Before I start, here's a disclaimer: a)this is my first year having gone to nationals, b)I am a native of Texas, and c) our team was NOT on the FIRST plan for stuff....
Here's my 2 cents:
a) Come on, guys, a bit of exercise can't be that bad. I made the walk back and forth up from the astrodome pits up to the stands where I was taping oh, about a hundred or so give or take another hundred times and IT AIN'T THAT BAD!
b) About the venue: the stadium is simply like every other monster sports arena in the world- the concessions are and always will be incredibly overpriced. It's a big place and they have to pay for it somehow, and since ya can't bring in outside food and drink (-officially-), they can charge whatever they want. There'r water fountains......
c) There was plenty of stuff within walking distance (within 0.5 mi) of the stadium where those complaining about b could go to get all the fast food they could possibly want, or groceries and other stuff...
d) About being so split up... what did you expect for an event that was thrown together in 4 months, with an economic downturn (our team could not have afforded the FIRST package deal, so we settled for the Motel 6 about four blocks from the stadium - we were the only team there). There's only so much you can do in that amount of time, and many companies etc make their reservations WAY in advance.
e) True, Six Flags Astroworld sucks. Maybe they should hold it in Dallas/Fort Worth, where Six Flags Over Texas is (way cooler). Never been to Great Adventure or whatever that supposed great one is.... But I've been to disney, and it ain't all that great......
f) Houston was a cool and fun venue, all ya needed was to look around. Saw more smiles there than not, so someone was having fun.........
g) The bathrooms at the basement level of the astrodome aren't exactly designed for public high volume use....the public usually doesn't get to go down to the floor level. They were pretty dingy, but so are most public bathrooms in fifty year old stadiums.....
Okay, that's enough. I think it's pretty obvious what my vote is....
Aaron Knight
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Team 891: Neverending Chaos....
http://first891.topcities.com
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