Kleph Goes To The Football Stadium

Arizona State vs Missouri

2011-09-10T07:38:00.000-07:00

Quite a different scene from last year's homecoming game.

My 2011 football watching season got officially underway as my dad and I headed over to Tempe to see the Sun Devils take on the Tigers. Weirdly enough, the last time I was at Sun Devil Stadium it was to see Missouri. This time it didn't end any better for the boys from Mizzou.

The weather all week has been consistently past the century mark and that was the expectation for this one, even though kickoff was well after sunset. A band of thunderstorms moved through during the day and the temperatures were... well, still pretty warm but very nice for an early-season game.

The ASU folks decided to run a gameday special on lower level tickets, probably due to the fact it was a nationally-telecast game. Dad said the nosebleed ones were fine so we hiked up to our aerie just below the luxury boxes for this one. We got there about half an hour before kickoff and there were lots of open spots around the stadium.

Before the game there was a lot of yawping by over excited young guys with a surfeit of arm tattoos. In fact, there seemed to be a pretty direct proportion between volume, intensity and surface area of skin covered by ink. Such is life in the Valley of the Sun.

Still, the energy of the crowd was not really hostile but very much excited for the game. That even held true in the lofty heights of our section. The student section was as packed and loud as I have ever seen and worthy of any stadium in the country - SEC inclusive. There's a lot of optimism on the part of the Sun Devils for the season and its a nice change from the usual degree of apathy earned by the tepid win/loss records they've rolled up in the past.

The game proved to be one of the best I've ever seen in Sun Devil Stadium and that includes the bowl contests. The offenses took a few series to get going but after they did they put on a show. After one of the big ASU plays, you could feel the stadium shaking - another first and, for someone whose survived a few major earthquakes, a disconcerting one at that.

But the insistence on jingling keys for kickoffs... um, no. You won't be taken seriously as college football fans until that stops.

Adding to the drama was the storm system moving through the valley. There was a desert lightening storm highlighting the horizon for pretty much the whole game. A little haboob blew through in the second quarter and in the third it started drizzling rain awhile. Things were inclement enough to make the scene memorable but not so much as to make it miserable.

The Sun Devils led most of the game but Missouri tied it up in the fourth. Then the Tigers coach decided to ice his own kicker, calling two timeouts as they were lined up for the play on the field. The result was a missed three-point effort and overtime. ASU took charge in the extra period and the crowd went wild.

Walking back to the car there was a lot of brahsome young lads running through the crowd screeching like howler monkeys and punching inanimate objects such as trash cans and street signs. It's kind of nice to see them get the opportunity this season but we'll see if they are as spunky for the games after the Sun Devils return from Oregon next month.

Thus, It Begins Again

2011-06-01T09:33:00.000-07:00

This has been a brutal off-season. As much fun as I had going to all the Alabama football games, it's impossible to erase the lingering sense of disappointment given the results. Certainly no game epitomizes this more than the painful loss to Auburn in the Iron Bowl.

Still, I have no regrets. Part of being a die-hard fan is enduring the tough losses as well as the great victories. And they whet the appetite for the next season something fierce.

As a result, I was already keen on 2011 when I packed up my gear and ambled off to see the Crimson Tide A Day Game in April. I had a fantastic time doing research on my book project, meeting all my T-town friends and watching my Crimson Tide team on the field of Bryant-Denny Stadium. I was ready to start football season right then and there.

Fate had a crueler plan. On April 27, a devastating tornado ripped through Tuscaloosa claiming dozens of lives, leaving thousands homeless and doing untold millions of damage. Suddenly, the entire football season took on a new cast.

I've always felt Alabama football was about far more than just a group of people who gather to watch a particular team. There is a sense of community that involves a much stronger bond than simply a Saturday diversion. It's a social force that - for good and for ill - is a unifying agent for all of our lives. The response to the tornado was visible proof of this. People wore their team colors as they went about the relief effort because it was a statement of their identity and why they felt it was important to help.

And, as a result, my desire to be in Tuscaloosa this season to see a game has increased as well. Thus far I am slated to go to the LSU game on Nov. 5 and the Iron Bowl in Auburn on Nov. 26.

The latter will be my first opportunity to see a game in Jordan-Hare Stadium and I look forward to it greatly. Particularly given the large number of Auburn fans who have stepped up to make a difference in the wake of the disaster. I want to see my team beat their ass, but I also need to say "Thank You" to quite a few of them as well.

College Football Stadiums I Want to See Games In

2011-03-02T05:47:00.000-08:00

Among the highlights of my little adventure last season was finally getting to see a few games in stadiums I had long wanted to visit. I grew up hearing the stories about LSU's infamous "Death Valley" and Georgia's famed "hedges" so it was a real treat to see a game in those places at last.

Obviously, there's no place quite like Bryant-Denny Stadium on gameday but you have to go somewhere to see a game on the bye week. So here's a few of the spots I'd like to see a game at in the future. As you might expect, this list is neither complete nor comprehensive.

The Yale Bowl

Yale University
New Haven, Connecticut
Capacity: 61,446

This may be the most iconic venue in all of college football although few remember that today. Built in 1914, the distinctive elliptical bowl shape went on to inspire the the design of the Rose Bowl, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Michigan Stadium and even Alabama's Bryant-Denny Stadium. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987 and deservedly so.

Darrel K Royal - Texas Memorial Stadium

University of Texas
Austin, Texas
Capacity: 100,119

I lived in Texas long enough to know the reverence the inhabitants of that state hold for their beloved Longhorns. The importance of football and the zeal in celebrating it are certainly on par with anywhere in the country. That alone puts DKR-Texas Memorial among the top of my list of stadiums to see a game. Add to the fact that it's named for the man who gave Alabama the wishbone and it's a dead set lock.

Kinnick Stadium
University of Iowa
Iowa City, Iowa
Capacity: 70,585

I don't know why but I've always had a soft spot in my heart for the Hawkeyes. The are the most devotedly blue collar fanbases in all of college football and they seem to share my love for hard-hitting defense-minded cromagnon-style football. And, somehow, that water tower right next to the stadium seems completely... appropriate. All that said, I'm not about to go up there after October.

Ben Hill Griffin Stadium

University of Florida
Gainesville, Florida
Capacity: 88,548

"The Swamp" has, by far, the best nickname of any stadium in the land and, appropriately, it was bestowed to the venue by none other than Steve Spurrier. As he Ole Ball Coach brightened the fortunes of Florida football with his success in the 1990s, so has the stadium reaped the rewards. It's now a big beast of a place to see a football game.

Michigan Stadium
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Capacity: 109,901

No matter what you feel about the Wolverines you cannot begrudge them their place in the pantheon of college football history. And "The Big House" certainly reflects that. The venue is one of the "bowl" stadiums built in the 1920s and has since been expanded to become one of the largest of them. But, once again, if I ever make it to Ann Arbor, it will have to be for a game early in the season.

Jordan-Hare Stadium
Auburn University
Auburn, Alabama
Capacity: 87,451

For the hate, of course.

Why Toomer's Corner is Important

2011-02-18T19:04:00.000-08:00

The Iron Bowl is the one time each and every season an Alabama fan cannot hold anything in reserve. It is the game you are completely invested in no matter whether you think the Crimson Tide are a lock to win or have hardly a chance at all.

As a result, the outcome of the game is marked by the most extreme of emotions by the faithful.

Some years Alabama wins and I enjoy the most delightful rush of ecstasy and joy that lingers with me for weeks on end. Some years Alabama loses and I'm crushed emotionally and physically, left in a dour mood that takes at least a fortnight to shake.

No matter what, when the game ends it's over. Until next year...

Harvey Updyke couldn't wait till next year. When Alabama fell to Auburn last November he felt the formidable sting of the loss and instead of accepting it and rising to the challenge it presented – which is what we ask of the players – he chose to strike back in the most destructive manner he could think of.

Over the past few days, a group of Crimson Tide fans have gotten together to help support Auburn University's The Toomer’s Trees and Tradition Fund. I have chosen to participate in that effort. I'm not offering sympathy. I'm not trying to appease a guilty consience. I'm not pretending I've suddenly grown a fondness for the Auburn football team and its traditions.

I'm doing it because I feel it's the right thing to do.

I love the Crimson Tide because I feel it represents everything I think is good and right about college football and more than a little bit of the world at large. The actions of Harvey Updyke offend me personally in that respect.

By clearly citing his loyalty to the Crimson Tide as not just the motivation but also the justification for his act he purported to represent me when he poured the herbicide on those trees. So as an Alabama fan I feel an obligation to help clean it up. (I'm confident the State of Alabama is gonna take care of seeing he gets his just desserts for what happened.)

This isn't because I harbor any affection for the trees or the practice of rolling them. I still feel it's a practice that is slightly ridiculous and more than a little juvenile. But that's irrelevant. It's their trees and their tradition and nobody has a right to deprive them of it without their expressed consent. That's just respect and I've lived long enough to realize if you are going to demand it from someone you gotta be willing to give it to them first.

As much as I hate Auburn – and boy-oh-boy do I ever hate Auburn – I'm fully aware that acknowledging them as our primary rival means I've consented to define my fandom by them. Everything I hold dear as Crimson Tide fan is reinforced by the fact there is someone out there in orange and blue that despises it as utterly and completely. And both of us are inescapably tied by that bond.

The fruit of that strange relationship is that the rivalry and the fortunes of the teams are never higher than when both are at their best. In that respect, we are all living through one of the greatest eras of football the state has ever seen. The glorious swirl of emotions and expectations and that one glorious afternoon after Thanksgiving when the two teams meet on the gridiron may never be more exquisite and amazing as we are seeing right now.

As Harvey Updyke showed, we can ruin all that if we let it carry us away and succumb to our worst aspects. As I have written already, the line we shouldn't cross is the one of basic human decency, not one of fandom.

One day I want to go see the Iron Bowl at Jordan-Hare Stadium and watch my beloved Crimson Tide put a beat-down on Auburn they haven't seen since the days of Coach Bryant. I want it to be epic and undeniable. When the game is over I want to walk through Toomer's Corner under those big beautiful oak trees and marvel how wonderful they look in their unadorned splendor.

And if I can't do that, it just won't be the same.

Kleph Looks Back on the 2010 Season

2011-01-14T06:44:00.000-08:00

With the fall of confetti to the field at the University of Phoenix stadium in Glendale on Monday, the 2010 college football season has come to a bittersweet close.

It has been one hell of a memorable season for me. In the course of the last three-and-a-half months I've been able to see no less than 15 football games (including 12 college contests) involving 24 different teams. I've traveled to five separate states and seen games in nine different stadiums.

That's more football in general and Alabama football in particular than I've ever been able to see live and in person over the course of a single season in my entire life. And it was a blast from start to finish. During the course of it all I endured my team suffering two painful losses. Weirdly, this only made the experience that much more meaningful.

When you win a big game it's a special feeling and everyone wants to boast they were there. When you lose a big game -- particularly in as ignominious fashion as this year's Iron Bowl -- being able to say you were there is a tribute of the depth of your fandom. If the response is to abandon the team for good, you pretty much suck as a fan. If it makes you redouble your effort to be there when they win, the epithet "bandwagon" will never apply to you.

Still, the point of the whole exercise was to be there -- whatever the outcome. There's a certain unique flavor to the experience on Saturday mornings in the Fall that I wanted to just be a part of and try to record in a small way. If it served to convey that for any readers of this blog then I accomplished what I set out to do.

As much as I wanted to see the national championship game I have to say that worked out for the best as well. For me anyway. Obviously getting the unexpected underwriting for my little adventure was nice surprise but there was no joy having to see my team's most hated rival win the championship. I've already been present at one monumental Auburn victory this year. That's quite enough, thank you.

And I also finally decided that, as an Alabama fan, it wasn't my place to be there. This was Auburn's moment and they deserved to experience it and enjoy it on their own terms. If it had been any other team I wouldn't have felt the same way since that "special relationship" simply wouldn't have applied. Or, to put it another way, what would I have thought of a Barner at Pasadena last year?

I was really glad that I was able to help one die-hard fan get there, though. I may despise everything Auburn football stands for but I have zero doubt of the sincerity of devotion its fans feel for the team. In this one crucial respect, they are exactly like me. And the importance of being there for that game couldn't possibly be any less than what I endured a year ago.

As might be expected, I was only able to do all this with the assistance of a lot of folks:

My brother and sister-in-law who went with me to one game that we left early to go to a bar where I could watch Alabama play Arkansas. My cousins in Louisiana who put up with me a few days in early November and were nice enough not to rub it in too bad when my team lost.

A whole slew of folks in Tuscaloosa who helped me survive for a month on about the same budget I employed during my time at school there. That list includes Bo, Jeb, T.J., Bob and the Egan's crew.

A huge shout-out to my Roll Bama Roll compadres. From fellow-scribes Todd and Joel who were there for me on the spot to all the members of the site who showed up to share the experience with me or just say "Howdy." You folks are the reason it's great to be an Alabama fan.

My deepest and most sincere thanks has to go to Valerie whose kind offer of her extra tickets to the games at Bryant-Denny Stadium is what set this whole crazy adventure in motion. That she was also able to arrange my lodging in T-town for the month of November pretty much makes my debt unrepayable.

So, Thanks everyone and I really hope to see you all again for at least one or two games next season. Until then... Roll Tide!

Kleph Doesn't Go to the BCS National Championship

2011-01-04T19:12:00.001-08:00

Back in October, I purchased a suite of tickets to bowl games here in Arizona affiliated with the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. The whole thing was a deal to pick up a ticket to the BCS National Championship Game: if you wanted to see the title matchup you had to buy the rest. Which was fine by me since my goal this season was to see as much college football in person as I possibly could.

Now I certainly was hoping my Crimson Tide was going to be in the game but I knew it was a long shot. Never in my worst nightmares did I think our most hated rival Auburn would earn the honor. But that's exactly what came to pass and, in a weird way, I took a perverse pride in the fact I would be going to see the game. It was a twisted testament to my hate.

Then the resale prices for the ticket started to climb. And they climbed a lot.

My position on the matter was that I spent a specific and acceptable amount of money -- $300 -- for something I wanted, to see the title game. Having more money would mean forgoing the actual thing itself. Or, to put it another way, if someone asked me if would buy a BCS National Championship ticket for at face value given the price they are worth today... the answer would be a no brainer.

So I held on to them and stated my intention of going to the game. Then they climbed even higher. High enough to hit a tipping point I set for actively considering selling them.

You see, to see all these football games I have over the last four months I socked away a decent amount but also put a good bit on credit with a plan to pay it all off over the first half of this year. All the expenses I incurred -- plane tickets, car rental, hotel stays -- went on one credit card with a plan to getting it back to zero.

And yesterday the going rate for tickets in my section hit the number that equals the outstanding balance on that card. So I put it up for sale on an internet reseller site with a price that, when commissions and fees were excluded, exactly equaled that price. A few minutes ago, someone bought it. (Don't bother asking how much, I'm not going to say.)

If this were just a transaction for the cash, I'd not do it. But this is underwriting four months of absolute delight for me. I'm a little sad to be missing the title game (and that chance to see Auburn lose on the biggest stage in the sport) but it's not like I'm personally invested in the matchup. Because if it was Alabama playing, you'd not have a big enough bank account to keep me from going.

Still, since I'm coming clean on all this I should also mention that I sold the other ticket to an Auburn fan the day the Tigers were named to the title game. Jerry Hinnen is a blogger at War Blog Eagle and CBS Sports who is living here in Arizona. While I despise the team he roots for I have nothing but the utmost respect for his insight and expertise. I figured, like most of us working on the fringes of the sports media, snagging a ticket to see his team play in such a game might be pretty small. So I offered it to him (at face value, of course).

