Departing Dallas, with thoughts of water attractions and a splashy title bout

By John Katsilometes

Sunday, March 14, 2010 | 12:05 p.m.

Each night you could hear the droning, this guttural whirr, followed by a light splashing of water. The sound of some sort of mechanical gearing or electronic trigger engaging, then a pause, then, "sploosh."

It is the water attraction at the Gaylord Texan, which is in Dallas if you're not from here and in Grapevine if you are. Texas. In a locale famous for presenting itself as larger than life, than all outdoors, even, this fountain is not. As I watched this man-made geyser spring skyward (or, roof-ward, as the hotel is covered in a glass-and-steel ceiling), I thought of how tourists to Las Vegas halt traffic on the Strip to gaze at the Bellagio water attraction.

You want a water show? That's a water show.

Comparisons between Sin City and Big D, trite nicknames out-of-towners use for these cities, abounded this week in Dallas. As Las Vegas sat ringside, the first professional championship fight was held at Cowboys Stadium. The fight was far less remarkable than the facility itself, as Manny Pacquiao threw something like 10,000 punches at the human cocoon that was challenger Joshua Clottey in a WBO welterweight title bout. Big deal. Any other result, even a Pacquiao knockout, would have been unexpected. Clottey came in determined to be upright at the final bell, and he was. Pacquiao pitched a shutout — a couple of judges gave Clottey one round, but this result was like watching another vaunted lefty, Sandy Koufax, unspool a four-hitter.

But the stadium. Stunning. I keep saying it, keep writing it, but if Las Vegas wants to know what it's up against when competing for title bouts (or any other major events, such as maybe the National Finals Rodeo), consider that the first fight crowd at the enclosed Death Star drew an announced crowd of 50,944.

Third-largest crowd ever to see a fight in the United States. Not bad for a show that, to apply Vegas parlance, was akin to the opening of previews.

And yet, the event did not seem that terribly enormous, either, as the Dandy Don big screen hanging 55 feet above the ring made the 110,000-capacity facility seem more like a big rec room than a stadium. The most fun seemed to be in the "Party Zone," what Cowboys owner and Cowboys Stadium chief financier Jerry Jones coyly refers to what is commonly called "standing-room only."

A few thousand tickets, at $35 apiece, went on sale Friday. You could not get a clean view of the ring from the Party Zone, but it hardly mattered. You could see the Dandy Don. The Ghanan fans of Clottey took over one end of the Zone, chanting and bounding in an amoebic mob that joyfully engulfed many non-Ghanans in the Party Zone. One was Dallas resident Nicole Sterns, proprietor of a women's accessories store, who said, "My first thought when I walked in here was, 'This is an amusement park!'"

An amusement park, for adults. Sound familiar?

Certainly, the mystique of Vegas is untarnished no matter what events are drawn to Dallas — such figures as former Cowboy Michael Irvin and a young fight fan from Houston named Johnny Najara agree on that. If Las Vegas continues to push itself as a topnotch resort destination where you need not drive or be bussed 30 minutes to the featured event, where more than 25,000 hotel rooms, a half-dozen major resorts and around-the-clock entertainment sit within a tight radius of the MGM Grand, we have no problem going toe-to-toe with Greater Dallas.

On the way out of the post-fight news conference this morning (it was well past midnight), I approached the stage where Jones was just wrapping up his night's work. As he signed autographs I reached up to shake his hand and asked, "When are we going to see you in Vegas?" I had earlier remarked to Jones that he reminded me a lot of some of the gun-slinging pioneers who helped found Las Vegas.

"Soon enough, soon enough, I hope," he said. "I love Las Vegas." Then he smiled, looking like a man confident his hand beats your hand, every time.

Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at twitter.com/JohnnyKats.