tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54787539559462150782024-03-13T13:48:43.853-07:00Touring the College Football WorldA fan's journey through treks across the country to the nation's top campus experiences...Dr Chadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08109193628548201367noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5478753955946215078.post-22327105897206421602017-09-04T17:00:00.000-07:002017-09-04T17:06:00.066-07:00Good Ole Rocky Top - WOOO! - Rocky Top TennesseeWhen you have kids, the changes in adult life are far more pronounced than when you start your career or when you get married; once babies enter the picture, something as habitual as taking a trip with your spouse becomes more challenging. Having the time or the energy to make plans and arrange for the care of your children may seem like a small thing to those who do not have kids, but nothing gets you as firmly ensconced into the routine of everyday life like a pair of toddlers. Such is why, for Christmas 2015, I planned a trip for the following September with my wife, confirming nine months in advance that my mother would watch the kids (and the dogs). We had not been away together since our son, Quinn, was born in May 2015 and we needed that time for just her and I...but there was the desire to watch football in a live setting to be considered as well.<br />
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During her pregnancy with Quinn, my wife attended her semi-annual reunion trip with her college soccer teammates in Nashville, but was going through a rough, fairly consistently ill period in the first trimester and missed the group's night out at the Grand Ole Opry. I'm not a huge country music fan by any means, but I thought she would enjoy an Opry-included Nashville do-over. <br />
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Nashville was the "Sarah leg" of the trip. The "Chad leg" stopped in Knoxville, Tennessee, where the state's beloved Volunteers would be opening up their 2016 football season against the <a href="http://cfbtour.blogspot.com/2014/11/tour-takes-local-stop-to-home-of-3-time.html">Appalachian State Mountaineers</a>. Sarah and I had been to a few games, in fact only missing a live football experience together over the first four years that we knew each other only once (the 2009 season). After our daughter was born, though, her Saturday football viewing declined and taking her "<a href="http://cfbtour.blogspot.com/">on tour</a>" with me was just not a topic of discussion that came up very often.<br />
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College Football is a blast to see in person, complete as it is with the unique food, beer, and setting of each town, so I thought she would enjoy with me the Tennessee Vols on the first Thursday night of the new season, then I would enjoy with her the one-and-only Grand Ole Opry on Friday night. It proved a nice combination-trip featuring things that we each really wanted to do mixed with a few things that we both enjoyed doing; a vacation format certainly to be utilized again some day.<br />
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We headed out toward Knoxville on Wednesday, taking a pit stop for the night in Asheville, one of the prettiest places to visit in North Carolina and home to a wide variety of good restaurants. For future Asheville reference, consider a meal at the Corner Kitchen and a post-dinner cocktail at the Battery Park Book Exchange and Champagne Bar. The weather there during the transition period between summer and autumn is just perfect. Then, off to Knoxville we went the following morning. <br />
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Sarah had just started out that summer as a consultant for LuLaRoe, an increasingly popular clothing company that wound up woven into the fabric of our long-weekend getaway, in fact, even as it pertained to the game itself. For the game, we wore matching orange Vols shirts and she added to her ensemble an LLR skirt that, as we frequently joked that day, appeared to be Dorito-themed, as it was covered in rippled orange triangles that looked like Dorito chips. You could not miss it if you saw it reasonably up close. <br />
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When we got to the stadium area, our first destination was a popular tailgating spot called Calhoun's On The River. Though the place was too crowded for us to sit down to eat dinner, there were a couple of food trucks parked outside in the heavily populated parking lot and adjoining river walk. Neyland Stadium is actually situated right off the Tennessee River, making up for the venue's aging, rusting architecture with a heck of a surrounding aesthetic view. The food trucks provided some really good local craft beer and the river walk provided a really cool place to absorb the atmosphere of a Volunteer Nation coming into 2016 with high expectations and a pre-season #9 ranking. Sarah and I used the time to simply enjoy each other's company and a beautiful view.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Check out that view! They call this "The Vol Navy"</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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One interesting aspect of being there with Sarah was the context of how we received the younger members of the tailgating crowd. It had been about five years since she and I had been in a comparable environment together; back then, we were still quite new to the career-oriented part of our life as a married couple and our college memories were not at all far in the rearview. Most of my subsequent College Football Tour stops have been with friends, and it's safe to state that guys getting together for a day of on-campus football comes with a different vibe than going to a college game with your wife. As we walked by the girls talking to the guys about their random meetings in the club, my wife could not help but joke about the trivial things that we care so much about when you're that age; I, meanwhile, could not help but follow her train of thought into thinking like a dad for the first time on one of these stops, shuddering at the idea that our daughter would become one of these young women that wear too little clothing and drink too much around a hundred thousand strangers someday. There's a special community aspect to football, but there are also a lot of boozed up dudes who need to stay away from my little girl (warning you in advance, punks!). <br />
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Certainly a plus of having my wife there as my companion was my attention to details like pre-game rituals of the team; I wax and wane on how punctual I want to be in order to see a lot of them, but always end up feeling happy about it when I do make the effort. At Tennessee, Sarah and I were able to catch the tail end of the Vol Walk, when the team and the band make their way down roads named after Peyton Manning and Phillip Fulmer to get to Neyland Stadium. "Rocky Top" was played about a thousand times across the six to seven hours that we spent in that vicinity, but the renditions during the Vol Walk and at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville the next night stand tall as the most memorable for yours truly. The first time that I had heard that song was at the funeral of one of my youth soccer coaches, who played for the Vols and was the father of one my childhood friends; I remember there being a release at the end of hundreds of orange and white balloons into the air to celebrate his memory...I thought of that several times when Sarah and I joined in the chorus of UT fans singing their fight song. <br />
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It was not all sunshine and "Rocky Top," however. The downside to going to the game with my wife was that she brought her purse and, according to the fine print on the back of the ticket that nobody ever reads but that apparently for once contained must-read information, she was not allowed to bring her purse into the game with her. Having just listened to <a href="http://cfbtour.blogspot.com/2012/11/south-carolina-is-most-underrated.html">Mickey</a> argue his way into being permitted to carry a pocket knife given to him as a special token of appreciation from a client into AT&T Stadium for WrestleMania 32 in Dallas five months prior, I tried my best to convince the security guard to search her bag and let us move on, but he was adamant that we go to the bookstore, purchase the recommended clear pouch that the back of the ticket explained was the preferred option, and then all would be well. <br />
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We went through the song and dance mainly because we needed to get Sarah's LuLaRoe item into the stadium. You see, as sort of an innovative way to get her name out there, she brought with her a pair of leggings that she gave away for free to an unsuspecting woman among the 102,455 people in attendance (Neyland houses the fifth largest capacity crowd in college football). She advertised her LLR presence with the picture below on her instagram account, marked with a bunch of hashtags that actually put her post on the radar of the folks who run the scoreboard and giant video screen on one end of the stadium; early in the game, our attention was called by the PA announcer to the 'tron to check out various fans in attendance...and there we were! If you have followed this blog at all, you may know that the College Football Tour has a history of producing awesome moments that enhance my overall experience (i.e. <a href="http://cfbtour.blogspot.com/2014/09/between-hedges-at-georgia-sets-new.html">Vince Dooley</a> showing up where I was tailgating at Georgia to sign autographs, an unexpected, chance photo with <a href="http://cfbtour.blogspot.com/2016/01/clemson-offers-incredibly-positive-live.html">Howard's Rock</a> at Clemson, etc.). Add Sarah and I being featured on the Neyland Stadium video screen to the list! That would not have happened without LuLaRoe, so here's a quick plug - if you want to join my wife's exclusive shopping group, click <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/LuLaRoeSarahMcIntyre/">here</a>. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The picture that made the Neyland Stadium big screen!</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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The game itself was disappointing for Vols fans. The lofty
pre-season expectations proved a little over-exaggerated by the end of
the overtime win. Of course, that had no bearing on my enjoyment of it;
I had never seen an overtime game before in person. No other sport has a better, more exciting overtime than college football. When I am watching at home and the game is close (and it is not already after midnight), I openly root for the game to go to overtime. If the Irish or Wolfpack are in overtime, nothing is worse, but if you're watching without a rooting interesting, nothing in sport is better. My favorite sporting event that did not involve one of my favorite teams remains the double overtime National Championship game between <a href="http://cfbtour.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-first-road-tripto-see-national.html">Ohio State</a> and Miami.<br />
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Through the first half, it looked like App State was going to pull off their biggest upset victory since the famous 2007 shocker over Michigan. The Mountaineers have a proud program on the rise in the FBS/Div. 1A and they played inspired football, frustrating everything that the Vols tried to do on offense and playing well enough on offense themselves that they went into halftime with a 13-3 lead. I sure was glad that our picture ended up on the big screen because, beyond that momentary excitement, the energy in Neyland was sucked out in a hurry on account of the Vols failure to come right of the gates ready to further revive their national reputation. App State was
never going to be a pushover, but the Vols got caught, I think, looking
ahead to their much-advertised game against Virginia Tech at the humongous NASCAR venue, Bristol Motor Speedway. Tennessee did pull it together, tying the score in the early fourth quarter and shutting out ASU for the rest of the game. Joshua Dobbs actually fumbled into the end zone on UT's overtime possession, peaking the game-long panic among the Vols faithful until their running back, Jalen Hurd, recovered it for the touchdown. It was easily the most exciting play from a game largely void of exciting plays and from a team that would routinely go onto produce some of the most exciting plays of the entire college football season.<br />
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The Vols started 5-0, lost three in a row to reset their expectations, and finished strong at 9-4. If Butch Jones leads them back to prominence, I'll have been happy to be a small part of their journey and, if he doesn't, then I'll still maintain fond memories of Tennessee football. <br />
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I had been flirting for years with perhaps making the opening weekend a new traditional time for taking tour stops, particularly at schools with a lot of hype so as to catch their fanbases feeling a maximum amount of good vibrations, but after seeing Tennessee struggle so mightily to open 2016 and sharing with them the angst that comes from the realization that your team may not be as good as you hoped it would be, I have gone back to the Tour's standard of games in the mid-season or beyond in 2017; we'll see what happens in the future. I definitely plan to do more combination college football-stuff Sarah enjoys type trips, that's for sure. Dr Chadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08109193628548201367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5478753955946215078.post-29739882451329432812016-08-29T06:11:00.000-07:002016-08-29T06:11:00.830-07:00For a Huge College Football Fan, The First Daddy-Daughter Game Is Truly SpecialMy daughter, Jordan, was freshly three when I traveled to Dallas, Texas last fall to join up with <a href="http://cfbtour.blogspot.com/2013/08/boomer-sooner.html">Jeff</a> to catch the Red River Rivalry in person. While I was hanging out with Jeff and his family, my daughter wanted to Skype. Jordan could sense that I was having an epic time and curiously asked, "What are you doing there?" I told her I was going to a football game, to which she surprisingly replied, "I want to go to a football game with you!"<br />
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It is my not-so-secret hope that my kids end up loving to watch two things with their dad and the other one is college football. My son's room is covered in Irish decals and a giant ND leprechaun Fathead, advertising very openly to the little boy whose name my friends from college swear is an homage to a former Irish QB named (Brady) Quinn (that certainly didn't hurt in the name decision-making process!); I frequently read them a book about the Four Horsemen of Notre Dame during the season, planting the seeds; I encourage Jordan to fly the Irish flag in front of our house with me on Saturdays during the fall, watering the seeds. I would admittedly be a little disappointed if those seeds didn't germinate into beautiful, football-loving flowers. Jordan has shown some early signs of catching on; she genuinely enjoys flying the flag and frequently asks during the season that everyone in the house wear their Irish shirts, a request I'd make if she didn't. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I captured this moment with Jordan after the Irish beat Stanford on a TD <br />with 18 seconds left in 2014 just a few weeks after she turned two</span></span></td></tr>
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I felt compelled to act on her request when, after I returned home from Texas vs. Oklahoma, she reiterated her desire to go to a game with me. Granted, she was only three at the time and getting her to concentrate on anything that didn't involve Mickey Mouse Clubhouse or putting together a puzzle was going to be a challenge. I therefore had no desire to drive to Raleigh or anywhere far away for what was sure to be less than a full game day's experience. There was really only one option, then, for this testing ground of a first football game for my daughter: Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons play in an easily accessible stadium about 15 miles from my house and tickets are never difficult to obtain on short notice. As fate would have it, my alma mater, NC State, was playing in Winston-Salem two weeks after my Dallas trip.<br />
