Blake C.
Yelp
First off, Hook'em! I wanted to get that out of the way because the rest of my review may lead people to think that I don't bleed burnt orange. I've seen the Longhorns play numerous times but this past weekend was the first time I got to see them play within the walls of DKR. And it almost pains me to admit that I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as I had hoped.
Seating: I'd won these tickets in a raffle at work so I knew I shouldn't expect great seats. We were seated in Section 111, which is one of the nosebleed sections. I have to give Texas some credit here, despite being in the nosebleed, we felt we had a really good view of the entire field. We were however fairly disappointed to see that most of the stadium was comprised of bleachers. While we certainly expected there to bleachers in the student section, we were surprised that they made up the nosebleeds and some of the lower section. By the third quarter, some of us were squirming around trying to adjust the cricks that were forming in our backs. Some seats came with Longhorn bleacher seats but they were few and far between. If Texas is worried about having to lower capacity and spend more money on actual seats, they could at least throw in more of the bleacher seats. I'll grade the seating with a B.
Parking and Arriving/Leaving: I'm not going to harp on Texas too much about the parking. I was a tad disappointed we had to park almost a mile away from the Stadium and pay $20 to do so. But at the end of the day, it's not that big of a deal and given that they have to fit in almost 100,000 people for these games, I'd say it's fair. As far as arriving to the game and leaving the game, UT and Austin get an A+. Leaving Cowboy and Ranger games in Austin is way more difficult than what we experienced when we left the Texas game. It took us a grand total of ten minutes to get back on the highway and head home. I was stunned. I grade Parking/Arriving/Leaving with an A.
Video/Sound: This is where Texas loses massive points. I know what some of you are thinking. "But the video board Blake!" Yes I saw it and yes it's nice. But why in the year 2013 is the video-board not synced with the play on the field or the sound in the video clips? If you're sitting in the nosebleed and trying to see what you missed via the video board, you probably just missed an actual play on the field. The sound in DKR is absolutely atrocious. Not the sound made by the Longhorn faithful but the sound coming from what I assume are two speakers on one side of the field. How can a school with it's own ESPN Network not afford a better sound system for their stadium that packs near 100,000 every other week? You'd hear rumblings of bass on occasion but it was awful. Not to mention they seat the opposing and home team's band right next to it so good luck hearing it once the bands start up. The only good thing about the video and sound is the video board and that's only enough to get DKR a C in this department.
Staff/Services: While most of the staff seemed pretty friendly, some were pretty crass and cold. We had hoped to find an escalator up to our seats so we could avoid going up ramp after ramp. We finally found some but were then informed that the "escalators are not for" us. We asked if there were any escalators that "were for" us and with a roll of the eyes they told us there weren't. We were directed towards the ramp and we began what felt like a ten minute journey up to the top. With that said, DKR's bathrooms were clean and the employees working the concession stands were very nice and lively. My last complaint is directed towards Stadium Security. In the 3rd Quarter, two security officials had made their way up into our section. They stood at the bottom of the stairs looking at everyone before pointing at my buddy and I to walk over to them. My buddy and I were shocked as while we engaged in cheers and chants, neither of us were being very vocal when others weren't. Unlike the group two rows down and six seats away. They accused of us drinking and threatened to have us removed. My buddy and I proved them wrong when they told us to retrieve our drinks for their review. Most of the people seated around us were upset that they targeted us rather than the obnoxious group in our section. Without an apology or explanation for their accusation, they told us to be seated. I was pretty stunned that they'd treat people like that but I moved on and did my best to enjoy the rest of the game. However, due to the Security Officials and "Escalator Officials" attitudes, I've got to give their staff a C.
I love the Longhorns, I love Texas and I love the Horn faithful. But I don't love DKR and I don't care for the staff. As much as I want to love Bevo's home, it's in dire need of a renovation before it can get an unbiased five star review. Hook'em Horns!