Dallas Cowboys 2009 Inaugural Game at New Stadium

Sunday, September 20, 2009 the Dallas Cowboys hosted the NY Giants. It was televised on NBC and what a spectacular Sunday Night Football show it was, made sweeter only by the fact that it wasn't hosted by Keith Olbermann.

Fourth quarter, Giants ball, Dallas is up by one. Eli Manning marches his team down field. With 4-seconds left on the clock and 37-yards out Giants kicker, Lawrence Tynes splits the uprights for the game winning field goal. But wait, the drama is not over.

Dallas cunningly called a time-out immediately before the kick, nullifying the play. It was about a cat's hair distance between toe and ball when the time-out whistle was allegedly tweeted. The time clock was reset to 4-seconds and Tynes repeated his game winning kick. Big Blue bested the Cowboys in a thrilling shoot-out that football fans die for. Final score 33-31.

The game was played in Arlington Texas, the home of the Cowboys' brand new 1.3 billion-dollar stadium. That hefty cost makes Cowboys Stadium one of the most expensive sports venues ever built.

The Cowboys Stadium 2009 inauguration was such a big event, famous Texas resident George W. Bush performed the opening coin toss, with the classy Laura Bush at his side. The stadium was star studded with Dallas greats Roger Staubach, Troy Aikman, and Emmit Smith. John Madden was also there, shown sitting next to Dubya.

The Giants and the Cowboys have a long history of football rivalry and their first meeting for the 2009 season was the Stadium's first hosted game during the NFL regular season. Cowboys Stadium boasts a seating capacity of 80,000 with an expansion accommodating an estimated 111,000. Sunday's game held a record-breaking attendance of 105,000.

During Sunday night's game, the Cowboys wore 2009 inaugural stadium patches on their jerseys commemorating the new stadium.

Nicknames for the stadium were being tried on for size. A popular one being thrown around is "Jerry World" in honor of owner Jerry Jones. Some others are "Jones Town," the "Jerrydome," and "Jones-Mahal."

During preseason, the Cowboys hosted the Tennessee Titans. Dallas won that exhibition game 30-10. Highlights included Titans' rookie punter kicking a ball into the scoreboard, no harm done. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones stated the punter, AJ Trapasso, intentionally hit the gigantic screen, the worlds largest.

Cowboys Stadium is home to the world's largest scoreboard, which is a center-hung HDTV. The screen was created by Mitsubishi and is 160 x 72 feet, 11,520 square-feet; That is feet not inches! And talking about breaking records, the retractable roof stadium was completed on May 29, 2009 and is the world's largest domed stadium.

Jerry Jones and George Steinbrenner partnered up to operate the concessions and merchandising sales at the new Cowboys stadium and the new Yankee stadium in the Bronx, NY.

Sources:

NBC, Sunday Night Football

Wikipedia