Category: Travel

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Finale

January 1st 2007, Game Time.

Ok, I realize that I have been procrastinating finishing this series of posts about my incredible trip to the Fiesta Bowl. I’ve been thinking as to why this is. The only thing that I can come up with is that the event was so momentous and unbelievable that I don’t think my writing skills are adequate enough to be able to capture it. To this day, exactly one month removed from the actual event, I’m still at a loss of words as to what it all meant.

But, I need to finish this thing, so here goes. To the best of my ability…

At the tailgate party we could feel that the crowd was thinning. The time was approaching, so we decided to head in. It was still 2 hours to kickoff but, we might as well get in there.

Speaking of the tailgate party, I forgot to post one video I took. Just to give you the feel of the event.

On the walk to the stadium, through the parking lot we finally ran into all of the OU fans. The parking lot was FULL of those maroon clad denizens of Oklahoma. It finally struck me as to why we hadn’t seen many of them at all the previous events. See, this wasn’t their first time around the merry-go-round. Many of these people, assuredly, have followed their team to many BCS bowl games, including National Championship games. Either they are smart enough to skip the $20 hot dogs, or perhaps it’s more a case of they have become accustomed, if not a little jaded to the whole rigmarole. Whereas us Bronco fans were attending anything and everything because we were just so wide eyed and eager. Perhaps.

We submit to the pat-downs in the line and we were in the gate. It was here. I almost felt like I should see a sign “Abandon all hope ye who enter here” as nervous as I was. My heart was already beating a million miles a minute, and I hadn’t even seen the playing surface yet!

John was most excited about the fact that there were escalators taking us up. Our seats were in the 400 level (very top) and he was absolutely dreading the climb up there. He was telling me for weeks leading up to the game that I had better get into shape in order to drag his ass to the top of the stadium, but alas, he was able to make it.

We made it up to our seats and it was an amazing sight. John, even with the escalator help was still quite winded and none to pleased for having to actually climb some stairs after all. The picture as we made it to our seats says it all.

The view we had was tremendous. Even for being in the top section, you didn’t get the feeling that the field was too far away. Also, as it turned out we were in what would come to be the most important corner of the stadium. More on that later.

We sat there for a few moments, just soaking it all in. We were among the first people in, and it was interesting to see the trickle of people coming in. Eventually, that would change to a flood. The stadium is amazing. There were a few things missing that a modern stadium I think should have, but I’ll get to that in a minute.

One thing that I noticed is that all of the official “Fiesta Bowl” banners and whatnot were all blue and orange. I thought to myself that had to be a good omen. I know they were probably all produced LONG before the Broncos (and as it turned out a week later, the Gators) were announced, but it was interesting that both blue and orange clad teams won, isn’t it?

I wanted to explore the stadium a bit and see what the concession stands had to offer. Amazingly enough, that $20 hotdog wasn’t enough. We walked to the opposite end and saw the flood of Bronco fans filing into their endzone seats. If you squint really hard, you can see John still sitting in our seats in the photo to the right (upper left hand corner). He wasn’t about to go back down without a damn good reason.

Beers, as you can expect were $7 a piece for 12 ounces, so I wasn’t that interested. So, I got a personal pizza and a coke (in a souvenir cup) and headed back up.

As we watched the teams stretch and more and more Bronco fans file in, we discussed the game. John and I had been throwing out our predictions of the game. We were both in the 27-21 final score range. We both predicted that Boise State could win, but would have to get some breaks from the Sooners. Really, we were both just hoping that it remained close. Every Bronco fan remembers what happened at Georgia last year. If that was to happen again, it could DESTROY the credibility of this program on a national level.

When I first saw the Sooners come out of the locker room, I was really taken aback. I couldn’t really tell their size from so far away, but what really struck me was their uniforms. I mean, those are famous! One of the most storied programs in the history of college football. SEVEN national championships. It was now that I really couldn’t believe that my Broncos were on the same field with them. I grew up seeing them play the traditional powers of Eastern Washington and Weber State. This matchup was unthinkable even 4 years ago, let alone 15.