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Throughout those two weeks, I would ask Jordan again at bed time, "So, you really want to go to a football game with daddy?" And she would continually respond excitedly, "Yes!" The day before the game, I started inquiring about tickets through some people I know at Wake and went to the local collegiate apparel store and found her an NC State shirt appropriate for a late October day. The very nice lady who runs the shop, hearing of my plan to surprise my daughter, threw in a set of Wolfpack facial stickers. I got our tickets and we were all set.<br />
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Now there was just that little problem of keeping her entertained during the game. How would it go? Would she be bored out of her mind? What was a reasonable expectation for a three year old little girl's first live football experience? Should I bring some things for her to do during TV timeouts that are no big deal when watching at home, but are terribly monotonous when you're there in person? The game was during the time that she typically took a nap, so what was the potential for the kind of in-a-crowd meltdown from a toddler that sends yours truly's blood pressure through the roof? These were the kinds of things running through my head the morning of the game.<br />
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Oh and, by the way, NC State had not beaten Wake Forest in Winston-Salem in about fifteen years. The last time, in fact, was before I started college. I was in attendance for the first of the road losing streak to Wake in 2003. <a href="http://cfbtour.blogspot.com/2014/08/university-of-florida-perfect-college.html">Kevin's</a> dad was the head of the psychology department at WFU back then and secured tickets for us. We came back home to go to the game, expecting that we would be seeing the second win for an historically great NC State season (they started 9-0 the previous year), but the Pack got caught looking ahead to the next week's game at Ohio State. And so it would go every two years. It's not like Wake has some massive home field advantage either; any bigger program in North Carolina will fill half or more of BB&T Field with fans favoring the away team. I'd call it an odd college football phenomenon that the Deacons could beat anyone at home with the kind of consistency that they defeated State without a definitive home field advantage. I was actually there in 2011 as well to see another supposedly superior State team lose at Wake. I bought season tickets that year because Notre Dame and State were playing at Wake (Kevin got married on the day of the ND game so I missed that one). My wife and I took my good buddy affectionately known as Sac (another State alum) and watched another undermanned Demon Deacon squad upset the Pack.<br />
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Returning to scene with Jordan meant that I could possibly be in attendance for almost half (2003, 2011, 2015) of the odd year losing streak at Wake. I should have expected that she might be my good luck charm, though. The year that she was born was the first year that the Irish went undefeated in the regular season since 1987; our beloved Notre Dame football team has won 75% of its games since that season started. Could some of that luck rub off on NC State? Yes sir (at least on October 24, 2015)! The Pack jumped out to a commanding lead in the first quarter and never looked back. With my daughter in attendance, they tallied up 28 points in the opening stanza and coasted to a 35-17 win.<br />
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All I can say is THANK GOD that the Pack were scoring so many early touchdowns. Jordan was a real hit with our surrounding attendees, of both the red and the black/gold persuasions, dazzling people with her bright smile and infectious enthusiasm, but she was pretty bored with the repetitiveness of moving the chains. Touchdowns brought out the burgeoning football fan in her, though; and all four of them in the first quarter came off of big plays. There's something unique about seeing a touchdown scored from a long pass or run in person because of the burst of energy that it evokes from the crowd even before the player crosses the goal line. It's almost watching an audience do the wave; the player breaks loose from his defender and his teammates on the sideline start jumping up and down, which triggers the fans in the front rows and then lower bowl and then upper deck to get on their feet (like a wave from top to bottom). And then the eruption of noise (and you usually only hear the happy fans). It's a swell of emotion and even a three year old football novice feels that something awesome is happening.<br />
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With two long TD runs from Matt Dayes of 85 and 57 yards respectively and two long TD passes from Jacoby Brissett to Maurice Trowell and Nyheim Hines of 59 and 57 yards respectively, Jordan was kept engaged in the action. Touchdowns equaled excitement equaled questions about the game (like "Is it another touchdown?" when people got excited about a <i>first</i> down, a concept she temporarily appreciated because she thought it was fun to pretend along with me that we were in Raleigh and say, as the PA guy proudly does at Carter-Finley, "That's another Wolfpack...FIRST DOWN!").<br />
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I'd like to think that it cushioned the blow of getting mauled by the Pack for Wake fans within ear shot of Jordan's cute little "Go Pack!" chants and her adorable attempts at getting down to a science the wolf hand sign (repeated opening and closing of the thumb to middle and ring fingers like the mouth of a wolf with the pinky and pointer fingers up representing the wolf's ears) and her repeated exclamation when she got it right of "Chomp Chomp Chomp."<br />
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Though she never had too many opportunities in the opening quarter to get distracted from why we were there, the second quarter's lack of scoring considerably dulled Jordan's enthusiasm. She was going through a phase back then that, whenever in public, she needed to go to the bathroom like 65 times more frequently than in any other setting and the goose egg on the scoreboard laid by the Pack in the second quarter triggered it. I had not accounted for that. At all. I'm no germophobe, but men's public restrooms are disgusting and here I am tasked with taking my little angel into this deplorable stall with urine all over the seats trying to make sure she doesn't touch anything. Wake's men's rooms are far cleaner than your average college football venue, but the concept of a clean stadium men's room is akin to trying to make football "safe" or brussel sprouts sound appealing - some things just are what they are. <br />
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Ploys to keep her reasonably in tune with the game like ice cream were only so effective and it became clear to me that half time would signal the end of Jordan's first game day experience. She did well to stick with it for as long as she did given her age. <br />
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One of the most memorable moments for me came as we were leaving, when an older couple that had been sitting a couple of rows behind us stopped me and said, "You're the dad of the year" and commented on how attentive I was to Jordan. I needed to hear that even if it was from strangers. I love what I do for a living, but it admittedly takes a lot of time and energy and I often wonder if I'm doing a good enough job being a dad, if I am as the couple said "attentive enough" to the needs of my family. I felt like Super Dad that day; Jordan had a blast and talked about it for the rest of the season and she's going to be very excited to see the picture below added to the collage from my <a href="http://cfbtour.blogspot.com/2012/09/a-college-football-connoisseurof-sorts.html">College Football Tour</a>, as it is tradition to start the new season by adding Tour photos from the previous. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me and the J-Train</td></tr>
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Dr Chadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08109193628548201367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5478753955946215078.post-54765810406609052352016-01-11T09:34:00.001-08:002016-01-11T09:34:28.905-08:00Clemson Offers Incredibly Positive Live Experience, Long-Lasting StoryEvery stop that I make on my College Football Tour has its own story to be told. Is it a rivalry game? Is the team unbeaten or challenging for a conference championship? Does the destination feature an added element of a personal nature? Those are the obvious arcs. When I rolled into Death Valley on October 11, 2014, the Tigers were set to play a team in its first season as an ACC member; so no rivalry there. A pair of early season losses put Clemson already out of the initial College Football Playoff race and, given how
good the Florida State team was that beat them in September, it seemed
highly unlikely that the Tigers would be able to win the ACC either; so, nothing substantial on the line for a visitor like me with no dog in the hunt. I certainly had no personal tie to the school or any intangible connection to the place.<br />
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I assumed that the story I'd end up writing about was how I had witnessed the rise of one of the game's most dynamic quarterbacks of the decade. Yet, freshman sensation, Deshaun Watson, broke his hand in the second quarter of the 23-17 Tiger victory over the Louisville Cardinals and, frankly, had done very little up to that point.<br />
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The plan, then, was to make the entertainment value of the game itself and my picture with Howard's Rock afterward the primary storyline of this blog entry.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgciQRm-iDFMFmbK174z3GbNTfb1JiG4sivrAKwGQu6nQ_pjsadLJ4t3upqi1bjuJSMmqJMe1gWFBl_iOdY0KB7-ZO7eNYZXh9SrMlZ0fdLmL4h3iYX8ozbg3Xi4aPaDa-3OpdUFKb4yX_B/s1600/144.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgciQRm-iDFMFmbK174z3GbNTfb1JiG4sivrAKwGQu6nQ_pjsadLJ4t3upqi1bjuJSMmqJMe1gWFBl_iOdY0KB7-ZO7eNYZXh9SrMlZ0fdLmL4h3iYX8ozbg3Xi4aPaDa-3OpdUFKb4yX_B/s320/144.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me and the famous "Howard's Rock"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
However, during the 2015 season, a new narrative emerged reminiscent of my original out-of-state road trip to Ohio State in 2002. The Buckeyes won the National Championship approximately two months after I traveled to Columbus in early November thirteen years ago. Obviously, Clemson being the #1 team in the country the season <i>after </i>I went there was a little bit different, but the theme was quite similar. Despite the Tigers knocking off both my favorite team (Notre Dame) and my alma mater (NC State) in October, I found myself rooting for Clemson by season's end because of how cool it would be to say that I saw the National Champions LIVE in their home stadium shortly before their title-winning season. <br />
<br />
<br />
Rewinding the clock a few years, the talk of going to a Clemson game began when my good friend, Dean, was doing a clinical rotation in that part of South Carolina during his final year of Pharmacy School. He eventually found us good quality seats and off I headed at the crack of dawn on a Saturday morning to meet up with him and his friend, Samantha, in time for tailgating. Samantha proved a very good person to be around that day. She's a lifelong Clemson fan and had all the right connections for multiple tailgate sites.<br />
<br />
The first place that we stopped was situated near the baseball stadium (convenient facilities when needed after a few pre-game cocktails). While watching Georgia throttle Missouri on a very large TV, Dean and I caught up with each other and conversed with some of the local Clemson faithful. The tailgate set-up belonged, I believe, to the father of one of Samantha's friends. I was confused by this, though, because it looked to me as though her friend was sporting Louisville Cardinal-colored clothing. Not wanting to stick my foot in my mouth, I observed the girl in the red dress surrounded by diehard Tiger fanatics. A couple of beers later, the words "So how is it being a Louisville fan at this tailgate party?" just came out. I was having too much fun by this point to be embarrassed, but I think she might've been. She sheepishly acknowledged the rather red hue of her ensemble, but stressed that the dress was, in fact, orange. Perhaps she was right, but I remember her dress being about as orange as the sun is blue. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
On the way to our second tailgate party, one of those moments occurred that stands out among the various trips that I've taken. When you go to a college football game, there are certain constants - the roar of the crowd, the bands, the brews, the gridiron, etc. - and then there are the little things unique to each experience; the snow balls thrown by the Notre Dame students <i>at</i> the Notre Dame team in 2008, Garlow's cousin's <i>Dazed and Confused</i> impersonation in <a href="http://cfbtour.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-first-road-tripto-see-national.html">2002</a>, the worst I've ever had to urinate in my adult life in <a href="http://cfbtour.blogspot.com/2013/08/boomer-sooner.html">2010</a>, etc. At Clemson, the classic song from the <i>Rocky IV</i> soundtrack, "No Easy Way Out," was randomly playing at the booth of an area sponsor, to which Dean and I - both long-time viewers of yearly <i>Rocky</i> marathons on TV - started singing along to the wide-eyed stares of Samantha (several years our junior and probably not as familiar with the various holiday replays of Stallone's greatest films). <br />
<br />
I should've expected nothing less from a trip with Dean, who I'd have to say is one of my friends with whom I'm most likely create a lasting memory. It's as if he attracts stuff like that; just a fun guy to be around. A couple of other amusing memories from that trip are his joking insistence that Samantha's "Country <i>Chic</i>" lotion was actually called "Country <i>Chic<u>k</u></i>" and that the restaurant that we ate at for our post-game dinner, Papas and Beers, was called Buds and Suds. It's the little things in life, ladies and gentlemen; my daughter is asking me right now what I've been laughing about for the last minute.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLhT3yBHyRtwujIPDROSKtKt_buMpZMMJkmLKwpbiobHmjFKdsZ1JRsqjA66iGEeYTdJCs9Tyfn5PzLhRJ9nOxdOimqsXCzb9FBhaGyM6VBb-nTL4HihB4i4FCi-RQjsSHS_RHRdu7H43j/s1600/e7db2053-4647-48e3-b1ca-048e69dda722.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLhT3yBHyRtwujIPDROSKtKt_buMpZMMJkmLKwpbiobHmjFKdsZ1JRsqjA66iGEeYTdJCs9Tyfn5PzLhRJ9nOxdOimqsXCzb9FBhaGyM6VBb-nTL4HihB4i4FCi-RQjsSHS_RHRdu7H43j/s320/e7db2053-4647-48e3-b1ca-048e69dda722.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dean and I at Memorial Stadium</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The game at Memorial Stadium that afternoon - on a perfect early October day I might add - was one of the better ones I've attended. Certainly nowhere near the <a href="http://cfbtour.blogspot.com/2014/09/between-hedges-at-georgia-sets-new.html">Georgia-South Carolina</a> game from 2013, but easily in sole possession of second place. Clemson opened the scoring with a 70 yard punt return just over a minute into the first quarter, but then a defensive struggle began that lasted the rest of the game. Future NFL draft picks Grady Jarrett and Vic Beasley starred for the Tigers. Louisville took the lead in the second quarter, 10-7, but Jarrett recovered a fumble in the end zone to put Clemson back on top before the half. Without Watson, the Tiger offense could not throw the ball. A memorably vocal fan kept yelling over my right shoulder "C'mon Cole" - as in Cole Stoudt, who tallied an 8.0 quarterback rating (out of 100). However, they won the field position battle and kept kicking field goals. Louisville battled back and recorded a 70 yard gain to near the Clemson goal line, giving the Cardinals a chance to score a game-winning touchdown on the final play. I said to Dean, "This place is going to pop like a balloon if Louisville scores right here." Alas, Clemson's defensive held.<br />
