Lucas Oil Stadium Tour

It is important, in my opinion, to allow yourself to be a tourist in your own city. Life is more fun that way. I took the afternoon off of work since our flight was at 7ish and getting to the airport from Muncie after leaving work at 5 would have been a hassle. We'd been meaning to take a Lucas Oil Stadium tour for ages but since they're only offered on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons they were never convenient. Today was finally our chance so we headed downtown early and paid the $10 each to take the tour. It was TOTALLY worth it.
We had a few minutes to kill in the pro shop and Jackson spotted this mannequin built "exactly like your brother Aaron!" So I had to take the photo and send it my big bro's way. It just cracked me up because the mannequin did have Aaron's athletic build. I share genes with Aaron; where are my athletic genes?!
Our tour only have 11 people on it. Score! Sure, one young couple thought bringing along their kids aged 7 months and 2 years was a great idea (hint: it wasn't), but whatever. I just tried to avoid the kids and their associated noise. (Save your hate mail, the family lived in Indy. They could have gotten a babysitter. Those kids were too young to give a darn.)

Anyway, Lucas Oil paid $122M for the naming rights for 20 years. (Did you all immediately wonder how they expensed that for tax purposes? No? Just me? OK, then Jackson was right when he told me that was a personal problem of mine. Ha!) For this small, no large, fortune Lucas Oil got to have its name on the outside and its logo (the biggest corporate logo in America) on the floor of the entryway. They also got to decorate the entryway. I can think of a ton of ways that $122M could have been better spent, but no one called me for advice. Typical. ;)
Me: Jackson, make a TOUCHDOWN sign
Jackson: With what?
Me: Markers and a big piece of paper.
Jackson: Huh?!
Me: Your arms, genius.
Jackson: Oh. Ok. *throws hands up in a 'Y'*
Me: Since when do refs do the YMCA when someone scores?
Random man on the tour the says to Jackson: HAHAHA SHE'S AWESOME DUDE
Jackson: Oh yeah. And all mine. Lucky me. *eye roll*
Me: It isn't my fault that you don't know hand signals
Random dude: *laughing butt off*
The view from good seats that we'll never have because the Colts are on crack with their ticket prices.
The big window was open since it was such a gorgeous day. The view of the city was incredible.
I will always have a special place in my heart for the Chase Tower (the tallest building with the white top). Even though working at Deloitte Tax was heinous, the friendships I formed and things I learned will stick with me forever.
Jackson was happy to see some of his old favorites were still celebrated in the stadium. I thought the painting was lame and should be removed before Peyton Manning returns to town as a Bronco on October 20th.
This was the view from the press box. Seating is assigned up there and they have a free buffet available. I thought those two facts were fascinating for whatever reason.
The view from the camera room. This room didn't have glass on the edge so Jackson snapped the photo while I hugged the wall. One can never be too careful. ;)
Listen, Roger Goodell, perhaps this room should have move visitors during games. Have you seen some of the blown calls made in the past? Honestly. My services are always available, old friend.
The tour guide was really proud of the carpet up in the press area so I snapped a photo to appease her. I'm a sucker that way.

The view from the Gatorade suite. I left my business card and offered to act as a new flavor consultant in exchange for tickets. Ok, I didn't do that. I should have, though. That's brilliant. They'll never improve on lemon-lime in my book so maybe it isn't a good idea. Moving on...

Jackson sat down at this locker and the tour guide informed him that he was keeping Andrew Luck's seat warm. He was so excited.
The locker room was massive. The woman in blue above kept calling it a "dressing room" which cracked me up.
They're the least locker-like lockers I've seen. They put the name plates up before each game and no one stores anything there overnight. I found this to be a big letdown. I expected to see Reggie Wayne's gloves, Redding's dancing shoes and other such stuff sitting around.
We took the tunnel from the locker room/ dressing room to the field. Jackson was so excited to make this walk! I'll admit I did pretend to be a player myself and jumped around a bit. :)
"JENNA!!!! WE ARE ON THE FIELD! ON THE FIELD! TAKE MY PICTURE!!!"
Seriously thought, it was awesome to get to stand there and take it all in. The field was softer than normal ground but we weren't so sure about getting tackled on it. Ouch.
I once sat in that horseshoe. I just knew Redding could see my cheering for him that day. ;)
The stadium is just massive! You get a good feel for its size when you stand in the middle of the playing field and look up.
Jackson wanted to "dunk" over the uprights. We now have a new respect for the players who can do that. Those things are up there! I'd need stilts to do it.
Oh just hanging out in the red zone. No big deal. ;)


I wanted to show how high up the press boxes are. That part to the far left without glass is where my fear of heights kicked in. Rightfully so!
Our tour guide was really nice and just let us ask questions and play around on the field. She did not, however, have a football available. What?! Come on, lady. Ha! Next time I'm bringing one along with me.
I was trying to do the Heisman pose, but I was so giddy that it looks like a dance. Oh well!
I wanted to "Tebow" to show my support for Tim during this period of transition for him. I understand why he did it now. You cannot help but feel small when you're out on that big field. It was a humbling experience. I also think he was thanking God that no one was hurting him at that moment. I'm not kidding I cannot imagine what it must feel like to hit the ground out there during a game. Ugh!

That concluded the tour. Awesome, no? It was totally worth taking an afternoon off of work and doing. I loved that the window was open, too. It was just such a cool place. I imagine it would be even more awesome if I really liked the Colts. I just cannot do it. I can't buy in!
After the tour, which took about 1.5 hours, we stopped at Bosphorus Cafe to share some hummus and cabbage rolls before heading to the airport. It was nice to have a leisurely afternoon instead of rushing around as we would have had I not peaced out of work early. I did spend our extra airport time catching up on work emails so it was a pretty fair deal for everyone. We're in Minneapolis now waiting to catch our next flight to Missoula. We are amped to see Montana!!! :)

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