The first game back in “The Dome” since 2010 for Missouri football was a chance for it to show St. Louis what it was capable of. Thirty-four points and 60 minutes later, the Tigers did exactly that, improving to 4-0 on the season.
Shifting their gaze from the black-and-gold painted football field to the luminescent scoreboard on both ends of The Dome at America’s Center’s bowl seating, Kathy and Larry LaBarge take in a scene they’re all-but familiar with.
For Missouri Tigers football fans, it’s been over 10 years since “The Dome” — as it’s more popularly known — has been decked out in Tiger colors. For St. Louis Rams fans, it’s been seven. But for the LaBarges, it’s a first.
“This season, we have season tickets for the Tigers and drive to Columbia for all of Mizzou’s home games,” Kathy said. “It was really special to have it here at home in St. Louis this time. The atmosphere in The Dome was electrifying.”
Larry shared Kathy’s enthusiasm.
“When we heard that Mizzou would be playing Memphis in The Dome, we bought eight tickets,” Larry added. “It was a hell of a game. Truly an awesome night for Mizzou fans.”
The pair has been married for 20 years and have resided in their Crestwood home “all their lives,” raising two kids throughout that time, the latter of whom chose the University of Missouri for college. But despite being long-time residents, they had never stepped foot in one of the city’s most iconic downtown attractions.
Neither had Kaitlin Green.
While the LaBarge’s were finding their seats in section 412 — still 70 minutes from the Tigers’ kickoff against Memphis — Green was doing the same, though her pregame activities were vastly different.
She was on the field — dressed in full uniform with the rest of the Mizzou Golden Girls — waiting to welcome Tigers coach Eli Drinkwitz and company to a field they would call home for the night in front of fans who welcomed them like regular visitors.
“Going to St. Louis put into perspective just how many fans Mizzou football has,” Green said. “I mean, I’m from Kansas, so I did not grow up with that Mizzou atmosphere, but there was still something so familiar about dancing in The Dome.”
About as familiar as Green felt dancing at America’s Center, Missouri Tigers sophomore wide receiver Luther Burden III felt equally as familiar playing in it, in front of fans he otherwise wouldn’t have gotten the chance to see.
“I had a lot of my family members come from all over,” Burden said. “I just wanted to make sure they got a good show.”
Missouri football sophomore wide receiver Luther Burden III looks on at his teammates during warm-ups of the Tigers’ Sept. 23 matchup against Memphis. Missouri went on to win 34-27 over the “visiting” Tigers to improve to 4-0 on the its season.
Burden’s pregame routine was perhaps the most exciting of the three, but regardless of where he, the LaBarges or Green and the Golden Girls were 70 minutes prior to kickoff, they were there. In St. Louis. In “The Dome.” And they were there for one reason:
Missouri Tigers Football.
Creating a ‘hometown’ experience
Replacing Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium was never the goal for the Tigers. For them, Columbia was home and home was where the Tigers played, which is exactly what made St. Louis “home” for one Saturday night.
It didn’t have to be St. Louis — other teams have trekked to much further places with what would be considered more appealing — but Missouri didn’t want to do that. It wanted to stay close.
“The St. Louis region is a key market for us in recruiting, fan engagement and corporate support,” Missouri Director of Athletics Desireé Reed-Francois said prior to the Tigers’ trip to The Dome. “Finding a unique way to hold events in the city has been a priority for Mizzou athletics.”
Simply put, the Tigers found a way. Taking what used to be the Rams’ stomping grounds, Missouri made The Dome its own, painting the iconic Tiger head at midfield and completing the end zones with the same six-letter emblem that lined the back of each player’s helmet.
“Mizzou to the Lou” lined the inner ring of the stadium while black and gold colors replaced the out-dated red and blue seats that were completely empty just the day before.
“I want to thank the fans,” Drinkwitz said during his postgame press conference, choosing to start by acknowledging the atmosphere over anything else. “I mean, what an unbelievable turnout. It was an awesome environment from the start of Tiger Walk until the win at the very end. I’m very appreciative of the city of St. Louis and the great sports fans [in it].
“We told ourselves all week: ‘Kansas City has the Chiefs and St. Louis has the Tigers.’”
Missouri football head coach Eli Drinkwitz looks up at the Tiger-colored crowd in The Dome at America’s Center prior to the Tigers’ matchup against Memphis on Saturday, Sept. 23. Missouri went on to win 34-27 and improve to 4-0 on its season.
When the Tigers went to St. Louis, they made sure to bring traditions with them. From the helmet-cart race at the 19-minute mark of halftime, to the new columns race and even playing “Mr. Brightside” just before the start of the fourth quarter, everything in The Dome was made to resemble playing in Columbia. The fans were “just as excited,” if not more.
