Stadium Cheat Sheet
The Houston stadium tour cheat sheet Part 3: BBVA Compass Stadium
Sep 19, 2017, 1:16 pm
You don't have to be a soccer fan to have a blast at a BBVA Stadium. Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
This is part three of the Houston stadium series. You can find part one — Minute Maid Park — here and part two — Toyota Center — here.
Soccer. Football. Whatever you want to call it. The sport rightfully has a foothold in one of the country’s most diverse cities. And while I love my Astros, Rockets, and Texans, there’s a unique sense of pride I get from cheering for the Houston Dynamo.
That pride stems from the fact that, while they may be firmly planted as the fourth most profitable major sport in Houston, they host to the absolute greatest fans Houston has to offer. There is absolutely no equal.
I think I’ve established how much of an Astros fan I am by now. Yet, when approached by non sports fans, my first recommendation is always a Houston Dynamo match. Not the Astros. Not the Rockets. Not the Texans. I say the same thing every time: “You don’t have to care about soccer or sports in general to have fun at that stadium.”
I have spent several seasons living just a few blocks west of BBVA Compass Stadium; some seasons as a fan enjoying the matches from the stands, others bartending just across the street. As a fan, I knew Dynamo fans were fun. As a bartender? Jesus. These matches are all day events and you better come correct on game day.
I’m not going to waste time dissecting why you should be coming to more Dynamo games. I’ll keep it brief. The team is fun again, and the entire neighborhood turns into a damn party — before, during, and well after the game — every time they play. That should be convincing enough.
Where to get tickets
You’ve got two options here. Option A: the Flashseats app, once again. This is actually a new option to Dynamo fans this season. Option B: actually call the Dynamo ticket office. They typically have some pretty cool four-pack offers. My buddies and I take turns buying four-packs and the last one I bought came with a $30 gift card to the team store.
They never knew about that last part. They did however, like my new hat.
Where to park
You might actually want to bite the bullet and pay for parking this time around. There are some pretty cheap spots on Hutchins and — as always — the further you’re willing to walk, the cheaper it gets.
Where to pregame
On game days, just about every bar in the neighborhood becomes saturated, so expect a rowdy party wherever you go. Lucky’s and Woodrow’s will be difficult to drink at or find anyone you may be trying to meet up with (keeping yelling into your phone how you’re the one by the bar in the orange. They’ll find you. Someday). So, while you still may end up barhopping there, I don’t suggest starting there.
Instead, head over to Neil’s Bahr just around the corner. A somewhat recent expansion and conversion of the lot next door to an outdoor drinking patio equipped with a cabana-style cash bar (referred to by the owner as “Tequille O’Neil’s Cantina”) gives one of Houston’s most unique bars plenty of real estate to handle the influx of Dynamo fans.
The Bahr proper’s interior reminds me of basically every college house party I ever went to; everyone has a beer, some people are in the other room playing an overly competitive game of ping pong, others on the couch playing Super Smash Bros or Goldeneye on a tube TV (yes, that’s an option), and a purposely cheesy B-list movie off in the corner just waiting to be commented on to break any awkward silences. Oh, and if you’re hungry, you’re in luck because the best damn food in the neighborhood is grilled on the front patio by Pablo, the baddest hombre around.
Where to get beer
BBVA Compass is a fairly intimate stadium, so even if you have to go from one end to the other, it’s not really that big of a deal. That said, BBVA has a fairly impressive selection of local (8th Wonder, St. Arnold) and not so local (Bitburger, Estrella Jalisco) brews, so you should be able to find something you like. Most of the craft beer can be found in the corners of the stadiums. Domestics will be found everywhere, as usual (you monster).
Where to eat
I already told you, go to Pablo. The food inside the stadium is your standard stadium grub. Pablo will change your life.
Where it gets rowdy
Everywhere. The entire stadium is dialed in, and it’s live sports euphoria. If you really need to turn it up, sections 215-217 (known as “Zone Naranja”) are about as real as it gets in Houston. These sections are set aside for the team’s three separate official fan groups: El Batallon, Brickwall Firm, and the Texian Army. Last year the Dynamo relocated the groups to the north end of the stadium to allow more room for growth, since they had maxed out their original stomping grounds.
Previously, you’d be hard pressed to find space among these diehards, but the new locale gives more casual fans an opportunity to sit among the utter chaos. Instead of slapping down season ticket money and hoping you made the right decision, now fans can try out the section for a few games to determine if they are, as former Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch once so eloquently put it, “about that action.”
Look, I’m a fan. But those guys intimidate me.
