Sunday, November 02, 2008

The definition of KLASSY, Matthew McConaughey, and waiting in line for the bathroom

**This post is dedicated to Andrew's new wife. She probably had a lot to do with picking November 1st as their wedding date. And since Andrew is the son of my parents' very best friends, my dad couldn't use his season tickets to attend the game of the year. So Honey and I went. Thanks Andrew's wife.

In case you live under a rock, the biggest college football game of the year just happened in Lubbock. The Texas Tech Red Raiders beat the number 1 Texas Longhorns in a nail biter. It was an awesome game right to the very end. You may remember that we sorta' know Colt and Graham. Honey was cheering full on for the Red Raiders. I like the Raiders just as much as the next guy, but given the connection between Colt and I, I was torn about who I should be cheering for. Connections that run through Camp Blue Haven are pretty strong . . . even if Colt knows absolutely nothing about said connections.

On the way to the game, I told Honey that I hoped the Red Raider fans would be classy. I was OK with 56,000 people being passionate about their team, but I hoped they didn't act like jerks. We'd been to other big games where the cheering meant to encourage the team had turned into something that made the whole West Texas area look like a bunch of rude hicks. So, I had high hopes that the crowd had matured since then.

When we got to the stadium, Kirk Herbstreit was setting up for his pre-game production. That's him in the gray suit in the middle right behind the ESPN desk.


And Matt Williams, the new Tech kicker, was warming up. You may have heard that he won his position on the team because earlier in the season he kicked a 35 yard field goal as a promotional stunt during one of the game time outs. What you might not know is that he was supposed to receive 6 months worth of free rent for making the field goal, but the rental company didn't cough it up. Something about jr. college experience got them out of the deal. Now he's the starting field goal kicker for the Red Raiders. I'd say he got the better end of the deal anyway.


Here's a picture of Colt warming up. He's the #12 on the 1 yard line. I wanted the Red Raiders to win, but I wanted it to be a close game. And I wanted Colt to have a good game so he'd still be in the running for the Heisman. Right about here is when Honey and I kept looking at each other and saying, "I can't believe we are at this game!"



This is the Goin' Band from Raiderland. It was so loud in the stadium that it was hard to hear them. Imagine being at a football game where the crowd makes it hard to hear the band. That is how it was for every single second of the 60 minutes of football that were played. There was not an empty seat or spot of grass in the place. And if there were 56,333 people inside the stadium, there were at least that many outside the place tailgating. We West Texas folk aren't used to that many people in one place.

And as loud as the cheering was, the booing was louder. The Tech fans began to loose some credibility in my eyes when they began to boo everything about Texas. The school song, the band, the players . . . all of it was booed.
They even booed Matthew McConaughey. Oh, yes they did. He was there with his girlfriend and their baby. Right there on the Texas sidelines. If you look really closely, right on the sideline at about the 23 yard line there is a man in jeans and an orange shirt and orange leather jacket. That's him. Only Matthew McConaughey can pull off an orange leather jacket, am I right?
When he and his girlfriend walked in front of the student section on their way off the field at halftime, they totally booed him. Now, tell me, how does booing Matthew McConaughey's little sweet baby show school spirit?
I went to the bathroom at halftime, and that's when I had what can only be described as an out of body experience. The line to the men's bathroom as at least twice as long as the women's. At least. It was like nothing I'd ever seen! And, the women's line was moving much faster than the men's line. I was completely blown away when I came out of our restroom to find the men I passed at the end of their line, hadn't even made it inside the restroom by the time I was finished. It was a crazy night indeed.
About halfway through the 3rd quarter, the students got down right rowdy. They were so wound up, they were pulling up bleachers from the stands. They began passing them down to the security guards crowd surfing style. Nice.
With about 2 minutes left to play, the announcer came on and reminded everyone that it was against the rules to be on the field when the game was over. Anyone caught doing this could face "judicial procedures". Well, that scared 'em, because
they did this not once, not twice, but three times before the game was over. Notice how many people were on the field and how full the stands still looked. It was nuts, people! Nuts!
We spent part of our afternoon rewatching the game on the DVR. Even though we already knew how the game would come out. It 's the first time I've ever watched reruns of a sporting event. I think it was such a surreal experience actually being there, that it didn't seem real until we saw it on TV, you know?
That's why we love college football. It's anyone's guess what will happen next.

8 comments:

Klamfam said...

Hey Jenni!
We were watching the game at home. We even stepped out at one point and you could here cars honking, and even the roar of the crowd. The game was totally and completely awesome!!!!

Anonymous said...

Jenni, just found your blog. I love your sense of humor.

I'm not a big football fan, but since my husband is a huge Texas fan and this was an important game I watched. I have never seen anything like it and can't imagine what it was like to be there.

Anonymous said...

FYI, I'm pretty sure they weren't booing the baby, and if mcconaughey didn't want to be subeject to the crowd, he should have been in a box. And the bleachers get passed down because when 100 or so students are jumping up and down on them, they tend to break.

javamamma said...

I love going to college games and I can imagine the game you were at was totally intense. Fun times.

We're known for our great atmosphere and fabulously courteous fans so I'm sorry you were amongst rude hicks. ;)

Shelly@Sweet Journey said...

What fun! We watched it and I couldn't imagine being there! I bet my dad was cheering like crazy too! (The only thing that would have made it better for him was if it were A & M instead of Texas!) ;)

And congrats on the 40 pounds!!! I knew you could do it!

Sunny said...

Well, from under my little rock up here I'm glad you two got to go to THE game!! Sounds like it was intense! Was Bubba mad he didnt get to go?

And that's just wrong to boo the other team (and supporting celebrities) like that. I dont care who you are, that's just wrong. What a bunch of weeds! ;o)

Glad the field dried out for the game! (Mom had sent me pics of the field all flooded earlier)

Anonymous said...

You hit it all on the nail. I was at the game also that is me at the very very very top of the stands in section 102. Did you see me I was the one wearing red and black? lol. My seats are on the home side so I did not even know Mathew was there. I would have been hogging the binoculars.

Anonymous said...

We were at the game too! What a blast. I have to say we were there all day from the pre game show, tailgating, and the game and we never saw anyone get ugly with a Texas fan.

Matthew McConaughey was booed because he was walking past the students in the bleachers with the Longhorns signs up with both hands! He was doing it to get to them. It was all in good fun!