This past week, my Gophers played in the Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas. As field staff lead for the marching band, not only did I get free flights and a very nice hotel room (complete with king sized bed) to myself, I also got to see the city of Houston, Texas for the second time. The first time, I was at the NCFL (National Catholic Forensics League) tournament freshman year of high school. After my 5 semesters in college, I saw the city through a different light this time, and what an unpleasant city it is (I'm putting this very lightly as I don't want to insult any Houstonian as they are from Texas and their feelings get hurt very easily). It is basically a giant suburb with a downtown. And a majority of that suburb is dirty.
First of all, it took us over half an hour just to get from the airport to the hotel in downtown. The hotel was nice, and was right next to MinuteMaid Park. It also provided a nice view of downtown, which is a very generic American downtown. Houston lacks the unique skyline that makes NYC, Chicago, and other American cities instantly distinguishable. Most buildings are tall boxes, with a strip of lights around the top. Some glass buildings have chunks missing, unnecessarily, to make "architectural statements." The street life in Houston is virtually nonexistent This could be because it was in the 40's the entire time we were there, and Texans aren't that tough in the cold weather. They are in the process of constructing street car lines, which is a great idea, but they are on streets that run between parking lots. It takes a full 15 minutes just to get out of downtown and onto a highway, which ring the area. In true flyover country fashion, all the freeway interchanges are flyovers, involving towering ramps seemingly built for no other reason than being tall and looking cool (remember, everything's bigger in Texas).
Once we got out of downtown, it was a full 45 minute drive to where we held our practices. Granted, this wasn't in Houston proper, the suburb of Houston just continues out into other suburbs. In good traffic, it takes as long to travel to this point in the metro as it takes to travel from my hometown to the edge of Kansas City, 60 miles away. It's insane.
Reliant Stadium, where the game took place, is not like most stadiums built recently, in that is away from downtown surrounded by parking lots. The stadium itself is a nice structure and impressive to behold. It's more famous neighbor, however, is not. The Houston Astrodome, one of the most innovative American sports facilities at the time of its construction, is sitting empty and decaying. It is such an eyesore next to the new, gleaming Reliant Stadium. It is a sorry sight, and a sign of our failure to maintain what we have. We are so quick to want the newest stadium, the newest features that we won't maintain what we have, even when it is an American landmark. Tell me you haven't heard about the Astrodome? Everyone in America has heard of the Astrodome (exaggeration), and they are essentially just waiting for it to collapse so they don't have to pay for demolition.
To finish my rant, Houston, and Texas as a whole, is a city and state I do not need to visit again. Their "we are better than you and we are gonna let you know it" attitude leaves me with a bitter taste in my mouth. It doesn't help that the Gophers lost the game in a very tight fashion on a last second field goal or that Texas Tech's fans had zero class. But rest assured that I will use Houston in my future as what not to do. Seeing it first-hand, I don't know how 6 million people can live in a city like that. It makes me so happy to be living in Minneapolis, a city that has it right.
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