Well lads, not to play the part of prophet or anything. The "real' Aztex had their sign, the snake on the cactus over the lake eating a snake, and we have a sign as well. In the satellite immage of Nelson, which is the first and soo far the only immage we have of it since the news broke, the field is bedecked with proper football lines, and nothing else, then again I know not how old the immage is but I'll take it as a sign for us that it, at least for a year, is going to be our home. CASA DE CHANTICO
and to illucidate my point about it being our "home" sure we could play somewhere for our home matches, but it takes something more to make it "OUR HOME" and that satellite immage, in my warped opinion of things, is a good sign that it will be a "Home" for at least a year for us, and our boys, and not just a field and two stands.
Hmmm, well, that stadium is already better than Miami's and is comparable to Minnesota's and is better than one of Clevelands options. Still, the track sucks, but it allows for growth and it sounds like House Park could be your future. One thing... are you SURE that's a plastic pitch? That aerial shot looked like grass to me.
Well, we have no idea how old that photo is, and it says on a local stadium site that it was changed to artificial this year.
Actually "Completely overhauled for the 2007-2008 season which includes playing field resurfaced from natural to synthetic turf." source Back when we were getting info about stadiums this past spring, someone found the company that did the work. On it, it said that Nelson was done summer '07, and House summer '08.
Oh yeah, I remember that now. The work was part of AISD's 2004 bond project, but I'm not sure now when it was actually done. (The House Park renovations were also part of that bond project, and they're still underway, apparently). It also looks like Sports Engineering Technologies, Inc., the company that did the work at Nelson, is no more. At least, their "www.set-inc.biz" site is gone, and I couldn't find a replacement.
That satellite photo shows soccer stripes on the pitch instead of gridiron stripes.. That would be a huge improvement.
I posted video of last night's 1-minute News8Austin story, as well as a few dozen snapshots I took today at Nelson Field, on my blog.
The Austin Lightning played at least one game on this field that I remember. It is a nice field and will be a fun place to watch the games I bet.
well done getting those smashing pics twometers. I am all ready getting immages of where THE HEARTH should be, somewhere near the central stand gate on the West side, so the setting sun wont be in our eyes, and we could even call it "The Hot Gate". And low and behold, we are acctually getting a little press in this throwball waste . And like Froghammer said Yesh money penny, I am getting excited about next season
hey you lads got ta see this. At 36 sec on Two Meter's video .We gotta sign those weird naked indians, and their drums, up. Those boys are instant Chanticos.
hey lads, I did a little snoopin about the Nomad, and my vote is deffinatly for, at least for a visit. They've got free wi-fi, guinness, and decent drink specials, not to mention a jukebox, a nice patio, and an apparently very friendly owner named Miguel, hmm anybody here know a keeper by that name. It also says that it is a great place for "large parties" and it's got ample parking. The only bad reveiw I found pertained to the service being slow on the food and drinks when it gets busy.
So I went on a field trip this afternoon to the Cameron and Hwy 290 area, and have the following thoughts. The Nomad is a nice, no nonsense neighborhood pub. The beer is reasonable (I paid $5 for my Guinness), selection of beer, wine and spirits is average. They have both an inside and patio section and it appears to be more than enough space to have a good pre- and post-match bevvie. I didn't eat there, so no thoughts on the food quality. I then drove up to Nelson Field, and took a peak inside (it was locked so this was done by parking by the SW corner and standing on top of my truck). I was actually surprised in that it seemed to be a bit more intimate than Dragon Stadium. The spaces at the end zones are not as dramatic, so it made it feel more intimate. Although an American football pitch, it does have the lines for proper football. Unfortunately, it also has the end zone to end zone bow that is familiar on these fields. The press box side of the stadium will provide shade for the home side like we had at Dragon Stadium, while frying the visiting fans. There was an electronic scoreboard at the SW end. Parking seems to be good, and for those of us who live south of this area, it's bloody easy to get onto I-35 by taking the 290 overpass. Those of you going north will most likely take the frontage road of I-35. The bad is that there are no seat backs for the season pass section, so it might be a good idea to buy one of those stadium seat back doohickies that you see at high school ball games. So my thoughts are that both The Nomad and Nelson Field seem acceptable. It's not long term, and so the short comings aren't going to be too much of a pain.
...right in the neighborhood of what? A 40 minute train ride to Highland Mall (if the train runs on Saturday nights)? Just a bit confused by your comment, Alejo.
Cut him some slack Violet. Young guys from Bastrop don't have easy access to the Austin area maps let alone gas money.
harde har har har. I wash being sarcastic money penny. And hey I made my own pilgrimage to the temporary CASA DE CHANTICO. Maybe it was just my immagination, and after all I am no topographer, but their seemes to be a slight southward slope to the land in and around the perimiter of the Stadium. That might help rebound some of the sound, along with "The Green Monster" which I couldn't help but invision being covered in Aztec graffiti and banners. . Also I invisioned us setting up The Hearth in Section A "for red letter reasons" and us calling the gate that leads up to it the Hearth/Hot Gate. I also looked into the Nomad, it was too early for me to go inside and have a look and I infact passed it up the first time around due to that frigin CONOCO which on the bright side is currently seling regular for 1.57. It wasn't very big looking on the outside, but barring complecations I think it would be a great place to hold pre/post match gatherings, drumcircles, drink ups, etc. And finally I would like the opinion of the other Chanticos who have been to Nelson and have seen the area between it and the Nomad. Do you lads think we could attempt a march between the two or is it not possible due to traffic/distance/lack their of walking space. Shew! and thats my report.
Ah. Sorry. Didn't notice the sarcasm tag. It's really annoying the way tone gets lost in my monitor sometimes. Maybe college students *do* have gas money now! As much as I like the idea, I have my doubts. It's a minimum of 15 blocks. According to this website it's a little over a mile. About a 20 minute walk, give or take. Now, I'm fine with that. I've walked from my house to the Triangle a few times and enjoy it. And the spectacle might make it worth the walk. As far as traffic/walking space, as far as I can remember (I drive on Cameron quite a bit), the only dicey spot would be crossing the 290 access road. I'd be up for giving it a try. What do others think?
I used to live in that neighborhood, and have walked it before, and personally, believe you'd be taking your life into your own hands doing this. If you decided to, I would absolutely recommend you take the back road to Berkman, then across versus going up Cameron to the frontage road. An alternative might be to drive to the parking lot, park far away, and march across the parking lot. Not as much of a pageant as coming from The Nomad, but you're more likely to get there will all your limbs intact.
Yeah, I got to play with them a number of times. They were college buddies of Wes Allen. Hopefully we'll see them again next season.
Traffic. The sidewalks on Cameron between The Nomad and 290 are narrow, the roads bad (read bouncing cars) which invariably equate to the law of physics that states, "2 bodies of mass cannot occupy the same space at the same time". The neighborhood is actually much safer now than it used to be when I lived there (around 2001). This can be seen in places like The Nomad and the former 7-11 that used to be across the street (which is now an upscale neighborhood market). Gentrification continues in east Austin...