Because as much as I hate Auburn, and lordy you better believe I do, that's not to the point I doubt the depth of feeling on the part of the team's fans. In fact, the absolute certainty about this point is one of the reasons the wins are so sweet and the losses so painful. I would have given anything if an opportunity to see Alabama play in Pasadena came to me out of the blue and I'd be dishonest as a fan to deny the same to someone whose work I admire.

So, it seems my adventure this season was brought to a close on Saturday and I really didn't realize it at the time. Fifteen games, 24 teams across six states in the course of 17 weeks. Not too bad. And now, it's even all paid for.

UPDATE (01/06): Turns out my timing was pretty good. Several major online ticket resale services, including the one I used, have suspended sales of tickets to championship game due to the heavy demand.

UPDATE (01/07): Turns out my timing was exceedingly good. Now the demand for tickets has gotten seriously out of hand. To the point they are getting the lawyers involved.

UPDATE (01/09): And the craziness keeps getting crazier. Police in Arizona broke up a BCSNCG ticket counterfeiting ring and confiscated more than 200 tickets. Going by reports of bogus sales, that's a street value of almost $750,000.

The Tostitos Fiesta Bowl Gameday

2011-01-02T06:02:00.001-08:00

Few bowl games this year inspired less enthusiasm than the matchup of No. 4 Oklahoma against No. 25 UConn in the Fiesta Bowl. As the champions of the Big XII and Big East conferences respectively, both earned their way to the game but the mismatch was apparent to any reasonable person who had been watching this season.

As great a time I had earlier this season visiting Connecticut's Rentschler Field for their matchup with Buffalo, I certainly didn't see anything in the team's performance to lead me to believe they were any kind of giant killer. Still, there's a reason they play the games and so, after watching my beloved Crimson Tide annihilate Michigan State, off I went to Glendale.

I invited an LSU fan living out here in the desert to go with me to the game. Between work and an expectant wife, he didn't have much of an opportunity to see many games this season. I had brought him the program from the Tigers' victory against Alabama but that's not quite the same as seeing a couple of teams face off on the gridiron.

We headed out the back way expecting a little bit of traffic on the regular route but it was pretty much clear sailing the whole way. Even getting there relatively late (the parking lots had opened more than four hours before) we had no problem getting to our lot and finding a good spot. It seems a lot of folks were waiting for the Rose Bowl to wrap up before heading to this contest.

The tailgaters were out in pretty good numbers, though. And judging by the overwhelming amount of red it was clear the Oklahoma partisans were going to outnumber the Huskies pretty handily in the stands. It might be Arizona but we were clearly smack dab in the middle of Sooner Nation.

The cooking options were pretty much the usual propane grills and catered grub. And whisky, of course. There were a few folks set up with big screen television sets with the obligatory Direct TV disk. The cry of "Boomer!" and the response of "Sooner!" were loud and regularly offered as we ambled over to the stadium.

When I bought my ticket package to these bowl games one of the things they included was passes to some kind of pre-game shindig at the stadium. Since we had vouchers for food we headed over to it to see what was up.

It turned out to be that quasi-corporate shindig that boasts those big inflatable bounce houses for kids and crap 3.2 beer for the adults. The food offering was barbecue sandwich and potato salad. The former tasted a bit burnt despite the gloppy sauce and the emphasis on mayonnaise in the latter made me concerned about food poisoning.

The overwhelming amount of Sooner fans was even more evident at this shindig but there were a decent number of UConn folks winding through the crowd. It was a pretty nice atmosphere actually as the Oklahoma folks were in high spirits given their prospects of winning and the Husky partisans were enthusiastic about being able to play in the game.

By far the best part of this pre-game event was a pair of gigantic screens that were showing the Rose Bowl game still taking place. The bit we were able to watch before heading to the stadium showed the TCU Horned Frogs were hanging tough with Wisconsin. We would have watched even more but it was starting to get a little bit chilly as the sun set.

Getting into the game we had to submit to a refreshing little pat down by security. It was not TSA touch-you-in-your-private-places creepy but still a bit unsettling. And, given the flasks I saw make an appearance in the stands later, just about as useless a maneuver.

Walking in we were greeted by the dulcet tones of Brent Musburger regaling us to enjoy the gridiron extravaganza and imploring us to act in the most dignified manner as we reveled in the excitement. I don't really have anything against Musburger per se, but it makes me a little sad to realize that he's replaced Keith Jackson as the de facto "voice" of college football.

Inside the confines of the concourse somebody yelled "LSU SUCKS!" to him as we passed. "If by 'sucks' you mean 10 wins!" was his instant reply. I certainly couldn't do anything but agree.

I would chalk the incident up to usual conference braggadocio but he did opt to wear a UConn hat in addition to his LSU shirt.

Once again, like at the Insight Bowl, I got a few hesitant "Roll Tide"s from people. I now seriously believe people are trying to see if that ESPN spot is for real. I give them all a hearty "Roll Tide" back to let them know it is.

Of course we also saw a handful of folks with Auburn gear milling about, but they probably screwed up and arrived at the wrong game so we left them alone.

Now, as I expected, our seats were pretty far up near the rafters. The University of Phoenix Stadium is pretty nicely laid out so you get great lines of sight from all around but way up here, you can't avoid the fact the field is a long-ass way away.

Spencer Hall, of Every Day Should Be Saturday fame, was on hand at Bryant-Denny Stadium for this year's Alabama vs Florida contest and gave a spot-on assessment of seeing a game from this altitude:

Watching games from the upper deck feels like you digest everything at a clinical but still delayed distance. The effect is one of watching football on cough syrup: crowd movements and cheers aren't synced up, everything but the play itself feels delayed, and still there's a kind of precognition you have from up on high that other don't. They can't see the safety overplaying the run fake, but you can.

In some ways, it's like you and your fellow section residents are watching a REALLY BIG high definition television together. But, despite that effect, you still get that electric charge when a player breaks off a big run or the defensive back makes a monster hit. And, if you are a fan of either team, you still have the honor of saying you were there.

The turnout was kind of lukewarm. Officials later pegged attendance at 67,232 which is in excess of the regular maximum of 63,400 but well below the "expanded" capacity of 72,200. In fact, it was the smallest Fiesta Bowl crowd in fourteen years. And UConn's trouble offloading it's allotted tickets was pretty apparent by the sea of Sooner red in the stands.

For me, the biggest problem of the arrangement was actually in the way the bands were placed, not in their distance away. By putting them both on the field and at opposite sides of the end zone they really were just a muted background noise rather than the rallying point for the fanbase. My experience at both the Insight Bowl and Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge showed me first hand how the cacophony of the crowd can be focused by a well placed and directed band.

All of that said, when the Cardinal's stadium is kind of quiet and you offer up a loud enough yell, there's a good chance the folks at field level might hear you. So when they presented the 2010 College Football Hall of Fame inductees during the pre-game ceremonies, you better believe I got up on my feet and tried to let Coach Gene Stallings know there was at least one Crimson Tide fan in the building. I figure I did pretty good when I sat down and my LSU buddy had sunk down in his seat and mumbled that we were gonna get killed before the game got started.

But I wasn't alone in making my feelings concerning my team known to the masses. When former Arizona Cardinal's quarterback Kurt Warner was introduced to perform the coin toss a guy even further up in the rafters than we were stood up and yelled "PLEASE COME BACK KURT!"

The game got going and turned out pretty much like we expected. UConn played tough and certainly didn't shirk from the challenge but they were outgunned from the start. They would put together drives with a few good plays that would make key conversions but the Sooner defense would stiffen by the time they reached the red zone.

Oklahoma fans seemed to be kind of distracted for a lot of the game and that was certainly understandable. There really wasn't a point in the entire contest the outcome was in doubt. UConn fans, though, got up and got loud when their team make big plays. They might not have a chance to win the thing but, by god, they were going to enjoy their team's successes when they happened.

The stadium announcer had to be the worst I've ever heard. Not only could he not get players names right or the correct placement of the ball on the field, he seemed compelled to add a wrestling event exaggeration to his introduction of every pre-game and halftime activity.

We stayed to almost the end of the third quarter and headed out to beat the crowd. While a decent number of folks seemed to have the same idea, the trip out of the parking lot wasn't too insane. We listened to the fourth quarter on the radio heading back to the house and it didn't sound like we missed much. (The final score was OU 48 - UConn 20)

Bottom line, despite the shorcomings of the game it was a real treat to see a New Year's Day bowl game and that it came on the heels of a decisive Alabama victory, I'm sure as hell going to take it and say "thank you." Add the fact I got to be in the same building as the man who led the Crimson Tide to a National Championship... well, it would be damned tough to start a year off better.

If nothing else, this whole exercise was a great trial run for the craziness I expect in just more than a week (There was a flyer on the car offering to buy BCSNCG tickets for $1,500 each). So while I'm a bit sad to see the 2010 college football draw to its close, I'm expecting one great stretch run to the finish.

University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, Arizona

2011-01-01T21:31:00.000-08:00

Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, Jan. 1, 2011

Oklahoma vs Connecticut

The Insight Bowl Gameday

2010-12-29T06:17:00.000-08:00

When the bowl lineups were announced earlier this month, The Insight Bowl was probably the one I was most excited about.

While Iowa fans had to feel their team's had a disappointing 7-5 season but my impression of seeing them play in September was that this was a squad with a lot of talent and potential. Missouri flirted with the No. 1 ranking in the nation for a week after beating Oklahoma but their stellar 10-2 record, while legitimately achieved, smacked a tad of overachievement.

What I was expecting was a high octane offense match up against a solid bend-but-don't-break defense for a great 60 minutes of football. And guess what? That's exactly what I got.

I had two tickets to this contest as part of the package I purchased that included all the Arizona bowl games but I had a hard time finding someone to go with me. The late kick off and relatively cheap face value for tickets conspired against me. My buddy Paul came through in the end though.

One side of his family are Iowa fans and they knew some folks looking for a pair of seats at the last minute. So I swapped my tickets for one with him and his kin. Which worked out really well since I essentially upgraded from the press box to the 12th row. Sweet. And I kept my parking ticket in the lot right next to the stadium. Double sweet.

I got to the venue a little early since I wasn't exactly sure when I would be catching up with Paul and just wandered around a little bit. The first thing I noticed watching the fans walk around was that the two teams playing in this game had pretty darned close color schemes.

As I looked out over the big "official" tailgate being held next to the stadium it was impossible to tell which team was better represented. It was just a sea of gold and black. And that situation was the same in the stadium. In a weird way, though, it was kind of cool. There was a sense of solidarity about the event that other games tended to lack.

And I gotta say, I was vastly relieved to not have to endure the unceasing obscenities and hostility that I saw in Tuscon when the Hawkeyes played Arizona in September. The behavior of Missouri fans was the polar opposite to the appalling Wildcat fans. I didn't hear a single epithet hurled at anyone on the way to the stadium. There were some boisterous drunks on both sides being a bit obnoxious but, hey, this is football.

In fact, at least a half dozen folks offered me a hearty "Roll Tide" upon seeing my Bama sweater. This might just be the result of ESPN's new commercial but it certainly was appreciated by this Crimson Tide fan. One guy in Michigan State gear walked by and I said "See you on Saturday, Sparty" and he replied "Lookin forward to it, Alabama." Nice folks.

In fact, the only guy I didn't have an answer for was the dude in the 2009 Insight Bowl shirt. It was pretty sad. Not as sad as the pot bellied guy begging for attention in the yellow body stocking, but pretty sad.

There were a decent number of vendors around clearly trying to take advantage of the wider appeal of the game than just the two fanbases. One guy on the sidewalk had a main table of Iowa and Missouri gear for sale but also a bunch of other team's caps on the side. It was heavy on Pac 10 squads but the SEC representative left a lot to be desired. I made my displeasure known to the management.

And while there were the usual flock of scalpers trying to do business with the game at hand there were also a few guys trying to line up tickets for the national championship game as well. Nobody seemed too interested in Fiesta Bowl tickets, though.

I finally caught up with Paul and his family in front of the stadium after people watching for a while. The Iowa folks showed up with all the force and variety I saw in Tuscon and there was a heapin helping of Missouri backers on hand as well. The great snowstorm of 2010 might have kept folks from getting to East Coast bowl games but didn't seem to do much to dent the crowd in Arizona.

We headed in and, of course, took the entrance farthest away from our seats. On the way up the concourse I spotted a vendor who made the detour completely worth it.

Right now I am marathon training and over the past three days have run almost 40 miles. I was resigned to making due with stadium hot dogs but my bod was crying out for carbs. And when I saw the giant woks of the Island Noodles guys, I knew I had hit the jackpot.

I picked up a garlic chicken and simply inhaled the whole thing once I hit my seat. It was certainly stadium food and didn't make any pretense of being a gourmet repast but it was damn good stuff and I'll be looking for them in the future.

Since I switched my tickets I had no idea where the heck I would be sitting and was extremely pleased to see that while we were in the corner of the stadium at the end zone, it was in the heart of the Iowa section and right next to the Iowa band. While we did have that one guy near us who was determined to be a stick in the mud (and a local, no less, guessing by his hat) the rest of the section was a heck of a lot of fun.

The place was pretty full. The organizers closed off the upper section on the north side cutting down the capacity for the venue. So while the listed 53,4500 was pretty far short of Sun Devil Stadium's maximum of 73,000, there weren't that many open seats except in the more remote corners of the place.

Paul and I, both wearing Alabama gear, got a bit of ribbing from our seat mates but most folks seemed to want to talk about our team's season and what to expect next year. In the third quarter I was surprised by a guy in an Iowa sweater that came up and shook my hand. Turned out he was from Huntsville and a lifelong Alabama fan. His girlfriend was a Hawkeye and made him attend the game but when he saw that script A on my hat he had to come down. Roll Tide, my pussy whipped but loyal friend. Roll Tide.

Since Sun Devil Stadium sits in the flight path of Phoenix's Sky Harbor airport, the liklihood of a flyby was pretty much zero. Instead the bowl organizers lined up a squad of Navy Seal paratroopers to parachute into the stadium. These guys were the real deal and every one of them dropped down right on the money.

When the guys with the American flag came down, the Iowa folks burst into their "U... S... A! U... S... A!" chant I've come to know and love. And don't think for a moment they just did it for this moment, the chant went up quite a few times during the game. While college football fans tend to be patriotic bunch on the whole but the Hawkeye's take it to a whole nother level.

Interestingly, it was the Missouri folks that offered one of the only nods to state pride I've seen in a team's fanbase. When the Tigers ran out onto the field they were led by the cheerleaders lofting those gigantic flags that featured the team logo and name. But they were led by a cheerleader carrying the Missouri state flag.

I can't remember ever seeing this done before but, once you think about it, you have to ask "why the heck not?"

Now the game itself was one heck of a fun one. Unlike the Las Vegas Bowl which featured two really good teams but one of which that was playing far below it's potential, this one was a knock down drag out. Each team got their licks in but the other kept coming right back and responding in turn. The Tigers offense kept gashing the Hawkeyes defense but then, when you thought Iowa was on the ropes, they'd come up with a huge third-down stop or interception.

