Dome Sweet Dome
Written: Aug 31 '03
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Pros: The sightlines are great. There really isn't a bad seat.
Cons: You need to take out a home equity loan to spend a day there.
The Bottom Line: Fine if you're a fan that only needs the game.
Bad if you need other entertainment or are Ted Kennedy.
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| Trotterman's Full Review: Trans World Dome |
Just to clarify up front. This facility is now known as the Edward Jones Dome. Now if anyone with the company would like to thank me for said clarification and subsequent free advertisement, I would of course gladly accept it. Perhaps some financial advice, maybe suggesting where to get some money?
I will say the Dome is nothing to look at. It's something of a multi-purpose facility. Hence the unsightly roof that cuts you off from all things organic. The inside is pretty plain as well. This stadium could be in any city in any country. So one of you somewhere send me a self addressed stamped envelope and you got yourself a dome.
Okay, I have lived in Missouri for last decade, so I have been familiar with this building since its erection. However, until recently the only time I had been there was to see U2 on their PopMart tour. I was fortunate enough to have tickets on the floor, so I did not fall victim to what I had been told were poor acoustics.
Fast forward a few years and the complete depletion of U2's cool factor, and I was once again at the Your Company Name Here Dome to see my beloved Tigers of the University of Missouri take on those noted purveyors of racial stereotype, the Fighting Illini of the University of Illinois.
This time my tickets were a tad higher up. Not to fear however, as the Sherpa guiding me to my seat was quite friendly and even offered his own rations should we get caught in a blizzard.
The point is, I was so high up in the air I thought I might have to get FAA clearance. That said, I discovered that I still had an excellent view of the field. I was at about the 30-yard line so any action in the opposite end zone was hard to pick up, but Mizzou was accommodating to that fact by scoring 2 or their 3 touchdowns at the end zone closest to me.
Being so high up did make going to the concession stand a pain. That pain however, was not so great as paying $8.50 for a beer!?!?! The cure for alcoholism is obvious. Make all alcoholics live in the Dome. You can't afford to get drunk anymore.
I am a recent college graduate, so suffice it to say I am on financial ground anywhere near solid enough to actually have more than...well, sacrifices can made in other areas to allow one to properly enjoy themselves, but $8.50 for a beer still sucks.
Insane pricing of concessions aside, the Dome is actually pretty fan friendly in most other regards. Half the population of St. Louis is actually employed as ushers to help you find anything you might need. I actually thought about sending a couple to the sidelines to provide Coach Gary Pinkel with directions on how to stop the opponent's running game.
There are plenty of restrooms. Thankfully, for guys like me who need a modicum of privacy in order to be able to perform, each urinal is separated by those little walls. Laugh if you will, but I will find out who invented the stadium restroom trough and beat him about the head and shoulders with a brutality unnecessary to my purposes.
The acoustics are actually not that good. The PA is a bit garbled, but thankfully I didn't have to hear the one millionth rendition of "Viva Las Vegas" by a friggin' marching band.
I also hated that the scoreboard didn't show scores of other games. Now, I've never been to a Rams game. They may show scores of other NFL games, but there was no way I was finding out how the Wisconsin-West Virginia game turned out until after I got home.
Ah yes, going home. The only way to access the upper levels of the Dome is apparently by escalator. There were more than 63,000 people at this game. The escalators looked just like the ones at the mall. All I could think of while riding these things a vague remembrance of an escalator going haywire at a baseball game this summer, and does this old lady really have to touching my butt as much as she is?
Once I got out of the Dome unscathed, but slightly tainted I then began the long, slow walk to the parking lot that I'm told is still in the city limits. You see, the Dome is downtown. There is no Dome parking lot. Parking spaces are like drugs. The better the drugs, i.e. the closer you are to the stadium, the more it costs. And when I say closer to the stadium, it means you can see it if you squint real hard. The only way to park within reasonable walking distance is to arrive 4 or 5...days early. Or sign over your first born.
Now I'm at my car and ready to navigate the streets of St. Louis. It's actually funny to drive in the city, because whenever you actually see where you want to go...that's a one-way street going the other. I swear mind readers and sign swappers roam the streets of the city preying on the wandering traveler.
Well, that pretty much sums up my day. Oh wait, one more thing.......
M-I-Z Z-O-U!!!! Go Tigers!!!! Ahhhh!!!!!!
Final score Good Guys 22 Illini 15
Recommended:
Yes
Parking Availability: Better Get There Early
Seat Location: Upper Deck
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Epinions.com ID:
Trotterman
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Member: Jeffrey Trotter, esquire
Location: Columbia,MO
Reviews written: 234
Trusted by: 93 members
About Me:
I like cheese.
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