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How many of you legitimately get awed any more?
I'm guilty of overusing the word. Everything is awesome. Everything is cool.
But do you ever get legit "awed"? I can't think of the last time I was. Maybe the birth of my son? My wedding day? Even
So many wonderful things pale in impact as we get older. Is the Apple Watch awe-inspiring, or just a better form of the wearable tech that already exists? Was the
Fifty years ago, the Astrodome did.
Thursday is the 50th anniversary of the first game in the Dome. The park has fallen far enough that it's hard to remember just how awesome it was when it debuted.
For a kid growing up going to the Dome, there may not have been a
Driving toward the Astrodome and slowly seeing the rise of that crescent shape in the distance, that was awesome. Seeing the circular majesty as you walked into the building, that was awesome. Looking up at that great curved ceiling, that was awesome.
It wasn't just kids who were so easily wowed by it, either. The Astrodome was called the "Eighth Wonder of the World" for a reason. People had never seen anything like it.
Playing baseball indoors, under this giant, man-made creation was revolutionary. It inspired hot takes galore, I'm sure, for those who thought it was robbing the game of its purity, just like statistics do now.
But, there was no more singular structure in sports for a long time.
The Astrodome was awesome.
It was filled with less awe over the years, as other domed stadiums were built. People in New Orleans were blown away
None of them carried the cultural cache of the Astrodome's premiere.
Imagine going from Ebbetts Field to the Astrodome in less than a decade. That must have been something.
Minute Maid Park is a nice stadium. It's got great views from nearly every seat. The retractable roof means fans can experience outdoor baseball
But, does it provoke a sense of wonder?
Maybe I'll talk to my son about that, see if he gets the same rush for seeing the stadium that I did from the Dome.
What I do know is that the closest I"ve gotten to feeling awe for a modern stadium is when I saw the Texans' new home from the air. I couldn't
How could anything be that much bigger than the Dome?
Maybe the reason awe has left modern parks is because they're so similar. A retractable roof isn't that different from a dome. A train in left field is only a slight step up from Bernie's slide in Milwaukee. Heck, even Wrlgley's new Jumbotron is only "awesome" because of
That's the best part of the Dome, and the
The Dome is broken. It's abandoned and abused, too trashed to tour and too expensive to turn into something useful. It's days are likely numbered and that's a shame.
But, oh, in