re: Where to stay for Cotton Bowl

Where to stay - support the local alumni chapter and book where the deals have been made. More info here. Also some great information on pre-game festivities.

Where to go out:
* West End is DEAD. Avoid at all costs.
* Deep Ellum reminds me of Chimes St. with their non-conforming, "rough around the edges", COOL bars. Good bands. Cheap drinks.
* Lower Greenville still has some cool places, but parking is a beeotch.
* Uptown has some decent sports bars (MAT, Frankie's, Christie's), but overall it's overrun w/ d'bags.
* Downtown, although mostly a dead nightlife, still has some "upscale" bars but they're full of $30k millionaires, guys that tan all day, run up their credit card bills all night, and drive cars that are 5x their worth. Iron Cactus is one exception, IMO.

With all that being said, I'd lean toward a d'bag free bar in Uptown or a Chimes Street-like bar in Deep Ellum. Hope this helps ya bud.