Grainy photos that ought to work this time
 

Walking up Poydras, saw Joe. Mercedes SL 500 hard top convertible with spinners:

http://www.dropshots.com/photos/1859...927/195506.jpg

http://www.dropshots.com/photos/1859...927/195738.jpg

http://www.dropshots.com/photos/1859...927/195739.jpg

Woulda got a picture of him putting the hard top up when he got out in his fly gold suit, but Bubba fresh from the parish pen decided to jump in the way. You can kinda make it out to the left. Just imagine the ramp and street level CROWDED with hundreds, maybe thousands of fans yelling for Joe:

http://www.dropshots.com/photos/1859...927/195736.jpg

Windows still out at the Hyatt:

http://www.dropshots.com/photos/1859...927/195737.jpg

NFL sign:

http://www.dropshots.com/photos/1859...927/195740.jpg

Huge black tarp with a Fleur de Lis. That blurry electronic display was a countdown clock until the opening:

http://www.dropshots.com/photos/1859...927/195500.jpg

http://www.dropshots.com/photos/1859...927/195458.jpg

This is what was unveiled:

http://www.dropshots.com/photos/1859...927/195457.jpg

http://www.dropshots.com/photos/1859...927/195502.jpg

Finally inside. No more ugly muti colored carpet on the concourse:

http://www.dropshots.com/photos/1859...927/195504.jpg

Da roof:

http://www.dropshots.com/photos/1859...927/195505.jpg

Blurry jumbotron:

http://www.dropshots.com/photos/1859...927/195503.jpg

The field:

http://www.dropshots.com/photos/1859...927/195735.jpg

ESPN crew on that gray mat, but you can barely make them out. Tom Jackson was scarfing down something at one point during the game.

http://www.dropshots.com/photos/1859...927/195733.jpg

Pretty cool when they took the field for warm ups, the team lined upabout 7 rows across and took the field at the same time and stretched. You can kinda sorta but not really make out the rows:

http://www.dropshots.com/photos/1859...927/195741.jpg

Saints marching in:

http://www.dropshots.com/photos/1859...927/195743.jpg

Last shot as I left the dome a proud Saints fan, and even prouder native New Orleanian:

http://www.dropshots.com/photos/1859...927/195742.jpg

Cool, nice pics Whodi

Why didn't you take a picture of me in my car?

thanks for the picks Whodi.... makin me tear up again..

thanks,

Awesome Whodi, thanks!

Whodi, where are your seats? They look VERY close to my husband and mine seats.

I noticed that too. I think I'm on the opposite side, I'm in section 633.

Great Pics Whodi. Looks like you were sittin' pretty close to my brother. He would have been the guy spillin' beer on everybody. LOL

Did you really want a picture of Joe's Mercedes putting your car to shame? Unless you have one too. lol

Section 606 Row 13. I hope you weren't the lady I tried to be courteous too when I first got in the dome trying to get to my seat, and ended up cursing her out. I think she was in section 612. :lol:

Nice pics whodi. I took mine w/ my camera phone, but they didn't come out so good.

Whodi, aha, you were directly above us then. Our seats are section 305. So, no, that wasn't me you were cursing out. I'm glad to have your pictures to look at because my camera was spazzing out, so looking at your pictures is reliving it all again from the same vantage point!!

Glad I could help. And I better clarify this cursing out situation. Of course when the gates opened, there was a mob to get in. Which was cool. I waited my time in line like everyone else. My pops and I split up cause he had his buddy's ticket and was waiting for him, and I couldn't wait to get in. So, after about 30-45 minutes, or what seemed like that long, I finally get in. Walk the concourse to my level. Well, on the top level, folks were trying to get concessions before they got to their seats, and there was the surge of people anxious to see the dome, and people were trying to actually get to their seats. So as you can imagine, it was a cluster cluck, and no one was moving, period. So myself and a couple of guys I didn;t even know but who were around me just said let's go out into the stadium, and walk around to our seats that way. The stadium was still pretty empty at this point cause no one was moving. So we do just that, and since the Superdome isn't made with a walkway around the stadium except in certain parts, we had to cross through the seats. So myself and these three other guys are crossing this row, and we get to the last 4 seats of the row and the lady closest to up stands up, points her fingers and says Oh no we are not letting ya'll through. Now, it's just four of us, and this is the end of the row, so the guy in front asks why not. She gave some song and dance about them having to wait through the people, and yatta yatta. So we were like lady, it's just four of us, Just stand aside and we can get right through. She goes on and on about how we were gonna have to knock her down to get through and all this nonsense. So, as a last ditch effort, I said ma'am, we are all Saints fans here. The concourse isn't moving, can you let us through. She got even louder. SO at that point, the guy in front took her seat, lowered it, stepped on it, stepped on her jacket on the back of her seat, and crossed to the next row up. We all followed suit with a couple of profanities left in our wake. No one else acted that way, and the pre-game show wasn't close to starting yet. Crazy.

You needn't have explained. I am surprised, though, that she wasn't feeling the love. Outside I expected no one to apologize to me for bumping into me and I expected to apologize to no one. How do you not bump into someone in the middle of 150,000 people? But the people sitting around us would use empty seats if they could as a walking lane so as not to keep bothering the same people over and over again and would shift around when a seat would open up from someone on a bathroom/beer run so that we all could have some breathing room from time to time. We lucked out on some great season ticket neighbors. You were unfortunate to run into someone selling Crazy and I'm sure there were others, but for such a big crowd, it could have been much worse. I hope your next game is unmarred. I really enjoy reading your posts!!!

oops

It didn't ruin my experience at all cause once we got past her, I forgot all about her. And the people in the seats around us were exactly as you say, very friendly. Moved when people got up to make room. Crossed rows to find the quickest way out. Whatever. It really, truly was like being there with family. Hell, we were offering each other food, and offering to get concessions when we got up. It was great. Unless I can get to the Cincy game since that is Thanksgiving week, I won't see them live again until the Dallas game since I live in San Antonio. But I certainly hope that feeling you got and I got stays around the dome for a long time to come. It was inspiring.

What?! No cheerleaders?!

Just kidding... nice pics.

ok, Papz, just for you.....

:banana:

I don't care if I was driving a Hot Wheels car. I'd to anything to be in the same picture with Joe. Atleas,t I know my car shows up in SOME of the pictures that people were taking - even though it's probably just a little tiny bit of the background.