<br />
One of the best crowds I've been a part of proceeded to rush the field, which highlighted a difference I felt between Clemson and some of the more renowned football programs that I've seen live: the Tiger fans are supporting an elite program, but they haven't reached a point where they've forgotten that this is all a blast no matter if your team is 14-0 or 10-3 or 8-5 (or below .500). I know for a fact that I would not have seen Notre Dame fans rush the field beating an unranked team to improve to 4-2 on a season and I'm quite confident that I wouldn't have seen that in Columbus, Norman, Gainesville, or Athens either. I've got a great picture in the sports memorabilia area in my house, accompanying the shot of me with Howard's Rock, of the Tiger fans pouring onto the field.<br />
<br />
The win was part of a stretch after their 1-2 start in which the Tigers won nine out of their last ten games. Watson became a superstar after returning from his hand injury, even playing through a torn ACL to beat South Carolina for the first time several years.<br />
<br />
I sit here writing this just hours before the National Championship game
between Clemson and Alabama. Win or lose, the context of the memories
forged by my trip to Death Valley in 2014 will be shaped by Clemson's
run to the title in 2015. Watson's injury when I was there became part
of the story of his
overcoming adversity en route to his unrivaled status as the
nation's best quarterback and to his emergence as the leader of a team
challenging for a National
Championship. Even my tour stops to <a href="http://cfbtour.blogspot.com/2015/08/virginia-tech-and-its-laundry-list-of.html">Virginia Tech</a> and <a href="http://cfbtour.blogspot.com/2012/11/south-carolina-is-most-underrated.html">South Carolina</a>
in 2011 have now been influenced by Clemson's 2015 season, as the
Tigers were the opponent in both games; that season and every season since were important
stepping stones in the program's rise to national prominence culminating
in their title game appearance. Dr Chadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08109193628548201367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5478753955946215078.post-84041543253287142252015-10-17T10:49:00.000-07:002015-10-17T10:49:50.083-07:00Being a Part of Missouri's Rise to Modern ProminenceMoving to St. Louis in 2005 put me further than a quick drive down the interstate away from major college football for the first time in my life. I grew up in central North Carolina, where there are four ACC schools within 100 miles; I went to the one farthest east (North Carolina State). All the while, being in a major Midwestern city put me in an environment with a unique college football history to explore. I'll admit that I never took full advantage of that during my four football seasons living there, but the intention to travel to universities across the nation that ultimately became my College Football Tour was born of STL friendships forged of mutual gridiron passion.<br />
<br />
During the summer of 2006, a Wisconsin Badger diehard named Nick and I decided that we should make it a yearly tradition through our time in professional school to go to college football games. We were talking to our Boomer Sooner-loving buddy from Oklahoma, Jeff - who I later joined in Norman for an OU game in 2010 and in Dallas for the OU-Texas game in 2015 - and noticed that the Okies would be traveling to Columbia for an October date with the Missouri Tigers. For three guys swamped with 36 hour trimesters of school work, it took little more than a quick online purchase of a trio of tickets to a football game to make life a whole heck of a lot better. Though it would prove to be the lone journey instead of the first of many pigskin-themed road trips, we had a good time and were all pleasantly surprised by University of Missouri football.<br />
<br />
The Tigers were fortunately on the rise in 2006. Gary Pinkel has made headlines in recent years for coaching Missouri to two straight SEC East titles in the program's first three seasons in the Southeastern Conference. They were expected to be a league doormat by many pundits, but anyone who paid close attention to them from the latter part of the 2000s into this decade would know that they were building toward their recent success for a long time. They first came on my radar during my college years at NC State. We watched football each Saturday and played EA Sports NCAA Football video games the rest of the week; there weren't many good players or teams that we didn't know about.<br />
<br />
Brad Smith was the quarterback responsible for leading Pinkel's early Missouri teams out of the doldrums. Our '06 travel group assumed that losing Smith to graduation/NFL would mean a step back for the Tigers and a likely mediocre team come the end of October against the Sooners. However, Chase Daniel emerged as a bonafide star and was the catalyst for Missouri's progression from bowl-eligible upstart to consistent conference title threat. The Tigers got off to a 6-0 start and, by the time that we arrived on campus for the 10/26/06 showdown with OU, they were 7-1 and ranked in the Top 25. <br />
<br />
On the Friday before the game, we headed straight out I-70 west to Columbia. <br />
<br />
Football was actually the icebreaker that started well over half of my friendships in St. Louis. Nick, for example, was outside grilling a steak two buildings down from my apartment on the opening weekend of the '05 season. We exchanged a nod. Turns out that we were both in the class that began their Logan University careers in September 2005. Our first conversation was about college football (as was our last, I'm sure; haven't talked to him in years, so hope he's doing well). Fast forward a year to a month prior to our trip to Mizzou and Nick and I were joined by Tony, another friend that I made thanks to college football, to go to a local high school game, each of us sporting polos featuring the emblems of our favorite teams (Notre Dame, Wisconsin, and Ohio State); a couple of dads saw us walk in together and gave us a look that said "Oh my God, are these guys scouts?" (FYI - that was the point of the polos, so mission accomplished #nerdculture). We had planned to make that a thing that we did, but it - like our football road trips - stopped at one in a row. We should've pretended to be scouts to see former 10th overall NFL draft pick Blaine Gabbert play at Parkway West High School, which was less than a mile from my apartment (I went as a plain old fan a year later). Jeff, meanwhile, became my go-to sports discussion partner for the last decade and counting after we initially connected over our shared football and pro basketball fandoms.<br />
<br />
Tony may not have been with us on the trip to Mizzou, but his presence was felt in the car thanks in no small part to the fact that he lent us the all-time classic hit cassette tape: WrestleMania: The Album (the 156,894th best selling album in the history of Amazon). Featuring original songs by WWF superstars from the early 1990s, The Album provided us with extreme listening pleasure. In all seriousness, that tape was a total trainwreck, but it was good for many laughs. I believe that mine is the only college football blog that features two references to "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, whose song "USA" surely would have been the most downloaded track on iTunes if such a thing had existed in 1992. USA, U-U-U-USA, USA...HOOOOOO!!!! <br />
<br />
Though not nearly as noteworthy as The Album, a stop at the mall to eat dinner on the way to Columbia allowed me to finally find - after a year of searching - a place in Missouri that served the southern staple beverage, sweet tea. I'll never forget asking for sweet tea at the first restaurant at which I ate in St. Louis. The waitress looked at me like I had a six eyes. They had raspberry tea, but not tea with sugar in it. <br />
<br />
You could say that iced tea without sugar is missing that special something. The same could be said about college football without tailgating. To this day, the only College Football Tour stop that featured no tailgating was Missouri. That was no fault of the Tiger faithful, but rather an oversight by an inexperienced trio of foreign game dayers. Reflecting back, it's an absolute must to do some sort of tailgating because it is the best way to gauge the atmosphere of the host campus. Sharing a few adult beverages or a signature food item with fellow football fans ingratiates you as a one day member of the local fraternity in a way. To merely get to the game shortly before it begins strips away a major part of the college football experience. Aside from a beer or two at the restaurant near our hotel on Friday night, no cocktails were consumed in Columbia and no Tiger-specific tradition was encountered. <br />
<br />
College football, though, is college football, with or without tailgating. When you walk into a stadium for the first time, it's always special. Each school has its own unique history. Mizzou being resurgent rather than incumbent in its modern prominence at the time, I knew little about their long-term track record. Two names immediately jumped out at me on their Hall of Fame circle: Kellen Winslow Sr. (whose son was a huge star at Miami in the early 2000s) and Dan Devine (who coached my Irish to the 1977 National Championship). I was unaware that Devine had once coached the Tigers between 1958 and 1970, won 70% of his games, and won a pair of conference championships. So, even without conversing with any Missouri faithful, I could see via notable names on their stadium's ring of honor and the mass of humanity crammed into the venue that Tiger football was worth watching live.<br />
<br />
We joined 70,000 other people that day at Faurot Field to see Oklahoma control the game and defeat the Tigers 26-10. Chase Daniel never could get the offense going and the Sooners did just enough without the aid of all-world running back Adrian Peterson, who had injured his shoulder earlier in the season. It would have been awesome to say that I saw Peterson play live in college, but alas I can say that I saw the prolific Daniel play QB in college. Daniel was one of the most underrated players of last decade and finished fourth in the Heisman Trophy voting in 2007 (the year Tim Tebow won the award).<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkAKDrwMLx752SrnuHksp8yLZe7pkGlJyM1yhbVKb5YTcGUbEK2dviORlSmyf_ko-nSEA9fL6LhI34X__iMDw8vWYJ49a1ZoXwv96zBs0SCV_RjlGvpeGx0i_x7JfQW9XGATwk25Xw3D74/s1600/chased.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkAKDrwMLx752SrnuHksp8yLZe7pkGlJyM1yhbVKb5YTcGUbEK2dviORlSmyf_ko-nSEA9fL6LhI34X__iMDw8vWYJ49a1ZoXwv96zBs0SCV_RjlGvpeGx0i_x7JfQW9XGATwk25Xw3D74/s320/chased.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chase Daniel - one of the best college QBs of the 2000s</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Missouri will be remembered fondly for essentially starting my College Football Tour, but it will simultaneously be viewed as a part of the learning curve for how best to appreciate a school that I'd not previously visited. To be frank, I'd like to plan another trip to Columbia in the future. When I arrived, they were on the way up. They've been on one of the best runs in program history since then. I suspect that their success combined with my tour-savviness would create for a much more engaging campus experience the second time around. Dr Chadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08109193628548201367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5478753955946215078.post-82852689879588532202015-08-28T18:18:00.001-07:002015-08-28T18:18:13.514-07:00Virginia Tech And Its Laundry List of Traditions ImpressesLane Stadium has quietly become a destination site for any college football enthusiast whose fandom goes beyond their own team. Home to the Hokies of Virginia Tech, it has been voted by several notable sports media sources (including ESPN) as the number one home field advantage in the nation. The 66,000 seat venue holds some of the countries most devout fans, who help make it very, very loud - sitting in the confined quarters of your car with the radio turned all the way up loud. Since head coach, alumnus, and former VT player, Frank Beamer, got the team headed in the right direction roughly twenty years ago, the Hokies have become one of the top programs in the country (even though they've taken a few steps back in recent seasons), driving the decibel levels for home games to near ear-piercing limits. In two words, I would describe the experience of Virginia Tech football as "must-see."<br />
<br />
I had a friend who had offered to take me to a game in Blacksburg for several years. In 2011, I finally decided to take him up on it. I got a look at the available games and got my eyes locked early in the season on the Clemson game. The Tigers figured to, at the very least, put a respectable team on the field and I always desire to see a game that will be relevant to the bigger picture of a season, if possible. VT-Clemson had the makings of a competitive match-up prior to the season, but when the game drew nearer, both teams kept on winning. The Tigers, led by future sure-fire ring of honor inductee Tajh Boyd in the first of his three years as Clemson's starting QB, knocked off Florida State in late September, clearing their path to an undefeated record by the time they went to play the Hokies on October 1. All of the sudden, it became a game between teams that would control their own destinies to their respective division titles. It would potentially be (and did end up being) the first of two games between the teams, as winning their divisions would put them on a collision course for the ACC Championship game in December (that's exactly what would ultimately happen).<br />
<br />
It was a rainy, cold night in Virginia when I arrived on campus. The smell of warm turkey legs permeated through the chilly air as we got off the bus that had taken us from our chosen parking lot to the stadium. A "Hokie" is a turkey, replacing the old Va. Tech mascot of the "Gobbler" (good call if you ask me). I find it somewhat ironic that perhaps the most intimidating home crowd in the land has quite possibly the least intimidating mascot in the history of sports. My middle school soccer team was nicknamed the Camels; that's worse, but not much worse. Maybe it's better that people keep wondering what a Hokie is. Anyhow, a hot turkey leg will warm you right up, trust me. That was divine feasting. At VT, they celebrate the turkey; they eat the turkey. Amen. Washed it down with some hot chocolate and I was good to go. I got some hokie leg remnants on my Fighting Irish coat, draped over a Fighting Irish hooded sweatshirt with a Virginia Tech t-shirt pulled over it.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW3loBi-Vh_2BO6DXI01PwaRyGGbxSF1Dr99Wf7Z6a2HBwQdSixMSNyHI_acbd5RqLOmXIhDXpnqmjHgVbMnAtfDliKLj3nniXkfkLiLRgLozPDXBzbByP1GfJu9Ce0ioIbTuv8s8xnT9H/s1600/061.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW3loBi-Vh_2BO6DXI01PwaRyGGbxSF1Dr99Wf7Z6a2HBwQdSixMSNyHI_acbd5RqLOmXIhDXpnqmjHgVbMnAtfDliKLj3nniXkfkLiLRgLozPDXBzbByP1GfJu9Ce0ioIbTuv8s8xnT9H/s320/061.jpg" width="179" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That's actually a tight shirt pulled over all that garb</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
We had excellent, perfect to my tastes seating. It gave me a great view of the foliage behind one side of the stadium. I think the trees add a nice aesthetic dynamic to the place. It makes it unique.<br />
<br />
Once we were seated, I got my crash course in Va. Tech football traditions, of which there are many. Although I did not see it, the first of the lot is the corp of cadets known as the "Highty Tighties" walking the team, coaches, cheerleaders, etc. to the stadium. Va. Tech, as I came to learn, strongly embraces its military ROTC programs. They are actually considered on par with some of the service academies, designated as a senior military college. I thought that was cool. With the military tradition, VT once had a rivalry game with the Virginia Military Institute (VMI).