As the arena continued to fill, the Bronco fans were in full effect. The amount of noise was crazy, and we were still 45 minutes away from kick off. When the BSU punters and kickers came out of the tunnel (before anyone else was out there) we all went bonkers. When the rest of the team came out it was even louder. And this was just for the warmups.

I do have one bone to pick with Bronco fans. I think a lot of it has to do with a bunch of ‘new’ fans that have just found the team in the past few years. I’m not ripping them at all, the more the merrier, but they do need to learn one thing. The most famous chant we do is the “BOISE!….. STATE!….” chant. (A Youtube example here …not mine). See, what is happening here (and in the video too) is people try to go too fast with it. There is supposed to be at least a one count between the end of ‘Boise’ and the start of ‘State’. Back in the day, it was a slower, louder, longer cheer. Now, people try to rush through it. Notice in the video the pause between “STATE” and the next “BOISE”… that should be in the middle too. I remember being a kid at basketball games in the 80’s. There was one guy who was loud enough to lead the entire Pavilion in that cheer. He would belt out the “BOISE” at the top of his lungs, and everyone else would follow with the “STATE!”. It was tremendous. But, it was slower. I’m going to make it my mission to try to slow the chant back down to where it is supposed to be. I have no idea how to do that, but I want to make that happen. Ok… end rant.

The teams retreated to their locker rooms and we were treated to the bands performing. I think I have mentioned how much I love marching bands and this was MORE than welcome. I was really dreading having some sort of overly choreographed “Up With People” sort of performance… the kind you see at the Super Bowl and turn off. But, we just got the bands instead. They were even performing at halftime. Perfect!

Now we were really getting close. National Anthem time. Performed by the West Point glee club. Another godsend. The last thing I wanted was to have someone like Jessica Simpson out there slaughtering our anthem. During the song, the rolled out a flag the size of the field. It was very impressive.

Next, it was time for the teams to come out. I will say, I’m really glad that we were considered the ‘away’ team for this game, which allowed us to wear my favorite uniforms. The white jersey, orange pants and blue helmet look so sharp. I love the looks of them. And when the team followed the horse onto the field, the Bronco half of the stadium went NUTS. It was as loud a noise as I’ve ever heard. (Of course, that noise was to pale in comparison as to what was coming). Sorry for the blurriness of these pictures. My camera was not designed for such distances!

What else will you notice happens when we came out? That’s right. Fireworks. Fireworks… in a dome. They shot them off at the end of the anthem. They shot them off when OU came out. They shot more off we came out. Now, I’m no expert, but when you shoot smoke producing fireworks off in a dome, there really isn’t anywhere for the smoke to go. So, it just sits there. Look how crystal clear the picture of the flag is above. It was a shame they didn’t just OPEN THE ROOF to get it out. Side note, for the National Championship game a week later… no fireworks. Go figure.

Kickoff. No more waiting. No more pageantry. No more discussion. Game on.

Boise State won the toss and deferred to the second half. As I told John… hey at least we won something!

Once we kicked off (yes, I’m going to do the sports fan thing and refer to the Broncos as ‘we’ the rest of the article) my head was swimming. I don’t know if it was from a contact high from the firework smoke or the fact that I had been mainlining adrenalin all day. But it was here.

Oklahoma’s offense on the field and the Bronco D is absolutely flying around. They look like they are higher than a kite. I never knew I could shout non-stop for so long. We were absolutely willing those guys to play well.

Broncos force a punt and we went wild. I can’t even describe how big the fans stepped up. For the majority of the game, we WAY out ‘noised’ the Sooner fans.

After a spectacular catch for a first down by Schouman, Zabransky finds a wide open Drisan James for the 50 yard score. Beautiful play fake by Z and we’re just going berserk. And just when I thought we couldn’t be louder, the next series our defense forces and recovers a fumble inside their 10 yard line and Ian Johnson scores 2 plays later. The lid came off the joint!

14-0 was beyond our wildest dreams. (Pictures are just before and just after the Ian Johnson touchdown). The guys who were sitting behind us (whom I told I was planning on going to for high-fives all game) were jumping around and we were grinning ear to ear at each other. No way this game is going to be this easy, but this is a GREAT way to start! We look well prepared and not awed at all. Good sign.

