I have always considered myself a traditionalist when it comes to sports and I hate change about as much as stuffed green peppers, the “no charge” zone in basketball and lights at Wrigley Field.
So when I heard that the Cotton Bowl Athletic Association (CBAA) was moving its bowl game, yes, the Cotton Bowl, away from its famed stadium in Fair Park, I was stunned.
The Cotton Bowl is a classic football game, started back in 1937, and Fair Park Stadium was renamed a year earlier to the Cotton Bowl in preparation for that first bowl game.
It's a classic venue which has seen some great players such as Jim Brown, Doak Walker and Sammy Baugh have stellar games. Then there is the famous sideline tackle in 1954 when Alabama's Tommy Lewis comes off the bench to tackle Rice's Dicky Maegle, then calmly walks back to the bench and sits down.
Memories and tradition make a bowl game such an attraction for football fans. And while those stay with the bowl game on paper, in reality would be lost as the Cotton Bowl moved this season to “Jerry's Palace,” or better known as the new Cowboys Stadium in Arlington.
That was my feeling going into the game. It's not the same coming out.
The Cotton Bowl belongs at Cowboys Stadium. The CBAA is trying very hard to have the Cotton Bowl added to the Bowl Championships Series (BCS) and the stadium may be the dilithium crystal it needs to start that warp drive.
Yes, I know it was a bad Star Trek reference there, but Cowboys Stadium is something out of this world. It looms on the Arlington horizon, day or night, with its football-shaped dome - which is the largest in the world.
As you get closer you notice the exterior features a design that has a canted 800-foot glass wall. The dome, with retractable roof, is held up by a pair of 292-foot arches which span the length of the stadium. On the ends are glass retractable doors, 180 foot wide by 120 foot high, that are the largest in the world - opening or closing in 18 minutes. When you walk in the doors you are greeted by video monitors at every turn and a maze of staircases, elevators and escalators taking fans to their seats.
Once on the field you can quickly tell you are not in Kansas anymore, let alone the old Cotton Bowl Stadium.
There are field suites, sunk into the ground, which bring fans within 20 yards of the action - at ground level. Each suite is stocked with food, drink and flat screen televisions.
Below my feet I find turf that without question is cutting edge. The turf is sectioned off and secured to a sub-liner by what can only be described as industrial-strength Velcro.
The main logo at midfield, along with sub-logos and the end zone team names can simply be rolled up and changed for the next event.
I watched as workers removed the Cotton Bowl logo and replaced it with the Cowboys “Star” for Dallas' game with Philadelphia.
As I raised my head in amazement, I quickly refocused on the massive video screen which only hours earlier I caught myself watching more at times than taking pictures.
You've seen it on television, but you can't fully appreciate it until you've see it in person. It measures 160 feet long and 72 feet high and brings images in crisp, full 1080i high definition quality. On each end are two smaller screens measuring 53 feet wide and 30 feet tall for a total display area of 25,000 square feet.
Talk about big screen TVs.
Cowboys Stadium seats close to 80,000 but can be expanded to 100,000 for larger events - like the Super Bowl or this year's NBA All-Star Game.
I can rattle on about this palace, but let me just sum it up by saying Jerry Jones lived up to the old saying, “Everything is bigger in Texas.”
The Cotton Bowl is bigger and I have to say, better, now that it's switched locations.