Since our side of the field was the side with the bands and cheerleaders we got to see the subtle little back-and-forth between the two squads. For example, when Missouri scored their touchdown, the cheerleader with the big logo on the flag ran out to about the goal posts waving it for the fans on that side of the stadium. When Iowa scored, their cheerleaders took their flags all the way to the other side in front of the Tiger faithful. (Later in the game, the Missouri cheerleader came all the way across after scores).

Now one of the best parts of seeing a game featuring other teams is getting a taste of the peculiar traditions and customs that are part of their fandom. The fight songs, the specific cheers and, in the case of Iowa, the post-touchdown spelling lesson. So every time the Hawkeyes scored the cheerleaders would hoist the four letters of the state's name and the fans would respond with their own depiction. Or at least their best attempt. Alcohol seemed to have limited response times pretty badly during this exercise.

There was one thing I saw during the game that I had absolutely no explanation for and would love to find out what it was all about. One of the drummers in the Iowa band would put a half-naked Ken doll on their instrument for some songs during the game. I only saw it a few times and I was so busy trying to grab a picture I didn't think to try and get down the song they were playing at the time. Weird.

In the end, Iowa's defense proved to be too much for Missouri (despite giving up more than 500 yards to the Tiger's offense). The outcome wasn't clear until the final few minutes and even then the chance of something completely crazy happening wasn't beyond the imagination. There weren't too many people heading to the aisles to beat the crowd before the final whistle of this contest.

I trundled out of the stadium before the award ceremony but that turned out to be a bit of a mistake. The close proximity of my parking lot meant that the post-game gridlock was pretty bad.

I got out of my spot and about 20 feet before putting on the parking brake. It then took half an hour to get out of the structure. But, once I did, it was a relatively hassle-free trip back to the house.

In the final analysis, this was by far the best experience of my bowl season adventure and one of the best games I've seen all season. The teams, the fans and the event were all top notch and I'm really glad I got the chance to go.

Sun Devil Stadium, Tempe, Arizona

2010-12-28T23:25:00.000-08:00

The Insight Bowl, Dec. 28, 2010
Iowa vs Missouri

The MAACO Las Vegas Bowl Gameday

2010-12-25T06:10:00.000-08:00

Las Vegas is only about a five hour drive away from where I am and the journey didn't seem too insane to watch what promised to be one of the better matchups in the bowl season - The No. 20 team in the land, the Utah Utes (10-2) taking on the No. 10 Boise State State Broncos (11-1).

Sounds like a pre-New Year's Day bowl dream but then Mother Nature decided to step in.

For much of the week, the West Coast was pounded by rainstorms and on gameday one of these systems had moved over Southern Nevada and was just sitting there. Hovering over Las Vegas dropping a copious amount of rain on the region.

Getting on Highway 93 going north in Phoenix there wasn't any precipitation to contend with but the skies sure weren't welcoming either. Pretty much across the whole of Arizona things went smoothly enough but right about Kingman the rain started.

It wasn't really that heavy but rather one of those constant drenching rains that drop an amazing amount of water in a short amount of time. Driving got a little bit dicy after I crossed the new bridge at Hoover Dam with the amount of water on the road and the subsequent increase in traffic due to the proximity to Las Vegas.

Just outside of Boulder City I saw the first Boise State window flags on a car and, after that, Idaho license plates became a lot more common. We headed up the highway on the east side of the city toward the UNLV campus.

This, I discovered, wasn't where the more posh gambling establishments were located. There were a lot of dreary casinos along the way with half-filled parking lots boasting a surfiet of 80s-era Ford LTDs. The grey skies and constant drizzle only added to the dour atmosphere. I didn't think they'd be seeing a lot of post-game business.

Since I was two hours early (forgot about the time change) the traffic to the stadium was pretty light. I turned into the dirt lot which had been transformed into a giant bog by the rain and got pretty close to the stadium to park.

The tailgaters were undaunted, though. The team tents were augmented by Visqueen annexes tethered to the open backs of SUVs. I donned my Alabama poncho and headed out among them thanking myself for the foresight to have worn my waterproof hiking boots.

Folks were generally upbeat despite the weather. Grills were engaged with the required expertise and beers were consumed with the requisite gusto. The biggest problem was that the need to huddle under the shelter of the tents kind of put a damper on socializing.

I stopped and spoke briefly with some Utah folks. The first guy was nice enough but when I mentioned Alabama's loss at the hands of the Utes in 2009 some woman yelled "AND WE AIN'T SORRY A BIT!" Well hon, I wasn't too broken up to watch the beat down your team got over the next few hours either.

Since the stadium didn't open until about an hour-and-a-half before kickoff, most folks just huddled under what cover they could find around it. There was a pretty good crowd hanging out under the west side of the stadium and I hung out there for awhile.

My seats were on the other side so about 15 minutes before opening the gates I started heading over there. It was still raining but not nearly as much as it had been when I arrived.

On the way I saw a guy with an Oregon hat and jacket so I stopped, put my hand meaningfully on his shoulder and said in a very solemn voice: "I want you to know that I wish you all the luck in the world, my friend." He looked at me confused for a moment, then looked down at my poncho and saw the Alabama logo and broke out laughing. "We'll do what we can," he told me.

On the way I had a number of folks mention that I was "at the wrong game" but also got a few "Roll Tide"s as well. Standing in line to get in I overheard the guy behind me, a Boise State fan, say "Utah doesn't have a chance." I turned around and said, "I've heard that before and it didn't end too damn well." He didn't have much of a response but the Utah fans in front of me thought it was hysterical.

By the time I got inside the stadium the rain had pretty much stopped completely. The big problem now was all the water on the seats. I ponied up the five dollars for one of the cushioned seats and that, after a good brushing away the standing water, worked fine. I even put my poncho away after a little bit.

After awhile the stands started to fill in pretty good. I was on the Utah side so my crimson hat fit in pretty well with the color scheme. It was pretty clear that the Boise State fans were out in force. The orange and blue sections on the other side were packed and there was a heck of a lot of it on our side of the stadium as well.

As it got toward gametime they started cranking out the canned music for our listening enjoyment. There as a lot of recent crap the teenage girls behind us knew every word of and I expected a constant litany of such dreck but then they played Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" which I have never heard at a sporting event before. It worked quite well. I figured that was as impressive as it could get and then the PA starts blaring out the Ramones' "Blitzkrieg Bop." Gabba Gabba Hey, indeed.

Now I've been a bit disappointed by the quality of flyovers I've seen this season. I was expecting some great ones but the pair of EA-6B Prowlers at the Alabama vs Penn State game was all I got. This one made up for it. When the F-22 Raptor and an F-15 Eagle got to the stadium they pushed the afterburners and it wasn't just loud, you could feel the power of the burst. It was damn impressive.

Now the stands were pretty full at kickoff but they completely filled out as the late comers arrived in the opening minutes of the first quarter. The guy sitting next arrived breathless and was much reassured to find he only missed the first play from scrimmage. The official attendance figure was 41,973 (which is on par with the venue's "expanded" capacity). And these folks were into it. The crowd was loud and the unapologetic about it. It was great.

Now there were a lot of fans on hand wearing interesting paraphernalia to show their support for their team but nothing really out of the ordinary beyond the "green guy" type body stocking that have become obligatory at sporting events these days. But then the Boise State folks in the row behind me arrived.

There was the guy dressed as the pimp that wasn't too unusual nor was the cute girl in some sort of Japanese cosplay outfit boasting blue hair. But if I was bewildered by the guy in the knight's outfit I was downright speechless at the one who was wearing the guinea pig outfit. It made no sense at all, but was all the more awesome for it.

It also gave me the excuse to explain to my Utah seatmates about how damn good the things are to eat. They were appreciably horrified. (And, looking at the photo I took, it seems Larry Bud Melman is alive and well and rooting for the Utes.)

Now the first quarter of this game was a bit of a surprise. My uninformed perception of these two teams were of high-octane offenses bolstered by mundane defenses. That certainly wasn't the case in the first fifteen minutes. Going into the second period of play the only points on the board came from a single Utah field goal. I was getting ready for an SEC-style defensive slog and lovin it.

But the theme of the game emerged after that. Utah had all the tools to make it a contest but kept making dumb mistakes (holding calls, turnovers and incompletions) that wiped out what progress they were able to make. The Broncos kept doing what they do best -- mistake-free methodical football.

And by halftime the scoreboard told the tale: 16-3. In the bathroom during the intermission I heard one Utah fan say only half-jokingly, "Damn, I miss BYU."

As expected, the concessions were mobbed and a run on hot-dogs didn't help much. I got a pretzel and water and counted myself lucky. The guys at the coffee/hot chocolate booth nearby were doing good business and when I looked at their sign, I could see why. But I bet these were the only people in the stadium wishing it was still raining.

The second half played out pretty much to script. Utah kept showing moments of brilliance but then squandering it with some bone headed mistake. Boise State kept up the grinding offensive attack and solid defensive play. By the middle of the fourth quarter the stands were starting to empty of the red-clad spectators and the folks with the guinea pig behind me started chanting "BEAT. THE. TRAFFIC" clap. clap. clap. clap.

The final score wound up being 26-3. A number of the Boise State fans were so excited by this development they actually rushed the field. Seriously. They hopped the fence and ran onto the field for winning the Las Vegas Bowl. It was so sad the stadium security probably felt more sorry for them than anything.

One Bronco fan then felt so perky that as I walked down the concourse he leaned over from above and yelled "HEY ALABAMA. WAR EAGLE!" Which demonstrates pretty clearly that Boise State loyalists are the worst bandwagon fans in the country -- but it still won't help them win a National Championship. I may hate Auburn with an undying fury but at least they don't play in the piss-poor conference and whine about being disrespected.

The parking lots were still a soggy mess on the way out but the rivers of running water had pretty much disappeared making it much easier to get to the vehicles. Traffic out of the stadium lots was surprisingly well coordinated and quick. I got onto the highway in less than 15 minutes of starting the truck.

Heading home I took the turnoff to the Hoover Dam to finally see the completed Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge which I had penned a couple of stories on for various publications.

I was surprised that they allowed access to the dam at night but the guard cautioned me that stopping on the dam was prohibited. No problem. I crossed it and parked in the lot on the far side above it after checking with the security guy over there.

Even in the dark, the dam and bridge were impressive works of engineering. In fact, it kind of added to the effect. The lack of other vehicles and sightseers made it a little bit spooky and quiet that I had never really seen there before. It is definitely a stop worth making if you have the chance.

Sam Boyd Stadium, Las Vegas, Nevada

2010-12-23T10:31:00.000-08:00

The MAACO Bowl Las Vegas, Dec. 22, 2010
Utah vs Boise State

Roll Tide

2010-12-17T10:22:00.000-08:00

AIA High School Championships Gameday

2010-12-14T07:04:00.000-08:00

It's a long tough slog from the end of the college football regular season to the start of the bowl games. Not as tough as the brutal 8-month death march of the off-season of course, but a difficult stretch nonetheless. Luckily, I found something to get me through it - the Arizona High School football championships.

Arizona splits its highest division 5A into two independent divisions. The 5A-I game was featuring the Hamilton High School Huskies from Chandler versus Mesa's Desert Ridge Jaguars. The 5A-II contest pitted Scottsdale's Chaparral High School Firebirds against the Centennial High School Coyotes from Peoria, AZ. These are all from the Phoenix metro area so I figured there would be a decent number of folks out at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale to see these games.

I got out to the stadium an hour or so before the kickoff of the first game and the parking lot was just beginning to fill. Obviously I wasn't holding this crowd to the standard of, say, Tuscaloosa on gameday but they didn't slack off either. Tailgaters on hand who clearly had been stationed in their spots for a good while and there were even a couple of RV's in evidence. I was impressed.

I then did something I never really expected to be able to do at this stadium - buy a ticket to a game at the window. It put me back a whopping $10 and that was for two football games. Dollar for dollar, it is hard to see how any contest I go to from here on out can beat the bargain (although the $22 Insight Bowl could give it a stiff challenge).

The game programs were just $3 but didn't have much more than the roster of each team that were in the playoffs and some general info on the schools and the Arizona Interscholastic Association. Looking at the playoff brackets and the last month of football in this league made me a little bit wistful for something in college football.

My thoughts of thriftiness were shattered at the concession stand where the usual gawdawful overpricing was in full effect. Then the guy at the counter asked me if I was at the game to watch my kids play. Ok. So now I'm broke and old. Thanks dude.

My Alabama buddy, Paul, was slated to meet me with a friend of his that went to Hamilton so I got a seat on that side of the field. The crowd was an interesting mix of high school game pandemonium with hints of the college football excitement. There were the gaggles of giggling girls you'd expect for the former but the grizzled old timers in the team colors that are the earmark of the latter. I was planning to enjoy myself.

Since the game was in the Arizona Cardinal's stadium, they fit the crowd just in the areas along the sidelines. Due to the size of the venue they seemed kind of dwarfed by all the empty seats but it was still about 10,000 folks on hand - not a bad number for a high school game.

Hamilton, a five-time champion, had a bit of the winner's affliction. A sort of ambivalent entitlement where they weren't totally into the game even though their team never got more than a single score ahead of the challengers. On every key play in the final quarter the players would have to turn to the stands to get them on their feet and cheering.

The Desert Ridge side was the opposite. They brought a lot of folks and they made damn sure you knew they were on hand to see and upset. Every time their defense was facing a key third down stop they were on their feet and yelling. (Regrettably, they also did this for their offense a few times and there were a couple of costly false starts.)

It was a good game. Hamilton clearly had the advantage in terms of talent and depth but they simply could not put Desert Ridge away. But, in the end, the Huskies pulled out their sixth straight championship, 21-13.

Now a few words on fashion. My buddies and I waited in the concourse for the hour or so between the two games and got to witness the fantastic vagaries of teenage apparel. Keep in mind, I was in high school during the 80s so I know when things look goofy and dear lord this was Disney on parade.

For the guys it was hatwear. I know the baseball hats with the flat brims are all the rage due to the rap stars but the guy with two of 'em probably needed to be told that fashion doesn't accrue in a cumulative fashion. I did espy a fellow in a The Blob from the Jack Kirby-era X-Men shirt. Transcendentally cool.

Now as for the girls, I'm a bit mystified by the sudden adoration of the Ugg Boot. Yes, I know Tom Brady is now shilling them but lord are they ever ugly. This footwear heralds from Australia and when I was down there a few years ago it was made very clear these are considered the height of bad taste; "bogan," to be exact.

And the press of the current fashion didn't stop with the stands. The recent rage of linemen in college to go to extreme lengths with their hair and eyeblack clearly has made it's way to the high school sidelines. Dyed mohawks were common among the lineup of every team playing and each team seemed to have at least one player going facepaint-style as well.

I'll bet even money the last couple years there were a ton of kids with words on their eyeblack in these games. Today... nary a one.

As good as the first game was, the second one was even better. My friend's sister is a student at Centennial so we headed over to the other side of the stadium for this one. This time we were on the packed side although the Chaparral folks that showed were certainly one heck of a lively bunch.

It seemed that the Firebirds had the advantage in terms of size and talent but Centennial wasn't dramatically far behind. This one saw a couple of lead changes and some seriously wacky high-school level style shenanigans. Two safeties tallied by the same player. Awesome.

As close as it was through the first three quarters, Chaparral proved to be too much in the end. The fourth quarter saw them stretch the lead to the 32-17 final score.

All told, this was a great day of football. The teams were clearly the cream of the crop and while they made the kind of errors you expect with high school play, the games weren't defined by those mistakes. There was a lot of superb athleticism and excellent assignment play. It was the kind of football you could talk about the strategy of the games rather than the lack thereof.