Oklahoma then puts together a very methodical scoring drive for the touchdown to make it 14-7. They later tack on a field goal to cut the lead to 14-10.

We just kept making as much noise as possible when we were on defense. Remarkably, when we were on offense, their fans only seemed to put a half hearted effort into it. Maybe they just came in expecting us to roll over or something?

When just before half time, Zabransky hits Drisan James again for that unbelievable touchdown on the broken play, we went bonkers. What an individual effort by both Z and Dri on the same play. I turned to Kim and said that play made up for every drop Drisan had this season (he seemed to have a case of the drops a good deal of the year). Thats how amazing it was.

Halftime and we are up 21-10. Our offense has been moving the ball well and defense is playing great. Making tackles and forcing punts. Turnovers were big (like we thought they’d be) Here are the fans as the teams head in to the locker rooms.

My hands were shaking. I couldn’t even hold them still. My head was pounding. Between the shouting and emotions, the back of my head felt like it would split. It felt like I was drunk, but I hadn’t touched a drop of booze all day. John and I discused the fact that we might have witnessed the best half of football ever (“best” meaning “most exciting”). Little did we know what the second half would have in store.

While the bands to their thing at half time, I sat down to write a few notes. I have notes in there like “So loud” and “national commentators wrong!” and “one half to go!”.

Finally, they decided to open the roof to get some of the smoke out. For the life of me I don’t understand what took so long. What exactly is the point of having a retractable roof if you’re not going to use it to make the experience more comfortable? Hmmmm?

I would like to take this chance to say again for the record here, how glad I am that we as a team have orange as one of our colors. When you have a large group of people wearing orange, it just really stands out so well. I love seeing a huge mass of orange clad fans. Even our blue is good, but it doesn’t touch the orange.

I have one other problem with the way the game was presented in this stadium. I would never have guessed that the Fiesta Bowl would have something in common with games played in Utah, Nevada Reno, and U of Idaho. And that is? LACK OF STATS. How on earth can you have a state of the art brand new stadium and not provide ANY STATS WHATSOEVER!?! That is one of my all time pet peeves. I mean, they made no effort at all to let us know how anyone was doing. At very least, take the 2 minutes at the end of half time and tell us who has done what, and some stat leaders. All we had for the whole game was what the scoreboard told us. Quarter, game clock, play clock, down and distance, time outs left and score. Thats it. No rushing leaders. No # of first downs. No nothing. Apparently, I’m spoiled by games at Bronco Stadium where they have both stat boards for each team, as well as tell us the halftime individual leaders. Who knew that was so friggin difficult?!

Anyway, it was time for the second half. Now, I have to be honest here, I don’t remember as much of the second half. My brain was on overload the entire time. The overload really started when Marty Tadman picked off that pass and scampered the 20 yards into the end zone. I’m surprised that none of us fell down and broke an arm with the amount of jumping around and high fiving that was going on.

We thought we had it at that point. Here we were, midway through the 3rd quarter and its 28-10. Their offense hadn’t been that impressive all game. We really believed it was going to happen. Of course, in sports thats usually when something comes up to bite you on the ass.

Our offense then started to sputter, but the D was still playing great. The play that changed the game was the punt that hit off the leg of one of our players. We had stopped them again and they were demoralized. Forcing yet another punt. Thats when the tide changed. Next thing you know, they have possession deep in our end and score easily. 28-17. That’s ok… we’re still 2 scores ahead. We get one more field goal, and this thing is iced.

Here it was… the fourth quarter. We’ve nearly pulled it off! Here, John is telling us that it is indeed the 4th quarter.

Instead, they get the additional field goal to make it 28-20 with time winding down in the 4th. We get stopped before the first down line on a drive that could have really iced the game, and gave them the ball back with enough time to score. All of a sudden, they are connecting on every pass. Quick outs to get out of bounds and stop the clock.

I remember telling John, “well, at least they can only tie it with a TD and 2 point conversion”. That was our worst case scenario and the way our D had been playing, I thought we could hold out.

