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The Big Game:
Outback
Bowl (Jan. 2)
Fast facts:
Opened 1998;
capacity 65,890; natural
grass field
Hip stadium nickname:
The “Ray Jay”
Less hip stadium nick-
name:
“Community Investment
Tax Stadium,” or “CITS”
If any of your friends wears
an eye patch:
Gently inform
him that the 103-foot-long
pirate ship in the corner
of the stadium will not
be shooting rubber
footballs and confetti out of
its cannons or employing its
sassy animatronic parrot (this
only happens during Tampa
Bay Buccaneers games). He
may be pleased to know, how-
ever, that the nearby restrooms
and concession stands are
painted to evoke a weathered
fishing village.
If your eye patch–wearing
friend isn’t impressed:
Assure
him that the Ray Jay does
offer weddings in
the pirate ship.
IN GLACIER COUNTRY
YOU’LL BE SUPRISED
WHAT YOU CAN
Stumble
Upon
SLEDGLACIERMT.COM/HEM
CALL FOR YOUR FREE TRAVEL GUIDE
800.338.5072
RAYMOND JAMES STADIUM
MERCEDES-BENZ SUPERDOME
The Big Game:
Allstate
BCS National Championship
Game (Jan. 9)
Fast facts:
Opened 1975;
capacity 73,208; Speed Series
S5-M artificial turf field
Official name of the
stadium’s original artificial
turf:
Mardi Grass
Portentous quote from
Louisiana Gov. JohnMcKeithen
at a 1967 baseball game at the
Astrodome in Houston:
“I want
one of these, only bigger.”
World records held:
Two: largest fixed-dome
structure in the world and
largest attendance at an indoor
concert (87,500, at a 1981
Rolling Stones show)
Historical trivia involving
another sport:
Muhammad Ali
won his last pro fight here in
1978, when he defeated Leon
Spinks (who apart from that is
best known for missing all four
of his top front teeth).
If your friends still aren’t
impressed:
Tell them that Pope
John Paul II addressed 80,000
children from the Popemobile
here in 1987.
TAMPA, FLA.
NEWORLEANS
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