Most of all, the people who were on hand were invested in the the teams. The knew the names of the players and the kids on the sideline would turn to the stands and wave to people they knew sitting in the stands behind them. There's something about that whole dynamic that you really don't get at any other level of the game and is truly something special.

University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, Arizona

2010-12-13T22:42:00.000-08:00

Arizona Interscholastic Association Football Championships
Dec. 13, 2010
5A-I Hamilton HS vs Desert Ridge HS
5A-II Chaparral HS vs Centennial HS

AIA High School Championships Ticket

2010-12-13T22:30:00.000-08:00

BCS National Championship Game Tickets

2010-12-11T11:44:00.000-08:00

Fiesta Bowl & Insight Bowl Tickets

2010-12-11T10:00:00.000-08:00

Maaco Las Vegas Bowl Ticket

2010-12-11T07:13:00.001-08:00

A Few Thoughts on Alabama's 2010 Regular Season

2010-12-06T06:58:00.000-08:00

It’s not the will to win that matters. Everyone has that. It’s the will to prepare to win that matters. – Paul W. Bryant

There are few times in my long love affair with Alabama football that have been as painful and disheartening as the end of this year’s Iron Bowl. To see a team this talented come that close to victory and squander it away simply stung in a way few loses over the years ever have. It’s not a game that will or should be forgotten anytime soon.

Which makes it a little odd that I find myself not only optimistic about this team in particular, but in a pretty good mood about the state of the Crimson Tide nation in general. And to understand why you need to start with Coach Saban’s book, “How Good Do You Want to Be?”

The narrative begins not with the 2004 Sugar Bowl which saw the Tigers win the National Championship but rather with his LSU squad’s 20-21 loss to Arkansas in 2002 and not.

“The wind was officially kicked out of us [LSU],” Coach Saban wrote. “In my opinion, that’s when we began our march to the [2003] national championship.”

The focus of the entire LSU program shifted. No longer was the emphasis on winning then national championship, instead it was on doing what was necessary every single day to win a national championship. The applicability to the 2010 Alabama football team should be painfully obvious.

I was on hand for two of the Tide’s losses – LSU and Auburn – and watched the other, South Carolina, in the comfort of my own living room. In each and every case I was perversely thrilled that Alabama fell behind and was struggling to pull out the victory. In each and every case I silently told myself “This is where we find out if this is a championship caliber team.”

And find out we did.

Throughout the off-season I tried to follow Coach Saban's repeated warnings and resist the lure of equating this year’s squad with last year’s championship team. Like a lot of other Alabama fans, I only had uneven success and never completely.

It wasn’t until I walked out of Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge on Nov. 6 that the break was truly and finally complete for me. Until the moment the possibility of winning the 2011 National Championship was extinguished, I was unable to think of this Crimson Tide team without the association of the crystal football from the year before.

At first, this was a crushing feeling. Rationally I knew that a two or three loss season was likely but emotionally I expected the run of success to continue. That expectation turned out to run quite deep as I kept it alive despite the losses in Colombia and Baton Rouge. To see it come to a final and complete end the manner it did against Auburn was the hardest thing of all.

(Which is why I find myself completely unmoved by the incessant debate over Cam Newton’s eligibility. He is, without question, the best player in college football. There was no way I wanted to play the Iron Bowl without him on the field against us and nothing that happens to Auburn in the future will change the outcome of that game. Beyond that it's all just chatter that has nothing to do with my team.)

Yet it’s worth recalling another aphorism of Coach Saban’s: “Success is never final and failure is never fatal." We learned the first half of that with gusto over the past three months and now it's time to learn the truth that lies after the conjunction.

The inescapable truth is that this year’s Alabama squad is not a championship caliber team and likely never truly was. But that isn't to say they don’t have the potential to be in the future. Recent history suggests the adversity of this season will do them a great service if they heed the lessons it offers.

The foundation of last year’s national champion Alabama team was laid in the horrific loss to ULM rightfully acknowledged as one of the most embarrassing faceplants in the history of the program. There are much much worse things than mediocrity and it’s important to get a lesson in exactly how much worse they are now and then. The embarrassing loss in the 2009 Sugar Bowl served to temper the team that much more.

Because there is a big difference between the coaches yelling at a player about what the consequences of something they did could be and feeling that icy mass in ones stomach as time runs out on a brutal loss. Coach Saban once said "When you play poorly and still win, that's the kiss of death” and it turned out to be true.

Throughout this season we saw a very young team making disastrous mistakes at the absolute worst time. After playing top-notch football for several quarters, the defense would inconceivably give up a massive play. The offense would be moving at a nice clip and somehow stall. Afterward the fingers were pointed at a host of likely suspects but the impression I got was that there wasn’t any single culprit other than youth.

Rolando McClain once said it took him his freshman year to figure out what he was supposed to be doing in Coach Saban’s defense, his sophomore year to figure out what everyone else was supposed to do. It wasn’t until his final season at The Capstone that he put it all together and was able to execute at his full potential and lead the team to the Rose Bowl. I think his experience may be typical. And we witnessed a defense this year learning what they were supposed to be doing in one of the most complex schemes in the game.

One of my favorite films of all time is The Treasure of Sierra Madre and towards the end of the picture one of the characters thinks over all that has transpired and comments: "You know, the worst ain't so bad when it finally happens… Not half as bad as you figure it'll be before it's happened." I found myself thinking of that comment quite a bit in the days after the Iron Bowl.

Because the worst that could happen turned out to be quite bad indeed. Yet instead of focusing on the disappointments of 2010 I now find myself looking at the new possibilities for 2011 and beyond. The baggage of the 2009 National Championship is gone, the motivation for the future is intense and the talent this team possesses is now tempered with experience.

I’m excited about Alabama’s matchup against Michigan State in the Capitol One Bowl. The Spartans are a solid team led by one of Coach Saban’s most promising protegees Mark Dantonio. Once again I find myself thinking that this game will present a serious challenge that will tell us volumes about what this Crimson Tide team is made of and I'm optimistic about the outcome.

When I consider this bowl game I think back on how the 2007 team responded to the ULM and Iron Bowl loss to pull out a solid win against a pretty good Colorado team and remember what the 2008 season was like. That’s a road I’m hoping we are preparing to go down again and Alabama can set the tone for all of that with the performance in Orlando on New Year’s Day (And immediately afterward I'll retire my lucky shirt that proved not to be particularly lucky).

I’m convinced that great things remain in the future for the Crimson Tide and the root of my confidence is to be found in those first few pages of Coach Saban’s book. This man has been to this place before. He knows the road forward and the pitfalls that exist. He has the tools now to motivate a tremendously talented squad to greatness.

His advice on the matter is this: “Champions take an attitude of dominance everywhere they go.” The time to lick our wounds is over; it’s time to start dominating again.

Kleph's Bowl Lineup

2010-12-05T19:28:00.000-08:00

Earlier this evening, amid much unnecessary pomp and circumstance, the final lineup of teams playing in the bowls this season were announced. My beloved Alabama Crimson Tide will be heading to Orlando on New Year's Day to face Michigan State in The Capitol One Bowl.

As part of my effort to see as much football as possible this season, I've lined up to catch a number of the games in person. Now, at long last, I know what the teams are that will be facing off on the field.

December 13

AIA D-I & D-II State Championships, Chandler Hamilton vs Mesa Desert Ridge & Chaparral vs Centennial

While most of my interest this season has been for the college game, I've also taken the opportunity to catch a high school contest. And with the Arizona State Championship pitting two of the best teams in the region against each other in a game right up the road from me... well, that's just too good to pass up.

December 22
The Maaco Las Vegas Bowl, Utah vs Boise State

This one I decided on at the last minute. It's just a couple hours up the road and will feature two of the most dynamic offenses in the nation. As much time as I spent this year mocking the strength of schedule these guys face, the fact is they are bona fide powers. This promises to be a really good game.

December 28
The Insight Bowl, Missouri vs Iowa
I got to see Iowa play earlier in the season and was really impressed despite the loss. Missouri appeared on the radar with that wonderful week they were in the national championship picture for knocking off No. 1 Oklahoma but fell hard the next week to Nebraska. Both are solid smashmouth teams and that's the kind of football I love. I'm really excited about this game.

January 1
Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, Oklahoma vs UConn
This one came sooo close to being a classic. Stanford was in the running for the game and the idea of the Sooners facing them was simply too tempting. But, instead, Oklahoma got matched with UConn, the Big East's required BCS offering for slaughter. While the game should underwhelm, I expect the vibe to this one to extremely positive.

January 10
The BCS National Championship Game, Auburn vs Oregon
The football gods do exist and they are mean cruel vengeful deities. I purchased the tickets to this game months ago with the best intentions in my heart. I was repaid by seeing not only my own team's hopes dashed but our most hated rival ascend to this title game. Auburn and Oregon remain undefeated and have earned the right to meet in Glendale for this contest. And I plan to be there.

The die hard Alabama fan in me rationalizes this decision by observing there will be hundreds, nay, thousands of suffering Auburn fans who would debase themselves in the most horrific ways imaginable to switch places with me on the night of Jan. 10. Yet it is the college football fan in me that is really at the heart of the decision. This should be a spectacular game against two high-powered offenses and hard-hitting defenses. That's pretty much all the reason I need to go.

Georga Tech vs Georgia Gameday

2010-12-01T08:49:00.000-08:00

While I was initially disappointed that the powers-that-be had forced the Iron Bowl to be moved to the Friday following Thanksgiving it turned out to be a bit of a boon for my game-going expedition. There were a host of other rivalry games occurring the following day and one that I had a particular curiosity about was the one pitting the Georgia Bulldogs against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.

So I got in contact with T. Kyle King, the proprietor of Dawg Sports website which covers all things concerning the University of Georgia athletics and asked if he could help me get to see the game and he was more than happy to help.

Now, since this year's Auburn vs Alabama matchup proved to be one of some discomfort for me as a die-hard Crimson Tide fan I felt the need to find some succor in my misery after the game was concluded. I chose the sweet sweet embrace of Kentucky bourbon and the comradeship of my fellow fans at Egan's. Needless to say, I was somewhat worse for wear the following morning.

Still, I was determined to see this game so I pulled myself together and got on the road to Atlanta. I figured I'd be just as miserable driving the 200+ miles across the Southern heartland as I would be lying around in Tuscaloosa so there wasn't any reason not to suffer through it.

While the glare and ongoing misery of the memory that my team lost were pretty brutal, they had eased substantially as I neared the Atlanta area several hours later. Which worked out well because that was about the time I had to figure out how to get to Kyle's house and handle the bizarrely congested traffic.

Eventually I found the place and we saddled up to start the next leg of the trip to Athens proper -- another two hours or so down the road from his domicile.

Now my particular interest in this game had to do with my family's connections with the two teams involved. My father attended Georgia Tech in the 1960s during the heyday of the Bobby Dodd era. That's him in 1966 on the side of the Rambling Wreck his fraternity built for homecoming.

My mother, who hailed from Atlanta, came from a family athwart the rivaly. My grandfather was a Tech grad while my uncle went to to school in Athens. While my mom attended the University of Georgia only briefly, the presence of the school in the annals of her side of the family is inescapable. (Kyle did have to ensure I was a disinterested observer before extending the invite to go with him.)

And me... well, the fact that Georgia and Georgia Yech are both specifically mentioned in the Alabama fight song Yea Alabama probably says all that needs to be said. I have a particular interest in things of such historical importance to, not just Alabama, but college football as a whole.

In any case, Kyle proved to be the perfect person to go to this game with as he's an unquenchable fountain of information about the Bulldogs. And our shared loathing of one particular dean of Atlanta sports journalism is just an added bonus.

The late start to the game (7:30 pm kickoff) lead to one of the real disappointments of the trip, it was dark by the time we got to Athens. The mythology of the place has a huge presence in my mind due to the import of the music scene in the 1980s when I was in school at Alabama. Pretty much my main impression was that the place was rather nice but remarkably hilly (a point my mother recalled with less than fond memories).

Kyle led me across the campus explaining the various buildings and their importance in the history of the school. He also laid out the history of Sanford Stadium, one of the most fascinating venues for college football in the country. Again, it was another disappointment for me to not be there during the day and not get a better sense of the place's almost unique East/West alignment.

The fact that the place is packed so tightly onto the Georgia campus is really amazing though. We went to the student union for a snack prior to the game and I was surprised looking though the window to realize I was looking onto the breezeway to access the seats. The close quarters, Kyle explained, also is part of the reason it is such a challenge to expand the venue.

My impression was that this juxtaposition added to the intimacy of the gameday experience for the fans. The presence of the school is inescapable in a way that, to contrast, you don't get at Bryant-Denny Stadium. And the identification of fans as members of the University of Georgia community as well as supporters of the team seemed much more pronounced as well.

And the student center was simply packed as well. It was more like The Strip in Tuscaloosa before a game than the Ferguson Center. In fact, the workers were all decked out in really distinctive but oddly incongruous tie-dye shirts so you could pick them out easier in the crowd. It made perfect sense but still seemed... well, odd.

We chatted about a host of topic for awhile and started looking anxiously at the mounds of protective clothing our fellow game goers had packed along with them. The forecast called for it to be chilly but I was expecting lower 50s and upper 40s. The sheer plenitude of people clutching blankets was cause for some concern.

With about 45 minutes left until kickoff we made our way into the stadium. Kyle pointed out the vehicle that carries Georgia's distinctive mascot -- a full blooded English bulldog named Uga -- to the games. I was familiar with the importance of Uga but perhaps not quite enough.

Just after you enter the stadium on the West side you pass the graves for the past Ugas. I knew they buried the dogs in the stadium but I certainly didn't expect a shrine complete with a statue with which fans faithfully posed for photos. There wasn't a hint of irony about the thing and it was abundantly clear this wasn't a place to make a joke about the practice.

But that was just the start. In addition to Uga VIII himself there is the shrine, another larger statue and a costumed bulldog mascot (Hairy Dawg). That's not to mention the ubiquitous image of the animal clad in glorious red everywhere you look.

One of the reasons this was such a contrast for me is that Alabama's mascot, the elephant, is somewhat secondary to the team's identification as The Crimson Tide. The pachyderm was associated with the team but Big Al, the costumed mascot, wasn't even officially adopted until 1979 -- at the tail end of the program's great run under Paul W. Bryant. Meanwhile at Georgia, the first Uga was introduced in the late 1950s, about the time Wally Butts began to bring Georgia to prominence.

The only thing more pronounced than the devotion to the bulldog (and the hedges around the field, of course) was the sheer hate for the yellow jackets. While I'm no stranger to raw unvarnished loathing for a particular rival this was different. This was... institutionalized.

There were these quasi-rituals at almost every part of the game where each side would express their displeasure at the opponent. From the face off of the teams after warm ups to the lusty booing at particular songs played by each team's band.

Kyle told me that when he was a student they had plastic cups for drinks but the school had switched them to paper as a hearty throw from the upper bleachers could easily reach the field. Bottled drinks are sold without a top for the same reason. Although at least one Georgia fan tested the physics of this when the Georgia Tech band passed in front of the stands after playing their fight song.

While I was doing my best to be respectful of the Georgia traditions the one that kept cracking me up was the way the whole crowd would bark after a kickoff. When the player booted the ball the fans all yelled "SIC HIM!" and then dissolved into a disjointed but definitely loud chorus of "WOOF WOOF WOOF" that was simply hysterical to hear. I didn't think anything was funnier than Arkansas' "Sooie Pig" but I was flat wrong.