They finally score the touchdown on that tipped (nearly picked) pass. Ohhh… pick that one off and we win! We all looked like someone had just kicked our dog. But, they still had to get that 2 pointer. Then came that absolute bullshit pass interference call on the first try that they missed terribly. My thought was that the damn refs were going to try to steal this game for OK. I was so angry. I could make that call and I was as far away from that play as could be. Then again, I might be a touch biased on this point. Their second attempt was completed, but I immediately saw the flag thrown as they snapped the ball.

Which set up the final attempt. Nothing to complain about on this one, it was just a great play on their part.

Exhale… ok… there is still some time on the clock. Minute and a half. That is enough time to get into field goal range and put this one away. Again, worst case is we go to overtime. Me and my big mouth.

When Zabransky threw that pick-six my stomach actually physically sank. It really felt like I had been punched. I saw their stands going absolutely crazy and all of us were catatonic. We had led this game for the whole thing, and now we are going to lose in the final minutes. Gave it away. I have never felt so bad in my life. I’ve seen Boise State lose some big games, but this was horrible. I thought I might puke.

I distinctly remember thinking, “It’s fitting… Zabransky will end our season and his career with the worst interception I’ve ever seen”. It was “Georgia” rearing its ugly head again. I will be honest… I was done. I had nothing left. I just stood there, blank faced. I couldn’t even form words, I was so disappointed. I never wanted anything more in my life than I wanted this win, and we had it. Had it in our hands. Now its gone.

When we got the ball back, I had ZERO confidence that we could get it back. None. I saw people filing out and didn’t blame them (although I would never think of leaving a Boise State game early. I only have one time in my entire life, but thats another story).

Get to midfield. Sack. Incompletion. Incompletion. 4th and 18 with 18 seconds left. We knew it was over.

Then it happened. You all know what I’m talking about. Call it “hook and ladder” or “hook and lateral”. I call it a miracle. I can’t even remember if I cheered while it was happening. I don’t know if I had enough energy to produce sound. All I know is I see Jerard Rabb racing towards us with the ball. The most amazing play on the biggest stage against the most improbable odds and it happened directly in front of us. My god, we tied the game.

At this point, I was officially DONE. I was seriously in a state of shock. I’m not even sure if I remember enjoying what happened next or not. I know I wasn’t cheering. I couldn’t. I couldn’t make a sound. It suddenly dawned on me that I have WAY too much wrapped up into this game. I knew I love Bronco Football too much, but when it can do this to me, maybe it’s not healthy. My psyche couldn’t take it.

Overtime.

We win the toss and defer (giving them the ball first) and they get to select the end they want to play at. They picked our end! OU comes out and with one play, they march right over top of us for the score. Wow. That looked really easy for them. At least we got the ball for a chance to tie it up.

After another huge play from Schouman and a big run by Ian, we dodged a HUGE bullet with the almost fumble. In the stands, we couldn’t tell either live or from the replays in the stadium that is knee was down. We were praying it was. Luckily, he was down. Whew. (again, just another reason why I couldn’t muster any emotion. It was so close to being all gone so many times, I couldn’t keep bouncing back!).

Fourth and 2. Good lord. How many times can everything ride on ONE play. When Zabransky went in motion, I had no idea what to think. I thought Perretta would run it, since I had seen him do that many times this year. I couldn’t believe when he threw it. Schouman was the only guy in the the endzone. Again, he made a HUGE play. This touchdown was more of a relief than it was pure joy. I think the reason was that since they had scored so easily and we had to struggle, we still only matched them.

John immediately said, “We gotta go for two here.” My first reaction was NO WAY, but when I thought about it for a second, it made perfect sense. Don’t give them the ball again. Go out and make one play for the win. Don’t let them back on the field. Of course, that was what Coach Pete called.

Now, we have all seen the following statue of liberty play a thousand times (or maybe its just me that has seen it that many times). But it happened right in front of us. As I wrote in my first ‘reaction’ piece, somehow I knew that no matter what happened on this play, my life wouldn’t be the same. When Johnson got the ball, I immediately remember seeing this play up in Moscow against the Vandals. (it was one of the few plays I remember seeing.)

I saw him scream out into the flat, and I realized that there was nobody there to stop him. That was when all hell broke loose. I swear to god, I blacked out for at least 10 seconds in the madness. I don’t remember what happened in the ensuing joyous melee. Next thing I remember was hugging John. I remember seeing Kim crying, which made me start crying.