---
Originally appeared onhoustonsportsandstuff.com.
Most Popular
SportsMap Emails
Are Awesome
Listen Live
After finishing up with the Guardians the Astros have a rather important series for early May with the Seattle Mariners heading to town for the weekend. While it’s still too early to be an absolute must-win series for the Astros, losing the series to drop seven or eight games off the division lead would make successfully defending their American League West title that much more unlikely.
Since their own stumble out of the gate to a 6-10 record the Mariners have been racking up series wins, including one this week over the Atlanta Braves. The M’s offense is largely Mmm Mmm Bad, but their pitching is sensational. In 18 games after the 6-10 start, the Mariners gave up five runs in a game once. In the other 17 games they only gave up four runs once. Over the 18 games their starting pitchers gave up 18 earned runs total with a 1.44 earned run average. That’s absurd. Coming into the season Seattle’s starting rotation was clearly better on paper than those of the Astros and Texas Rangers, and it has crystal clearly played out as such into the second month of the schedule.
While it’s natural to focus on and fret over one’s own team's woes when they are plentiful as they have been for the Astros, a reminder that not all grass is greener elsewhere. Alex Bregman has been awful so far. So has young Mariners’ superstar Julio Rodriguez. A meager four extra base hits over his first 30 games were all Julio produced down at the ballyard. That the Mariners are well ahead of the Astros with J-Rod significantly underperforming is good news for Seattle.
Caratini comes through!
So it turns out the Astros are allowed to have a Puerto Rican-born catcher who can hit a little bit. Victor Caratini’s pedigree is not that of a quality offensive player, but he has swung the bat well thus far in his limited playing time and provided the most exciting moment of the Astros’ season with his two-out two-run 10th inning game winning home run Tuesday night. I grant that one could certainly say “Hey! Ronel Blanco finishing off his no-hitter has been the most exciting moment.” I opt for the suddenness of Caratini’s blow turning near defeat into instant victory for a team that has been lousy overall to this point. Frittering away a game the Astros had led 8-3 would have been another blow. Instead, to the Victor belong the spoils.
Pudge Rodriguez is the greatest native Puerto Rican catcher, but he was no longer a good hitter when with the Astros for the majority of the 2009 season. Then there’s Martin Maldonado.
Maldonado’s hitting stats with the Astros look Mike Piazza-ian compared to what Jose Abreu was doing this season. Finally, mercifully for all, Abreu is off the roster as he accepts a stint at rookie-level ball in Florida to see if he can perform baseball-CPR on his swing and career. Until or unless he proves otherwise, Abreu is washed up and at some point the Astros will have to accept it and swallow whatever is left on his contract that runs through next season. For now Abreu makes over $120,000 per game to not be on the roster. At his level of performance, that’s a better deal than paying him that money to be on the roster.
Abreu’s seven hits in 71 at bats for an .099 batting average with a .269 OPS is a humiliating stat line. In 2018 George Springer went to sleep the night of June 13 batting .293 after going hitless in his last four at bats in a 13-5 Astros’ win over Oakland. At the time no one could have ever envisioned that Springer had started a deep, deep funk which would have him endure a nightmarish six for 78 stretch at the plate (.077 batting average). Springer then hit .293 the rest of the season.
Abreu’s exile opened the door for Joey Loperfido to begin his Major League career. Very cool for Loperfido to smack a two-run single in his first game. He also struck out twice. Loperfido will amass whiffs by the bushel, he had 37 strikeouts in 101 at bats at AAA Sugar Land. Still, if he can hit .225 with some walks mixed in (he drew 16 with the Space Cowboys) and deliver some of his obvious power (13 homers in 25 games for the ex-Skeeters) that’s an upgrade over Abreu/Jon Singleton, as well as over Jake Meyers and the awful showing Chas McCormick has posted so far. Frankly, it seems unwise that the Astros only had Loperfido play seven games at first base in the minors this year. If McCormick doesn’t pick it up soon and with Meyers displaying limited offensive upside, the next guy worth a call-up is outfielder Pedro Leon. In January 2021 the Astros gave Leon four million dollars to sign out of Cuba and called him a “rapid mover to the Major Leagues.” Well…
Over his first three minor league seasons Leon flashed tools but definitely underwhelmed. He has been substantially better so far this year. He turns 26 May 28. Just maybe the Astros offense could be the cause of fewer Ls with Loperfido at first and Leon in center field.
Catch our weekly Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast. Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and I discuss varied Astros topics. The first post for the week generally goes up Monday afternoon (second part released Tuesday) via YouTube: stone cold stros - YouTube with the complete audio available via Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.