The game itself was a great one for an observer. It featured an abundance of big plays and accompanying emotional dips and swells. Not being emotionally invested in the affair it was a delight to just ride it out.

There were a couple of surreal moments during the contest. For one, Samuel L. Jackson was part of the team's run-out (know as the Dawg Walk, of course) and nobody had any real clue why. The second was the appearance of a cluster of balloons from behind the scoreboard during a time out in the second half. They drifted slowly over the length of the field before gaining just enough lift to clear the East side stands and continue on their way. Again, nobody had any idea what it was all about.

By the end of the third quarter I had to ask Kyle if we could go. The temperature had dropped to 41 degrees and was clearly going to dip further by the end of the game. Moreover, my lack of sleep the night before was really taking it's toll by that time. We trundled back to the car but the sound of the chapel bells spooked him a good bit (the tradition is to ring them after the win, not before the game is concluded).

Listening to the radio on the route home we caught the final minutes of Georgia's 42-34 victory. For Good Clean Old-Fashioned Hate, the whole affair was a lot more fun than folks might give it credit for.

Auburn vs Alabama Gameday

2010-11-29T11:00:00.000-08:00

First and foremost, even three days since this game I'm still wincing from the thought of it. The 75th Iron Bowl was not the Crimson Tide's greatest moment on the gridiron. Pretty much all our hopes for the 2010 season went "POOF!" in the second half of the game at the hands of our greatest rivals. In some ways, the lost to Louisiana-Monroe in 2007 stung less.

But this blog is about the experience of attending these games. And as godawful as the outcome o the contest was, the atmosphere leading up to this game was one of the most electric I've had the pleasure of experiencing in Tuscaloosa.

The students were at the gates five hours before kickoff for seats. Given the weather -- temperatures in the low 40s and dropping with intermittent rain -- not to mention the likelihood of hangovers this was an impressive level of dedication. I offered a heartfelt "Roll Tide" in support but then hurried on to find a warmer location to wait for the game.

Heading up The Strip, things were pretty busy but the chilly conditions had driven most folks inside. The stalwart staple of gameday -- the student toting his already opened 12 pack -- was well in evidence by 9 a.m. These only became more common as the morning progressed.

Inside Egan's, the atmosphere was more electric than any game I've been there for and Bo the bartender said that was his impression as well. Folks were excited about the game and optimistic about Alabama's chances. There weren't too many Auburn fans on hand but the ones in evidence were more interested in talking about the matchup than being obnoxious.

Still, the hate was certainly there. Egan's sells some rather distinctive buttons that allows their wearers to make it absolutely clear about what they think of the cross-state rival. All week folks had been stopping in to pick them up and by mid-morning they had sold out. At that point people started buying the bumper stickers and putting them on the back of their jackets.

About three hours before gametime I headed out to see how tailgaing on the quad was going and get a better sense of the crowd. Despite the rain and cold and early kickoff the place was packed with grills going full bore. Propane heaters were pentiful and a number of folks had wrapped their tents in industrial plastic wrap to keep out the rain and wind.

One thing that was abundantly clear was that Auburn had brought a sizable contingent to Tuscaloosa. The amount of orange apparel milling about the sea of crimson garb was impressive. Still, at least one tailgater was flying a flag that both camps could come to complete agreement on despite their abiding animosity.

Now while I was able to catch the Walk of Champions up close before the Georgia State game, I wanted to catch this one from the top of the stadium steps to get a sense of the whole crowd. Even though I was an hour early, there were a good number of folks up there already waiting. I got in place and prepared myself to wait through the cold for the team to arrive.

Now make no mistake, this was not a pleasant wait. The wind cut right through my pants and my fingers were numb within minutes. It got a little better when the crowd filled in behind us but not much.

But when the buses pulled up and the team filed out to walk down that famed walk, it was completely worth it. Seeing this in person, without a doubt, made my whole adventure this season completely worth it.

After the players filed into the locker room the crowd stayed milling about a bit enjoying the excitement of the coming game. Folks crowded around the statue of Coach Bryant and people inspected the inscriptions on the plaques in the walkways.

The scalpers, who had been hard at work since before Thanksgiving were still very much on hand and at work. One of them was particularly inventive and was pretty busy posing for pictures with passers by. I have no idea if the gimmick helped his business, though.

At that point I headed back up The Strip to wait for gametime and happened to be on hand as the buses with the Auburn players arrived. Now I'm as willing to be civil about this game as the next guy but the fact is we hate these guys. Absolutely and completely hate them. The way they do things and go about playing the game is an absolute anathema to us. And the fact they wanted to do their own pre-game walk only riled us even more than usual.

Needless to say, the reaction to the team's arrival was met with significant displeasure by the Alabama fans on hand. And I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy ever second of it. They would hear us scream soon enough but it was satisfying to know they got immediate visual evidence of our sentiments toward them.

And going into the game that animosity was clearly on hand. I didn't see anyone being rude or directly abrasive to anyone but there was a prickly aspect to the supercharged environment I haven't ever felt in a stadium before. The place was packed and even before the game everyone was on the edge of their seat.

What followed was one of the most fantastic halves of football I've ever seen played by the Crimson Tide. Thirty minutes of absolute domination over a foe that simply had no answer to what we were doing on either side of the ball. My throat was ragged and hoarse by halftime and I was so cold I couldn't stop shivering but I didn't care a bit.

After that it was a horrible slide into devastation. Every possible thing that I was scared might happen as we waited for the third quarter to start came to pass. I spent every bit of my voice in an effort to do my part but the team simply could not pull itself out of the tailspin. Over the last five minutes of the game, the Auburn fans were yelling louder than our best efforts and the conclusion was all too clear.

I staggered out of Bryant-Denny Stadium into the chilly night. The sweet embrace of the brown liquor helped ease a bit of the pain in the short run but not the real sting of what I had witnessed transpire. Still, witnessing the Iron Bowl was everything I have ever been told it would be and given the chance to see it again, I wouldn't hesitate a second.

Sanford Stadium, Athens, Georgia

2010-11-27T23:00:00.000-08:00

Georgia Tech vs Georgia, Nov. 27, 2010

Georgia Tech vs Georgia Ticket

2010-11-27T17:06:00.000-08:00

Bryant-Denny Stadium, Tuscaloosa, Alabama

2010-11-26T23:00:00.000-08:00

Auburn vs Alabama, Nov. 26, 2010

Iron Bowl Tickets

2010-11-21T07:03:00.001-08:00

Georgia State vs Alabama Gameday

2010-11-19T06:32:00.000-08:00

Due to a series of scheduling quirks, Alabama was playing on Thursday night this week. It was the first Thursday contest for the Crimson Tide since 2001 when a matchup with Southern Mississippi was moved back due to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The foe this week was Georgia State, whose football team was in its inaugural year under former Crimson Tide head coach Bill Curry.

My mom, who is from Atlanta, was incredulous this summer when I told her Alabama was playing the Panthers. Her brother, a Georgia grad who follows college football pretty casually if at all, simply didn't believe her when he was told last week. But, yes, it was true and Georgia State fans were on hand in T-town to prove it.

Being a mid-week game against an underwhelming opponent, the atmosphere around campus was a little less electric than usual. As you might expect, the retirees in their RV's were circling the parking lots the day before but the crush on people on the strip during the day was noticeably diminished.

On the Quad, usually packed solid with tailgaters on gameday, things were noticeably subdued. Wide open swaths of space abounded and a lot of pre-erected tents went uninhabited. There were pockets of activity here and there but mostly it was a field day for folks wanting to play catch with their kids. The glorious cacophony of gameday simply wasn't there.

(One key drawback of Thursday was the lack of any other football games on the big screen televisions people hauled to their sites. Yeah there were sports news channels but nothing like actual honest-to-god live football to watch. It was a greater damper on things than you might expect.)

The whole situation was underscored by the market for parking spaces around the stadium. Prime locations in lots and yards near BDS can go for as much as $40 on gameday and any impromptu front yard within a mile radius usually commands at least $20. Early on during the day people were asking the usual prices but by noon pretty much all the signs had been altered to reflect the dip in demand.

"We wanted to make our usual amount," said one guy who lives near the stadium. "Now we just want to make our beer money for the weekend."

All of this was realized inside Bryant-Denny Stadium. While the game may have been sold out but the stadium sure a heck wasn't filled. And the gaps in the crowd only got larger as the score got more out of hand.

As for the students, I got the impression that the game was a welcome day off and a convenient excuse to drink on a day you really don't need a convenient excuse to do so (Thursday was the day to go drankin when I was in school). The folks imbibing during the day were the old fogeys but the kids didn't really show up till darkness fell.

And the girls weren't just dressed to go to the game, they were dressed to go out. More than a few heading into the stadium had on their f*ck-me pumps and didn't even carry a jacket to give the pretense of staying past the first quarter.

Still, this was gameday which means it was a great day. The smaller crowd meant thing went really smoothly and everyone who was on hand was clearly enjoying being there. Most of the folks around me were, like myself, very keen on seeing the second-string play to get an idea of the abilities of the younger players.

I also noticed a couple of things I may have missed before. At the start of the game and at the half they play a recording of Coach Cochran urging the fans to stand. If the enthusiastic suggestion doesn't work his subsequent trademark "YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH!" certainly does.

The game, as expected, was a 63-7 blowout. The one score for the Panthers came on a kickoff return. Outside of that the contest wasn't even close. Still, for us die hard fans it was great to see practice squad guys like the now legendary wide reciever Rob Ezell get on the field for a few snaps and he even was QB on a couple plays. Our whole section was screaming "GET SIX EZELL!" when he took the snap but, sadly, he just handed it off to the running back.

After the game there wasn't the buzzing euphoria of a big win but there certainly wasn't the dour silence of a bad loss either. This was clearly an exhibition game in anticipation for next week. It seemed more folks were hanging out at the Walk of Champions doing their sightseeing than usual for postgame.

And, of course, the statue of Bear Bryant was packed with a steady cluster of folks getting their picture taken (while Frank Thomas and Wallace Wade were forlornly and unfairly forgotten).

Walking down the strip I heard a cluster of Georgia State fans deliriously chanting "SEVEN POINTS, HELL YEAH!" Alabama fans encouraged them good-naturedly but, for the most part, were occupied in discussions about next week's Iron Bowl. And those discussions weren't good natured at all. Nosirree.

Bryant-Denny Stadium, Tuscaloosa, Alabama

2010-11-18T21:24:00.000-08:00

Georgia State vs Alabama - Nov. 18, 2010

Georgia State vs Alabama Tickets

2010-11-16T06:54:00.000-08:00

Mississippi State vs Alabama Gameday

2010-11-15T08:58:00.000-08:00

I returned to Tuscaloosa in the wake of the LSU game to an Alabama fanbase oddly distracted from the next SEC West matchup. The aspirations of an SEC Championship and possibly even more were dashed in Baton Rouge and, for the most part, the enthusiasm for football seems to have waned significantly in comparison to my visit in September.

Interestingly, this feels similar to the 1986 season when I was a student at Alabama. An undefeated run and aspirations of post-season success were dashed after a loss to Penn State. The Tide went into a tailspin that year, I was hoping history wouldn't repeat in that respect.

Weirdly, the atmosphere was to my advantage as a lot of the usual points of interest weren't completely overwhelmed with folks. During the week I finally made it to Tuscaloosa's most famous restaurant -- Dreamland Bar-B-Que... the original one that is a pain to find.

But find it I did and it was pretty much what I expected. A line of folks clearly from the university and a handful of out-of-towners giving it a try. Most wonderful moment? When the guy from Arizona asked for a menu and the waitress said "Right up there on the wall, Shug." The ribs were mighty fine but, in my humble estimation, a notch below Archibald's.

On gameday, I got up early and headed over to Egan's to greet the masses. Even this early the number of cars around the stadium were noticeably thinner (although the cost parking spaces in people's yards had increased a good 30%, which might have had something to do with it).

Still, it's not Tuscaloosa if you don't see at least one beautifully bizarre thing on gameday before 9:00 a.m. and the houndstooth car in front of the Bamaland store certainly fit that bill. I didn't think these guys could top the Bama Van they had in front of their store last year but damned if they didn't prove me wrong.

The crowd at Egan's was strong most of the morning but never past the tipping point of gameday frenzy. Out on the Quad it was much the same, folks were on hand and doing their usual tailgating thing but the electricity wasn't what most folks have come to expect. It's also worth mentioning that since Starkville is just an hour and a half drive away, many Mississippi State fans wouldn't (and didn't) show up till the afternoon.

One thing I've noticed about Alabama gameday that I haven't seen in other places is the surfeit of vendors selling souvenirs around the stadium. Sure, other places have had folks selling stuff but usually it's a shop in the stadium itself or something similar. In Tuscaloosa the scale of the enterprise is on another level entirely.

All along the Strip there are stores that sell this stuff that are simply packed on gameday. In addition, several of the streets near Bryan-Denny Stadium are lined with sidewalk vendors hawking every type of souvenir you can imagine. And they seem to be doing decent business every time I go by.

One item that was proving particularly popular on gameday were shirts making snarky commentary on the pay-for-play accusations surrounding Auburn's star quarterback Cam Newton. The void of discussion about the Alabama vs Miss. State matchup this week was mostly filled with dissection of this "scandal" and the market was ready to fill the niche on gameday.

And, much as I expected, over at Egan's, the tranquil crowd turned rowdy when the Auburn vs Georgia game came on. It's doubtful the Bulldogs have ever been as popular in Tuscaloosa than on this particular afternoon.

Given the more temperate atmosphere I was hoping to use the opportunity to see the pre-game Walk of Champions up close. Approximately two hours before the game, the Alabama football team walks up the pathway to Bryant-Denny Stadium with the crowd on either side. About a half-hour before they were scheduled to arrive I went over to near the gate where they enter the stadium itself. It was already packed a dozen people deep.

Now I'm an ardent supporter of the Crimson Tide's diverse fanbase. We get a lot of flack for having a ton of folks rooting for the team who never attended a class at the University. My typical response is that such a view is viciously elitist.

But if you want to meet these segment of the fanbase, this is where they are at. And make no mistake, these people are as die hard fans as it gets. Detailed discussions about on-the-field matchups and examinations on the more subtle market forces that affect the sport will not be found here. Fandom is distilled to it's ultimate and most simple ethos: you are either with us or against us. And God help you if it's the latter.

I loved every moment of it.

One of my concerns for this game was my lack of a ticket. After the LSU loss I figured it would be a lot easier to get into the game but I was hoping to find a way to sit in the new South end-zone section that was added this season. After a few false leads I was able to manage this with it coming through at the last possible moment. (And, as a big bonus, I even was able to snag one of the infamous one-P tickets.)

Now one of the criticisms of the new section is that it is so far from the field but I found the lines of sight were actually pretty good and certainly no more distant than being in the upper bowl at Tiger Stadium. What I was really loving about the seat I got was that it was almost exactly smack-dab in the middle of the field. For anyone who has an interest in the details of strategy, the seat was simply amazing.
So I was able to see what was happening on the action in every play to a degree I've rarely enjoyed inside a stadium. Every hole opened by the line, every coverage scheme, every exotic alignment was right there. In fact the film crew who makes the video for the coaches game film were right next to me. I could see how a whole season of this could be trying but for one game I was simply ecstatic.

And, to make it even better, the folks around me were pretty knowledgeable about the game as well. So not only could I see what was happening in the game better, I had folks around to discuss it with during the game.