Seldom times in life are you in a situation with so many other people being affected as much by a common event. And when you are, it’s usually something horrible. This was, perhaps, the greatest day of my life. I was near catatonia and all John and I could repeat was “That actually happened” and shake our heads. We just stood there. Absolutely dumbstruck, watching the players go crazy on the field and seeing the Oklahoma stands empty quickly. Then again, perhaps it wasn’t that quickly because I lost all connection to the time-space continuum. Might have been 20 seconds… might have been 20 minutes. One of the girls behind us had the best line of the night. She was on her cell to a friend back home and said, “You should have sold your car to get down here!”. You think that friend was kicking themselves? How long we stood there watching the post game festivities? I have no idea. Maybe 10 minutes. Maybe 30. I honestly can’t tell you.

Here are a couple videos I took during the post game. I barely remember taking them. First one right after the game ended and the initial craziness died down a bit. Second one was when they were interviewing Ian Johnson and he proposed.

Finally, all the festivities were over, and we empty shells what were once humans began filtering out. Kim and Chris skedaddled to make sure they made their charter bus to the airport. John, Ilinda and I wandered back to the car and spent a good amount of time trying to get out of the parking lot. We were listening to sports radio, and that was our first exposure to just how huge this game was. Kinda funny that when you’re there, the bigger significance can be lost. But once you get a taste of what the world is saying, it starts to sink in.

Unfortunately, we all had early flights in the morning. Had to leave for the airport at 5:30 in order for them to make their flight and return the rental car. My flight didn’t leave until 9:40. We said our good-byes at the rental return as we were in different terminals. As I rode the shuttle to the airport, the bus was filled with Broncos. Nobody was talking much but everyone had these dumb little grins on their faces, myself included. We would just kinda catch each other’s eyes, smile a bit and nod. It was quite amusing.

I had a long time to wait for my plane, so I wanted to get a Cinnabon and a couple newspapers. I didn’t have any cash on my so I wandered around to try to find an ATM. There was not a single ATM anywhere near my gate. I walked down a whole other terminal, still no dice. I ended up having to use my card for a $3.14 purchase and a $1.75 purchase. That makes me crazy.

They did have TV’s on, and one was tuned to World News Now (ABC I think) and even they were doing a big segment on the game and the proposal. Amazing.

I made it back to SLC without incident and hopped in the car for the trip home. I got to listen to more sports talk radio, including a local Salt Lake guy who couldn’t have been more complimentary of the Broncos. They kept playing the Paul J radio calls of the big plays, and I swear I teared up more than once as the goosebumps on my goosebumps went nuts.

I pulled into Boise, finally around 5pm. Exhausted yet exhilarated at the same time. I have spent every day since watching, listening, reading, or thinking about the game and what it means to me. That is the next step. Put all of this in context. Not just for someone who might read it out here on the web… but for myself too.

What a trip. Literally. I still can’t believe it happened.

 

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Finale

Game Day – January 1st, 2007

I woke up and realized that I had missed the new year. Oh well… I was only marginally interested in the new years anyway. I’ve always been one of those people who hated New Year’s Eve. When I was a kid, they were great. I would hang out with my parents who would play board games with their friends the Fishers. Even then I loved Trivial Pursuit. Then, some years, John would spend the night. We would load up on candy and pizza and hang out in my parent’s basement watching the stand-up comedian marathon that HBO would run. (then we would concoct some sort of lethal homemade firework out of our stash… Mom, you didn’t read that).

But as an adult, New Year’s Eve is always a let down.

That is, until you have the best New Year’s Day planned that you can remember. And that was what I was looking in the face this day.

We partook in our usual breakfast of McDonald’s and got prepared for the game. John spent the morning complaining that his legs were killing him. Obviously, it had to do with his ‘drunk walk’ episode of the night before. He was taking 3 steps for my every 1 step. Not a great ratio. Perhaps it might also have something to do with his overall health, but that is just a theory.

After breakfast and some laying around, we ‘oranged’ up (not that I hadn’t been wearing orange the whole time) and set out for the stadium.

