Patterico's Pontifications

12/12/2010

Metrodome Roof Collapses

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 3:08 pm



Wow.

21 Responses to “Metrodome Roof Collapses”

  1. I blame algore and global warming.

    JD (eb5afc) — 12/12/2010 @ 3:16 pm

  2. I look forward to the Modern Marvels (or whatever) episode on engineering failures that analyzes where the flaw in the design was.

    Miguelitosd (f443a7) — 12/12/2010 @ 3:31 pm

  3. I just had to yank a post that was based on old posts. I have no idea why they looked new. The post was up for all of 30 seconds before I figured it out; it seems weird to yank a post but I suppose I should note it somewhere so here you go.

    Patterico (c218bd) — 12/12/2010 @ 3:33 pm

  4. Oh, I figured it out. It was in my Google Reader and I thought it was new but I guess it was some old starred post instead.

    Whatever.

    Patterico (c218bd) — 12/12/2010 @ 3:34 pm

  5. Time to get back to work. I’m not cut out for this blogging stuff.

    Patterico (c218bd) — 12/12/2010 @ 3:34 pm

  6. That roof collapsed just like the Bears defense did today.

    BT (74cbec) — 12/12/2010 @ 3:39 pm

  7. Did the snow cyrstalize the steel and make it brittle?
    I wonder what Rosie O’Donnell thinks?

    AD-RtR/OS! (6dbf61) — 12/12/2010 @ 3:50 pm

  8. You mean it’s *not* a Rift in the Sports-Time Continuum ?

    Alasdair (205079) — 12/12/2010 @ 4:47 pm

  9. 7…Yes, I know it’s a fabric roof.

    AD-RtR/OS! (6dbf61) — 12/12/2010 @ 4:49 pm

  10. The irony, like a O’Henry tale, is that they spent money on it, and neglected the bridge which was the
    main path to it, and of course the global warming thing

    narciso (6075d0) — 12/12/2010 @ 4:51 pm

  11. It collapsed in a way that would not have harmed any fans, no? I wonder if that was by design.

    JD (eb5afc) — 12/12/2010 @ 5:30 pm

  12. Evidently, this fabric dome has collapsed before.

    SPQR (26be8b) — 12/12/2010 @ 5:33 pm

  13. According to this New York Times’ article, it’s torn or collapsed several times.

    DRJ (d43dcd) — 12/12/2010 @ 6:09 pm

  14. Oh, you younguns. In 1966, we climbed up on our roofs to shovel off the snow. And then again in 1979.

    nk (db4a41) — 12/12/2010 @ 6:19 pm

  15. Oh, that was Michael Moore…

    The Emperor (4bc2e1) — 12/12/2010 @ 7:25 pm

  16. It’s “deflated” several times; this usually takes a couple of hours to undo. This is being called a “collapse”, and will take days or weeks to repair before re-inflation. This is going to be cited as one of the “reasons” that the city and state should build the Vikings a new stadium.

    htom (412a17) — 12/12/2010 @ 8:20 pm

  17. I don’t want to appear ignorant, but I can’t help it.

    Down here in Texas, we build sports stadiums with real roofs that can be retracted for whatever dumb reason. Although we have snow in Dallas on occasion, it rarely happens in Houston.

    So, why do the northern climes(Minnesota and Michigan) build inflatable roofs which will collapse when it snows?

    I mean, seriously, wouldn’t it make more sense to build inflatable roofs in the south, while rigid roofs were the norm in the north?

    Inquiring minds want to know.

    Ag80 (e828a4) — 12/12/2010 @ 9:19 pm

  18. The fabric roof IIRC was an economy measure.

    AD-RtR/OS! (6dbf61) — 12/12/2010 @ 9:57 pm

  19. Had the same thought, though I suspect it’s just a fortunate aspect of a dome. The furthest point from supports would be near the focus of the dome, where the game is, instead of the spectators, who have to travel up stairs to get to their seats (which means structure around them).

    Still, I wouldn’t be afraid of the roof of one of these things killing fans, except if there was some crazy stampede panic.

    Dustin (b54cdc) — 12/12/2010 @ 10:03 pm

  20. The roof was merely mirroring the team’s season, as well as the latest comeback by their grizzled quarterback.

    Icy Texan (66e366) — 12/13/2010 @ 1:30 am

  21. I heard mention of the “Teflon” dome. I’m assuming the idea was if the structure was very efficient in shedding snow, it would not need to support the weight of snow. But the speed of snow accumulation the other day, and perhaps the properties of the snow itself (I think it was wet, sticky, and heavy as the storm moved in) may have caused this.

    In Texas who worries about snow, it’s that golf-ball sized hail and bigger that you don’t want to be hit by. We usually don’t get that up here.;

    MD in Philly (cac12c) — 12/13/2010 @ 4:25 pm


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