utamav91

I worked at the Service Merchandise out there from 1989-1992. Toward the end of those years a lot of places really started to shut down. The Service Merchandise did a great business. It was in the old blue Wilson's color scheme then was finally painted gray to match the newer Service Merchandise locations like the one in Irving on 183 at Story Rd. and the one at Hulen. The Forum had a great pizza place in it at the court where the movie theater was. They did a small buffet and when you walked in, sometimes the owner would ask you what you wanted and after finishing your salad I was often pleased to find my choice of pizza on the buffet. They had a big-screen TV in there too, so I recall watching a lot of college football during our lunch hours on saturdays.

I think Chili's wins the most oversaturated sit down restaurant in the Metroplex award though... 

Dallas/Ft. Worth
Addison
Allen
Bedford
Burleson
Carrollton
Casa Linda
Cedar Creek Lake
Cedar Hill
Cleburne
Coit Road
Coppell
Corsicana
Denton
DFW B
DFW C
Ennis
Firewheel
Flower Mound
Fossil Creek
Frisco
Gainesville
Garland
Granbury
Grand Prairie
Grapevine Mills
Grapevine
Greenville
Hickory Creek
Hulen
HWY 30
I30 Broadway
Irving
Justin Road
Knox
Lake Worth
Lancaster
Lewisville
Love Field B&B
Love Field Too
Mansfield
McKinney
N. Arlington
N. Richland Hills
Paris
Pinnacle Park
Plano
Preston 544
Preston LBJ
Redbird
Richardson
Ridgmar
Roanoke
Rockwall
Rowlett
S. Arlington
Stemmons
Stephenville
Stonebriar Frisco
Sulphur Springs
Sundance Square
Tarrant Pkwy
Town East
University
Valley Ranch
Watauga
Waxahachie
Weatherford
Wylie

but their burgers are really good for the price. I get the one with BBQ sauce and bacon on it, no cheese please. Yummy!

The Fire games were awesome..... FIGHT...thats all i remember..hehehe

I've seen a lot of hockey games...time to reminisce on the Fire...

I'll never forget one night in which Fort Worth and San Antonio got into it and there were like 240 penalty minutes. Seemed like the penalty boxes were full all night...not much 5-on-5 hockey at all. The game took forever to play with all the whistles but the crowd was totally into it.

I recall the first season or two the Fire had a player named Ron Aubrey...he didn't have a lot of skill...mostly an enforcer, totally fearless, tough guy for sure. Every game it seemed he got into a fight. Those first couple of years the Fire didn't win many games but opposing teams knew it was gonna be a physical game for sure.

Stephane LaRocque, who was on the Fire championship team and played for the Brahmas a year or two was a center who didn't back down from anyone. Probably the toughest player I've ever seen in minor league hockey. He'd camp out in front of the goalie waiting for a pass and if anyone tried to move him out of the crease area or if anyone picked on one of the Fort Worth scorers, he'd drop the gloves in a heartbeat. Murray Hogg was a huge defenseman in that same era on those teams and was just as tough. As much as his physical play would get the crowd and his team into the game emotionally, sometimes Larocque would take penalties that wound up costing the team a goal or two though...

Cats games are fun. We like sitting in the left field bleachers. The employees are friendly and it's a neat atmosphere. We sat in the front row behind third base one time and had to sorta look over the dugout (it was an interesting perspective...sorta like sitting on the floor at UTA's Texas Hall...the action is more or less at eye-level). But go up a row or two and the sightlines are very good between 1st and 3rd base.

We also saw part of the Dallas Baptist tourney a year or two ago at LaGrave Field--TCU/DBU/Oklahoma State and another school. Not a bad seat in the house.

Speaking of minor league baseball stories, during the baseball strike of 1994 me and my then-girlfriend-now-wife needed to see some baseball and took a day trip to Mike Carter Field in Tyler, TX to see the now-defunct Tyler Wildcatters of the old Texas-Louisiana League (now the Central League in which the Cats play in). A spectaculalry scenic setting...right in the middle of the gorgeous pine trees of East Texas. It's an older field that's been expanded a few times. I think the park hosts high school games now. A real gem in the history of the great game in my opinion. The red box seats behind the dugouts are from Arlington Stadium. I think the big set of aluminum bleachers beyond the dugouts on each line were added when the T-L league came to Tyler.

http://www.ballparkr...tyler/tyler.htm
http://www.geocities...tter94/mcf.html

I was a huge Fire fan. Their games were a lot of fun. Especially once they moved the first and last thirds of the season to Will Rogers. A loud building, even when it's only half full (3000 or so). Games at the Convention Center don't have the same atomosphere--it's a nice building and all but the seats seem a bit further from the action and it's not nearly as loud, even with a full house (10,000 or so).

Cats games are fun. We like sitting in the left field bleachers. The employees are friendly and it's a neat atmosphere. We sat in the front row behind third base one time and had to sorta look over the dugout (it was an interesting perspective...sorta like sitting on the floor at UTA's Texas Hall...the action is more or less at eye-level). But go up a row or two and the sightlines are very good between 1st and 3rd base.

We also saw part of the Dallas Baptist tourney a year or two ago at LaGrave Field--TCU/DBU/Oklahoma State and another school. Not a bad seat in the house.

Speaking of minor league baseball stories, during the baseball strike of 1994 me and my then-girlfriend-now-wife needed to see some baseball and took a day trip to Mike Carter Field in Tyler, TX to see the now-defunct Tyler Wildcatters of the old Texas-Louisiana League (now the Central League in which the Cats play in). A spectaculalry scenic setting...right in the middle of the gorgeous pine trees of East Texas. It's an older field that's been expanded a few times. I think the park hosts high school games now. A real gem in the history of the great game in my opinion. The red box seats behind the dugouts are from Arlington Stadium. I think the big set of aluminum bleachers beyond the dugouts on each line were added when the T-L league came to Tyler.

http://www.ballparkr...tyler/tyler.htm
http://www.geocities...tter94/mcf.html