Just as we were pulling into the stadium (about noon) my cell phone rang and it was my sister Kim (and bro-in-law Chris) who had come down on a same-day charter for the game. Perfect timing. We were on opposite sides of the stadium, so we started walking towards each other to meet up. It was very cool to see Bronco Nation descend on the parking lot. Our section was looking like Bronco Stadium on game day!

Since we were still some 7 hours to game time, we had a little time to kill. We decided to walk over to this shopping and entertainment area adjacent to the stadium. As we got closer, we heard loud music and wondered what was going on. Aparently, there was some sort of pre-game party happening, and we could get in for only $20. Since, what we could see was mainly just shops and about 15 people in there, we decided we’d just pass and moved on. We did find a store selling Fiesta Bowl and Boise State gear nearby and ventured in. After John spent his requisite amount of cash, we were able to leave.

It was time to mosey over to the “Tostitos Fiesta Bowl Brings You College Football’s Biggest Party” which we had purchased the $20 tickets for when we got game tickets.

Once inside the gates, all we saw was a sea of orange and blue. It was an unbelievable sight. You don’t see this many orange and blue people in one place in BOISE on game days, let alone somewhere 1,100 miles from home. It was absolutely breathtaking to see all of your fellow Broncos in one place.

As you can see from the last picture above, we were there early enough to secure us a table and a place to park for the day. It wasn’t long before this whole area was completely packed and there was nary a seat to be had.

After finding a table, we set out to obtain our comlimentary meal. On each ticket was 3 coupons. One for a free “meal”, one for a Tostitos “Chip and Dip Plate” and one for a drink. We fought through the crowd and got our coveted $20 meal.

I had never had a $20 hot dog before. I thought that perhaps it was like those fancy restaurants in Manhattan who serve the $40 gourmet hamburgers or something. Alas, it was not to be. It was just a regular old dog(quite wrinkly, actually) with no condiments, I might add. Humorous to me was that the booth giving these things out was huge and every line was 10 people deep. Who knew the demand for shitty hot dogs was so great? Oh… I almost forgot the potato salad. As I HATE potato salad, I didn’t partake (but some did get on my bun… Eeeeewww). To top it off, there was also the ounce and a half of salsa and 15 chips! So, we had that going for us… I have to figure, that whole meal cost them maybe $0.35 per person to produce, and everyone paid $20 to get in the door. I wonder where that money goes…

There was lots of stuff going on in this party area. There were other food vendors (but with such a gourmet meal like they gave us, who had room?). There were these gigantic truck sized big screen TV’s all tuned to the Rose Bowl. That was a nice touch. Rock climbing walls. An astrojump for the kids. There was a even boxing exhibition (with actual fighters, not people from the crowd, which would have been more fun).

Then there was the corporate swag giveaways. There were many many corporations (all sponsors, I’m assuming) there to hand out all kinds of crap. And since we were in a crap receiving mood, we obliged them. Orange headbands from Geico. Free Sucrets throat lozenges (which were a life saver later). Free blue and orange beads, beer can coozies, orange pom poms… And, of course, the infamous ‘Taco Hats’. You name it, they were giving it away. Normally, I wouldn’t give two shits about free crap, but hey… when in Rome.

We mainly spent the day sitting around the table, talking about the game. Constantly amazed by the sheer number of Bronco fans that kept showing up. Even in the Oklahoma end of the party, Broncos outnumbered visible Sooners 10 to one. At ‘our’ end, it was 25 or 35 to one. Remarkable. The other thing I noticed is that there were many more ‘crazed’ Bronco fans. You know… the guys who really dress up for the game. The cape wearers. The wig guys. The face painters. When it is your team, it is really fun to see. I wish I could be one of those guys, but I just don’t have it in me. We were beginning to wonder just where the OU fans were. They weren’t at the block party the night before. They weren’t at this party. Maybe they didn’t show up?

You can see from the pictures that it was a beautiful day. The sun was out and it was nice and warm. There were airplanes towing large advertising banners circling the grounds endlessly. Occasionally, one would pass between us and the sun, casting a shadow on us for a few seconds. Kim and I took to grunting and pointing like cavemen whenever it would happen. I would just be reading my newspaper, then the shadow would cross us… “grunt! grunt! *bang the table* Ugh!” It was very “Quest for Fire” and very funny. Maybe you had to be there…

Of course, the bands came through and the cheerleaders did their things. We were approaching game time. You could sense a change in the crowd. The “Boise! State!” chants were dying off. People seemed to go a bit into a quiet focus. Or maybe that was just me.