In any case, Alabama returned to dominant form with this effort and trounced the Mississippi State Bulldogs 30-10. The game was somewhat close through the first half but in the third quarter, the Crimson Tide really started to pull away. At the start of the fourth quarter the score was 27-3 and not likely to get much better for the boys from Starkville.

Which was when I noticed one of the more irritating things about the Alabama football experience -- the Greeks.

The fraternities have long been known for "reserving" huge swaths of seats for their members while other students wanting to see the game were left out. While the current administration has done a good job stemming the practice, the Greeks really don't seem to have changed much.

As the fourth quarter started their section was emptying rapidly, even though everywhere else in the stadium was full of fans ready to see the Crimson Tide seal the victory. It was epically pathetic. Give me my choice between these clowns and the folks along the Walk of Champions and I'll take the latter every time.

Bryant-Denny Stadium, Tuscaloosa, Alabama

2010-11-13T19:59:00.000-08:00

Mississippi State vs Alabama, Nov. 13, 2010

Mississippi State vs Alabama ticket

2010-11-13T19:11:00.000-08:00

Coleman Coliseum, Tuscaloosa, Alabama

2010-11-12T21:40:00.000-08:00

Alabama vs Florida A&M - Nov. 12, 2010

Alabama vs LSU Gameday

2010-11-08T04:55:00.000-08:00

Now my family is originally from Louisiana and I grew up in the state. So LSU fandom is something I like to think I know a bit about. I've got a healthy respect for the more colorful aspects of the experience but an ample amount of caution for it's less redeeming qualities. So I was pretty excited about going to this game.

I stayed with my cousins in Loreauville near New Iberia the week before the game. It is sugar cane harvesting season in Iberia Parish and the tractors hauling the cut cane to the mill are on the roads from first light. On gameday I got up really early to get out before they descended en masse and made my journey a little more perilous from the start than I would like.

Driving north to the interstate I turned on the radio to the Lafayette public station KRVS-FM which features local music. They were playing some "classic" zydeco-style music as well as a good bit of more current artists and the announcers only spoke in French.

At Breaux Bridge I turned on Interstate 10 to Baton Rouge and a couple mile further on I was on the Atchafalaya Bridge. Its a 25-mile run over the river basin that serves as the natural spillway for the Mississippi in case of a massive flood. It's always a little surreal to be on this stretch of road with the tree tops whipping by at 65 miles per hour.

The importance of the game was pretty evident as almost every car had LSU flags/stickers/license plates. And quite a few were towing tailgating equipment that would make a professional caterer fall to his knees and weep openly.

I crossed the Mississippi River bridge at Baton Rouge and turned onto the side streets and a few minutes later was on campus. One minute I was looking for signs to the place and poof! the next I was being besieged by tipsy folks wearing purple from all sides. It was 9 a.m. and the party was going full on.

I found one of the free lots on the edge of campus and got in the one that seemed to be aligned with the post-game traffic flow. This foresight turned out to be utterly wasted later on.

Walking to the sidewalk a guy out for his morning run gave me a hearty "TIGHA BAIT" as he passed by. It was the first of quite a few I was in store for during the day but I had to admire his dedication. A few minutes later I fell into a group of LSU fans who rode me pretty good until they realized I was from Louisiana. I explained I got a double-digit score on my ACT test so LSU wouldn't take me. They thought this was hilarious.

Although it was still early, due to the 2:30 p.m. kickoff, the tailgating was going pretty good. Throughout the day all the LSU fans I spoke to lamented this early start (traditionally 7 p.m. is when the games are started in Tiger Stadium) and blamed it on the lackluster tailgating. I hardly noticed. By 11 a.m. the campus was packed and there was more good food on hand than you could ever hope to get a reasonable sample of.

Ten years ago, fried turkeys were the thing but nowadays it is the "Cajun microwaves" that are all the rage. These are large metal roasting boxes which are designed to hold a tray of coals on top. The heat then cooks the meat inside with a type of convection process and, in some cases, a grill is built on top to cook other foods as that process is going.

I saw everything from the LSU-approved top-dollar models whipped up by a company in Breaux Bridge to gigantic homemade versions that were big enough to do multiple pigs at one time. The guys pictured got a couple of the roasters from a Chinese company and were cooking various meats in each one. The best I tasted were pig that had an injected marinade and rub but not a one was bad by any means.

I met an Ole Miss graduate who was working undercover to pen a book on LSU fandom and we went looking for other interesting tailgating folks. I took the time to explain how beer drinking is something of an art form or even a science in South Louisiana. The most obvious example is the ingenuity put into creating the hanging beer bongs that adorned the trees around the campus but more subtle examples were evident too.

Case in point; the 10-ounce beer.

Cajuns, who spend quite a bit of time drinking beer outdoors, have made the discovery that a 12-oz beer is simply two ounces to much to really enjoy the beverage. That last little bit gets warm and nasty. So throughout South Louisiana you can find smaller 10 ounce cans available.

My friend was a bit dubious of this story until he got near the end of the beer he was drinking and he went to throw it away and realized there was -- ta da! -- just about two ounces left.

I also kind of freaked him out a few minutes later as we were walking along the sidewalk and I suddenly stopped and said we had to go looking for the guys doing the boil. "You can find it by smell?" he asked. Oh yes. Can't everybody?

The guys we found had a sweet setup going and were doing it all out. They were boiling chicken, sausage and shrimp all at once with the obligatory potatoes and corn as well. I knew better than to expect crawfish since it's a little too early for the season.

They were using Louisiana boil and had spiced it just about perfect. They were nice enough to take a few minutes and explain the timing of doing all the different foods in the single pot. They had it down to the most minute detail -- and that's right down to the pirouge paddle to stir with.

Even better, I stumbled on a guy doing red beans and rice from Thibodeaux a few minutes later and he went into some serious detail into his method. He really went whole hog with the onion and it gave it a really nice sweet flavor. I might have to try that next time.

I ambled back around to my home base tailgating party just in time to catch one of the most unique parts of LSU's football tradition -- Mike the tiger. They rolled his royal feline badness down the road in advance of the band and, I gotta say, even with him lying there in his redolent manner, it was impressive.

Later, in the stadium, they had Mike set up right in front of where the visiting team runs out onto the field for warmups. Having a full half-ton of stripey death sitting just feet away from where you are supposed to be pulling in a sideline out route has to be intimidating.

It was about an hour until the game so I took the opportunity to walk around close to the stadium and soak up a bit more of the atmosphere. There were a number of folks yelling "Tiger Bait" and one guy wearing a top hat and voodoo gear who walked up to give me the whammy. Mostly though everyone I stopped and talked to were pleasant to the extreme -- even the completely drunk ones.

Tiger Stadium was impressive as well. More than a lot of "upgraded" stadiums, you can really get a sense of the original structure. An LSU fan I started chatting with told me the story of how Governor Huey P. Long wanted to expand the stadium in the 30s but the state legislature blocked him by decree. So he got around it by added new dorm rooms onto it as the pretense for building the additional seating.

To get inside it was like a lot of Louisiana in that the original infrastructure has been somewhat overwhelmed by later development. It's not really clear where particular access is at and much of the way it is arranged is woefully out of date for the size of the crowds the structure gets nowadays. Getting inside it was very apparent that "Death Valley" was going to be at the full 92.400 capacity for this contest.

I got seated next to some good ole boys who I chatted with about Coach Saban a bit. The responses about him have a bit of a memorized quantity about them -- like its an obligatory response you gotta give but the emotion isn't really behind it anymore. They were a lot more lively when it came to the topic of LSU coach Les Miles. Turned out I was in the wrong section and when I got to the right seat I was next to some guys from Ville Platte who fit the designation "die hard" about perfectly.

Now my new seat put me right above Alabama's Million Dollar Band and I thought that it would be a good spot for us to raise some noise to root for our guys. It turns out they call this stadium "Deaf Valley" for a reason. Bear Bryant once described the sound of the crowd as being "inside of a drum" and that's still a pretty good way to put it. I think Bryant-Denny Stadium can get this loud as well but it's clear Tiger Stadium sets the bar the rest try to meet.

The game turned out to be a pretty close one (as I kind of expected) and, in the end, the Crimson Tide couldn't make up the difference. The Tiger claimed the victory 24-21.

Going back to my car I was really struck by how gracious the LSU fans were. There were one or two very drunk kids who were obnoxious as hell but, almost everyone else was great. A lot of them congratulated me for the good game and shook my hand. Yeah, I got some pretty rough ribbing but one or two took a few minutes to talk about how the game would affect the SEC conference race and what each of our teams would have to do down the stretch. We all agreed in our hatred of Auburn.

In fact every aspect of the gameday experience was superb except for two glaring exceptions. The loss, obviously, and the post game traffic. I am being completely serious when I say the only traffic I've seen that was worse had to be Sao Paulo, Brazil in rush hour. It took me almost two solid hours from the time I left my seat to get to the interstate home. Still, nobody ran into my rental so I'm not going to complain.

Tiger Stadium, Baton Rouge, Louisiana

2010-11-06T20:02:00.000-07:00

Alabama vs LSU - Nov. 6, 2010

Alabama vs LSU tickets

2010-11-04T07:00:00.000-07:00

Washington State vs Arizona State Gameday

2010-10-31T15:54:00.000-07:00

This week was Alabama's bye week so I didn't have to hang around the house/bar waiting for the game and could head afield and see one live. Which worked out rather well since Arizona State is just down the road and they were hosting their conference rivals Washington State this week. Even better, it was ASU's homecoming.

I got to downtown Tempe well ahead of kickoff to wander around and see what was going on in anticipation of the matchup. There was a lot of the usual stuff -- the band performing for the fans, people wandering too and fro in tailgates and such. And a little bit of Halloween weirdness just to make it interesting.

There was also a school fair where various departments had set up tables and students were showing off stuff while telling folks about all the fun stuff they did. I looked around for the Philosophy department but I guess they were too busy defining a priori truths or something.

One group that had folks wowed was the Chemistry geeks who were freezing plastic balls in liquid nitrogen as well as quite a few other demonstrations kinda dangerous but in a cool way. If you thought your barbecuing and drink making skills would impress folks at the tailgate, these guys had you beat cold. Literally.

My only regret was I got there too late to see the underwater robots fighting in the fountain.

Walking back to the stadium I had my moment of ASU fan rudeness. Some kid on a second-floor balcony saw my shirt and yelled out "ALABAMA SUCKS!" I looked up and saw his yellow ASU shirt and simply burst out laughing.

Tailgating-wise, things were pretty laid back. A lot of folks set up their stuff in the parking garages where there was a lot of protection from the sun. (Yeah, it's October but temperatures were in the 90s and the sun was making it mighty unpleasant. Welcome to Arizona). The usual colored tents abounded in the regular lots, though and were equipped with the require retinue of middle-aged fans in canvas folding chairs.

One guy whose choice of jersey caught my eye was this fellow. While the rest of the country knows Ryan Leaf as the worst draft bust in the history of the NFL, he'll forever be the man that took Wazzou to the Rose Bowl for the faithful from Pullman. I have absolutely zero doubt that this guy wore this jersey without a shred of irony.

Which touches on my rooting interest for this contest. In all honesty, I got no dog in this fight. But Washington State's coach during the Ryan Leaf era was one Mike Price who, in 2002, parlayed that success into a less-than-prosperous coaching gig at the University of Alabama. Therefore, the prospect of watching them suffer a bit wasn't going to ruin my afternoon in the slightest.

And that was the most likely scenario. While the Sun Devils were going in an remarkably mediocre 3-4, the cougars were a woeful 1-7. Even worse, their only win was over their early-season FCS opponent Montana State and that took them a last minute field goal to pull off. How bad was this matchup? It wasn't even televised.

Still, I was expecting a bit more once I got inside the stadium. According to the box score the official attendance was 44,903 or almost 63% of the stadium's 71,703 capacity.

Now I ask you does this stadium look even half full? And that's at 11:01 in the first quarter. The late comers were mostly in their seats by then and the gaps in the stands only got bigger as the score got more out of hand. And this was for Homecoming.

(Needless to say, a scalper's offer to sell me a ticket on the way into the game earned another belly laugh from me.)

Which is something of a shame because Sun Devil Stadium is a really nice place to watch a game. It's got great lines of sight and is really easy to get around in. The atmosphere tends to be just laid back enough to make it pleasant but just hyped up enough to make it exciting. The folks sitting around me all knew the team quite well and were more than happy to talk about them in detail.

One of the more peculiar things about Sun Devil Stadium that I always enjoy is that it sits pretty much right on the flight path of Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport. The downside of this is that you don't ever get a flyover for a game. The upshot is, when the wind is right, you get planes flying right over head throughout the entire game as they finish their descent to land on the South Runway.

You notice a lot of semi-bored girlfriends and wives watching the progress of the planes as they zoom overhead while their escorts are transfixed on the progress of the game below. (And FYI, the view of the stadium from the planes is pretty damn impressive as well.)

As the contest got going it was pretty evident that Washington State was in for a whole world of hurt. They simply had no answer for anything the Sun Devils through at them. And this was an ASU squad sporting a decidedly uninspired Dennis Erickson attack. Even though the Sun Devils didn't really have a running game, it didn't matter when the bubble screens were enough to ensure first downs to keep every drive going.

So there was plenty of time to people watch during this one and, once again, the proximity to Halloween made it and ideal event in that respect. We had a faux deputy sheriff with a naughty nurse, a couple of big dudes in long johns and a guy in a Captain Morgan hat that got escorted out in the third quarter.

Still, my favorites were the guy in the giant penguin costume and the Rastafarian photographer roaming the sidelines. Of course, in the case of the latter, I'm not entirely sure it was a costume.

The game, as you might expect, turned into a debacle. The final score was 42-0. Even when the Cougars got near the goal line, they couldn't score. Once they fumbled, once they bobbled the snap on the field goal and, at the very end of the game, they tried for the touchdown on fourth instead of just trying to save themselves the humiliation of the goose egg.

I stayed till the bitter end, partially due to the reasons noted above. And, I'm very glad to report, most of the ASU fans in my section did as well. Not to mention quite a few Washington State stalwarts.

One other observation about ASU football. They LOVE fireworks. They do them for the pregame, for halftime and when the team runs out on the field. They do them after every touchdown and then at the end of the game if it's a win.

And then, when we were filing out the stadium, a bunch of guys from one of the fraternities lit a huge number of flares on the side of A mountain which sits adjacent to the stadium. I got to see them finish up and barrel down the hillside with their still lit flares. Can't say it looked like the safest thing I've ever witnessed but it was impressive. Now if they could just get those guys into the stadium during the games to show their enthusiasm for their team.

Sun Devil Stadium, Tempe, AZ

2010-10-30T20:28:00.000-07:00

Washington State vs Arizona State - Oct. 30, 2010

Mountain View vs Mesquite gameday

2010-10-09T05:50:00.000-07:00

While high school football in Arizona doesn't reach the level of intensity as you find in places like Texas, it's still a pretty big deal. The vast suburbs of Phoenix abound with high schools of every size and Friday nights in the fall are a vast tapestry of gridiron action. The local paper lists more than 100 games for the football aficionado to choose from.

So I asked my friend Paul -- a fellow Crimson Tide fan who grew up out here -- what matchup might be worth checking out and he suggested we go to Mountain View High School in Mesa to watch the Toros take on the Wildcats from Mesquite High School in Gilbert. Sounded good to me.

The Toros were an Arizona HS football power in the 90s and while their achievements haven't been as lofty over the last decade, they remain a daunting opponent. The Wildcats are a rising star star this season and since both teams are part of Arizona's 5A Central Region so the contest would go a long way to determining the two team's playoff prospects.