During that time, VMI would fire off a cannon and taunt VT for not even
having one. So, two Hokie cadets decided to make one. Naming it
"Skipper" as a tribute to JFK (who was the captain/skipper of a PT boat
in World War II) after his assassination in the early 60s, the Va. Tech
cannon remains one of the football traditions to this day; it's fired after every score (sadly, I only got to hear it once). <br />
<br />
Most teams have some sort of pregame walk and many other schools fire a cannon, but I'm not sure that it carries the same meaning everywhere else that it does at Virginia Tech. <br />
<br />
As the game was about to start, I had a question answered that I'd been wondering about for years and never got the chance to ask. My buddy Brian, with whom I went to the game, has always been known to me as "The Sandman." I never really understood why. I just went along with it. So, as the players were running out onto the field, "Enter Sandman" by Metallica starts blasting over the loud speakers. That had been one of my many running songs on my iPod over the years. I love that song. There might not be a more adrenaline pumping song in the history of music; and that's where he got the nickname. Lane Stadium feels like there's a rare Virginia earthquake when "Enter Sandman" is playing. Definitely one of the most intense moments of the Va. Tech experience.<br />
<br />
Well, let me get out of the way that Clemson basically shut down the Va. Tech offense, managed the game well, and won handily 23-3. The crowd was pretty quiet in the fourth quarter. I was quite surprised with the outcome. It was the only ACC loss for VT in the regular season and they got another shot at the Tigers with the ACC title on the line, but they got blasted 38-10 in the rematch, too. Oh well...<br />
<br />
The first half was a good display by both teams of solid defensive strategy, so neither team had many long drives down the field that would accumulate numerous 1st downs. Thus, there were not a ton of opportunities for another of the Hokie fan staples, but enough to know that you were witnessing something pretty cool. On every third down, Hokie fans take out their keys and start shaking them. Imagine 61,000 (we'll give the visiting team 5,000 seats) sets of keys jingling. You've got a helmet on and you're trying to tell other guys with helmets on what to do. Think that might be tough?<br />
<br />
My personal favorite memory from Va Tech might be something that I misinterpreted. Throughout the game when Clemson was on offense, the Hokie faithful would yell, "HOOOOhhhh." You'll often hear "OOOOhhh" in many a sports venue; not just for football. I thought it sounded like the Hokie nation was adding the "H" because of HO-kie; I could be wrong. Well, Brian and I became friends in college through a mutual childhood appreciation for professional wrestling and, during our formative years as WWE fans in the late 1980s and early 1990s, there was a 2X4-wielding wrestler named "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan. His signature catchphrase was to yell, "HOOOOhhhh!!" So, after quietly finding this amusing for awhile, I decided to add the Hacksaw touch to the Hokie third down tradition, giving an emphatic thumbs up and doing my best Duggan impersonation. That got a rise out of the Sandman and, thus, we had the joke of the trip. I tweeted about it when I got home and, sure enough, old Hacksaw retweeted the comment (I later found it that it wasn't really Hacksaw, but a parody account, which made it only slightly less awesome...HOOOOOOOhhhh!)<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZsXkK3Im-9Z9q31w-kFsr8HsqOTiY1YmhGEYgAhKZRRABQ4KAQBivTbYTS3wEor_iCpjbIzA3rf8kmvuo_zY_mjTpgiHuJgFQQpOCpfXPMNWT8Bf-NtxDGMSCVaVFrfttbKIKi2Wnpfb3/s1600/duggan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZsXkK3Im-9Z9q31w-kFsr8HsqOTiY1YmhGEYgAhKZRRABQ4KAQBivTbYTS3wEor_iCpjbIzA3rf8kmvuo_zY_mjTpgiHuJgFQQpOCpfXPMNWT8Bf-NtxDGMSCVaVFrfttbKIKi2Wnpfb3/s1600/duggan.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Hacksaw" Jim Duggan - HOOOOhhhh!!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Though I'm sure I've had a tendency to hyperbolize each tour stop, I don't think it's exaggerating to say that there's a lot to like about the Virginia Tech football experience. The atmosphere is as raucous as anywhere in the country. Passion emotes from the Hokie fanbase as much as any with greater football history. The best concession item on the tour, by far, is the turkey leg. If any of the other college stadiums that I've visited have a signature food, I was never made aware of it. Besides, I can't imagine eating a bulldog, a gator, a fighting rooster, a wagon (sooner), etc. Buckeyes are poisonous. I'm surely not eating a little Irish guy. Perhaps they serve a steak sandwich at Texas. <br />
<br />
All joking aside, if you're a fan of college football, do yourself a favor someday and check out Lane Stadium in Blacksburg. HOOOOOhhhhhhh!<br />
<br />Dr Chadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08109193628548201367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5478753955946215078.post-40855982603774445812014-11-08T14:14:00.000-08:002014-11-10T07:01:08.068-08:00Tour Makes a Local Stop to Home of 3-time FCS National ChampionsIf you're not from the state of North Carolina, then Appalachian State University might seem the odd duck on a list of sites visited on a national college football tour. There are dozens of combined division 1A national titles on my stops, to this point, so maybe even people in my home state look at the relatively small Boone, NC, formerly division 1AA school as a strange member of the list. You just need to go there and see for yourself. I'm not sure there is a more obvious example of what the success of college football can do for a school. Three straight division 1AA (now called FBS) national championships from 2005-2007 and one unbelievable victory over a top 5-ranked division 1A (now called FCS) opponent has changed App. State quite a bit from the summer of 2005 (when I last visited) to early November 2012. There are some new buildings on campus in addition to the $50 million worth of football facility enhancements (which included premium seating being tacked onto the football stadium along with 10,000 additional general admission seats). Compared to any program nationally, it looks very good up close. It puts similar programs to shame. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjHlzDgshNi0jf2Zpsvh13xgiuJhlkGFbuHBiLpeP53qyH-v6XzTGE8n94DIw8tyVS_dZ99JcpCiAvIJyDKWkv7eDXUaAXCrqWkOGBozusAF-8jXAaEMeZcb0BElWNHzD_sIQMHFj_BHYM/s1600/020.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjHlzDgshNi0jf2Zpsvh13xgiuJhlkGFbuHBiLpeP53qyH-v6XzTGE8n94DIw8tyVS_dZ99JcpCiAvIJyDKWkv7eDXUaAXCrqWkOGBozusAF-8jXAaEMeZcb0BElWNHzD_sIQMHFj_BHYM/s320/020.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kidd Brewer Stadium</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
2012 was originally supposed be my local, North Carolina tour. I firmed up plans to go to App State in the spring and had hoped to add East Carolina (known for its passionate fan base, as well) as the fall approached. My dad's worsening condition took ECU off the list and made Notre Dame's final home game of the season my second and final tour stop. One week prior to heading back to South Bend, I made the trek west from my house in central NC to Boone - one of my absolute favorite places to visit when I was in college, but also a university whose football team I had never previously seen live (despite numerous opportunities). The trip got off to a rocky start when, on the night before, my buddy Chris contracted a strange illness that made him unable to go with me. I halfheartedly attempted to find someone to take the ticket, but knew of a few others that were going to be in town for the game. I decided to go it alone. Oddly, 2012's tour was completely flown solo. I went to App and Notre Dame by myself. App was a game-time decision for me. I awoke that morning and decided that it was a gorgeous fall day perfect for watching football. I contacted an old high school friend named Sharon, who I had fortunately been working with over the previous year on our high school reunion. I say fortunately because, frankly, I had not seen her in over half a decade before the reunion planning. If it were not for the reunion, I might not have known that she was going. She turned out to be a major reason why my App football experience was so positive. I called her once I arrived in Boone and was ushered right over to her awesome tailgating spot.<br />
<br />
Most of my tour stops have found me aimlessly wandering prior to games, drinking a beer provided by an on-the-street venue and soaking in the unfamiliarity of the given campus. I had been to App a dozen times. I wanted the "I'm a huge App fan" tailgating experience; Sharon, her husband, and her friends were the perfect group to be around for exactly that. They knew what they were doing; they had done this tailgating routine in that very tailgating spot for every home game over several previous seasons. Nice people, all of which welcomed the lonely stranger who came to the game by himself with warm greetings and offerings for various drinks. <b>Thank you again, Sharon</b>...it was great tailgating with you "at The Rock." All around her spot next to the stadium, there were thousands of Mountaineer fans gearing up for a shot at another Southern Conference Championship (which is what they achieved that day with a victory over rival Furman).<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8CjiYcmsTEQw2R0kHn76rBNmjBZDcL5Ayf1CQQqEUB3nDt5ynAa2LHlNs2PXEAinQknLT-t8YNizmWlOAXI_P0IyExzeud7Gl8fQIOgC2-1JLiceiYpdiEzlGK1dYkzvo00xUPbY_IpP1/s1600/018.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8CjiYcmsTEQw2R0kHn76rBNmjBZDcL5Ayf1CQQqEUB3nDt5ynAa2LHlNs2PXEAinQknLT-t8YNizmWlOAXI_P0IyExzeud7Gl8fQIOgC2-1JLiceiYpdiEzlGK1dYkzvo00xUPbY_IpP1/s320/018.jpg" height="320" width="179" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was a unique tailgating vehicle</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After a bit of spirited tailgating, I met up with another friend of mine, Dean (who, I might add, was rocking a pretty sweet mustache that weekend). It was visits to see him and his roommates at App back in the day that had made Boone such a destination in my undergraduate years. On an unseasonably warm day for mid-November, we made our way into Kidd Brewer Stadium. Dean filled me in on the changes that had taken place at App during and after their string of national championships. I was very impressed by what I saw and what I heard. The fans were crazy for their Mountaineers; it got pretty loud in there. App dominated the first half before allowing a spirited comeback by the Paladins. As the final whistle blew, the fans rushed the field in celebration of the school's 12th Southern Conference title. It was especially memorable because it was the final regular season coaching appearance by Mountaineer legend, Jerry Moore, who retired after his 24th year as App State's head coach. It was also the last So Con game that the school would ever play. The next year, App moved up to Div. 1A/FBS. <br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCkltUI0s4S31VKEAhlq9g72myAM6KH9-8_u1HEhnFlyOKlRT0Q9QotMT_PfrUb0tOZMYbm2N-fMERJVO22wwwVPLClliT0xMXJSNJYVisBcylg9XSkCOzGpEh-_m1pRCTEbK00_6dIMvC/s1600/019.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCkltUI0s4S31VKEAhlq9g72myAM6KH9-8_u1HEhnFlyOKlRT0Q9QotMT_PfrUb0tOZMYbm2N-fMERJVO22wwwVPLClliT0xMXJSNJYVisBcylg9XSkCOzGpEh-_m1pRCTEbK00_6dIMvC/s320/019.jpg" height="320" width="179" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me and Mr. Mustachio, Dean</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
My walks through campus, and particularly the moments before the games start when I look around at all the fans in the stadium, often spark favorite memories of watching the teams play on TV. It had been five years from the time that I attended an App game to the last time that I had watched them on TV - the upset of Michigan that made the cover of Sports Illustrated. Michigan football ranks closely with cleaning up dog doo on my list of least favorite things on this planet. App beating them on the first day of the 2007 season helped brighten my day after Notre Dame got spanked to start their worst campaign in team history. On that beautiful day in 2012, I found myself wondering what it must have been like to be on the App campus back then. Already with two national titles in a row earned through a legitimate College Football Playoff, it must have been a helluva thrill to beat a top 5 team en route to a third straight national championship. As big a football fan as I am, I'm quite confident that, had I been a student there when all that was happening, it would have absolutely <i><b>made</b></i> my college experience.<br />
<br />
I'll always remember App State as site of some of my most enjoyable college experiences. I've never met anyone that went there that didn't know how to have a good time. Maybe it's a pre-requisite to attend, being adept at having fun. As I found out in 2012, it's also a school that has found the right formula on Saturdays, combining the beautiful Boone atmosphere with rich modern football history. I had a newborn and wife to get home to that evening, but I imagine from past experience that from "The Rock" to Klondike to Geno's, App State was hopping after securing another championship for the trophy case. Dr Chadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08109193628548201367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5478753955946215078.post-67137545473821966682014-09-27T07:12:00.000-07:002014-09-28T11:33:46.253-07:00"Between the Hedges" at Georgia Sets a New Standard for "The Tour"During my wedding festivities in 2009, I was introduced to my wife's uncle, Ron. I consider myself to be one of the biggest college football fans on the planet. Frankly, in my travels around the country, I had yet to find anything but rivals (certainly no one more of a diehard than I). Well, as I was pulling up to the hotel to drop my dad off from the airport, I saw this black and red car with University of Georgia Bulldogs emblems all over it - Ron's car. In our first conversation, Ron was drawing from memories of Notre Dame vs. Georgia in the only meeting between the schools in history - a 17-10 Bulldog victory over the Irish in the 1981 Sugar Bowl. What do you say to that? "We'll get you next time"...? Given the SEC's recent dominance, I was likely justified in refraining from any ND-fueled retort. I walked away from that conversation knowing that I had met my match - at least when it came to being passionate about <i>your </i>team (I've got him beat in overall college football fandom, I think). That night, he promised me that he would take me to a Georgia game some day. It took me four years to take him up on the offer. Boy, I'm glad that I did...<br />