It was almost here. Once you go into the stadium, it is a different feeling and we were about to head in. It was happening. The wait was over.

Game time.

To Be Continued…

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Finale

Insight.com Fiesta Block Party – Dec 31st, 2007

Still not feeling 100%, we arrived a little late to the pep rally. We could hear Coach Pete speaking as we were walking to the main stage from where we parked (Sun Devil Stadium Lot). But, we were unable to make out what he was saying. We could tell there were a lot of people there from the sheer volume of the cheers.

We finally got to the stage area and found our way into the beer garden. I figured, hell… it’s New Years Eve, I’m in Phoenix with 6000 fellow Broncos, I might as well muscle through a beer. Remarkably enough, with each beer I had, the better and better I felt. I do love beer…

The pep rally was kinda cool. Mark Johnson was the MC and they had a parade of Bronco people and famous Idahoans up there. Not exactly Rah Rah, but it was still cool. Speakers included (while we were there) AD Gene Bleymaier, president Dr. Bob Kustra (who is an amazing speaker) they also had former Boise Junior College player and NFL Hall of Famer Dave Wilcox (who is also father of defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox) and MLB Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew of Payette. There were the requisite cheers and chants from the crowd. We got our first taste of the madness that was to come in the next 36 hours.

My personal highlight of the pep rally was when the cheerleaders started throwing out foam “Idaho potato” hats to the crowd. Directly in front of us, they threw one, and a drunk guy lunged for it with the same hand he was holding his full beer. The beer exploded all over the place in the ensuing melee, including all over the people around him. HIGH-larious!

The marching band played (video) and the cheerleaders did their things. Here are a few pictures to get what it was like for us there. I’m definitely no professional photographer but it was ‘magic hour’ and I like the self portrait…

This block party was very cool. It was a lot like the old Boise River Festival used to be, only bigger and there was simply a sea of blue and orange. There was nary an Oklahoma fan anywhere to be seen. We were confused by this, but figured maybe there was something that all of those OK people were doing instead of being down there. I have said it before, but there is nothing as thrilling to be somewhere on the road with thousands of people all there for the same event. I just love seeing all the Bronco fans showing out for the team. I would say 80% of ALL people at this whole block party had some sort of Boise State gear on. Most, had more than one piece (like we did). As Coach Pete said, Bronco Nation did, indeed, show up in force.

They were selling more Fiesta Bowl and Boise State merch, so we had to fork over a little more cash. We got ticket lanyards, seat cushions, etc. I also got the greatest shirt… It has the Bronco helmet on it and in big letters just says “LATER SOONERS” Who knew this shirt would be so prophetic, huh?

After filling our shopping bags, and being 3 or 4 beers in, we decided to make our way up the street and see what they had to offer. There were the usual carnival games where carneys bark at you to fork over your cash to try to win a gigantic teddy bear. John and I used to LOVE those things at the fair when we were kids. So, just for old time sake he had to try the baseball-throw-at-the-beer-bottles one. No, he didn’t even come close. But, that’s what John does… Spend money like water.

Speaking of spending money like water, there was a booth that was selling crazy hats. Since they had bronco orange and blue, he and Ilinda could hardly pass up the opportunity. John spent the rest of the evening referring to his “pimp hat”. Aren’t they cute?

After the hat purchases we moseyed on down the way. There were tons of food vendors, booths with stuff for sale, street artists, etc etc. It was quite the party atmosphere.

Since we had been without alcohol for maybe 20 minutes, John was getting antsy. We went into one of the bars along Mill Ave. called “Big Fat Greek Restaurant”. I ordered one of the cheep beers they were offering. Ilinda got a sea breeze. John, on the other hand ordered, and I quote, “Give me the biggest glass you have, fill it with ice, then fill it with Jack Daniels.” Sure enough, the bartender comes back with a pint glass, ice, and Jack. Apparently, John was done screwing around. He was getting it ON.