Now it has been years since I went to a high school football game. Since graduating in the mid-1980s I had attended all of one contest at this level of play. Outside of that my only exposure to the high school game has been online videos of touted recruits or epic bloopers. What I found I had forgotten was the tactile whallop it carries.

When I got to Toro Stadium I paid my $5 got one of those little red tickets and ambled in. Toro Stadium is a pretty big place, big enough to hold a few thousand and a half-hour prior to the game it wasn't hardly a third full.

One thing that impressed me about the place was when I saw they complimented their concessions with a big-ass mesquite-wood barbecue grill. I tried the brisket sandwich later on and wasn't bad at all.

I headed up to the stands to wait for Paul and kind of took it in a bit. One thing that struck me immediately was the sense of scale and how less is very much more in this situation

When you attend a football game at the college level -- particularly in the SEC -- you find yourself distanced from the contest. The sheer scale of the event pulls you farther from the field and into the masses of the audience. That's completely gone in a high school game. If you get up and give a good yell, you can be sure the referee in the middle of the field has become aware of your displeasure at his call.

But what really stands out are the whole host of other sensations you completely miss out on from the stands of a large stadium. Things that are hardwired in your memory from football games seen at almost field level that you don't even realize are there. Like the smell of the turf just turned up by cleats mixed with the odor of popcorn from the concession stand popcorn.

And the most inescapable and completely unique aspect of a high school football game is the incessant murmur of a couple hundred teenagers socializing under the bleachers. They buzz about in groups and flitter from spot to spot chatting, yelling, primping and all those things that are ineffably important to those of that age. It's a cacophony of overloud voices and exaggerated pantomime as they learn the vastly complex social patterns in their special way.

Because more than any other level of football, the game at the high school level is a social event for the students. The game, for the most part, is almost completely ancillary to the importance of the event. Almost.

But a huge amount of the spectacle is for the parents and if you doubt it, pick up a game program. It was clearly aimed at making every parent happy as every player, cheerleader and band member was featured. And it's clear this is a predominantly Mormon areas as every player lists "going on a mission" as one of their goals and there are a significant number that list their college of choice as BYU.

But my favorite part of the program had to be the ads; a smorgasbord of businesses targeting their core audience with a vengeance. There were dance studios offering kids ballet lessons, photographers ready to take senior portraits and --by far most of all -- orthodontists ready to provide your teenager with braces. (But my favorite was the sports medicine guy who uses a stock football photo of a player obviously facemasking the ball carrier.)

The opposing team's band performed prior to the game and it took them awhile to get all the drums, xylophones and musical paraphernalia off the field. It then took a little while to get all the cheerleaders, pep squad and whoever onto it for the introduction. But this was the part I was psyched for -- the team running through the banner. A staple of the high school game and found absolutely nowhere else.

Sadly, the Toros disappointed a little by pre-tearing the banner keeping the first players from bursting through it. (My video of the pre-game effort wasn't too hot so this is the one they did after halftime.) The opposing team did tear through the banner but it was a little too far away to get the full impact of the ritual.

The game turned out to be a pretty good contest. The teams were evenly matched and played well for high school squads. The home team had a pretty solid mid-range passing attack but kept trying to throw down the field and their quarterback just didn't have the accuracy. The Wildcats boasted an electric running back who kept threatening to turn the corner and take it to the house and eventually he did, twice.

The two teams kept trading scores and as the game was winding down it looked like the Mountain View coach's decision to go for a two-point conversion early in the game was going to be the difference in the game. But then the Wildcats intercepted a Toro pass on the Mountain View five-yard line and engineered a scoring drive that put them ahead for good. The final score was Mesquite 21 - Mountain View 15.

After the game the Wildcats team assembled in front of the visitors stands and sang the schools fight song with all the folks who had trekked to the game to see them play. One of the striking things about high school football is that as ambivalent as all the kids seem during much of the game, the end really matters to them.

They might be socializing around the concession stands but they are regularly checking the scoreboard. When the game is on the line, they are there yelling and making a respectable fuss. And when it's all over and their team won, they are clearly excited to be a part it.

Toro Stadium, Mesa, AZ

2010-10-08T22:24:00.000-07:00

Mesquite HS vs Mountain View HS - Oct. 8, 2010

Arizona State vs. Washington State tickets

2010-10-07T11:06:00.000-07:00

Kleph Makes Plans to Go Bowling

2010-10-05T14:33:00.000-07:00

The Bowl Championship Series is an alliance of four major bowls -- The Rose, Sugar, Fiesta and Orange -- which rotate the annual national championship game between them. The BCS National Championship Game itself is a separate event played at the same site as a host bowl a week following New Year's Day.

The host this year is the Tostito's Fiesta Bowl which will hold its regular game in the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona on New Year's day. The 2011 BCS National Championship game will take place in the same venue on Jan. 10. In addition, the bowl has a tie-in with the Insight Bowl that will occur on Dec. 28 in Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, AZ.

The national championship game will feature the two top-ranked teams in the nation at the end of the regular season. This year the Tostito's Fiesta Bowl that will match the Big XII champ versus a BCS at-large team while the Insight Bowl which will pit a Big 10 squad against a unit from the Big XII.

Since we aren't even at the halfway point of the college football season it's way to early to start trying to seriously figure out which teams will play in which bowl games. But when the selection committees finally do their work in December, tickets become scarce and expensive faster than you can imagine.

So a few months ago I popped over to the Fiesta Bowl website and signed up for the waiting list for tickets. The way they run it is that regular ticket buyers for the national championship must buy a package for all three bowl games rather than just the Jan. 10 contest.

And lo! This morning I got the e-mail in my inbox saying I could now buy the tickets. So I hopped in the truck and drove up to their office in Scottsdale and purchased them (and, no, they weren't cheap).

Now, obviously, my hope of hopes is that my beloved Crimson Tide will make it to the title game and I'll be able to see them play. While the prospects of that truly look good right now there is a lot of football to be played between now and then. So I'm not putting counting on that coming to pass quite yet.

But since my plan always has been to catch as many games in person this season, this works out about as ideal as one could imagine -- two BCS bowl games and a solid second-tier New Year's Eve matchup. If nothing else It will give me a reason to pay attention to all the bowl matchup chatter during the second half of the season I typically try to ignore.

Buffalo vs UConn Gameday

2010-09-26T14:11:00.000-07:00

I was out on the East Coast visiting my brother in Connecticut this week and took the opportunity to pop in on a football game while in the neighborhood. Initially, I wanted to go see Yale play simply to check out the Yale Bowl which is the template for Pasadena's famed Rose Bowl Stadium. But the Bulldogs were playing an away game and so the next option was UConn.

The Huskies play at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Connecticut. The 40,000-capacity venue opened in 2003 on the former site of the company airfield for the airplane engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney. Before that time UConn played at Memorial Stadium in Storrs, CT. The history of the place is immediately evident as the retired runway is the main access to the parking areas.

We got parked and headed back through lines of cars where folks were doing honest-to-god old-skool tailgating. They were sitting in lawn chairs around the back of their cars with an open trunk full of fixins and and ice chest of drinks. Cooking was on a propane stove at most and based on the premise of practicality rather than any type of ostentation.

There was a line of RV's at one end of the field/lot but not more than a dozen total. A group of girls were singing Carly Simon songs in unison and loudly around one to give the tableaux its first moment of surreality.

Heading toward the stadium we came into contact with our fellow attendees. A disturbingly large number of them seemed like extras from MTV's Jersey Shore in manner, dress and comportment. Still, outside of a few epically drunk individuals, everyone was friendly and interested in talking about their team (as well as the Giants and the Yankees) rather than abusing the opposing fans. A delightful change after the relentless hostility of Arizona fans from last week.

The second surreal moment came with the posted warnings of a "courteous Pat-Down" by the stadium staff upon entry. Now I was expecting the usual check for booze/weapons but it turned out to be a slightly creepy caress down the back. Not really sure of the point of that one and I probably will sleep better not knowing.

We got to the stadium mid-way through the first quarter and nobody seemed overly upset about the fact the game was going on. While the intense focus on the game in the SEC is one of the great things about the conference, you miss out on a lot of the social aspect of a football game. Where you meet people you know in the concourse and talk awhile and there's a constant flow of teenagers dash from one side of the place to the other filling their unique social agendas.

Walking along the concourse I got a friendly "Roll Tide" from a fine flower of New England womanhood (I had on the lucky gameday shirt, of course) and I also espied some poor gentleman adorned in a Tennessee hat (probably lost a bet and figured noone would recognize his shame in CT). If nothing else, the advance troops for the SEC were present and accounted for getting folks ready for the arrival of the Commodores next week.

Now in case there is any type of argument over which gameday experience is better I must say that UConn has one massive argument in their favor -- alcohol sales. And not just the usual overpriced 3.2 crap lager, actual good beer like Samuel Adams and Guinness. Yeah, it's still overpriced but it's there.

We got to our seats and even though we were in the stadium's upper section the field itself wasn't terribly far away. The attendance was a respectable 36,738 which was not so many that the sheer scale of the thing overwhelmed you. The band was just off to our right and when they played you could really hear them. I'd almost forgotten what it was like to have the band as a serious advantage for the home team. Also, they were pretty damn good.

A couple of folks behind us got boozy loud and on the borderline with obnoxious but then made up for it in spades when they sang "Happy Birthday" to a lady a few rows down when her son stood up and told the section she was celebrating it. There weren't a ton of Buffalo fans that we could see but since their colors are a lighter shade of blue from UConn's it wasn't particularly easy to pick them out anyway. There was one guy in a Mariachi-style sombrero that it was pretty hard to miss though.

During one of the breaks, they took time to introduce the 2010 UConn basketball team which got the rousing round of applause from the crowd I would expect. And since they will kick off the season with a tournament in Maui, Hawaii they were adorned in the stereotypical accouterments from the islands.

Which I understand but it still seemed... odd, to show off the squad wearing skirts. Hello surreal moment No. 3.

While we were there the Bulls climbed back into the game with a few stellar downfield passes. It looked like it might turn into a barn burner but we had to leave mid-way through the third quarter so I could catch the start of the Alabama vs. Arkansas game (UConn eventually won 45-21). And, honestly, I was a bit sad to go.

Bottom line: Rentschler Field is a fantastic place to catch a football game in the fall. It was pretty hot in the sun when we were there but come October (before it gets really cold) this would be about as close as you could get to the platonic ideal of college football. As much as I love the completely over-the-top glory of the SEC, this is a type of fall gridiron pleasure well worth enjoying.

Rentschler Field, East Hartford, CT

2010-09-26T10:00:00.000-07:00

UConn vs. Buffalo - Sept. 25, 2010

Arizona vs. Iowa Gameday

2010-09-19T09:08:00.000-07:00

This game was an unexpected opportunity when I learned about it during the off-season. Iowa plays that kind of smash-mouth, defense-oriented cro-magnon-type football that Alabama fans love so much. Arizona is... um, close geographically.

So dad picked up a pair of tickets and after watching my beloved Crimson Tide under-perform against a cupcake opponent for a half of football we set out to Tucson (Alabama eventually bested Duke 62-13). As we left Phoenix the temperature was in the 110 degree-range and the humidity in the teens.

Tucson isn't that big but it can be a bit confusing given the weird alignment of some of the streets. We found a Vietnamese restaurant about a half-mile from the stadium that let us park in their lot for $10 (after seeing such spots go for $40 or more in T-town, I had no problem taking the offer).

Walking to the stadium we got our first taste of the Arizona Wildcat fanbase and it was not pleasant at all. Large groups of students headed to the game would drunkenly scream obscenities at any person wearing Iowa Hawkeye paraphernalia they encountered. And it wasn't like one or two instances, it was every group of them we saw. It was almost like the raised middle finger was the team's symbol or something.

And tailgating Arizona fans were even worse. A group next to the stadium had set up a big screen television and had the Texas vs Texas Tech game. In Tuscaloosa when folks stopped to check the score it was an excuse to meet new fans, even if they were from rival school. Here a drunk asshole barely able to sit up straight in his lawn chair demanded $10 to watch or he would "beat your ass."

One of the big reasons I wanted to see this game actually had to do with the stadium itself. Arizona Stadium is an 82-year-old, 57,000-seat venue. It's interesting in terms of construction because beneath the west side stands is the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research and under the east side is the Steward Observatory Mirror Laboratory.

The mirror laboratory is where the largest reflective mirrors in the world are made. These massive mirrors are used in some of the most ambitious ground-based telescopes in the world including the Giant Magellan Telescope being built in Chile. One of the reasons the lab is at the football stadium is the need for a large source of electricity in the casting of the mirrors -- something obviously on hand at a large sports facility.

With a few hours before kickoff, dad and headed up to the top of the nearby parking garage to watch the crowd and wait in the shade until gametime. Temperatures were in the upper 80s by this point but the sun was still brutal if you stood in it too long.

By 5:00 pm, the students had begun massing to entering the general seating in the lower section. They certainly weren't wanting for enthusiasm and there were vuvuzelas and cowbells were on hand and in use.

From afar, it was amusing to watch groups of three or four carrying people too drunk to walk to get into the mass of humanity. While we waited a line of five ambulances assembled in the street outside, given the condition of some of these fans, it was pretty likely they'd see some use.

The Arizona football team's new Wildcat Walk wended it's way through the crowd who were suitably appreciative. Although I have to wonder how inspiring it was to walk up a backstreet into a side entrance of the stadium even with the cheerleaders in tow.

The stadium opened up for regular seating at 5:30 pm-or-so and we ambled down after the initial crush of folks surged through. The sun has dropped considerably but was still pretty damn bright in the sky. So we didn't feel any real need to hurry too much. One really nice surprise was that Arizona's game programs were free. And, upon inspection, actually pretty informative.

We picked up lemonades and hotdogs (not bad but not particularly inspiring, either) and headed to our seats in the upper deck of the west side stands. There were not a lot of folks there yet but a few Iowa fans who had seats next to us were already there. "Have no fear! We come from the SEC!" I assured them as we found our spots.

As gametime approached (the kickoff got pushed back 20 minutes due to television scheduling issues) it became pretty apparent the section we were in was gonna be mostly Hawkeye fans. And that was really a relief given the experience we already had with Arizona fans. One brave Iowa State fan showed up in his Cyclone attire got ribbed pretty good, but nothing particularly rude or hostile.

Arizona Stadium is actually pretty picturesque in the sunset and the temperatures pretty quickly dropped to damn pleasant once the sun went down.

About half an hour before kickoff I saw a buddy of mine from Roll Bama Roll take his seat down below us. Well, I saw the only other Alabama shirt in the stadium and knew who it had to be. I headed down there and we gave a quick "SEC! SEC! SEC!" chant for the benefit of the folks around us. As you might expect, Arizona fans were dicks about it.

"Get the hell out of here," one shitfaced loser yelled. "We don't want anyone from Alabama in our stadium." I patted him lightly on the shoulder and said, "We completely understand," I said. "We're planning on playing in Glendale in January if you'd like to come watch."

Back up top, the Iowa fans were fully ensconced and didn't disappoint in terms of patriotism. The group right behind us had their American flag out and ready to go. A series of "America: Love it or Leave It!" chants as well as "USA! USA! USA!" followed. The latter was a bit confusing for the locals since it sounded extremely close to the home team's "U of A" cheer.