“Our fans were just as loud, just as committed to the game and just as excited,” Green said. “And that was a huge stadium. We were able to fill so many seats … It was just so exciting seeing Tiger fans from St. Louis there who really showed up for us.”
Two Missouri Tiger fans smile and yell during “Mr. Brightside” in The Dome at America’s Center on Saturday, Sept. 23 in St. Louis. Missouri football improved to 4-0 on its season after a 34-27 win over Memphis.
The Tigers ended up holding off Memphis in the latter half of the fourth quarter, coming away with a 34-27 win to retain a perfect 4-0 record on the season, so the fans got a show. And a win.
Which to Drinkwitz, was the most important part. “We found a way to get a win,” Drinkwitz said postgame. “That was important. Part of the reason we wanted to do [Mizzou to the Lou] was so that the city of St. Louis would understand that playing at home and playing for your hometown university is powerful. I think that there was a really great display of that tonight.”
From a players’ perspective
When Missouri football junior Kris Abrams-Draine stepped up to the postgame podium, his T-shirt instantly stuck out. It was a simple black tee, but in the center of it read the words: “Something to prove.”
Abrams-Draine’s simple message wasn’t anything he personally came up with, but rather the mantra of the whole team. Improving to 4-0 was how the Tigers proved their talent, and what they were capable of.
But while the junior was repping the season mantra of the entire Missouri football team, to 18 of his teammates hailing from St. Louis, that phrase meant even more. Those players had more than a stadium of fans to show out for — they also had family.
Tigers graduate captain Cody Schrader was just one example of that.
“It was an incredible honor,” Schrader said. “Just looking at my journey, I never expected that I’d get the opportunity to play in the city that I’m from. … It’s what you’ve always dreamed about — having people watch your high school career and then still following your college career, and now, they want to come out and support.”
Schrader explained prior to Missouri’s matchup against Memphis that he had expected 80-100 people from his high school to attend the Tiger-on-Tiger matchup in The Dome, which made Missouri’s win that much sweeter for the running back, especially since he scored a 37-yard dagger late in the fourth quarter.
“To be able to do that in front of your city, family and friends, is something I’ll remember forever,” Schrader said. “I’ll definitely have a story to tell my kids one day.”
As much as Schrader will remember scoring the final touchdown, so will the family and friends that got to watch. So will Green, who got a front-row seat to Scrader’s “surprise” touchdown.
“We were situated right in front of the players’ families,” Green said. “That was such a unique and different perspective that I’d never experienced. They’re watching their kids play — they are their biggest fans — and that was honestly such a big motivator. You want to be as excited for the Tigers as they are excited for their kids playing.”
University of Missouri sophomore Golden Girl Kaitlin Green goes through her routine on the sidelines in The Dome at America’s Center during the first half of Missouri football’s Sept. 23 matchup against Memphis. Green is a two-year veteran of the Golden Girls dating back to the first semester of her freshman year.
So, Schrader’s family left The Dome happy. As did Burden’s — who got to see the receiver record a career-high number of yards — and just about every other Missouri fan in the building.
Whether they came from Columbia, lived in St. Louis all of their lives or just made the trek for the special event, fans were brought together by Missouri football and the traditions that came with it — both big and small.
Even a seemingly miniscule thing like Burden’s cleats showcased how special playing in St. Louis was.
“It means everything,” Burden said. “I planned it out, so [those cleats] weren’t anything new to me, but it was just a big thing. It was something I wanted to do to represent the city. And they were cool cleats.”
Missouri football sophomore wide receiver Luther Burden III stands on the Tigers’ sideline in the first quarter of Missouri’s Sept 23. matchup against Memphis. Burden’s cleats were custom-made to represent his hometown, St. Louis, and featured a city skyline as well as the words “North Side.”
When the game clock in The Dome hit triple zeros, the Tigers had officially come away with a win and remained perfect in front of their “hometown.” As the LaBarge’s looked around the now-packed Dome at America’s Center, they noticed how much it meant to the team and its fans, and they felt it, too.
But so did Green, who — despite not having a personal connection to St. Louis, felt welcomed as she began celebrating with her teammates before forming an arc and swaying to Missouri’s alma mater.
St. Louis isn’t just a place for the Tigers to play football once every 10 years, and it’s not just a place for their fans to root for them from afar, either. Saturday’s win showed that the city means much more than that. St. Louis is home for Missouri football.
Because home is where the Tigers are.
Edited by Chase Gemes | cgemes@themaneater.com
Copy edited by Grace Knight | gknight@themaneater.com