<br />
My wife and I took our daughter down to Georgia on September 6, 2013 so that they could hang out with the family and so that I could add "Athens" to my list of big name college football tour stops. For me, going to these games evokes similar emotions as would a vacation to a place like Hawaii or Europe for most people. It's like Christmas morning to a kid. When you wake up, you've got that little tingle of excitement and your muscles start randomly jumping all around - an outlet for an enthusiasm that cannot be contained. There's nothing quite like it.<br />
<br />
Ron and I launched for Athens at 10:30AM for a game with a 4:30 kickoff. We picked up one of Ron's Georgia-loving buddies, Herman, who brought along with him another Georgia-loving buddy, Phil. These guys were characters. This experience was unique. I had been to Notre Dame with a fellow Irish fan who had dreamed of one day helping the boys "wake up the echoes." I had been to Ohio State with current college students, all with their current college student mindsets of "let's party and go to the football game." I had been to Oklahoma with a big Sooner fan around my age and of my same profession and football aficionado-stature. I had yet to go to a game with a group of gentlemen who had seen and been a part of some of the greatest moments in their team's respective history. Ron, Herman, and Phil are books of Georgia football lore. They all know how to tailgate, as well. At Georgia's awesome "Tailgate Station" - a gated and guarded tailgate community where you buy a grassy parking space for a cool $15,000 - Phil cracked open a Rolling Rock, Herman a bottle of 2 Buck Chuck, Ron an Icehouse, and I a Corona. We sat there for two hours talking football. They shared with me some of their favorite Georgia memories, as I absorbed the fact that - for these men - football season is the best part of their year. Gentlemen, I concur.<br />
<br />
Let me share something about Ron. He's got the greatest mustache in the history of mankind. Friends of mine still occasionally mention "the guy with the mustache" when talking about my wedding. Curling out and around into a big loop, it requires mustache wax to keep it in place. So, we were heading down to the bathroom areas and Ron got stopped by a group of young ladies wanting to have their pictures taken with him (that's one). On his way back from the bathroom, he got stopped by another group (that's two). Later, the blonde in her black dress and cowboy boot get-up that had caught everyone at Tailgate Station's attention a time or two throughout the day was standing in line waiting to board the bus to the stadium commented on it (that's three). I won't repeat his reply. On our walk from the bus to our seats, three more people commented on his "awesome mustache" (that's four, five, and six). Six times, someone made mention of that 'stache. Impressive.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGeGKJs5QOfroSRi-Z_H1W6Gdcv8Dj5dk0v6Q0Xd5H8vfdxsZnEtIRavWYSDQpwuCK4B9FgDnAs-89wIgpWBbmUSXnsn_5vY09AJN67plfNMboLGeufwgF6FXO1EM0fNuw8ZQsrSEmR76z/s1600/ronwexlerstache.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGeGKJs5QOfroSRi-Z_H1W6Gdcv8Dj5dk0v6Q0Xd5H8vfdxsZnEtIRavWYSDQpwuCK4B9FgDnAs-89wIgpWBbmUSXnsn_5vY09AJN67plfNMboLGeufwgF6FXO1EM0fNuw8ZQsrSEmR76z/s1600/ronwexlerstache.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Now, <i>THAT'S</i> a 'stache</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Back at Tailgate Station, roughly four hours until kickoff, legendary Georgia coach, Vince Dooley, showed up to sign autographs. Dooley was the coach for the 1980 National Championship team featuring Hall of Fame running back and 1982 Heisman Trophy winner, Hershel Walker. He signed my shirt and snapped this picture with me.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO1TPchzFCnGdad0acUOT6kpDZlu71Up8AdzgW-2hyphenhyphenlVVJYnUu1KxyAuQXevTNtVm50ts4n0HnW87iaGMieaKCZSKsbKnOR3K_ViDWMLDnoAfJMRkn0PzCURIncFh1gvHhluE8mNxS6if9/s1600/012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO1TPchzFCnGdad0acUOT6kpDZlu71Up8AdzgW-2hyphenhyphenlVVJYnUu1KxyAuQXevTNtVm50ts4n0HnW87iaGMieaKCZSKsbKnOR3K_ViDWMLDnoAfJMRkn0PzCURIncFh1gvHhluE8mNxS6if9/s320/012.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me and Vince Dooley...it's OK to be jealous</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
If you just said to yourself, "Damn, that's cool," then my reply would be, "You're damn right it was cool!" That was unique to all my tour stops to date, meeting one of the best coaches in the history of college football.<br />
<br />
Tailgate Station allowed Georgia to overtake Ohio State as the best tailgating experience that I've been a part of. It has the TVs (for the other big games), the easily accessible bathrooms, and a relaxed, gated, and guarded atmosphere for you to enjoy a few pregame brewskis. To top it off, they brought in excellent, catered food. <br />
<br />
On the bus to the game, the Dawgs faithful cycled through a few of the school's popular chants. I may have to make "taking the bus" a staple for future tour destinations, particularly for those that house their football stadiums on campus. The bus rides wind up being an informal tour of the school and its fan base. I went to N.C. State and our stadium was at an off-campus site. I didn't much care for that. Football stadiums (and basketball arenas) should be on campus. If I started a college, I wouldn't have it any other way. The University of Georgia sure is a beautiful place on a sunny, late summer afternoon... <br />
<br />
92,746 packed Sanford Stadium that day. South Carolina came to town for what has become, in recent years, one of college football's most underrated rivalries. Steve Spurrier, of Florida playing and coaching fame, brought his hatred of Georgia with him to coach the Gamecocks in 2005. South Carolina has been a thorn in Georgia's side ever since, almost annually disrupting the Bulldog Nation's hopes for an undefeated season. Though the Dawgs have a 29 game lead in the overall series, the Gamecocks have won four out of the last five. The one in five? That's when I was there. You're welcome, Georgia.<br />
<br />
Georgia vs. South Carolina was easily the best game I've ever been to in 12 years of attending college football games. The Bulldogs used an onside kick <b><i>in the first quarter</i></b> to spark a 17-3 lead. The Gamecocks battled back to draw even. The eventful first half ended with a Gamecock score right before halftime, tying the score 24-24 at the break. Georgia dominated the third quarter to take a 34-24 tally into the fourth, but South Carolina came right back to pull within four. The play of the day came on the next drive for the Dawgs. Backed deep into their own territory, Georgia looked like they were about to lose momentum when 2014 #1 NFL draft pick Jadeveon Clowney came barreling through the line headed for Georgia QB and SEC all-time leading passer, Aaron Murray. However, Murray rolled to his left and found a wide open Justin Scott-Wesley on a busted coverage for an 85-yard touchdown. The Georgia defense held the Gamecocks on fourth-and-goal from the 1 on the ensuing drive and then the offense ran the ball down South Carolina's throat for the final 8-minutes of the game to seal the victory. <br />
<br />
Unfortunately, the Bulldogs limped through much of the 2013 season with a run of injuries that would rival any major college football program's single season injury record. Nevertheless, on the second week of the season, Georgia provided me with a new standard for my college football tour. Many thanks to Ron Wexler. That was a trip worth the wait. Dr Chadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08109193628548201367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5478753955946215078.post-64465811926007886382014-08-28T09:25:00.000-07:002014-08-30T05:09:03.443-07:00University of Florida: The Perfect College Football Venue<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4NRkJjcabyOd4Ty72rQpfyryDK_8J8Cen2x41te37wJvyjL9Raq9QSUvK4foCjS7MuVJT7jdXsohJPA68xPxP7PZbiuLWrCRzug6Y3UBEUybMqjCYRBK1noBufmDsI4XWLdlH25iZJXcA/s1600/225.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4NRkJjcabyOd4Ty72rQpfyryDK_8J8Cen2x41te37wJvyjL9Raq9QSUvK4foCjS7MuVJT7jdXsohJPA68xPxP7PZbiuLWrCRzug6Y3UBEUybMqjCYRBK1noBufmDsI4XWLdlH25iZJXcA/s320/225.jpg" height="320" width="179" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Arkansas = Gator Bait</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
When College Football was first getting its hooks in me in the mid-1990s, the University of Florida was a powerhouse. Coached by Steve Spurrier, they contended for the national championship often and won it in 1996. My dad's passion for Notre Dame had won me over to the Fighting Irish fan club, but I still had a soft spot for the first college football team that I really latched onto circa 1993: Florida State. Due to the Seminoles, I was not a big fan of the Florida Gators. The UF vs. FSU rivalry was particularly entertaining back in those days with both at the peak of their powers. If you had told me, then, that I would make it to Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville before I'd been to Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee on an eventual College Football Tour, I'd have called you a liar. In 2013, interestingly during Florida State's first national championship season since the dominant 90s run, that is exactly what happened. On the first weekend in October, I headed down to THE SWAMP!<br />
<br />
Before I move through the experience chronologically, let me first point out that which was so distinctly obvious about the area of the Florida campus that surrounds the football venue: it's perfectly set up for football fans and college kids. <u>Perfectly</u>. It may have been that we just parked in the perfect spot and that I'm hyperbolizing based on a small geographic sample size, but what I saw was flat out ideal. It's like Bourbon Street in New Orleans is for single party animals. Recall from the <a href="http://cfbtour.blogspot.com/2013_08_01_archive.html">Boomer Sooner</a> post that my 3 keys to a great college football pre-game are accessibility to beer, a place to watch other football games, and bathrooms. Well, I'll add restaurants and gift shops to the list (though they should be implied). We got out of the car in Gainesville, turned right, and the first thing that we saw was a restaurant/bar with plenty of TVs both inside and out, followed by a very spacious bookstore with all the Florida apparel that anyone could ever dream of, and then another restaurant/bar. The pattern continued further down the main drag of campus. The running gag after a bachelor party I attended in New Orleans several years back was that Bourbon St. is nothing but restaurant, watering hole, gentleman's club, and souvenir store on repeat for miles. University of Florida was the college football equivalent. It was the ideal environment for a young college football fan. Of course, I'm no longer a young college football fan.<br />
<br />
Backing up a bit... <br />
<br />
Driving from North Carolina to Florida is not that bad of a road
trip. Once you've driven 12 or more hours to any destination on
numerous occasions, a 7-9 hour drive is a walk in the park. This
particular tour stop was with some friends that I don't get to see very
often, so the hours were spent enjoying the company of people with whom I
once routinely traveled long distances. The idea for the trip sprung
from a desire to take our collective passions for college football and
give us the excuse to go somewhere and hang out now that the bachelor
parties and weddings have started to be replaced by baby showers and
kids. On the journey to The Swamp, I was joined by my college roommate,
Kevin, whose dad had attended UF, Kevin's brother-in-law, Chad, and
Mike (never going to stop calling him) Garlow, whose suggestion during
our freshman year in college that we take a road trip to <a href="http://cfbtour.blogspot.com/2013_07_01_archive.html">Ohio State</a>
had inadvertently set in motion what became the basis for "The Tour." I
came to find out that the other Chad had grown up an FSU fan, as well.
All in all, not a bad Friday to sit around talking about football mixed
in with adult stuff for several hours. <br />
<br />
Garlow found us
a nice little spot to stay for the weekend. It was the kind of
comfortable place that makes one thankful that he is no longer 20 years
old and crammed into a single hotel room with half a dozen other
people. Not many of my tour stops have featured hotel stays, to date.
Those that have, everything has always been so rushed that I haven't had
much down time. Undoubtedly, one of the biggest perks of finding a
good hotel is the breakfast buffet. It's usually a good idea to have a
pretty big breakfast if you're going to a college football game,
especially if you intend to tailgate and have a few adult beverages.
