I was invited to a real-life college football game!
This is a great honor in our culture, apparently.
One of the corporate customers sent tickets to the Alabama-South Carolina game, with passes for something called "The Crimson Village" beforehand, and I was included in the invitation. Mainly because the first choice of invitee had to bail, but I'm not going to let that hurt my feelings.
All of my life I've been embroiled in the Alabama college football shenanigans, but at a certain point, I took myself out of the equation because I'm pretty neutral on sports. I didn't go to a college that had a football team, so I don't have a dog in the fight. HOWEVER, that being said, I can still enjoy a sports game. Just point me in the direction of who I'm supposed to be cheering for and I'll cheer my face off for them. I may be neutral, but that doesn't mean I don't know how it works!
So my friend and I jumped in the car last Saturday and drove down to Tuscaloosa. I've never been there before, which I find pretty weird now that I think of it. I'm almost 50 years old, and I have never been to the campus of one of the biggest universities in the state, especially one that my immediate family has been cheering on in football all of my life. If nothing else, I would have expected to go for some high school function. I've been to Auburn University (the most beautiful village in the plain. Or maybe *on the plain. I dunno, but it was very nice.) while looking into a scholarship, but not the University of Alabama. It was really something to see, especially on a game day!
It took us so freaking long to drive down the main road that runs in-between the stadium and the Greek housing. I tell you, I've never wanted to be in a sorority so bad in my life, though. Those houses are gorgeous, and can you imagine living in one while a college student? I'd have gladly traded my jeans and ringer tees for a big, sparkly bow if I could have had that experience!
There were so many freaking people walking around, too. I expected that, but not at that volume. At least not so early before the game. We got there 4 hours beforehand, but I assume Game Day is an all-day event if the crowds were any indication! Some were really dressed up, some were shirtless and in overalls, but all of them were in Crimson and White! *spirit fingers* I had to buy a shirt before the game, because the only college football gear I have is a Georgia shirt, and I'm still not going to tell you why I have that.
So we drove until we find a place where we could park for $40, which feels steep, but we wanted to park the car at some point before the game started and walked back to the campus to find The Crimson Village. We kept having to call our contact, because it was so confusing. We finally found it, and it was a little circle of white tents just outside of Bryant-Denny stadium where the corporate folks do their tailgating. It was so awkward. Neither me, nor my co-worker, had ever met the person who'd invited us, so we had to schmoose and make small talk, and it was uncomfortable. He and his wife were really nice, but they were also much younger than either of us, so we had zero in common other than working in the cyber field. Well, they do, I just assist administratively, but it still counts. There was BBQ, and the dance team came in to do a meet-and-greet, and I even got a photo with Big Al. It wasn't taken with my phone, so I can't post it, but I swear I met him/her!
One of our friends from the golf club I'm a member sent out a FB message asking if anyone else was there, and I answered and got invited to visit where they were, so we did an Irish exit and headed off to the tailgate field. I've never seen anything like that in my whole life. It was a sea of white funeral tents with TVs, food, booze, and all kinds of people crammed in and yelling. I didn't know a soul under that tent except the lady who invited me, but she was tipsy and we got introduced around. Those people had more money than I could ever hope to make in my life, but they were very welcoming! Someone handed me something called a "Yellowhammer Mimosa" that was so alcoholic that I'm surprised I could walk back to the stadium, but we finally did. We went back to where our corporate guy was, and I found it was much easier to small talk when I couldn't see him clearly! Heehee.
We finally went inside the stadium, and it was so huge. Thankfully, we had gotten pretty good seats! Not the best ones, and we were in the visitor's section, but we were in the top seats in the lower bowl of the stadium, so we could see everything without anyone walking in front of us.
It was so much fun! I only see little bits and pieces of football usually, so I didn't know there was that much that went on, but there was music, and dancing, and more call-and-response than a Baptist tent revival. The lights and the drama of it all were so cool! I sat next to a guy who was completely stone faced until the game started and then he started yelling and getting animated, which I thought was funny. The frat boy behind me repeatedly hit me in the head with the fluffy end of his pom-pom shaker, and my ears are still ringing, but it was a good time. It didn't hurt that Alabama won their game, so everyone was in high spirits, too! We ended up leaving after they played "Dixieland Delight" which was about five minutes before the end of the game, but the score was so uneven that we didn't miss anything important.
Trying to get out of Tuscaloosa was a mess, but thankfully we didn't get caught in major traffic until we got back out on the highway, and most of the backup we experienced was because of a traffic accident. We did decide to stop at a truck stop and get something to eat to let the traffic clear out a bit, and after that, it wasn't too bad. I fell asleep on the way home because doing football game stuff tired me out!
The next day I was sick as a dog. I blame the food at the truck-stop, and I was still sick on Monday, but I was back at it on Tuesday. I do still have Dixieland Delight stuck in my head, which causes me to suddenly shout out "Roll Tide" and "Beat Auburn...and LSU...and Tennessee too!" at odd moments, but that will fade in time.
Now I just have to go to an Auburn game to even things out and compare! Anyone got some tickets?
; )
