BCS Pregame

So, I have been remiss about posting lately, but I did want to recap the BCS. Not the important stuff like the game itself, the stupid formulas used to calculate the participants in the game, or who should have been in the game, but rather trivial stuff like my venture to the stadium and the interesting occurrences and observations during pregame. Now, since the game was practically in my backyard, I didn't arrive until 5:30 or so, but it was an interesting couple of hours before kickoff anyway.

Here we go:

4:15 - Leave work early

5:30 - arrive at the stadium and parked in the supplementary lot. The primary lot was for VIPs and those that pre-purchased tickets. Haven gotten them from a friend, no parking pass for me. $40 for parking. Probably should have carpooled that is for sure. At least the supplementary lot was an actual asphalt lot with lined parking spaces.

5:35 - As I walk through the supplementary lot to my pre-ordained pregame location, I noticed that a lot of douchenozzles were parking in multiple spaces. Not the "set up camp in an adjoining space to save room for my friends who are coming later" type of way, but rather the "straddle the line between two spaces" or "park the length of the car through the width of two to three spaces" type of way. I saw this on a number of occasions and each time, it was UF fans.

5:40 - Still in the parking lot, I see some young guys, students or recent grads, tailgating out of the bed of a truck and drinking bud in a can. Not necessarily my choice, but I understand the costs/logistics of tailgating, so no complaints there. However, as I passed, one of the kids grabs a bottle out of the cooler. I am thinking he is the most sophisticated of the group, until I see that it is a Miller Chill. What are our educational institutions teaching nowadays? Anyhow, also UF fans.

5:45 - As I enter the main lot and close in on the tailgate location, I pass a gaggle, and I mean gaggle, of young OU (female) students wearing red t-shirts that say "Sammies" and the number 14 in white. My assumption is that this section of ladies and their shirts are an homage to Sam Bradford. Now, I coincidentally happened to eat lunch at Quiznos that afternoon. As I passed the ladies I mentioned that I ate a couple of them for lunch. I think I thought it was funnier than they did, and I suppose, from the looks I received, that I am lucky they didn't summon any member of local law enforcement.

5:48 - At tailgate. Have beer.

5:49 - Hang out with a few MLB baseballers, Brad Wilkerson, Brad Schneider and Josh Fogg, none of whom I had met before this week. Wilkerson had a charity event Monday night/Tuesday that I was able to attend. Much props to Brad for his foundation and its support of the local Boys and Girls Club of West Palm Beach, as well as his hometown in Kentucky.

6:05 - Jigga, one of Racecar's friends, a UF alumna and a fervent fan of the Gators, calls her Mom in Pinellas County to remind her to put the UF bandannas on Jigga's dogs, "so that we don't lose". After calling Jigga out on this conversation, she says that she forgot to put the bandannas on for the Mississippi game. So it was her fault.

6:12 - Jigga receives another call, this time from the cousin of a fellow tailgater saying they are stuck in traffic, which the police have blocked in order for the team buses to enter the stadium. I remark that this seems a little late for the teams to arrive. A later discussion with some of the stadium employees reveals that yes, the buses were late to arrive as they were stuck in traffic.


6:15 - Tailgate is very near the Oklahoma band. Had I known that this picture was to become famous after the game, I would have taken a before shot.

6:19 - I spy some tailgaters playing beanbag toss. However the board is decorated green, white and gold and clearly says USF. Amazing.

6:24 - Ken Griffey, Jr. and his three children saunter by to speak with Brad. Jr. is incredibly nice, speaks with everyone and I couldn't say anything bad about the man. This is actually the second opportunity that I have had to meet and speak with him. Perhaps a more detailed version of the first encounter will be a post, but not at least until the first anniversary of that meeting is past (I'll explain all later).

6:30 - Gates open.

A side note - The previous picture notwithstanding, by far, the OU girls are much prettier than the UF girls. This isn't to say that the Gators don't have some attractive fans, they do, but on average, it isn't even close.

6:50 - Make way into stadium. Takes a long time. At this point I resign myself to the fact that this is going to be the end of my blog. Until ...

8:06 - As I go to the concession stand for some beers (and obviously forgetting that they don't sell beers at the stadium because it is a college bowl game), I catch some of the pregame television festivities in the concourse, including the fact that the captains are walking out to midfield for the coin toss. At this instant, the announcers talk about how great a leader Sam Bradford is, but that Tim Tebow is unquestionably the best leader in college football, if not all of sports. As I glance at the television, I see that neither is a team captain. Now that is, if not irony, then certainly ironic timing.

Yada, yada, yada - The Gators win.