You need a good padding of food and a lot of water. Breakfast
buffets are always awesome. I recently told a young patient of mine who
is about to start college and was nervous, as I was, about living in a
dorm, cafeteria eating, etc. that my favorite thing about living on
campus my first year in college was the breakfast buffets at the dining
hall. Random thought, but that might be where the freshman fifteen
comes from for a lot of people. Not just the booze, but the endless
supplies of bacon, eggs, sausage, and pancakes. Anyhow, the hotel in
Gainesville had a gloriously delicious breakfast buffet selection...and
ESPN College Gameday on in the background. <br />
<br />
We spent the majority of the day at "The Swamp Bar" right near the stadium after stopping at the bookstore to get the rest of the guys some Gator gear. The expectantly entertaining banter ensued for several hours, fueled by cocktails handed out, in part, by she who shall affectionately be known as the #lemongirl - she literally stood inside the confines of a giant lemon. The use of the written and spoken hashtag, made popular by Twitter, was quite pronounced that weekend for reasons I've since forgotten. #Hashtag #lemongirl #Swamp #whiskey #LeroyJenkins (#lookthatuponYouTube).<br />
<br />
On our way to the stadium for the evening kickoff, we attempted to sell two tickets that I'd purchased in expectation of there being six of us on the trip. 1/3 of the group cancelled last minute. The scalper I spoke to offered me peanuts for the tickets. I politely declined since the face value and the dollar amount that I'd spent were considerably higher. I kept them as souvenirs instead. When we got to our seats, I realized why I'd been shortchanged on the local seller's market. I think Mars was the nearest planet to us. I guess Florida's loss to Miami earlier in the season drove down the ticket prices, but when I bought the tickets before the season, they were priced according to their usually high expectations. My mistake. Our nice view of planet Mars notwithstanding, the game atmosphere was awesome. We could literally see everything from up there. The scene of all the Gator fans doing the famous "chomp" (taking your arms and smacking your hands together like the jaws of an alligator) was memorable, as was the fact that the two-note chord from the <i>Jaws</i> theme plays while they do it. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTjgDEy0VoiagfL0MR6F2bz2xgErYDzhgjLsgE8jrMv22Vb_y6d_yX6vA_08cadM1m-QZ4AqBkwu3k_Q1GZBNyR6g4Phk_GbCMqcjCc_ph0IuIVf906l7iT5q60J4bQOzFxA6DjFojKTi-/s1600/124.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTjgDEy0VoiagfL0MR6F2bz2xgErYDzhgjLsgE8jrMv22Vb_y6d_yX6vA_08cadM1m-QZ4AqBkwu3k_Q1GZBNyR6g4Phk_GbCMqcjCc_ph0IuIVf906l7iT5q60J4bQOzFxA6DjFojKTi-/s320/124.jpg" height="239" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">G-low, Kevin, me, Chad</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Randomly, I bumped into one of my old professional school classmates. I had not seen him since we graduated 5 years prior. He sat right behind us. That was the second year in a row on my college football tour that I'd been seated near a fellow Logan-graduate. <br />
<br />
Florida went on to to thump Arkansas 30-10, so as we were walking back to the car, the celebration had begun. I could not help but temporarily imagine going to school there, as I had actually thought long and hard about doing some 13 years prior. I had even bought a Florida Gator hat when I was in high school that has been my go-to cap ever since because of how utterly exact it fits my head. In my little daydream, I envisioned what it must be like to walk to your football stadium, watch your team win, and then head to the bar to cheers the victory with tens of thousands of other students and fans...then just walk home. I snapped back to reality and instantly concluded that the best thing that Florida offers is a chance to savor the triumph. When you root on your team, be it in front of your TV at home or live in front of nearly 90,000 people, the feeling that you get when they win doesn't just end the moment that the final seconds tick off of the clock. It can last from the rest of the night all the way to the minutes before the next week's game. Florida has a football fan bubble complete with everything you'd need inside. Winning means a massive celebratory gathering inside of their bubble.<br />
<br />
I was not the usual good luck charm for my 2013 Tour stops that I had been in years past. Both Florida and Georgia were as injury-riddled as any two teams I've ever seen in one season. The Gators improved to 4-1 when we were there; it was actually their last win of the year.<br />
<br />Dr Chadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08109193628548201367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5478753955946215078.post-71195939489498641552013-11-06T05:00:00.003-08:002014-08-28T09:35:55.891-07:00Onward to say Goodbye...<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Written November 18, 2012</i></span> </div>
<br />
The last stop on my college football tour for 2012 was the University of Notre Dame; and it doubled as a special opportunity for me to pay tribute to my father's life. When I learned that my dad had chosen to be cremated several months before his passing, I thought of doing something special as a final "goodbye." Initially, I was planning to go up to Maryland, where he and I once made a trip to his dad's hometown to spread my granddad's ashes. That certainly would have sufficed, but that idea came to me before football season started. During the 2012 opener against Navy, Notre Dame was in Dublin, Ireland giving the Midshipmen a shellacking when it hit me: I should take my dad's remains to South Bend. I immediately booked a trip for the last home game of the season. I believe there was an "f" bomb in the reactive sentence when I asked my dad what he thought of that, accentuating his enthusiasm.<br />
<br />
Back then, dreams of an undefeated season were of the "pipe" variety. I'm no betting man, but I probably would've taken you up on one if you had suggested the Irish would have a shot at 11-0 against Wake Forest on November 17. When I last saw my dad a week before he passed, I read through his college football "Bible" (Lindy's pre-season magazine); he made notes about ND's potential 2012 record, predicting that they would
finish 8-4. I, personally, wasn't even sure that they'd do that well. Now, as I sit here recapping my weekend as the Fighting Irish have just been named the #1 team in the land, it dawns on me that - no matter what happens the rest of the season - this has been one of the most memorable seasons of my fandom...and my dad would have <u><b><i>LOVED</i></b></u><b> </b>it! <br />
<br />
It has been a long time since there was as much excitement about Notre Dame heading into the last weekend of the season as there was during the first. Not since 1993 have the Irish won 11 games or been ranked #1 in the polls. This is the first legitimate national title shot they've had since. My dad was an easily jaded fan. 2006, the season where we attended our first live ND game, was the last year that the Irish evoked anything close to the kind of excitement that they have in 2012. That is quite a drought by even modern Golden Domer standards. This would have been just the type of season to get my dad's Scotch-Irish heart pumping the blue and gold again. <br />
<br />
My dad watched his last Notre Dame game with me on September 22, 2012,
but ever since he passed (8 days later) I've felt like his presence in their games has
been palpable. It was as if he swooped down and forced air through the
lungs of the official, who blew his whistle to stop Stanford running
back Stepfan Taylor's last push over the goal line in overtime on October 13 and I'm
fairly certain that he floated to one side of the goal post and blew
out a subtle gust that carried Pittsburgh's field goal for the win in
double overtime wide. On November 17th, his spirit
was in two places at once in Eugene, Oregon and Waco, Texas to aid Stanford and Baylor to
shocking victories over #2 Oregon and #1 Kansas State that cleared the way for the #3 ranked Irish to ascend to the
top spot in the polls. <br />
<br />
A few hours prior to the upsets, I discretely scattered his ashes on the Notre Dame campus as the Irish faithful prepared for kickoff. My dad and I were actually supposed to go that game together. For Christmas in 2010, my wife and I had bought season tickets for Wake Forest Football down the road in Winston-Salem because the Irish were on the schedule. Our gift to my dad was to have him come up for the Wake-ND game in North Carolina in 2011 and then we'd all go up to South Bend, Indiana for the other half of the home-and-home in 2012. He still accompanied me on that trip. We flew to Chicago together, we drove a rental car east to Indiana together, and we walked toward the stadium together. <br />
<br />
At a Chamber of Commerce banquet last week, the lead sponsor had given each attendee a coffee thermos. A perfectly sized coffee thermos, at that. With my wife and I each receiving one as a parting gift, I now had an answer to a question that had plagued me since I decided to spread my dad's ashes at Notre Dame: how was I going to get them onto campus? At Notre Dame, it is not exactly legal to make their campus a person's final resting place in the form that my dad chose for his remains. So, for the purpose of legality, this may or may not be a fictional story, kind policemen of South Bend, Indiana and representatives of the University of Notre Dame who may one day read this entry. The pictures taken could be stock. This could be a tale to get people to read a blog. Maybe it is. Maybe it isn't. Like dust in the wind. I found a huge tree with no one around about a hundred yards from a lake. There my dad will stay. A spice bottle carried a small part of him with me into the stadium, where I sprinkled a tiny piece of my father both in the stands and in the dirt surrounding the Knute Rockne statue. Again, may or may not be true, authorities. <br />
<br />
It gave me closure. Rest in Peace, Dad. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDJH9e-RQboDr0tVMXTbWxhzdHXGEfeV80APaYUgNJhjXg_tGMLoK-W5EbxomKyErJWVemtkb7JQU73q7Zuy4wzS1qNIzzjVLz4ZJXieD0-svHednwkCz92SkVB-pSEq_sHqvvpOn2o3k6/s1600/030.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDJH9e-RQboDr0tVMXTbWxhzdHXGEfeV80APaYUgNJhjXg_tGMLoK-W5EbxomKyErJWVemtkb7JQU73q7Zuy4wzS1qNIzzjVLz4ZJXieD0-svHednwkCz92SkVB-pSEq_sHqvvpOn2o3k6/s320/030.jpg" height="320" width="179" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The view from Dad's final resting place</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Written November 6, 2013</span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Over a year has passed since my father died. He often visits me in my dreams, encouraging me in the way that only he could when he was alive. He was, as I've come to describe him recently, my biggest fan. As jaded as he could be about Notre Dame Football, he was never jaded about me. His brand of unwavering support can never be replaced. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;">I have a game day ritual at the house during football season of flying our Notre Dame Fighting Irish flag and putting on my green Notre Dame jersey. Not a day goes by, honestly, when I don't think of my dad, but I'm taken aback on Saturdays. The excitement of the season is there, but added to it is the feeling that I always got when my flight would touch down in Orlando (where my dad lived for his final 13 years). I was still a kid when my dad moved to Florida, so every time that I got there, I would think to myself, "Hey, dad" and then every time that my flight home took off, I would think, "Bye, dad...had a great time." I managed to carry that into adulthood. I actually said it out loud when I drove down to my dad's house in January (finally) to sort out his belongings. The emotion behind that once unknown tradition has made Notre Dame Football more than just the biggest happening of the week at the McIntyre house - it's a constant reminder of my relationship with my dad, built (in part) on Irish gold and blue through and through (and I mean that in the best possible way). </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Those of you that follow the sport know how last season ended. The Irish beat the pants off Wake, then defeated USC to earn a spot in the National Championship game. They proceeded to get completely decimated by Alabama. A patient of mine is a Crimson Tide fan and he razzed me about it a little bit. I told him, "Hey, I would have loved to have won the national title, but there's nothing that can take away from 2012 regular season. The entire thing felt like a tribute to my father." Notre Dame may as well have won the national title, as far as I'm concerned. I felt like they did. 12-0 in the season that my father passed and my daughter was born? Cheer, Cheer for Old Notre Dame....my dad was up there waking up the echoes Cheering Her Name. </span></div>
Dr Chadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08109193628548201367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5478753955946215078.post-13631238557762310922013-08-31T04:11:00.000-07:002015-09-03T19:47:27.453-07:00Boomer Sooner! Oklahoma University One of a KindWhen I moved to St. Louis, Missouri to attend chiropractic school, I found that the easiest way to connect with new people in a strange place was to seek out fellow diehards of college football. It was actually pretty awesome. By the second month of the 2005 season, I had surrounded myself with huge fans from Ohio State, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Florida, and Oklahoma. Among them, the Sooner became the other half of my dynamic sports-viewing duo. Jeff and I racked up a lot of hours watching sports during our four years in St. Louis. Five years removed from those days, we still talk about twice a month, with sports dominating the conversation more than healthcare or family most of the time. The only talk that I can honestly recall from our eight years as friends that did not eventually veer to sports was the one right before my wedding when we were just idly chatting before the ceremony started. We even managed to talk about football in the hospital before his son was born.<br />
<br />
I went to visit Jeff in Oklahoma in 2010, spending a great weekend with him, his awesome wife, and his vacuum cleaner-loving son - yes, vacuum cleaner loving (they got the kid his own mini vacuum because, even at 18 months, he just wanted to vacuum the floor). The trip served a dual purpose. The obvious reason to go was to catch up with one of my closest friends. The other obvious reason was that his home was 30-minutes from Norman, Oklahoma, where the Sooners were hosting the Florida State Seminoles in week 2 of the college football season. Jeff scored us tickets through one of his patients.<br />
<br />
I awoke that Saturday morning with great anticipation. I was getting up to go to an OKLAHOMA FOOTBALL GAME. OU is amongst the pantheon of college football destinations. Their rich history includes 7 national championships, 5 Heisman trophy winners, a record 47-game winning streak back in the Bud Wilkinson era of the 1950s, and a post WWII era best winning percentage of .763. Just in the BCS era alone, they've gone to three BCS title games, won the national title once, and produced two Heisman winners (plus freak of nature RB Adrian Peterson, who should have won it in 2004, in my opinion). So, make no mistake about it, going to see the Sooners in their 82,000 seat stadium was a college football fan's dream.<br />
<br />
Jeff's wife, Cassie, dropped us off a ways from the stadium so that we could get a feel for the atmosphere. Much like the walk from an off campus apartment to Ohio Stadium in Columbus, our walk toward the OU campus provided the unique opportunity to take in the entirety of the Sooner Football experience. I do not believe that you can merely take a cab to right outside of a stadium and truly get a sense of the culture. Tens of thousands may attend the game itself, but to get the lay of the gridiron land, you've got to walk through the hundreds of thousands of tailgaters spanning a multi-mile radius.<br />
<br />
The beautiful, albeit hot, Midwest day brought the people out in force. This was the first place that I noticed the style of dresses and cowboy boots for women. Apparently, it was sweeping the nation and I failed to realize it. Allow me to reiterate the same words now that I said to my wife when I returned from my trip - the dress and cowboy boots look is 100% A-OKAY with this red blooded American male. I told my wife it would be a good Christmas gift <i>for me</i> if she bought that country girl themed outfit <i>for her</i>. <br />
<br />
Anyhow, one of the nice things about attending an early season game is the dreamer's gleam in everyone's eyes. OU is one of those programs that goes into nearly every season expecting to compete for the national title. Realistic or not, the fans have that dream heading into Labor Day weekend each year. With every win, the dream gets closer to becoming reality. The Sooners had reason to be excited that day. Carrying a #11 ranking with quiet expectations that they were underrated, OU fans seemed to relish the spotlight that came with 17th ranked, on-their-way-back-to-countrywide-respectability Florida State coming to town. Each team looked at the game as a chance to gain big game experience (and hopefully a win in the process) before their conference schedules started. Each fan base, though, saw it as an opportunity to validate and boost their national championship dreams.<br />
<br />
People that believe their college football dreams are coming true are fun to be around. They drink freely and happily; everybody is smiling. Oklahoma University has great accessibility to beer. Easily the best of my tour stops to date in that department. Beer is everywhere. I like a school that embraces that beer and football go hand-in-hand. One without the other is like KISS without the make up. Bravo to Oklahoma University for having beer to the left, right, north, south, east, and west.<br />
<br />
However...OU is the worst amongst my tour stops to date in the accessibility to bathrooms department. Sure, there are some portables. There's about 20 of them for 200,000 people. Do the math. Easy access to beer in all directions + 200,000 people + the (Chad's anger fueled) idiocy of restaurant owners not letting you use their bathrooms when you have to urinate like your life depends on it / 20 portable bathrooms = the single most sweat-inducing need to go to the bathroom in my adult life. Jeff and I decided to go ahead and get in line to enter the stadium. What seemed like an hour later, we then found the closest men's room, which of course had a line from there to Dallas, Texas. Jeff kept talking to me about something, but I finally just had to tell him to be quiet. And then immediately after he stopped talking, I realized that his talking was providing a tiny distraction, so I begged him to start talking about anything - his kid, his favorite movie, the theory of relativity - <b>ANYTHING</b>. Well, you can guess what happened from there. Think of Tom Hanks in <i>A League of Their Own</i>.<br />
<br />
On my previously described scale of the three things I most desire at a college football site - place to watch football, beer, and bathrooms, OU ranks #1 in beer but dead last in bathrooms.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2-QfUG3FXqRkw931si-TH1OIIDLB_BZf32zhLDt972GI-g06NbhtK9ZKbNEX7Qhyphenhyphenv5zyVbx6BblAdmZNONtwKRD1himwYnfNB7v-N473lDePHmHWK7Ikkev5FEtN7gP0xR59sHwg-Py56/s1600/OU.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2-QfUG3FXqRkw931si-TH1OIIDLB_BZf32zhLDt972GI-g06NbhtK9ZKbNEX7Qhyphenhyphenv5zyVbx6BblAdmZNONtwKRD1himwYnfNB7v-N473lDePHmHWK7Ikkev5FEtN7gP0xR59sHwg-Py56/s320/OU.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me and Jeff at OU (9/11/10)</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
OU serves up an incredible in-stadium atmosphere. On September 11, 2010, the fans took all of their early season enthusiasm and let it loose as the Sooner Schooner - a wagon pulled by two ponies - came dashing onto the field with crimson and cream colored muskets blasting small streams of smoke into the air. A classy tribute to the fallen from 9/11/2001 preceded the raucous Sooner faithful getting hyped up for the opening kickoff. Right as the game was about to get under way, the crowd erupted into a massively continuous chant of "OOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHH!" I remember looking up at the sky, smelling the air, and closing my eyes behind my Aviator sunglasses. Amidst a wave of enthusiasm surely registering on the Richter scale, I said a little prayer and thanked God for putting me in that place at that time. When the placekicker smashed the ball toward the opposite end, the quick conclusion to the "OH!" chant came booming from the throngs of Oklahomans. In unison, they collectively said "U!" OU was amazing. One of my favorites on the tour... <br />
<br />
The Sooners emphatically made their case for being a national title contender, throttling FSU 47-17. They rose to as high as #3 in the country that season before sputtering at Missouri in late October. They finished the season as the Big 12 Champions with a 12-2 record.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Dr Chadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08109193628548201367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5478753955946215078.post-41627813703391796392013-07-22T18:17:00.000-07:002015-08-11T11:45:22.798-07:00The First Road Trip to see the National Champion Ohio State Buckeyes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_6D9XI_XRzQ4cX31kSs8Mgr6LR_8Vhyl8NEwqaZSmMpWOUI15pVkCl0tqNwHv6GdH3dcOpUAgkTPKRGIn1US1u08HlYLbHSv78ptQpGhcYN0kSS9MZB7_Dl2gyGXdDI1my4oaYMhnj2ix/s1600/Ohio_State_Buckeyes_logo.svg.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_6D9XI_XRzQ4cX31kSs8Mgr6LR_8Vhyl8NEwqaZSmMpWOUI15pVkCl0tqNwHv6GdH3dcOpUAgkTPKRGIn1US1u08HlYLbHSv78ptQpGhcYN0kSS9MZB7_Dl2gyGXdDI1my4oaYMhnj2ix/s1600/Ohio_State_Buckeyes_logo.svg.png" /></a></div>
<br />
2002 was the season that affirmed my status as a college football
diehard. I had been a fan for years, but it's difficult to give
football its proper Saturday due when you've got chores to do at your
parents' house or soccer games to play. So, it took actually being in
college to push my CFB passion to its current level bordering on the ridiculous. I was a freshman at North Carolina State. I'd never
had so much free time to sit around and watch football all day.
