National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I

Saturday 14th November 2015

Tip off 19.00

Southern Methodist University Mustangs 85 Sam Houston State University Bearkats 50, attendance 6,852.

@ Moody Coliseum

6024 Airline Road

University Park, TX 75205

Admission free, borrowed Season Ticket.

Programme free, 4 pages.

Moody Coliseum has been home to SMU since December 1956. The arena has held as many as 10,276, but after four upgrades over the years capacity is now 7,000.

Excellent seats along the side of the court and even better when they are free as we were offered 2 season tickets by friends who couldn’t make the game.

Surprised to be sat opposite former U.S. President George W. Bush and wife Laura, an SMU graduate, who live locally and are regular visitors to the Moody Coliseum.

American Football

University North Texas Mean Green v University Texas San Antonio Roadrunners

October 31, 2015 Andrew

National Collegiate Athletic Association

Football Bowl Subdivision

Conference USA

Saturday 31st October 2015

19.30 kick off

University North Texas Mean Green 30 University Texas San Antonio Roadrunners 23 attendance 10,292

@ Apogee Stadium

1251, South Bonnie Brae Street

Denton, TX 76207

$12 admission

Programme free, 56 pages.

Apogee Stadium was opened on September 10th 2011, where the record attendance of 28,075 was set versus University Houston Cougars, some way short of the 30,850 capacity. Parking is across the other side of the I-35, next to the old stadium, with access via a footbridge. It certainly makes for a better getaway after the match as there is only one set of traffic lights before hitting the freeway.

This was the first time since arriving in the States that I had to wear more than a t-shirt as a cold wind was blowing. Suppose it’s not bad to get this far into the year before the cold sets in !

Halftime entertainment followed the Halloween theme, where around 100 members of the College Band performed ‘Thriller’ in full fancy dress costume. Better than the match !

Other Sports

2015 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix

October 25, 2015 Andrew

Formula 1 United States Grand Prix

Sunday 25th October 2015

Race start time 14.00

@ Circuit of the Americas

9201 Circuit of the Americas Boulevard

Austin, TX 78617

$99 admission

Programme, yes, but didn’t bother at rip off price !

Car park had been booked, right next to our chosen corner for viewing the race, at an astronomical $75. However, a text message was received the evening before saying that the car park would not be open due to the rain of the last 2 days and we were to exchange our voucher for a shuttle bus journey from Austin city centre to the track, which was adding a couple of hours on the journey at each end. If that wasn’t bad enough, this option was a lot cheaper than we had paid, so a very expensive alternative. Despite e-mail correspondence this matter has never been resolved and just to really rub salt into the wounds, we arrived to find them using the car park we had booked as a $25 cash option on the day !

I had been brought up as a Rally fan, during the great days of the Audi Quattro, Peugeot 205 T16, Lancia Delta S4 et al so it seemed strange to be watching so called super cars driving past at speeds of 200 mph and thinking I could hear the next door neighbour mowing his lawn or my wife drying her hair !

This is certainly a sport far better viewed from the comfort of your own home and without the feel of being ripped off at every opportunity they can.

The F1 race was preceded by the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup race and the Masters Historic Race, both of which featured proper sounding engines, but as the rain only stopped 5 minutes ahead of the F1 sadly this meant the drivers in these races weren’t able to push their cars to the limits.

As for the race……..a win for Lewis Hamilton saw him crowned as World Champion.

1. Lewis Hamilton….Mercedes

2. Nico Rosberg………Mercedes

3. Sebastien Vettel……Ferrari

4. Max Verstappen….Toro Rosso

5. Sergio Perez……Force India

6. Jenson Button…..McLaren

7. Carlos Sainz…….Toro Rosso

8. Pastor Maldonado…..Lotus

9. Felipe Nasr……Sauber

10. Daniel Ricciardo…….Red Bull Racing

The entertainment after the race was a concert by Elton John. Now, I am a fan of Elton and know a fair bit of his stuff, but when he started off with 6 of the first 7 songs unknown to me, then it was time to call it a day. Unfortunately everyone else seemed to have the same idea which meant a huge queue to get a bus back to Austin and pick up the car. We reached the car 3 hours later……..the same time as we could have driven the 200 miles back home from the car park we had originally booked !

Safe to say F1, this first time attendee at one of your events will not be returning for more.

American Football

University Texas Longhorns v Kansas State University Cowboys

October 24, 2015 Andrew

National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I

Big 12 Conference

Saturday 24th October 2015

Kick off 11.00

University Texas Longhorns 23 Kansas State University Cowboys 9 attendance 88,283

@ Darrell K. Royal – Texas Memorial Stadium

405 East 23rd Street,

Austin, TX 78712

$55 admission (resale) print at home ticket.

Programme free, 68 pages.

