The Bulls had a great (8-4) season so I made the trip to Alabama and went to my first road game ever. USF...ECU...December 23rd, the matchup everyone has been anticipating.
The flying option was surprisingly inexpensive and presumably a lot more convenient. The only problem was the flight was at 6am meaning we had to arrive at the airport by 4:30. Made for a real short night (after midnight, I couldn't get back to sleep). Before catching the tram to the terminal, everyone had to empty their pockets of anything liquid or gel like. This one guy with a big piece of luggage was asket to fit it into their simulated overhead compartment. It didn't fit, naturally, so he shoved it in with gusto claiming that he flies all the time. That may be but it still didn't fit. With the tram doors opening he felt an extra sense of urgency and began yanking on the straps to get the bag out and in doing so lifted the sign and box off the ground, damn near knocking the lady guarding the table in the head. Her counterpart yelled "Now sir, what are you doing to do when you start pulling the plane apart?"The flight to Atlanta was a short one, (hair over an hour) though we had a two hour wait for next plane to Birmingham. Scott, Kim and I began looking for a place to grab a bite and hearing Danny's advice about the Sam Adams Brewhouse serving great clam chowder I headed there. Turns out they are a bunch of prudes. It was already 7:45 and they weren't ready to pull me a Winter Lager? We settled on Cinnabon.
With Hotlanta being a hub for Delta we saw lots of green and gold so we felt pretty confident that our flight would be pretty full with fans (some probably drove from Atlanta there). When we boarded for B'ham, Kim asked the pilot if she could sing the USF fight song (being a graduate of West Carolina, he was only to eager to oblige).
We landed and picked up our rental car (we upgraded to an SUV because a few fans came with us that didn't have rides) and headed off to Legion Field. The stadium is old, historic and in the middle of the ghetto. Stereotyping 101: That must mean there are good barbeque joints near by. The parking attendant suggests Rheno's. We walk over and there is this cracked out lady handing out flyers telling us to eat there and to tell the staff she brought us in. Umm..alright. "We were actually looking for Rheno's" "Yeah yeah this is it" The flyer said "M&E eatery". Whatever the name is, it looked like there must have been some bribing of the health inspector to keep it open.
After pounding the pavement around the stadium (we didn't want to venture out too far, I mean this is still in the ghetto) we stumbled upon our least sketchy eatery: A guy bbqing on the sidewalk. Ribs and Polish sausage were the orders of the day. Somehow I managed not to get any sauce on me.
Back in the stadium we caught our usual clever sign parade. "Better players, Better Coaches, USF", "Easily Spanking Pirates Nationally 2", and "ECU rhymes with gay".
The game got off to a 14-0 lead within the first 5 minutes so we were looking good. Grothe got knocked out of the game which brought in the starter for 06, Pat Julmiste. He played alright but it was crystal clear that we were not the same team with him gone.
Around halftime we went in search of concessions. A table with a guy making mixed drinks and pouring icehouse into styrofoam cups. Alright, time to take a leak. No soap, or paper towels (Kim ended up getting soap from the womens room for us). Scott started stretching by pushing on the supports to which Kim said "Scott, don't! You'll knock the stadium down".It was what you would expect from a communist country, not a first world nation.
After the game we headed over to Ruby Tuesday in a safer part of town, and from there went to Vulcan Park: Home of the 2nd largest statue in the US. Not wanting to press our luck we headed back to airport a little early to find the flight delayed by 2 hours so I threw a foam football around with a few kids.As you can see from the photo below, there were a few of us Bulls fans on board :)
It was a good trip and a long day but well worth it. This year Birmingham, next year BCS?
--Joey