Saturday was wide open. My long-time friend and college roommate,
Tommy, and I would order Gumby's pizza and we would just sit...ALL DAY.
If we weren't at the State game, we were watching football on our
little 19-inch TV - or in our friend Sac's room watching on their
slightly larger TV. Every weekend was built around football. The Wolfpack started the season
9-0. That same year, Notre Dame started 8-0.<br />
<br />
My buddy
Garlow and I had decided to make a road trip to Ohio State on the first
weekend of November to visit his cousin. He had grown up a fan of the
Buckeyes similar to how I had with Notre Dame. As luck would have it,
our plans to attend the Minnesota game on Nov. 2 were made twice as
awesome by <i>The </i>Ohio State University's 9-0 start. On the first day of
November, we headed northwest to Columbus, Ohio, jamming out to 80s
music and Dave Matthews Band. That was my first of many times
driving to the Midwest. It's about as boring as watching NASCAR. There
is nothing to see for hundreds of miles on end. I'm used to it, now,
having lived out there, but you better have someone interesting to talk
to (Garlow was) and some good tunes to listen to (we did) when you drive through the Midwest.
If not, you could easily fall asleep and wake up inside of a silo. <br />
<br />
We didn't arrive in Columbus until the
early hours of Saturday morning, so we basically grabbed a solid few
ours of sleep and got up to get ready for tailgaiting. <br />
<br />
The tailgating
at Ohio State ten years ago remains the best that I've seen. I like
being outside to do a little pre-gaming, but I also want to watch
all the other games leading up to the live kickoff for the game I'm attending.
At Ohio State, you get both. On a giant, outdoor screen, you can watch
all of the other games right outside of the stadium. It has taken
every bit of the last decade for the memory of watching NC State lose to
an inferior Georgia Tech team on that massive screen to fade, but
there's nothing better than being able to enjoy the crisp air, have a
beer, and watch football with the knowledge that you're about see two
ranked teams clash with conference and national title implications.<br />
<br />
Every
fan has their own set of expectations for tailgating experiences, but
mine are about three things: 1) I need to be able to watch football somewhere and I'd prefer to do it without making friends with "Drunken" Chuck
O'Callahan who brought a TV with him. 2) I want it to be easy to
get a beer. 3) - I need easily accessible bathrooms. Ohio State - you're #1 for the time being. <br />
<br />
Just
walking to the stadium can be an interesting experience, as it gives
you a taste of the town. Buckeye fans are some of the most hardcore
that I've ever known. My buddy Tony, an OSU alum, once left a
restaurant because the beef he wanted to order off the menu was brought
in from Michigan. They don't breed fair weather fans in Ohio. If the
scarlet and grey gets into your blood, then you're a diehard. Weekends
can be incredible or terrible based on a win or a loss. I love that
about college football. Losing one game can mean no more national title
shot or less of a chance at winning the conference. One game! You
can't duplicate that in any other sport.<br />
<br />
Ohio State is a
big place - it's one of the biggest schools in the country. It's
historical vibe - that flood of feelings that you get when you walk on
campus and get closer to the stadium, where you sense the spirit of
legends - is about as palpable in Columbus as it is in South Bend. I'm
thankful that the a place that I'd definitively consider to be amongst
college football's Holy Grail of game day experiences was the first stop
on my tour. Being one of 104,897 people in the Horseshoe...I may not
even have become all that interested in traveling the country for CFB
games if it weren't for The Shoe. <br />
<br />
There's a spine
tingling moment when you realize that you've just experienced something
special and you start wanting to experience it again. When you're
standing there watching an undefeated football team amidst over a
hundred thousand rabid fans, getting goosebumps on top of your goosebumps on a mid-fall day in Ohio, it's
what I can best describe as divine. If life is broken down into a
series of memories, then the roar of the crowds just prior to a kickoff - when the anticipation reaches a fever pitch - are going to be some of the
things that I think about on my deathbed.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://a.espncdn.com/media/ncf/2002/1102/photo/r_jenkins_i.jpg" height="200" id="irc_mi" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 97px;" width="275" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stock photo - I didn't have a camera back then</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
Ohio State
dominated a ranked Golden Gopher squad with Big 10 title dreams of its
own. They went on to gut out a few close ones down the stretch and
set-up a Fiesta Bowl showdown with Miami in the national championship
game. Anywhere I go in any given season, I become kind of a de-facto
fan of that team for the rest of the year. Garlow and I watched the
title game over at our friend Kevin's house during the holiday break
from school. Another of our friends, Chris, is a big Miami fan and his
heavily favored 'Canes came in expected to potentially breeze their way
to a second straight BCS title. Chris holed up in one room of the
house, while many of us were in another. A lot of people were critical
of Ohio State's inclusion in the game, citing their close wins against
mediocre teams. They played their hearts out, though, and won in double
overtime. Garlow jumped me in one of those perfectly acceptable man
hugs. He's kicking my rear end in national titles for his teams versus
mine since we started and completed college - he's got three to my zero
(two UNC basketball titles and one OSU football championship). <br />
<br />
The
fact that both the Irish and Wolfpack had their undefeated dreams die
that day was disappointing, but the negativity from that day wore off
and the lasting awesomeness of seeing the eventual national champions
win 34-3 in the Shoe took over. <br />
<br />Dr Chadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08109193628548201367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5478753955946215078.post-68273342734476856402012-11-16T13:38:00.000-08:002013-01-07T16:59:08.711-08:00The First Trip to Notre Dame was a Religious ExperienceThis weekend, I return to South Bend for another late November home game for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. It's a bittersweet return this time around. September 30, eleven days after the birth of my daughter, my father passed away after a six year off again, on again battle with cancer. I'm going back to Notre Dame to get some closure. I was able to see my dad the week before he passed, but I couldn't really say "goodbye" in person. How do you do it? I didn't figure it out. So, to celebrate his life in my own way and to <u>live</u> the goodbye that I couldn't bring myself to <u>say</u>, I leave Saturday morning for a rapid fire day dedicated to Rich McIntyre. Yet, as I sit here making the final arrangements for the trip, I am harkened back to six seasons ago... <br />
<br />
During the spring of 2006, a few months after having the original tumor removed, my dad called me and we began talking about the upcoming season. The Lindy's College Football preview magazine had just come out and we'd each gotten our respective copies of what we came to call from that season forward, "The Football Bible." During our conversation, I suggested that the early year scare gave us no excuses to further postpone our first trip to see the Irish play live, in-person. I was living in St. Louis, Missouri, at the time, and we were a mere 6 hour drive away. It was a no-brainer of a decision.<br />
<br />
We chose an "easy" game. The Irish were pre-season ranked #1 by many publications, returning Heisman-frontrunner, Brady Quinn, and the other key players of a high powered offense. Charlie Weis had come back "home" to his alma mater from the New England Patriots, where he'd steered the offense as coordinator to three Super Bowls. In 2005, Weis was one of the many different winners of the various Coach of the Year awards. Year 2 brought about dreams of the glory days. Nevertheless, my dad and I did not wish to make our first trip to Notre Dame on a day where there was much probability for a loss. For instance, the Michigan game - which ND ended up losing 47-21. Glad we didn't pick that one. Lowly, at the time, Stanford, was our choice. They entered the October 7, 2006 game winless on the season.<br />
<br />
September 2006 was a rough time for me, personally. It was as tumultuous as any time in my life. The Irish were, as usual, a nice escape from the real world that I needed, then, more than ever. The trip to South Bend was just what the doctor ordered to get my mind off everything else. Dad flew into town on a Thursday and we proceeded to thoroughly enjoy several watering holes with my friends going through the wars, so to speak, in professional school. The next morning, we got up and drove up through Illinois, hung a right at Chicago, and made the trek to Notre Dame.<br />
<br />
Quick thing about South Bend, Indiana - not a very aesthetically pleasing place to be outside of the University campus. That is all.<br />
<br />
We actually made it to the campus just in time to catch the pep rally at the Joyce Center right near the football stadium. Some guy was nice enough to give us one ticket, which we proceeded to pretend was two tickets and McIntyre charm our way past the female gatekeeper. That was a cool experience. Other than at NC State, I'd never been to another school's pre-game pep rally. To this day, that remains one of the most unique experiences I've had with college sports; a memory that I will continue to cherish. <br />
<br />
After the pep rally, we took <i><b>the</b></i> tour. We traveled the lengths of campus, taking in the sights that I had first seen when my dad took me to see the movie, "Rudy," at the theaters during the '93 season. The Grotto, where candles are lit and prayers are spoken, the Golden Dome, Touchdown Jesus...if there is a university with more well-known, must-see landmarks, you'll have to enlighten me. It was simply awesome to see all of it in person. The one thing that we didn't see was the College Football Hall of Fame. We got there too late on Friday and it isn't open on the weekends. I digress. <br />
<br />
You want to know how much money college football generates for major, top-ranked schools? <br />
<br />
$200 per night was our hotel fee...at the Econolodge. I've been in nice Econolodges before, but this one was a dump. I never stayed at a South Bend hotel again after that. I've traveled 15 miles for a nicer, more reasonably priced hotel ever since. It was worth it, though, for that trip. We wanted to tailgate and not worry about having to drive, so the Econo-ripoff was close enough to campus to take a taxi to the stadium.<br />
<br />
Dad and I started a trend. I will continue it this weekend. I have actually not done any tailgaiting outside at Notre Dame Stadium. We thought about it on the first trip, but we needed to eat first. So, we walked into a restaurant-bar right outside of the stadium called "Legends." To me, "Legends" has become legen<i>dary</i>. That's the place to be, in my opinion, before a game. You can eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner there. You can drink draft beer there. You can watch every other game on the college football menu for that day on the several huge screen televisions there. Ask anyone that has accompanied me to Notre Dame and they can tell you about "Legends." Every time that I've been, it has been easy to get a seat. You might have to wait a few minutes, but once you're in there, you're good to go (knock on wood for this weekend).<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOhpx7L7c31gAVpcQ0FqpZmVtbU6Ddt-NfGjweK_qe_OOCR60yHklqpCYUR0PkHGVzu5dProJkB28b3P_PDAEeKL0i385KcKGM_UnzSYBgdpmPMLtDlBknA6w46i5VfGOzMoG_ex9sUDxF/s1600/dadnd001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOhpx7L7c31gAVpcQ0FqpZmVtbU6Ddt-NfGjweK_qe_OOCR60yHklqpCYUR0PkHGVzu5dProJkB28b3P_PDAEeKL0i385KcKGM_UnzSYBgdpmPMLtDlBknA6w46i5VfGOzMoG_ex9sUDxF/s320/dadnd001.jpg" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dad at Legends in 2006</td></tr>
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We spent the better part of the morning and early afternoon hanging out and watching College Gameday and other games. When 2:30 rolled around, we made our way to the stadium and got our seats. We had this picture taken on the unseasonably warm day as the players were warming up:<br />
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Our seats were in the end zone facing Touchdown Jesus. That was not intentional, by my recollection, but it was one of those fateful moments that becomes the icing on the cake to a very memorable trip. We did not know all of the traditions, yet. We both knew the fight song forwards, backwards, and sideways, but the rest of the in-stadium, live traditions were lost on us. There was that moment, though, where we both realized that the other was cheer, cheering for old Notre Dame and just kind of smiled at each other. One of my favorite son-father moments. <br />
<br />
The Irish romped to a fairly pedestrian 31-10 victory, but the result was never in question and their slim chances of a national title remained alive for another week. After losing the third game of the season to Michigan, the Irish won 8 games in a row, rolled into the Los Angeles Coliseum 10-1 and proceeded to get their butts kicked by Southern Cal (again), dashing their BCS Championship dreams and ours. That took nothing away from being there for the third of those eight consecutive victories, though. I rank that amongst the top 5 weekends of my life, to this point. <br />
<br />
