First Game at Apogee

Rudy · September 11, 2011

I've never done one of these personal weekend wrap ups before, but this weekend needs one. I arrived Friday night to tailgate with the group and met some new friends and board members. The students at the pep rally seemed really excited. Absolutely PERFECT night to sleep outside. We woke up on Saturday and started the tailgating festivities. The golf course by Victory Hall next to the Hill is a great tailgating spot. One day, that area will be lined with tents. Played some ladderball and some bean bag toss, and had some great food.

My mom got brought over via shuttle, and joined us. I wasn't too wild about her being dropped off by the Alumni Pavillion though. Met her over there and got my coin and coffee mug. We wrapped up tailgating and started to head in. As we got to the gates of the student side, I started taking some pictures and had sports cry #1. We made it into the stadium easily and began walking around to the alumni side. As we reached the wing zone, I looked into the stadium and had sports cry #2, and took a few more pics. We got to the alumni side and I ran into an old friend who told me that he just joved back to the Austin area and purchased his season ticket. We made our way into the seating area and I had sports cry #3. Im suprised we only at a little over 28K. The place looked PACKED!

The game was much better than I anticipated. The gameplan, execution and enthusiasm were 100x much better than the FIU game. I think the worst thing was halftime. We lost any momentum and flow we had, and Houstonwas able to make adjustments. The 2nd half was bad, but I think we gave everyone a reason to come back and watch the IU game. Houston is good, and If we can keep showing improvement, I think we have a chance against just about anyone on our schedule.

The acoustics in Apogee are GREAT! You could hear the band loud and clear from the other side of the stadium. When we are able to get everyone in the stadium to cheer, at the right times, and in unison, we will have a HUGE home field advantage. That place will get hella loud. The band's performance at halftime was great. I was 7 rows up on the 45 and when they started their show, I was nearly blown back out of my seat, and Im not exaggerating.

The concessions are a great upgrade. I picked up some Beth Marie's for my mom and I to take our minds off of the 4th quarter, which helped to distract me to the fact that Houston High was freaking throwing for the freaking endzone with 3 miuntes left. As for the restrooms, well those wold be an upgrade regardless, but they are very nice. It's great to have a fan store on each side of the stadium, but I do think they need to remain open for a short time after the game so fans can pick something up on the way out.

My biggest problem was the traffic after the game. It was easy to actually get out of the stadium, but the traffic direction outside the facility need work. I had to get my mom back to Fout's to drop her off at her car. I don't have a huge problem with having to make a huge loop to get back to North Texas Blvd, but we were not allowed to get to Fout's. I was told that they wouldn't be allowing cars back to Fout's for another hour. That has to change. Then they wouldn't let cars turn north onto Avenue C from Hickory, thus funnelling all of that traffic through the Fry St area. Aside from the traffic, that will be a dangerous situation when you get a bunch of liquored up college students and alumni. So, the traffic flow pattern to leave will need to be addressed.

Overall, a great day, a great atmosphere, and despite the score, a GREAT DAY TO BE GREEN!!

milestoaustin · September 11, 2011

Also had a great time until I went back to my tailgating area and saw that my two coolers were gone/stolen and a Styrofoam cooler with some beers was empty. I was dead center on the hill in between some fraternities so I'm guessing no security was around there. Also, if all they wanted were the few beers that were left couldn't they have taken them without my coolers? I don't understand how somebody can steal from a person and I seriously hope it wasn't a mean green fan.

Regardless before the game it was an awesome atmosphere and I can't wait to do it again.