The stadium has been home to the Longhorns since 1924 and has a seating capacity of 100,119 making it the second largest stadium in Texas and the eighth largest in USA. There are plans to enclose the south end zone which will take capacity up to around the 115,000 mark.

Heavy rain had fallen all day Friday, the first rain we had encountered in our 7 weeks in Texas, and continued until around half an hour before kick off. Sadly, a matter of minutes into the game it returned and rained steadily for the next 3 hours. Not fun when you are in a stadium that has no roof. Despite the huge attendance, obviously based on ticket sales, rather than bums on seats, the true mark was more likely around 50,000. Had we not been down in Austin for the Formula 1 US Grand Prix the next day, then this would have been given a wide berth.

Football

San Antonio Scorpions F.C. V Fort Lauderdale Strikers F.C.

October 3, 2015 Andrew

North American Soccer League

Saturday 3rd October 2015

Kick off 19.30 Actual 19.36

San Antonio Scorpions F.C. 2 Fort Lauderdale Strikers F.C. 4 attendance 7,832

10′ 0-1 Stefano

15′ 0-2 Marlon Freitas

40′ 0-3 Stefano

56′ 1-3. K. Tyrpak

79′ 2-3. S. DeRoux

86′ 2-4 Stefano

@ Toyota Field

5106 David Edwards Drive,

San Antonio, TX 78233

$15 admission

Programme free, 12 pages.

This was such an improvement on the game I saw at F.C. Dallas, probably as the supporters here are real football people and actually understand the game.

At halftime it could easily have been 0-10 as SAS were totally overran by a rampant FLS. Really good game to watch as a neutral.

The capacity here is 8,296 and tonight’s attendance was the highest since the ground opened in April 2013. The ground is ‘soccer specific’ and designed to be increased up to 18,000 seats if required.

American Football

Prairie View A&M University Panthers v Grambling State University Tigers

September 26, 2015 Andrew

National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I

Southwestern Athletic Conference

State Fair Classic

Saturday 26th September 2015

Kick off 16.00

Prairie View A&M University Panthers 54 Grambling State University Tigers 70, attendance 51,328

@ The Cotton Bowl Stadium

3750 Cotton Bowl Plaza,

Dallas, TX 75210

$28 admission (including entrance to Texas State Fair)

Programme free, 24 pages.

The State Fair Classic is held annually at the neutral venue 92,100 capacity Cotton Bowl, a stadium that is seldom used as no team is now based here.

The stadium was opened in 1930, as Fair Park Stadium, and has been expanded four times, the latest being in 2008, when the seating was increased from 68,252 by completing the encircling of the upper tier.

It was home to Dallas Cowboys from 1960 to 1971 in the NFL and has also hosted soccer in both the NASL and MLS, as well as games in the CONCACAF Gold Cup in 1993 and the FIFA World Cup in 1994.

Football

F.C. Dallas v New York City F.C.

September 12, 2015 Andrew

Major League Soccer

Saturday 12th September 2015

Kick off 19.30 Actual 19.38

F.C. Dallas 2 New York City F.C. 1, attendance 16,937

45′ 1-0 T. Akindele

45+4′ 2-0 Michel

70′ 2-1 P. Mullins (pen)

@ Toyota Stadium

9200 World Cup Way,

Frisco, TX 75034

Admission $38

Programme free, 4 pages

Toyota Stadium cost $80 million to build and was opened on August 6th 2005 taking on the name of its current sponsor in September 2013 and has a capacity of 20,295.

When arriving at the ground, which is a fair drag north of Dallas, there was a long queue to get into the car park right next to the stadium, despite it being $20 for the privilege, but across the road, no more than 50 yards away it was free to park. Just shows that people really are lazy, or have money to burn. Probably the former.

When arriving here in Dallas, my plan was to get a season ticket here and when FC Dallas were away visit other stadiums. However, having endured a game sat amongst some of the least knowledgable football supporters you could ever come across, then this might be my only time I ever bother to visit here.

There was the loudmouth sat a few rows back giving a commentary to his mate, which was bad enough, especially as he hadn’t got much idea about the game, before the real clincher came when it was announced that a Dallas player had been awarded a yellow card, prompting a number of idiots to stand up and give a round of applause and whooping “go Dallas “! What an embarrassment.

I will probably have to get used to getting up and down in my seat as constant streams of late comers arrive well into the game and then having found their seat, come straight back out to go and get food and drink, before then missing the last 10 minutes of the half to go and get yet another drink and hot dog and repeating this action at least once more in the second half. Why on earth has the stadium been built with the seats facing the pitch ? A vast majority of the crowd have certainly not come to see any of the sport on offer, especially if it gets in the way of eating and drinking, followed by more eating and drinking.

As for the match. Very poor standard, despite Pirlo, Lampard and Villa in action for the visitors, although all three were substituted. Both sides would struggle in League Two in England on this showing.