love.

See, right in the heart of the city.

The Stadium is right in the heart of the Gaslamp district. Basically, they kicked all the homeless people/prostitutes/drug deals/etc. out of this area of old abandoned buildings and redeveloped the whole area.

We intended to walk around the stadium and explore, but once we realized just how good our seats were, and how awesome our in-seat waiter was (Booze+Rubios Tacos+Nachos+some special order pastrami sandwich the season ticket holder next to us recommended=us not moving). So you'll have to settle for this half-assed photo of the most unique design feature @ Petco: it's incorporation of of the historic(?) Western Metal Supply building.

After surviving the gauntlet free of food and alcohol, we made it to our seats. This was our view.

...Where you can stuff yourself even more! Not pictured: the very not Dan-friendly dessert platter. And the Hot Dogs. But the hot dogs were just plain anyways.

Once you are stuffed full of delicious food and/or drunk off your ass, you can head over to the "lounge" portion of the dugout club en route to your seats....

While you are stuffing yourself, you can also enjoy the completely open bar!

Dan and I may or may not have finished off the cuts of rib and carne asada that once resided there.

Speaking of that gourmet food...

You can also peak into the Padres indoor batting cage area.

So anyways, once you walk past the forbidden corridor, you get two options: option #1 is this kickass restaurant where the gourmet food is.

This would be the point where I would tell you about how you walk right past the corridor where the locker rooms are, but instead I had to re-use this photo from the Dodger dugout club because apparently if you attempt to take a picture of this area "I will have to take your memory card and delete everything before you even think about getting it back." I guess the security guy has to make himself feel important somehow.

Once you enter, there's a small lobby area with this random display of jerseys just in case you forgot where you were.

The entrance to the dugout club.

Nice seats, how much? I haven't sat in seats like that in ages.. and hooray for open bars!

$200+stubhub fees. Not bad at all for what you get! I definitely ate+drank that much in food if I was to pay normal price for all that stuff in the stadium.

Bumping this thread...

While on the TPR Texas Trip, Dan and I decided to take a couple of sports related side-trips. Since both the new Cowboy Stadium and Rangers Ballpark are conveniently located down the street from SFoT (and our hotel), we took in a Rangers game and took the tour of the new Cowboy Stadium.

Now the first part, the stadium that should really be renamed "Jerry Jones has size issues". It's seriously WAY over the top in everything it does. But it's also seriously impressive.

...Which happens to double as the tunnel players run through en-route to the field. Pretty cool.

You also get access to an exclusive club...

So Jerry Jones got one thing right: suites literally right on the field. That's the view you get. You also get the seats right above the suite in case you actually want to see the game.

You can see Rangers Ballpark from the top deck too. Probably the most expensive view of the stadium around!

The view from the top deck...still going to cost you $129.

The "party deck" area Jerry Jones ripped people off for to claim his highest attendance record. The glass also apparently slides open to give the stadium are more open-air feel. And for Jerry Jones to sell $29 "seats" outside the stadium. Again, what's the obsession with having things so large?

In case you were wondering what the replay officials view of the game is...now you know.

The balcony seats in the suite.

Next stop: one of the mid-level suites. Again, way over the top. Really nice. So nice, the tour guides weren't even allowed to tell us what they sell for.

They then proceed to talk about the giant video board. Again, what's with the emphasis on it being so big, Jerry? Side note: the tour guide went out of her way to talk about how "they brought in our all pro punter and told him to kick it as high as he could to make sure it didn't interfere with play." So much for that.

The first spot they took us was what I think is the club level concourse.

The tour begins inside the giant giftshop. You could buy almost anything you wanted with a Cowboy logo on it. I think there was even a waffle maker.

Welcome to Cowboy Stadium. Jerry Jones wants to make sure you know this stadium is the largest football stadium in the world...wonder why?

I drove by the new Cowboy stadium about a year ago when going to a Rangers game. I was taken back by the sheer size of it, the thing really is massive.

Cool! I would have gone over there..but I was on the Texas trip with TPR for a reason! Yeah that place looks crazy....expensive! Looks like they gave you a nice tour of the place. The structure on the outside looks really neat.

When did you go to the Dallas stadium? Looks like it had to have been before the World Soccer Challenge since its set up for soccer. I actually went to that Chelsea vs. Club America game, but never managed to post a TR due to school induced laziness.

Kind of a rip off to pay $29 to watch the game on a bunch of tv screens since you can't really see the field unless you're the first ones there.

^^We didn't miss any of the credits at SFoT. Still had plenty of time to get them all thanks to Robb and Elissa's excellent planning.