Covert Ops - Odunze at Oklahoma
Comments
-
-
Update: Did Tex A&M today. Sprawling campus, enormous. Lots of "tradition" being pounded into you the entire time you're there. (Every door seems to have a reminder etched into it reminding you to remove your hat upon entering the building). There's lots of stuff like that. Kyle Field and the surrounding athletic complexes are very impressive.
Something I'll discuss a little later in this post, but I'll touch on it here: You can walk the UW campus, just wander around, and get a pretty good feel for the size/scope of the place in about an hour's worth of walking. We walked around Tex A&M for 2 hours today, and I didn't think we saw 1/3 of the place. Same can be said for Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. Maybe it's because everything is flat, which allows for more sprawling construction, but damn, these places go on for as far as you can see.
We also went the the George H.W. Bush library/museum/grave site. Impressive and well done. Beautiful complex and surrounding grounds.
Here's an observation that I had never considered before making this tour: every one of these athletic complexes (basketball arenas, baseball fields, practice facilities), and most importantly, the football stadiums, are constructed and laid out as cohesive units on campus. By that, I mean that when you find the athletic complexes, you're surrounded by athletic complexes ... it's immersive. Beyond that, and what has really been driven home to me, is that all of these complexes/stadiums (Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Tex A&M ... not so much SMU) are the biggest and most impressive buildings in the ENTIRE town in which they are located. Husky Stadium is impressive, but it doesn't dominate the Seattle experience. These campuses, and the football stadiums in particular, absolutely dominate everything around them, both in stature and design.
Saying these are "college towns" is overstating the roll of the town. These college campuses are MASSIVE, ornate and almost entirely self-contained. The town is just there for ancillary support.
Going to visit the University of Texas on Thursday. It will be interesting to see if my observation holds true of that campus as well. -
Not only is college station only aTm, it’s off hwy 6 and is a good 45 minutes from the nearest interstate. It’s the fucking middle of nowhere in a way only Texans would find romantic.DHD said:Update: Did Tex A&M today. Sprawling campus, enormous. Lots of "tradition" being pounded into you the entire time you're there. (Every door seems to have a reminder etched into it reminding you to remove your hat upon entering the building). There's lots of stuff like that. Kyle Field and the surrounding athletic complexes are very impressive.
Something I'll discuss a little later in this post, but I'll touch on it here: You can walk the UW campus, just wander around, and get a pretty good feel for the size/scope of the place in about an hour's worth of walking. We walked around Tex A&M for 2 hours today, and I didn't think we saw 1/3 of the place. Same can be said for Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. Maybe it's because everything is flat, which allows for more sprawling construction, but damn, these places go on for as far as you can see.
We also went the the George H.W. Bush library/museum/grave site. Impressive and well done. Beautiful complex and surrounding grounds.
Here's an observation that I had never considered before making this tour: every one of these athletic complexes (basketball arenas, baseball fields, practice facilities), and most importantly, the football stadiums, are constructed and laid out as cohesive units on campus. By that, I mean that when you find the athletic complexes, you're surrounded by athletic complexes ... it's immersive. Beyond that, and what has really been driven home to me, is that all of these complexes/stadiums (Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Tex A&M ... not so much SMU) are the biggest and most impressive buildings in the ENTIRE town in which they are located. Husky Stadium is impressive, but it doesn't dominate the Seattle experience. These campuses, and the football stadiums in particular, absolutely dominate everything around them, both in stature and design.
Saying these are "college towns" is overstating the roll of the town. These college campuses are MASSIVE, ornate and almost entirely self-contained. The town is just there for ancillary support.
Going to visit the University of Texas on Thursday. It will be interesting to see if my observation holds true of that campus as well.
UT is downtown Austin, 3 blocks from the Texas capital building, and another 5 blocks from downtown. It’s not Seattle but it’s urban.
It felt a lot like UW, and I found it funny they have a north south street running the length of campus that’s all restaurants and bars named Guadalupe very similar to the Ave. They call it “the Drag” and they have a significant homeless population of youths called “drag rats”. Maybe that’s super common nationally but I thought it was a weird coincidence.
-
I’m shocked you didn’t stop in Waco. I heard their museum is full of stunning visuals about their rape culture.
-
I have a feeling they stopped at the magnolia silos, it’s literally impossible to get a wife through central Texas without stopping to may respects to the fixer upper empire.dirtysouwfdawg said:I’m shocked you didn’t stop in Waco. I heard their museum is full of stunning visuals about their rape culture.
-
CAN CONFIRMLoneStarDawg said:
I have a feeling they stopped at the magnolia silos, it’s literally impossible to get a wife through central Texas without stopping to may respects to the fixer upper empire.dirtysouwfdawg said:I’m shocked you didn’t stop in Waco. I heard their museum is full of stunning visuals about their rape culture.
-
-
Spent the day at Johnson Space Center/Space Center Houston today. Took the "Level 9" tour. It lasted about 5 hours and was some of the best time/money I've ever spent. Beyond words. If you ever get to Houston and have a day to kill, spend the money and do it. Amazing.
Arrived in Austin tonight. Spent some time on 6th street. Very cool. Much like a larger version of Pioneer Square back during that brief period when Pioneer Square had a population of people looking for fun and live music that was NOT outnumbered by heroine junkies and/or piles of human feces and needles.
Tomorrow we'll be at UT in the morning. As @LoneStarDawg said above, my early recon gives me a very good feel that UT is going to be a LOT more like the UW campus feel than Tex AM, Oklahoma or Oklahoma State. We're staying about 5 blocks from the campus and it feels like a city, not a town.
Then it's off to Waco, and yes, Chip and Joanna Gaines are gonna get a visit in the afternoon (my penance for making my wife indulge my TBS earlier in the trip) ... but, Baylor is literally right across the street from Chip and Joanna's place ... so we'll have to make a stop there as well.
(My version of the Waco scenic stop was to include a Mt. Carmel/Branch Davidian compound debris viewing, but that just didn't fit into the itinerary).
Flying out of Dallas and headed home on Friday morning. -
Did UT today. We couldn't get onto the football field as it was surrounded by construction. The entire campus had a very urban feel ... in fact, it reminded me of UW. It was nice, very clean and the architecture was impressive, most notably the sniper tower ... err ... clock tower. Frankly, the best view of the stadium was from I-35 as we headed north away from Austin. It's a raised freeway and runs parallel to the campus, so you can look directly inside of the entire facility. I was surprised, because watching on TV really never gives you the feel that the place is close ... maybe 300 yards ... from a major freeway.
Then we headed to Waco. I won't bore you with details about Chip and Joanna's place in this post, but in the old days my dad would have called their place "a fuckin' tourist trap". I hope Chip and Jo (that's what I like to call them) invest well, because once their TV show flames out, you'll never know that place exists.
However, Baylor University is VERY impressive. The entire campus looks like it was built yesterday. Immaculate, flat, large and uniform. If Hollywood was going to use a cookie-cutter campus for a movie or TV series, this would fit the part perfectly. They also have, by a wide margin, the best bookstore/merch.
We left the main campus and crossed the Brazos River to make our first attempt to gain access to the football field. We spotted about 10 students carrying boxes into an open concourse on the lower level of the stadium, so we approached them and used the "soft sell" method. "Hey, we're tourist and we'd LOVE to see your football field ... do you think you could show us?". They would not commit, but they did check with their supervisor who was polite enough to come out and tell us "no".
From there, we cruised the perimeter of the facility until we ran into some guy on a smoke break who noticed me and said, "hey ... UW!". We stopped and made conversation and he said that he used to work at WSU. I bit my tongue and didn't condemn him, but instead asked if he had a way for us to get to the field to check it out. He said he couldn't do that because he wasn't authorized, but he referred us to "Miss Peggy" at the President's Entrance and he said that she would most likely help us out.
So, we backtracked to find "Miss Peggy" and ease into her office. I did my best smooth talk, "you must be Miss Peggy" with my best smile, hoping she'd bite on my faux humility. I referenced "WSU guy" and told her that he thought she could help us "sneak" a look a the field. (Keep in mind that we are the ONLY non-employees wondering around the stadium complex ... it's hardly a tourist attraction). She says, "no" and makes it clear that she is not authorized to do that. Dead end with Miss Peggy.
(It was very clear that NO ONE does anything at Baylor University without getting permission first ... unless ... it's a rape and/or murder that has been sanctioned, aided, abetted and/or concealed by Art Briles or Dave Bliss. If it's rape or murder, then by all means, no permission necessary).
This experience turned into a teaching moment for me as a father. I was able to demonstrate to my daughter that there were times for permission and then, there were times for covert action. We slipped into covert operator mode.
Through stealthy movement and a low-key determination, we were able to find an open maintenance gate to get onto the football field. We were in the midst of a work crew that was just finishing up installing new turf. We did the "look like you know what you're doing" routine and none of the maintenance guys said a word. (Mostly, those poor guys were so hot that they gave no shits as to what was going on around them ... running off trespassers did not fit withing their job descriptions).
From field level, that stadium is very impressive; however, like the rest of the campus, it's almost so clean and so cookie-cutter, that it lacks character. If you didn't see the logo on the field or on the scoreboard, you'd have no idea what school played in that stadium. The stadium is separated from the campus by the Brazos River, which gives it a unique look; however, it is a solid hike for the students to get from the main housing area to the stadium and to do so, they have to use a walking bridge over the river. (More opportunities for secluded rapes, I guess.)
Headed home tomorrow and hope to have some pics up over the weekend sometime. -
CSB, no really, great story telling.
