My Weekend Under the Carrier Dome

I spent a good part of last weekend in the Carrier Dome.  By 11:30 A.M. on Saturday, I had listened to the marching band playing on the quad, patted the Ernie Davis statue on the foot, and entered through Gate N, to make my way to my seat in Row R, 3 rows from the roof.  I hadn’t climbed the Dome steps in awhile.  Those are steep suckers, let me tell you.

As the crowd slowly filled in, I saw that I was sitting in an area with 3 or 4 sober and football-interested adult couples.  Good. Then shortly before kickoff, the uppermost rows were suddenly invaded by some. . .very interesting football fans.  More about them in a moment.  The section two over to the right from where I sat was made up nearly entirely of LSU fans in their purple and gold t-shirts with statements like “Geaux Tigers” printed on them.  They were a roaring and devoted group.  Not evenly slightly obnoxious.

Now, about the game. . .probably everyone knows it was about as terrific as a game can be when you lose.  Tons of kudos to the Orange players and coaches for crafting a really fun afternoon on the gridiron.  I had a great time, although at times it was challenging because of the “very interesting fans” I mentioned before.  

To my immediate right was a group of about 20 “interesting fans.”  When they came roaring up the stairs together, my first thought was that they had been dropped off by the “Incorrigible and Unrepentant” bus.  Noise, spilled beer, profanity abounded.  One really big guy sat at the end of the row with a twisted look on his face.  When the Tiger fans would roar in appreciation of their team, he would roar profanely at them and flip them off.  Also in the group was a woman who looked like the puppet “Madam.”  There’s nothing wrong with looking that way, but it is wrong to shout at an SU player who was getting attention to an injury on the field, to “get up off your g****m ass!”

To my immediate right was a group of 20+ “interesting fans.”  Some of these fans were fine, but a lot were 28 year-olds pretending they were still teenagers and being as obnoxious as they possibly could be by recalling the immaturity of their youth while consuming large quantities of beer.  Their major schtick was to be constantly jawing at the top of their lungs at the LSU crowd to the right.  They also would shout that they were about to come over their and kick some whoop ass any minute on them Louisiana folk.  I wanted to correct their behavior.  It was the teacher in me!  I wanted to start with something like “you infantile morons. . .” but I bit my lip and watched the game.  Just as well,  By the end of the contest, the un-teens had mellowed out and were actually talking jovially to a couple of LSU fans they had spent the afternoon cursing at.  And the other adults who sat about me and I had never found it necessary to flee.  Perhaps, there is hope for the future.

I left the Dome and walked the mile or so to where I had parked my car off Euclid Avenue.  The afternoon was gorgeous, and I headed home to sit on our new deck and have a beer that didn’t cost $7.50.

I was back at the Dome by about noon the next day.  This time I had to pay for parking because of the overlap in opposite side parking laws.  At 6:00 P.M. in the university area, you have to move your car to the opposite side of the street.  It was probable that the event would run until well after 6:00.  I knew a real good, close-by Dome lot.  Fifteen bucks later I was parked 200 yards from the entrance.

I was in the Dome to watch the Bronze Medal and Gold Medal games of the World Indoor Lacrosse Championships.  Indoor or box lacrosse is a tough game played by teams of 6, goalie included.  It’s much like hockey with line exchanges, power plays, amazing speed, and tons of checking.  No fights, though.  There is even a 30 second shot clock, which I guess is a nod to basketball.  The USA won the Bronze by doing a job on Israel.  The names of some of the players on the Israeli team made me think that a lot of these guys weren’t born in the homeland.  Starters included Harper, Miller, Hawkins, Culp, and Smith, probably US or Canada born Israeli team members.  The most interesting part of the box lacrosse get-up is the goalie uniform.  These guys have so much padding that they look like the Michelin man.  The Gold Medal game between Canada and the Iroquois National Team was great with Canada winning by 4 goals.  Canada has a big time box lacrosse league, I understand, and their players at the tournament are pros.  The Thompsons, Randy Staats, and other terrifc Iroquois players were not quite up to the speed and strength of the Canadians.  The Iroquois players have amazing stick ability, though.

A bit after 6:00, I went to my car to head home; my weekend “under the Carrier Dome” was over.  It had been a terrific sports weekend, although kind of expensive.  Saturday’s football game cost $51 for my ticket, $4.00 for a hotdog, $7.50 for a beer, and $4.50 for a Pepsi.  My total was $67 to see the football game.  Not too bad.  Lacrosse day was more expensive starting with a $41 ticket, $15 to park, $7.50 for nachos, $4.50 for a Pepsi, and, the ultimate indulgence, $30 for an official World Indoor Lacrosse Championship t-shirt.  Seeing that this event is only held every four years and is all over the world, I figured I probably wouldn’t be attending another and ought to get some swag.  Weekend total:  $161.00.  Worth it?  Yeh, I think so.  Yeh.  Definitely.--Greg Ellstrom