So What's the Big Deal with the Astrodome?

[mike_b_284]

Every night on the Houston local news they refer to the Astrodome as the 8th wonder of the world. Growing up in Kansas City, I have never heard this before. Was it a momentous feat in its time, or are Houstonians just full of themselves? It just looks like a shitty old stadium to me. I vaguely remember the Kingdome being a big deal, maybe in the early 90's, but they tore that down without much fuss.

[hometeam]

That's just marketing from when it was built.

[alpha_omega]

I remember when the Bad News Bears played there.

[Bugeater]

The most notable thing about it was they made the roof translucent because they thought they would be able to grow natural grass inside of it. Didn't work out so well though.

[mike_b_284]

Originally Posted by Bugeater

The most notable thing about it was they made the roof translucent because they thought they would be able to grow natural grass inside of it. Didn't work out so well though.

I thought I noticed what looks like stained glass in the roof. Seems like a dumb idea considering you can grow grass year round here.

[Bugeater]

Originally Posted by mike_b_284

I thought I noticed what looks like stained glass in the roof. Seems like a dumb idea considering you can grow grass year round here.

They wanted real grass and air conditioning.

[otherstar]

Originally Posted by mike_b_284

Such pussies here. Hide in the a/c all summer and are already shivering like chihuahuas because is 45 degrees in the morning.

LOL...how long have you lived here? I've been here for 17 years, and now I shiver like that!

In all seriousness, for it's time the Astrodome was a great stadium. I got to see the Chiefs beat the Oilers there the last year the Oilers were in town (Bono was the Chiefs QB at the time). It wasn't a bad stadium at all, just old...I'd been in the old Detroit Tigers stadium too and it was just old, so that wasn't a big deal. The NFL wouldn't put a new team in Houston without a new stadium (which is what Bud Adams wanted, and he took the Oilers to Tenn. when he didn't get it), so Reliant was built.

I won front row seats to the Chiefs-Texans game in 1993, and I think Reliant is the nicest stadium I've ever been in (but I haven't been to Arrowhead since it's been redone, so I'm going to assume Arrowhead is nicer). I prefer Arrowhead for a host of other reasons.

[bowener]

Originally Posted by Bugeater

The most notable thing about it was they made the roof translucent because they thought they would be able to grow natural grass inside of it. Didn't work out so well though.

I thought I had read that it grew grass just fine, it wasn't until the MLB made them darken the dome so players could see pop flies that it could no longer grow grass.

[whoman69]

Originally Posted by bowener

I thought I had read that it grew grass just fine, it wasn't until the MLB made them darken the dome so players could see pop flies that it could no longer grow grass.

from wikipedia

"Originally, the stadium's surface was a Tifway 419 Bermuda grass playing surface specifically bred for indoor use. The dome's ceiling contained numerous semitransparent panes made of Lucite. Players quickly complained that glare coming off of the panes made it hard for them to track fly balls. To solve the problem, two sections of panes were painted white. However, within a few months, the grass died from lack of sunlight.[16] For most of the 1965 season, the Astros played on green-painted dirt and dead grass. The clear panels also added a problem when combined with the natural grass. The grass tended to hold, then release moisture, often resulting in rain within the structure, causing games to be delayed while the grounds crews cleaned up the playing surface."

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by whoman69

from wikipedia

"Originally, the stadium's surface was a Tifway 419 Bermuda grass playing surface specifically bred for indoor use. The dome's ceiling contained numerous semitransparent panes made of Lucite. Players quickly complained that glare coming off of the panes made it hard for them to track fly balls. To solve the problem, two sections of panes were painted white. However, within a few months, the grass died from lack of sunlight.[16] For most of the 1965 season, the Astros played on green-painted dirt and dead grass. The clear panels also added a problem when combined with the natural grass. The grass tended to hold, then release moisture, often resulting in rain within the structure, causing games to be delayed while the grounds crews cleaned up the playing surface."

Wow. Clearly a lot of thought went into that design.

[Discuss Thrower]

I know! It's called the ASTRO dome, but when you're inside you can't see the stars! Who are the ad wizards who came up with this one?

[loochy]

Originally Posted by Discuss Thrower

I know! It's called the ASTRO dome, but when you're inside you can't see the stars! Who are the ad wizards who came up with this one?

the ones that realized that the ASTROS would play there

[Calcountry]

Originally Posted by loochy

the ones that realized that the ASTROS would play there

This might have something to do with Houston being a huge space center, duh.

[loochy]

Originally Posted by Calcountry

This might have something to do with Houston being a huge space center, duh.

duh