When my dad and I both realized that his end was near in May of this year, we talked a lot about our Notre Dame trip. This year was to be our second together. For Christmas in 2010, my wife and I planned to take my dad to the Wake Forest game in Winston-Salem, NC for the 2011 season and then to the Wake game at Notre Dame this season. We knew before the summer started that said trip was not going to happen. He called me one day while he was in the hospital and said that a man stopped by to talk to him about making a bucket list; asked him if there were any places he wanted to go or things he wanted to do before his time on this earth expired. My dad told the man, "I've traveled the world...and I've been to Notre Dame with my son. I've done everything that I wanted to do." <br />
<br />
So, tomorrow, I make my latest trip to South Bend. I started to write that I'd be alone this time, but my dad actually will be with me. He'll be there. And that will be his final resting place. I will creatively find a way to spread his remains where he and I had our greatest road trip. <br />
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...And I'll say my final "Goodbye." <br />
<br />
Dr Chadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08109193628548201367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5478753955946215078.post-17141220799514241322012-11-04T04:36:00.000-08:002012-11-07T16:51:48.731-08:00South Carolina is the Most Underrated Atmosphere in CFBAs of Thanksgiving weekend 2011, my college football tour stops had included such hallowed halls as Notre Dame, Ohio State, and Oklahoma. I walked out of Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, South Carolina thinking that a Gamecocks home game was as rowdy and raucous as any place that I'd ever been...<br />
<br />
For the second straight year, the opportunity to add a stop to my tour came about organically. After my trip to OU in 2010, I figured that was it - I'd be (content) watching at home for the rest of the season. Well, then NC State rolled through September undefeated, so I had to take my wife to see her first in-person game at my alma mater. Then, my buddy, Dean, arranged for a few friends to go to South Bend for a November game; I certainly wasn't passing that up.<br />
<br />
Repeat in 2011. Blacksburg, Virginia to see the Hokies. Check. Back to football on the couch. Yet, it was a day with a gray October sky in 2011 that I got a call from my stepdad, Mickey. The Gamecock alum said he could get tickets for South Carolina football. "Which games," I asked. "Florida and Clemson," he later emailed. Book it. South Carolina vs. Clemson has incredible history. Dare I call it the south's most heated rivalry that nobody talks about? When I was applying to colleges back in the day, South Carolina was actually near the top of my list. A visit to the campus yielded pleasant dreams of going to school out of state. That never came to pass, but during the brief few months that I thought about attending the other USC, I learned enough about its sports lore to understand one thing above all else: beat Clemson and the season isn't a failure.<br />
<br />
So, we made the trip down I-85 and I-77. To our delight, it was actually a very pleasant evening for a late November night game. I was comfortably able to shed my Notre Dame coat, allowing Mick and I to proudly display our matching Carolina shirts. We had excellent seats. Personally, I think the best seat in a college football stadium is right between the 10-20 yard line. You can see everything that from that spot - a perfect view of the game, plus an easy panoramic view of the crowd.<br />
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South Carolina came into the game looking to notch a 10-win season for only the second time in school history. Clemson was a week away from playing for their conference title in the ACC Championship game. So, Mick and I lucked out in being there for what was, in historical context, one of the most highly touted games in the rivalry. They both were 9-2.<br />
<br />
I'm quite certain that the guy behind us had drank both team's combined win totals in Bud Lights while tailgaiting throughout the day. Of the venues I've attended, thus far, that guy won the award for drunkest old man. He was sitting right behind Mickey, who has a good amount of patience, but if it wears out and you're in his path, then that's not a good thing (trust me). There was a part of me that wanted the old dude to stumble into Mickey one more time (he did it several times) just to see what my stepdad would do - most likely a verbal castration that either would have ignited a brawl or made the guy go crawl into a corner and suck his thumb. Luckily, old guy's wife wisely decided to usher her inebriated husband out of the stands to sober up a bit. Unfortunately, that was not before the guy got into it with the people sitting next to me. When old drunk slammed into my seat neighbor's spouse, he was kindly asked to calm down. That was like poking a gamecock with a hot branding iron. Spoken bedlam briefly ensued. The drunk returned after halftime and apologized...sort of. <br />
<br />
The rest of the people sitting around us were as nice as could be. The lady sitting next to the drunk behind us struck up a conversation with me. I told her about my tour and Mick's graduate work he'd done at SC a few decades prior. All in all, a good group of fans. They were just a few of the 83,000 plus in attendance and just as crazy about their (game) cocks as the rest of them. Awesome, awesome, awesome fan base, especially when you consider that their football tradition consists of, other than their Heisman winner and one ACC title, years of struggle and strife and a barely above .500 winning percentage.<br />
<br />
I was blown away by how loud the place really was, as I'd heard from ESPN commentators over the years that they had a great home crowd but never could imagine it rivaling some of the other places that I'd been. From the pregame school band rendition of the 2001 Space Odyssey theme, which to me will always be the music of "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair, to the continual use of the late 90s techno-hit "Sandstorm" (a newer tradition that was easily the most memorable part of the experience - see <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErJo2CpAYps&feature=relmfu">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErJo2CpAYps&feature=relmfu</a>), South Carolina is one of the most entertaining home stadiums in college football. Throw in the appearance of Sir Big Spur, the live gamecock, and you've got several sights to behold.<br />
<br />
South Carolina took a 17-10 halftime and lead and wore down the eventual ACC Champions to the tune of a 34-13 victory. The Cocks went onto win their school-record 11th game during bowl season, upending Nebraska on January 2nd. We had a great time watching them put the finishing touch on their historic regular season. Repeat stops on the tour might not be a regular thing outside of Notre Dame and NC State, but since SC is so close, I certainly wouldn't mind going back. <br />
<br />
On a parting note, it's better to exit a sea of garnet and black after a convincing victory. Had the Tigers won, I'd have hated to see more people like the old drunk with a reason to be angry. It was, after all, only seven years removed from the famous brawl between the Clemson and Carolina players. <br />
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<br />Dr Chadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08109193628548201367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5478753955946215078.post-88259428364228884822012-09-17T10:47:00.003-07:002012-11-07T16:45:21.381-08:00A College Football Connoisseur...of sorts There's something about college football. The NFL has never sparked that great an interest in me, but college football brings to the table an intangible that I'm unsure I can, as of yet, adequately describe. It's awesome - that much I know. Perhaps it's the marching bands. Somewhere around the 2005 season, I realized during the Thursday night opener on ESPN that I love the sound of the drumline. It's one of the distinct differences between college and pro football. When I flip on a college football game, I can get wrapped up in the atmosphere just by hearing the rat-a-tat-tat of the home team university's raucous instrument-wielding cheering section. Whatever it is, college football has had its hooks in me for a long time. <br />
<br />
<i><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Cheer, cheer for Old Notre Dame<br />
Wake up the echoes cheering her name,<br />
Send the volley cheer on high,<br />
Shake down the thunder from the sky,<br />
What though the odds be great or small<br />
Old Notre Dame will win over all,<br />
While her loyal sons are marching<br />
Onward to Victory.</span></span> </b></i><br />
<br />
When the first string of sentences that you can ever put together as a child are the words to the Notre Dame fight song, then college football is likely to be one of your passions down the road. As a kid, I would sing that chorus to whoever would listen. I distinctly remember singing it to a preschool teacher. To my father, who caught the Fighting Irish bug when he was young, it was a moment of pride. If my daughter sings the fight song to her teachers in a few years, I'll be proud, too.<br />
<br />
We'll have to give credit to my dad for starting the Irish football craze in our family. Nobody in our family has, as of yet, made the choice to go to South Bend for schooling, so the origins of the McIntyre-Notre Dame connection go back to the Green Bay Packers of the 1960s. My dad was a big fan of their star halfback, Paul Hornung, who was a Heisman trophy winner at Notre Dame. Once he discovered that Hornung played for the Irish, then Notre Dame became his second favorite football team...and soon #1. College football was king back in those days. That may be hard for some to believe given the ridiculous current popularity of the NFL (whose preseason games draw as strong a Nielsen rating as the MLB's World Series), but it was the college game that built the football empire in the United States and Notre Dame was a big part of that. Irish Americans around the country had a sports "franchise" to get behind as Knute Rockne and Frank Leahy's teams of the '20s and '40s created a legion of "Subway" alumni - the name given to the fans of the team that didn't attend the university. <br />
<br />
Of course, the mystique was still very much alive for the Golden Domers when my dad started watching. It was the Ara (Parseghian) era and, before my dad ever graduated from college, the Irish had racked up two more more national championships in '66 and '73. Many a Notre Dame fan was produced from those teams. <br />
<br />
My dad's passion was contagious - the entire family became Irish fans. From my grandmother to my uncle to my cousins...dad started a trend.<br />
<br />
Despite the early penchant for singing the fight song, the 1993 season was the first that I vividly remember. I decided to be a little rebel and pull for a team besides the Irish. My dad and I happened to be watching a game in September featuring the Florida State Seminoles and their superstar quarterback, Charlie Ward. Bam! I was a 'Noles fan. FSU became my team for a good while. I could have created an entirely new tradition for my family, but something happened late in that season that plotted the course for my college football fandom.<br />
<br />
THE GAME OF THE CENTURY. November 13, 1993. #1 FSU vs. #2 Notre Dame. Chad vs. Dad. As fate would have it, the Irish got the win. It really wasn't even close, despite the 31-24 final score. My dad would turn the volume way up and blast the ND fight song after every Irish score, which aggravated the you-know-what out of me. My love for the Irish inadvertently started that day. There was just something about that team, in general. Some x-factor that was difficult to pinpoint. That was actually the very first live, on sight broadcast of ESPN's now famous College Gameday, by the way. <br />
<br />
A week later, my dad and I were watching the newly #1 ranked Notre Dame squad play Boston College - the Holy War, as they call the rivalry. We didn't turn the game on until the fourth quarter, assuming that the Irish were walloping the Eagles. As my dad would later tell during his best man speech at my wedding, that was the day that 'ole Chad became a diehard Irish football fan. To our surprise, ND was down 38-17 with 11-minutes left in the game. WHAT?! A national title almost a certainty and they're staring a first-ever loss to Boston College in the face? As my college buddies would also come to learn, that game also started my extreme distaste for BC - friekin' Boston College. <br />
<br />
I looked at my dad and said, "If Notre Dame comes back to win, I'll be an Irish fan." Notre Dame stormed back and took the lead, 39-38. I couldn't believe it. The emotion and drama was unbelievable. I had watched maybe 5 football games in my entire life that I could remember and that was the first COMEBACK that I'd ever seen. I got sucked right into the "Luck of the Irish" and turning the volume up to listen to the fight song. It was like God was watching over the Irish Catholic school, willing them to win.<br />
<br />
And then they lost...<br />
<br />
41-39 on a last second field goal. Guess who coached that BC team? Two-time Super Bowl winning New York Giant coach, Tom Coughlin. I don't like him either.<br />
<br />
It didn't matter that they lost, though. The comeback was enough to sprout the previously planted Irish seeds and, though my allegiance was split between Notre Dame and Florida State for the rest of the 90s, eventually Touchdown Jesus converted me to a religious ND follower. Credit also to that band and that fight song. As much as I dug the Tomahawk chop, it simply had nothing on "Cheer, cheer for old Notre Dame."<br />
<br />
So, here I sit, some twenty years later, as big a fan of college football as there is. Every fan has there origin story and that's mine. Dr Chadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08109193628548201367noreply@blogger.com0