If you’ve read my column for any time of all, then you know that being an alum and all, Hubby is a diehard fan of the Sam Houston Bearkats and that we’ve had season tickets to their football games for close to 20 years. Having been uprooted from Bowers Stadium for the 2025 season due to renovations and construction, it was nice to return to Huntsville for the first home game on Sept. 12 against Tulsa.
Sam Houston’s move to the FBS Conference USA in recent years necessitated upgraded facilities and the first step was to remove the track around the football field. The second phase was demolition of the press box. The school secured $60 million in funding to build a state of the art, modern press box with up-to-date audio and visual spaces for improved television, radio and streaming quality. Also included are dedicated suites and club levels which will serve as revenue-producing ways to enjoy the games in luxury.
Needless to say, these renovations took time so the Bearkats’ “home” games during the 2025 season were played at Shell Energy Stadium located at 2200 Texas Ave. in Houston, home to the Houston Dynamo Football Club of Major League Soccer and the Houston Dash of the National Women’s Soccer League.
Though it was a little bit of a hassle making the trip to Houston, we enjoyed using Shell and it provided us the opportunity to discover and enjoy some new (to us) restaurants, all of which were within walking distance from the stadium. These included Rodeo Goat at 2105 Dallas, Little Woodrow’s at 801 St. Emanuel St. and The Truckyard at 2118 Lamar St.
At Rodeo Goat I selected the “Cheese Fries Surprise” which was cheddar, bacon, jalapenos and brisket chili over a large helping of hand-punched fries. At Little Woodrow’s we split a 14-inch handmade pizza called “Meat Sweats” which was topped with Italian sausage, beef and pepperoni and we added jalapenos. The array of food trucks vary from day to day at The Truckyard. The choices the day we were there were The Ultimate Kitchen, House of Hoopz BBQ and Foreign Policy.
Foreign Policy offers gourmet fusion burgers, fries and pitas inspired by Korean, Greek, Mexican, and American cuisine and we decided to go that route. We split an order of “Korean Spicy Tenders” which were crispy chicken tenders glazed with Korean bulgogi BBQ sauce, cheddar and monterey cheese, spicy Korean sauce, green onions, cilantro, and kimchi with a side of seasoned battered fries.
While we enjoyed discovering these places and hope to return some day, it was nice being back on the old stomping grounds in Huntsville. We did our usual – left Livingston early, went to The Big E-Z Crawfish & Oyster Bar located at 2707 Sam Houston Ave. for a delicious meal and then headed to the stadium to tailgate prior to the game. Big E-Z’s is our favorite place to eat in Huntsville. While we’ve enjoyed everything we’ve ever eaten there, we usually just go with our “defaults,” his being wings and fries and mine being fish tacos and a cup of gumbo. Though the final score of the game didn’t exactly reflect it (23-17 them), we had a great day.
