Thursday morning we started the day with a good base breakfast* at Tallyrand outside of Burbank. It was awesome! Good food, good alcoholic coffee drinks, and very polite waitstaff and customers. Several people made comments about our UT garb and who they thought would win the game. The owner of the restaurant sent us a stack of pancakes because he wanted us to try their speciality...how nice is that?
After breakfast we headed to the Rose Bowl. Traffic was pretty bad and the exit that was given in the Rose Bowl guideline handbook was blocked by cops. How f'ed up is that? As we approached the exit the cop drove away so Adam decided to go ahead an exit and we had literally no traffic all the rest of the way to the Rose Bowl. We easily got into the parking lot.
We had gotten tickets to the Texas Exes Alumni tailgate that started at 1:00. After stopping to say hi to Dan Mier and running into Kerrie Davis we didn't arrive until almost 2:00. The line was horrific. It was a mass of people trying to funnel into the tailgate. We waited a good 15-20 min before getting in. Once in we waited in line for the port-a-potty, waited in the beer line, waited in the food line and then left at 3:30. The food was completely gone by the time we got there so I had 2 $25 beers and 2 $25 cookies for my $100 entry fee...not exactly a good use of our time or money when we had a trunk full of beer and snacks.
So off to the stadium we went...Adam and I were with Dan, Paul, and their friends. Shari and Kelly were still at the tailgate with Shelley and Lynne. When Adam and I got to the stadium the Men's bathroom line was longer than the Women's so Adam told me to go ahead to our seats without him. It was the biggest mess of people you have ever seen in your life. I'm not exactly good in crowds and I'm way worse when I'm by myself and no one is there to talk me out of panic attack but I forged ahead anyway. I got in line for our tunnel and was doing ok for the first 10 min or so and then I was in the middle of a very large group of people and I realized there was no way out. I couldn't go forward because they were blocking the entrance until the tunnel was clear. I couldn't go right, left or backwards because I was about 50 people deep in all directions. I started to panic...eyes tearing, short breathing, saying 'oh my god, oh my god, oh my god" really fast 10,000 times, panic. The guy next too me asked if I was ok...as if there was a need to question. I told him I wasn't exactly fond of crowds and he informed me we were still a good 30 yds from the entrance. ...ggrrrreeeaaat. I started to put my hands out in front of me so as the crowd closed in I could control the space in front of me and the guy next to me helped me maintain a little lateral space. I was doing ok until this Indian couple stepped right into said created space. What is it with these people (yes, I said 'these people') and their violation of personal space??? Did they think I carved our a little nook for their convenience...NO, this is the good ole U.S. of A. We don't enter other people's personal space unless there is a sporting event on the line and even in those circumstances if there is a girl about to go psycho bitch crazy you don't enter that available space. Please take note for future reference! So somehow by the grace of God I got to my seat unharmed.
I got to our seats and no one was there 30 min before kick off. I started to worry when it was 5 min until kickoff and still no Adam, Kelly, or Shari. Where on earth could they be? Shari makes me look like I'm good in crowds. I started to worry she had a panic attack and was in the 1st aid area. Finally, Adam showed up. He said the crowd was horrific and he got into a flow of people and said if he didn't keep walking he would have been trampled. He was thrilled that I went ahead of him because he said there was no way I would have made it had I been in the crowd he was in. Right as they started the coin toss Shari and Kelly showed up completely flustered. Apparently they had gotten in the wrong tunnel, waited 30 min only to be told you must go in the tunnel printed on your ticket so they had to leave that tunnel and start over in the correct tunnel and got in the biggest mess ever. They said the crowd pushed through the security that was trying to hold the crowd until the tunnel cleared. Kelly had to hold Shari up to prevent her from being trampled. People were pushing and shoving and somewhat of a riot broke out. Shari started crying, she closed her eyes, and Kelly carried her through the crowd. Can you say FREAKING RIDICULOUS??? Can the BCS please take notice that this stadium is completely outdated and needs to be bull-dozed and start over? It is over 100 years old and not built to withstand the size of today's people with their "I'm above waiting my turn" attitudes. It is ridiculous to have only 26 entrances for 100,000 people...that's close to 4000 people per entrance all who want to enter at relatively the same time.
So the game started and ended within the first 5 min. Poor Colt McCoy received a game ending injury after only 5 plays and we played a NC game with a true freshman quarterback. Everything was going UT's way, we had all the momentum and then McCoy went down. The defense played amazing and Gilbert, true freshman quarterback, played good given the circumstances. He only played 20 some odd downs the entire season and then was thrown into the NC game with no preparation. Amazing a 18-19 year old kid could keep his composure under such pressure. I agree that Alabama won fair and square but even for Bama fans it was bittersweet. Like us they came to see the 'real' Longhorns play a competitive game not a high school quarterback.
So here's my visa commercial summary:
BCS National Championship ticket - $275
Flight to LAX - $640
Hotel in Pasadena - $250 per night
McCoy not playing in the NC - PRICELESS as in no one would pay a penny to see that
* Good base breakfast is a heavy carby greasy breakfast you need to consume if you will have a lengthy day of drinking.
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