As completely unpleasant as the random experiences with Wildcat fans had been to that point, the group in front of us were actually a pleasure to enjoy a football game with. They were loud, proud and not obnoxious to everyone while doing it. Of course when they announced the attendance for the game (57,864) leaned over and asked one of them; "You know what we call that in the SEC...? A good start." He laughed and agreed.

The game itself turned into a crossfire hurricane for the Hawkeyes. Special teams screwups allied with massive breakdowns on defense proved to be too much for the offense to overcome. And a complete collapse by the offensive line on the last-gasp drive to net the win sealed their fate (final score Arizona 34-Iowa 27).

Dad and I left midway through the fourth due to the long drive home and were thankfully not there to experience the Wildcat fans in their post-win glory. A scalper outside the stadium offered us tickets to Arizona's game next week game against UCLA for $15. I don't think you could pay me enough to go back to see a game in Tuscon ever again.

UPDATE I (09/24): A couple of Arizona fans decided to visit me this past week and leave some comments in regard to my observations about their Wildcat brethren. I've deleted these contributions but I seriously considered not doing so since they pretty much proved the point I was making in my narrative. If you are curious you can just go here to get an idea of the tenor of their comments.

UPDATE II (09/26): And here's the reason this sudden interest in my post. It seems my experience in Tucson wasn't at all unique and several Iowa message boards (like Hawkeye Insider) have linked to this entry as evidence of how bad things got in Arizona Stadium. And a few Wildcat boards linked it to reply as well as some other Pac 10 folks. Here are links to all the threads that have pointed folks to me...

Unbelievable. Arizona fans are the worst Rivals.com
Perspective from Alabama fan in Tucson Hawkeye Report
Video of Arizona Fans Hawkeye Report
Arizona fans verbally and physically assault Iowa fans Hawkeye Nation
More Bad press from Zona Fans Wildcat Scoop
I'm taking back my congrats Go AZ Cats
Wildcat fans at their worst! Devils Digest
Cal fans heading to Arizona... The Bear Insider

Arizona Stadium, Tucson, AZ

2010-09-19T07:25:00.000-07:00

Arizona vs. Iowa - Sept 18, 2010

We Can't Stop Here! This is Bat Country!

2010-09-19T01:00:00.000-07:00

Alabama vs Penn State Gameday Slideshow

2010-09-13T17:12:00.000-07:00

Alabama vs Penn State Gameday

2010-09-13T16:00:00.000-07:00

I was out the door by 8 a.m., and it was clear that it was gonna be a hot one in T-town. The heat and humidity were already significant and the bright sun only promised more of the same as the day progressed.

My first stop was the Walk of Champions in front of Bryant-Denny Stadium where ESPN's College GameDay was set up. Sure enough, there was a decent crowd of people present and doing their best to get their signage and banners on the TeeVee.

A lot of the folks were clearly from the nearby fraternity and sororities but there were a number of tents about the grassy areas where the die-hards had waited overnight.

As entertaining as the people-watching promised to be, I knew it would be wise to take the sweltering weather in increments throughout the day. So I headed up the strip to Egan's to enjoy the air conditioning and hold down the corner of the bar in case anyone wanted to meet a quasi-famous blogging celebrity. This plan went awry the second I walked in the door since it was scarcely cooler inside than on the street.

Turns out someone had let some balloons loose into the transformer by the building overnight and succeeded in partially knocking out power to the building. The result was there were lights on but no television and no climate control. So I decided to take up my next errand... hitting the nearby grocery store for supplies.

Heading across the street I saw the first real sign of the chaos to come, the mobile headquarters of the Alabama Alcohol Beverage Control. The paddy wagon of the middle classes.

Inside the grocery store there were a lot of folks stocking up on beer for their tailgating activities and milling about quasi-aimlessly in the air conditioning. "I'm not in any kind of hurry to get out of here," one frat rat confided to his buddy as they perused the suitcases of Bud Light on display.

I grabbed the supplies I needed which included a couple of Alabama rain ponchos and Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream Pies for the bar. The cashier was kind enough to remind me of my creeping middle age by hardly acknowledging my presence in her efforts to flirt with the brahsome young lads behind me in line.

Back at Egans the situation with the power had not been resolved but the folks from the power company promised they were on their way. The handful of stalwart patrons munched their oatmeal cream pies and sipped their Bloody Mary's in the humidity and pondered the coming contest.

Eventually the man in the big white truck arrived (the road blockage due to the GameDay set was the biggest problem) and dutifully removed the remains of the balloons and reset the transformer. The AC was blessedly restarted but now it was fighting to catch up with the formidable heat of the day. In any case, the TV's were on and we could laugh at the GameDay crowd from the comfort of the bar.

After an hour or so I headed out to see how things were progressing on the quad. I expected to find a flurry of folks hard at work assembling their tents and cooking gear but it was really pretty idle. The tents were there but only with a few kids hanging around and not much activity whatsoever. Turns out the trend these days is to hire a couple of students to camp on a spot and wait till late morning to arrive with the fixins.

The exception, of course, were the Penn State folks. There weren't a lot of them set to tailgate but the ones that were had arrived and were hard at work getting ready. It was at this point I noticed something later described to me by fellow Bama blogger, Picture Me Rollin -- there were a hell of a lot of adult male Nittany Lion fans wearing player jerseys.

On the way back to the bar I stopped and picked up the program for the game. I'll most likely do another post on RBR next year outlining the history of the Alabama v Penn State rivalry by the covers of the game programs.

I also made another stop at the GameDay set. Things had picked up a bit as the program was moving into it's prime hour of broadcast. The level of stupidity on the part of folks wanting to get on camera had elevated quite a bit as well. One rather loud gentleman kept bellowing "DA U" although at every opportunity but seemed to have incurred temporary amnesia concerning Lamar Thomas.

The crowd at Egan's had grown considerably and while the temperature was noticeably cooler than outside, to describe it at "close" would be an understatement. Still, folks were getting ready for the slate of games and the ensuing chaos to come.

Back in the bar I had the opportunity of meeting a few RBR regulars who stopped by to partake of a libation or two before heading out for the fun to be had about the campus. One or two invited me to stop by their various tailgating spots on the Quad later and I promised to do so.

I took a moment to step outside and sample the wares of Benny Miller.Miller decided to open Benny's Hot Dogs a few years back and got the OK from the city in the Spring. Egan's said it was cool for him to set up in front of their door on gameday and he was already doing a brisk business today. I had a Polish sausage with chili and onions and it was absolutely delicious. Also, big time bonus points for using cast iron pots for the prep work.

After an hour or so I figured there might be progress on the Quad with the tailgating. While it turned out to still be a bit early there were a lot more folks on hand. The big screen televisions were working and people were watching the early games while waiting for the catering folks to arrive with the grub. Pretty much everyone was ready with a cold beverage in the ice chest for the weary traveller.

I stopped by StuinTuscaloosa's tent and then Picture Me Rollin's collection of tents. Met a ton of nice folks and got to sample a number of... interesting foodstuffs. The temperature, which had been merely uncomfortable, grew to highly oppressive while I was on the Quad but that didn't really seem to dampen people's enthusiasm much.

Eventually, I headed back to the strip for late lunch and to return to Egans so I could concentrate on the games that Alabama had a vested interest in. The place was pretty much packed and it had gotten to the point that the only way you could get relief from the heat was to stand directly under one of the AC vents.

I was intending to go back out to the Quad and see the tailgating in peak performance but a line of storms moved through dumping a considerable amount of rain and bringing a stiff wind that buffeted things around pretty good. That made up my mind to stay put until gametime. A few more regulars from RBR eventually stopped by including Nico2.0, who I had never met in person before.

About an hour before kickoff Valerie and I headed over to Bryant-Denny Stadium for the game. The storms had cooled things off a bit but not overmuch. The cloud cover was firmly in place but it seemed the worst of the rain had passed by. I had my poncho in my back pocket just in case.

The seats were in the lower bowl on the east side, about where they were last year. The teams were still on the field warming up when we got there so I headed down to the concourse to pick up some drinks before things got going.

There were a LOT of Penn State fans screaming "WE ARE...!" at each other. This lasted precisely until the moment that the cheeleaders, Big Al and the whole of the Million Dollar Band came through and the Alabama fans went nuts. Pretty impressive actually.

As I stood in line I looked over and saw the man in the next line had a name tag that read "Darwin Holt." Which was kind of flabbergasting. Holt was a Crimson Tide player who followed Coach Bryant from Texas A&M in the late 1950s and became infamous in a game with Georgia Tech in 1961 when his hit on a kickoff return injured a Yellowjacket player rather severely.

At Alabama you get used to having the history of the program being part of your fandom but you are never really ready when you meet it face to face. I simply said "Hello, sir" and he said "Hello" back. And I once again vowed to piss on Furman Bisher's grave when the first opportunity presents itself.

I got back in the stands in time to see the pregame mid-field meeting between Nick Saban, Joe Paterno and Bobby Bowden. Again that weird feeling of being part of something historic kind of hit me.

It has been my experience that you usually don't realize a landmark moment until after it is over, so it was a little amazing to behold one as it occurred and recognize it for what was. And knowing the immediate connection two of those men had with Coach Bryant made it even more powerful an event.

The game itself was a lot of fun. I screamed myself hoarse like the last time but the contest was never really in doubt after the first few series (Alabama won handily; 24-3). The excitement was there but the intensity never reached that incredible level that can happen now and there at Bryant-Denny Stadium. I guess that's good since we'd hardly survive a full season at that rate.

Getting Ready for the Alabama vs Penn State Game Kickoff!

2010-09-13T15:28:00.000-07:00

The pregame flyover.

The Alabama Crimson Tide take the field!

Bryant-Denny Stadium, Tuscaloosa, AL

2010-09-11T23:20:00.000-07:00

Alabama vs Penn State - Sept. 11, 2010

Alabama vs. Penn State tickets

2010-09-10T15:57:00.001-07:00

ESPN GameDay Getting Ready in T-town

2010-09-10T07:01:00.001-07:00

How Concerned is The City of Tuscaloosa the week of the Penn State game...?

2010-09-09T06:55:00.000-07:00

Returning to Tuscaloosa

2010-09-08T06:38:00.000-07:00

Tuscaloosa holds a really strange place in my memory. The map in my mind isn't simply a quarter-century out of date, its landmarks tend to be tied more strongly to emotion and image than anything having to do with reality. And juxtaposing that mental map with the existing reality of streets and structures can be disorienting to say the least.

Wandering around last night with some friends they pointed out the former location of a number of haunts I remember vividly. But my memory is of the interiors and events (and those tend to be alcohol-enhanced more often than not), assembling them in a geographic manner that has any relation with this city's current arrangement is impossible.

Still, as odd as the sense of place may be geographically, it certainly isn't socially. The same types of folks I remember from my days haunting the nooks and crannies of this little town seem to still be here -- for better and for worse.

I guess the strangest disjunct for me is the importance of the football team. When I was here in the mid-1980s I was a student and being a fan of the team was a given. Sure I wanted them to win on the weekend but it didn't hold the emotional import that I came to give it in years after I left The Capstone.

So coming back to Tuscaloosa, a lot that has to do with the Alabama Crimson Tide is new. And given how the program has changed in the ensuing 25 years, it's a completely different beast. You sure as hell couldn't see Bryant-Denny Stadium from I-65 back in 1986 but you're hard pressed to miss the thing today. And that's somewhat symbolic of the personal importance of the place in my mind today versus the school itself.

Getting geared up to go...

2010-09-06T07:51:00.000-07:00

The first week of football back was simply divine. Camping out in the living room for the inaugural weekend was the right move. I got to see all the main teams on the upcoming Alabama slate while kind of getting back up-t0-speed with my football watchin skills.

And the Alabama season opener was pretty sweet as well. We saw just about everything we were hoping for and none of the really scary things we were afraid of. Yeah, it was a delightful tasty cupcake but after going head-to-head with ranked teams to start the season over the past two years it was a nice change. (Even if the hype proved to be a bit much given the outcome, we sure as hell didn't know that going in.)

But now it's the real deal. I got the lucky Gameday shirt packed and ready to go. In just more than 24 hours I should be on the plane heading to Alabama. If all goes as planned this week is likely to be a little crazy. I'm planning on scooting all over T-town trying to dig up information for Roll Bama Roll. And given the circus atmosphere that has seemed to pop up for this game I well and fully expect massive wonderful weirdness to ensue.

Arizona vs. Iowa tickets

2010-09-03T09:52:00.000-07:00

UConn vs. Buffalo tickets

2010-09-02T08:24:00.000-07:00

Gameday Superstitions: The 2010 Lucky Shirt

2010-08-30T12:00:00.000-07:00

Superstitions, we all got 'em. And nobody moreso than a die hard college football fan; no matter how much one might insist otherwise.

There's some question of orthodoxy as Warren St. John delineates in his book Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer. Some folks see them as ultimatums -- all or nothing come hell or high water -- while others view it as a cumulative type of thing where, over a long enough period of time, you'll build up sufficent karma for fortune to smile at the critical moment.

Personally, the rational side of me understands the gameday superstition is something that mentally prepares a fan for the oncoming contest. What happens on the field itself is completly out of my control but the ritual of superstition represents that emotional act of investment in what will transpire.

Emotionally, it's something hard wired into the core of my being. Whenever I put a hat on the bed by accident I know it's meaningless but it doesn't stop the chill down my spine or my race to amend it the second I realize what has happened.

My personal gameday supersition is to not wear a single bit of gear associated with my beloved Alabama Crimson Tide except for the "lucky" shirt chosen for the season. And selecting the "lucky" shirt has to be done correctly as well. It's the shirt I get by accident in the off-season that I least like to wear. That's tough to explain but the shirt has found me each of the last three seasons so I'm not questioning the method any more.

And as with every superstition, there's the eerie and terrifying incidents that have transpired which take it out of the realm of amusing habit into the realm of dead serious. In this case there have been two.

For the 2008 Sugar Bowl I broke down and bought one of the bowl shirts for the game. Needless to say, it's now part of the local landfill. And the morning of the 2009 BCS National Championship Game I accidentally put on the wrong shirt and have, ever since, had the nagging feeling the team's difficulties in the 2nd half of that game were partially my fault.

Anyhow, this year Todd from RBR sent me some Bama shirts from his family business and this godawful 1980s throwback seemed to fit the bill. It's not exactly bad but it's also not a shirt I'm gonna pick out of the drawer and say "Damn! This is gonna turn some heads today!" So, it is now my 2010 lucky gameday shirt. Let's hope it is as successful as its previous two predecessors.

Kleph Prepares for the Season

2010-08-21T17:50:00.001-07:00

Howdy, I'm kleph. I'm a writer at Roll Bama Roll, a website covering all things Alabama Crimson Tide over at the SB Nation.

This year I've decided to head hither and yon during this wonderful extravaganza of fun we call college football season. As such I've made plans to hit no less than seven games in four states and there's a good likelihood I might try and squeeze a couple others in there as well. This blog will be for posting information, photos and whatnot as I get to these various gridiron contests.

As for now, I have made arrangements to attend these games:

Sept. 11, Alabama vs Penn State, Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Sept. 18, Arizona vs Iowa, Tucson, Arizona
Sept. 25, UConn vs Buffalo, Hartford, Connecticut
Nov. 6, LSU vs Alabama, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Nov. 13, Alabama vs Mississippi State, Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Nov. 18, Alabama vs Georgia State, Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Nov. 27, Alabama vs Auburn, Tuscaloosa, Alabama

In addition, I'm going to try and see if I can make it to these two:

Oct. 30, Arizona State vs Washington State, Tempe, Arizona
Nov. 20, Vanderbilt vs Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee