I won't swamp you with too many details from "the other Andrew" and I's day at the Rose Bowl yesterday, but it was a day worth reporting, with some classic accompanying photos.
Click through the jump for the full report on the day's action.
Many of you know - from the past two seasons - the setup at the Rose Bowl. A large golf course sits adjacent to the stadium and is opened for each game to cars for parking and tailgating. Having had so much fun at the Rose Bowl the past two seasons, Andrew and I decided that we wanted to relive the fun one more time.
That, and remind all the Michigan and USC fans whose house they were playing in.
The Rose Bowl is Vince Young's house.
Armed with two suitcases of beer, some pork tenderloin (thank you, Andrew!), and a couple grocery bags of other assorted snacks, we were going "light." This is a relative term, of course. If you attended any of the Newberry/BON tailgates at DKR this season, you know what I mean.
We were, more or less, surrounded by USC tailgaters; the entire scene, in fact, was probably a 70-30 USC-Michigan affair. To be expected, I suppose, when one team's entire fanbase lives within an hour of the bowl. We exchanged a few pleasantries with our neighbors, but the real fun was from the disgusted USC fans who were incredulous that we showed up to the 2007 Rose Bowl in our Texas/Vince Young gear.
Obnoxious? Who, us?
Michigan fans, we note, were far more gracious. Perhaps because we decapitated the mighty Trojans in last season's finale. We received a few funny maize and blue glances, but far more "Hook 'Ems." We also enjoyed chatting with some friends of Brian's who were wandering about before the game.
Michigan fans impressed us more than the USC folks did in one other important regard: bumperstickerology. Seriously, have you ever seen anything better than this?
Go Blue! Also: eat shit jihad!
Yeah, us either.
Now, you may be wondering if we had tickets to the game... We did not. Our theory - and we thought it was a great one - was that there would be a flood of tickets just after kickoff, and not enough demand to keep the prices high.
Um, we were kinda wrong. Okay, really wrong. A healthy number of Trojan fans showed up to the Rose Bowl sans-tickets, something we didn't anticipate; their presence kept demand and, consequently, prices, high. Not willing to pay more than $50 to get inside, we made a few unsuccessful attempts to bribe our way into the game before resigning ourself to scavenge the tents to mooch on somebody's big screen TV.
After scouting numerous spots, we decided on a large tent cluster manned by two USC fans who were watching the game on a $3,500 TV. Hey, you would have, too. One fella was a former backup safety at New Mexico State University. The other gentleman was the proprietor of DBestFootballCompany, which is, if you believe its enthusiastic and optimistic owner, "going to replace Nike" in the football clothing market.
It will be, he told us, "what Mizuno is for baseball."
Andrew, smartass that he is, said, "I thought Mizuno was a soccer company."
"No, man," he replied. The best part, though, was getting the explanation for why the company was named "DBestFootballCompany" instead of "THEBestFootballCompany." The executive decision, he explained, was a very clever marketing ploy. D, he explained to us, is a letter that is associated with many, many good football words.
Desire. Dedication. Dominance.
"Diarrhea?" I suggested. "I mean, diarrhea is explosive. Like football players."
He disagreed. Whatever.
We certainly appreciated their hospitality, even if the decor was not our first choice in tailgate color scheme.
The chairs were comfortable, if a little ugly.
After their satellite signal finally gave way with USC up comfortably, we decided to get a beat on the traffic and call it a day. Hauling our oversized cooler of beer proved to be incredibly cumbersome, though, sparking me to flag down a passing event attendant and beg for a ride on the golf cart.
After resisting our pleas for several minutes, Maria eventually succumbed to our persistent efforts and let me board up. Peronsally? I think it was the "You look so good in reflecting colors" comment that put her over the top.
My Maria!!
And that was that. Andrew and I listened to the rest of the game on the radio and headed back to the city. A day very, very well spent. And one I intend to relive every year Texas isn't anywhere near a New Year's Day bowl.
Special thanks to Andrew and all the other folks that made the day a memorable one. I absolutely can't wait for Texas to return to play in the greatest bowl game of them all.
--PB--