I was not initially planning to attend this game, but when I heard that Sam would be there, I checked with Davis to see if he could get a student ticket and then I could use his free ticket for parking. I forget what the girls had on this day, but I am always excited to get to go and be with the boys for a football game. I am continually amazed at how much life changed with simple piece of paper arriving with Sam's scholarship to Bama a few years back. Tuscaloosa has just turned into a second home for a portion of our family for several years now.
The game plan in my mind for this day, was to arrive at Davis' apartment around noon to ride with them to the ball game (Davis gets a really good parking spot due to his overnight parking work). On my way into Tuscaloosa, I stopped and got some donuts for Davis and any of his roomates (Ronnie or Drew) that might also be at the apartment. Sam, who had slept on the couch at their apartment the previous night called me after I picked up donuts and asked if I was bringing lunch. So I stopped at ChickFilA, and got some sandwiches and nuggets also before getting to the apartment.
When I arrived, Davis was still asleep from a full night manning the road at Hackberry. But Sam went and got him up when it was getting closer to time to go to the game. He was funny coming downstairs half asleep, but was very happy to have the donuts. Drew was there and planning to come to the game, and Luke (Davis' working crew replacement for Sam) came over to the apartment. Davis and Luke tore up the nuggets before we headed over to the game.
I just let Davis drive over since he knew how to get to the right parking lot and after calling "Ms Ginger" getting us through the gate into super close parking. Then we made our way over to the stadium, breaking into two groups, me and Luke going to the workers entrance, and the other three boys to the student entrance (Davis found me/Sam a fairly cheap student ticket, and good kid paid for my way in). There is where it started getting a little crazy. Me and Luke just walked with all of the crowd straight through the metal detectors where there was no one working, and no one minding any of the beeps passing through the metal detectors. Then also no one checking for tickets at the gate me and Luke walked in. Sam and Davis said that the same thing happened to them, no security and no scan of the tickets. Inside the stadium, I left Luke to try and find my friend Ray Herb at the game. And that is when the rains came, and that we found out that lightning had been spotted in the area (within 8 miles) and that the game might not start on time. This was 1:45PM. Kickoff was originally to be at 2:30PM.
The boys all stayed out in the rain getting soaked in the seats, but I stayed inside with the masses of people. After the rain died down, I found the boys and got ready for the game. And after a few more lightning delays, the kickoff was projected for 4:15PM. Oh well, since I did not find Ray earlier, I made my way back over there to finally find him. Then I made the mistake of seeing someone eating a Ben's Pretzel, so right before kickoff I went off in search of that pretzel. I love those cinnamon pretzels.
It was another horrible start for Alabama, and really sad to watch the first quarter and most of the 2nd quarter. The FSU tomahawk chop fight song was loud and drowning out alot of the Bama fans. And then at about 3 minutes left in the first half, another lightning strike was identified in the area, and they had to pause the game. Drew told us that his Uncle had seen Ryan Grubb (Alabama's Offensive Coordinator) walking through the tunnels, and screamed basically that he was doing very poorly, and should consider improving the play calling. And we all were thankful for Drew's uncle, because that got Ryan Grubb in gear. After Bama returned from that delay, it was a whole different team, as they scored 3 TDs in the last 2.5 minutes of the half.
And no halftime, that was super strange, but nice since our day game had turned into a night game. While the rest of the game did have some more highlights for FSU, the momentum had swung, and never would come back. I felt that the Alabama student section taunting FSU with the chop was a little early in the 3rd quarter, but by the end, after some really amazing plays, high fives, me falling a step off the bleacher, and Drew treating me like an old grandpaw to make sure I was OK, Bama ran away with this game. And at 8:15PM, we left the stadium, Davis no longer able to talk, all excited about another win.
My game plan originally was to take this group of guys out to dinner that evening, but it was late, and time for me to return to Chelsea. I did get the invite to "Bock Hotel", which I learned was their strange way of saying Taco Bell...but I could tell the invite was for the less than 25 year old crowd...so I ate me one of the leftover CFA sandwiches, stopped to grab a Monster drink, and drove back home. Every day with these boys is a treasure, since I don't have them nearly as much as I used to...so I just drove home wishing I could hold onto this memory forever. The pictures help. The blog helps. But wow, it was a fun day I would love to do over again.
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