Re: New High School Football Stadium in Texas: Have we lost our minds?
There is a high school in Texas that is building a new 18,000 seat high multi-million school football stadium. As I look at this facility, I wonder if we as a society, have lost our sense of priorities....
Have a look:
http://highschoolsportsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/04/if-drawings-are-any-indication.html
If you want to go in depth:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/29858263/Allen-high-school-football-stadium-drawings-specs
This school district can spend its money how it wants, but I can't help but think this might have pushed sanity over the brink...
Swami, we're talking about Texas here, where two story air conditioned press boxes and theatre type seats are far from unheard of. Where the highest paid guy at a high school will be the football coach, not the principal. And where, when you call the coach, a nice lady answers the 'phone saying "football office." No, no, the perspective you're talking about would be relevant in any of the 49 other states, but not Texas. I was living there when they finally got around to implementing "no pass, no play," to encourage the boys to do a little studying in the off season (Texas has spring football too, dontcha know) and it took a blue ribbon commission headed by H. Ross Perot, to get it done. This reform brought Texas in line with the academic requirements of my high school and I assume yours and everyone else's. But in Texas it was a BFD of the first order.
Anyone who hasn't read Friday Night Lights should do so. It's an eye opening experience, but nothing new for anyone familiar with Texas high school football. I recall the 60 Minutes piece about the book. They interviewed some idiot woman who strongly asserted that they had football in perspective, and she had on black nail polish, you know, Permian's color. This was a middle aged woman, not some cheer leader, but of course her perspective and that of the cheer leader were identical when it came to Permian football. IIRC, the Permian stadium seats over 20K, features a home on the property for the head grounds keeper, and the field is below grade level. Oh yeah, and it's totally sold out. So while this stadium in Allen is a gross waste of taxpayer money, I'm not surprised. In fact, if some egg head would have suggested spending some of that money on, say, books or computers or something, he'd have been laughed out of town (if not worse).