We downed our drinks in about 15 minutes, which we spent watching the MPC Computers Bowl back home in Boise on their TV’s. Nevada was hanging with Miami. Go Nevada! Yes, John did finish that drink in 15 minutes. Well, you gotta have a hobby, I suppose…

More walking. Then the bands both marched up the main drag of the party. Anyone who knows me knows I love marching band music, so this was very cool. First the Blue Thunder Marching Band came by. (video. By the way, I love the lady right in front of me ‘conducting’ the band as they come by. No, she wasn’t affiliated with the band at all). Then came the Oklahoma band (video), which was really the first time we really saw any Oklahoma representation the whole night. I will admit, OU has a great fight song. Classic. And their band is friggin HUGE. Having the bands playing really added to the atmosphere that evening.

Down the street a bit was a girl doing face painting. Well, we couldn’t let an opportunity like that pass by and Ilinda really wanted a Bronco. So, she got a Bronco! Yes, that is Paul J. in the picture looking on…

And, the finished product.

After the face painting, we wandered down to the big screen to watch the end of the MPC Bowl. Nevada was getting SERIOUS love from the Bronco crowd down there to beat Miami. Well, that is until Jeff Rowe threw that game ending interception and everyone left. Way to go Nevada. Way to end your career, Rowe. Terrific performance against BSU in your house on Senior day, then give the bowl game away against Miami. Bravo.

So it was, we went back to the beer garden. The particular beer garden we found had some crappy local band playing in front of nobody. John was really feeling his booze at this point. He was quite silly. For some reason, he was walking around most of the night with both arms in the air like he was already at the game. Also letting loose with the random, “Wooooooooo!” See the picture for an example. I love that shot…

We also fooled around with the camera a bit, and I make another apperance in the pictures. I love the one of me and John. I call that one “Me & the Gay Cowboy”.

As you might be able to tell from the pictures that John is fully 3 sheets to the wind at this point. In full roar, if you will. When he gets like this, he talks non-stop to anyone and everyone. We were stopping strangers and taking photos. He was the life of the party.

We ran into a guy whom John called “The Blue Pimp”, who reportedly told him to “have some coffee”. Now, when a guy dressed as a pimp at a Bronco New Years Eve party tells you you have probably had too much to drink, you should probably pay attention.

Sensing that John was on the verge, we ambled down the street to a joint selling pizza slices to get a little food in us. I had stopped drinking earlier since I had the feeling I might be employed to get us home. Which was probably a wise move as John deteriorated.

John had gotten quiet now. You know the end is near when he STOPS talking. He had that full ‘drunk walk’ in effect. I like to call it the ‘foot-slap’ walk where he’s not really stepping, but more slapping his feet down. Bobbing and weaving. Since he was obviously done and I was getting tired we decided we might as well call it a night, and headed off to find the car.

Yes, for those of you out there astute enough to notice that we haven’t reached midnight yet. In fact, we made it back to the hotel at just after 11. John passed out with his clothes on, and Ilinda and I watched the celebrations on TV and chatted a bit. She got quiet not long after that, and it was just me. I tried to stay up until I saw the ball drop, but I think I fell asleep something like 11:45.

You know you are old when you fall asleep before midnight on New Years Eve. You know you’re even older when that fact doesn’t seem to bother you all that much.

Besides… tomorrow was THE day. I had bigger fish to fry.
To be continued…

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Finale

Sunday, December 31st

We woke up after a night of drinking to see just how lovely the hotel and area we were in actually was. Kind of that run-down big city depressed neighborhood near a freeway sort of feel. Needless to say, our plans were not to hang around the hotel much.

So, John made a run to the nearby McDonald’s for a tasty breakfast. I had my usual, sausage biscuit and 2 hash browns. I was more interested, however, in the large Dr. Pepper. I had that “hungover mouth” going pretty bad, especially after 5 hours in a poorly ventilated casino the night before .

All three of us were in the same room, simply to save cash. We’re all friends so it was no big deal. The highlight of that morning would be when Ilinda was in the shower and John went into the bathroom to do his morning “business”. Having spent a lot of time around John, if he had pulled such a stunt on me, I would have had to kill him. That is the toxicity we’re talking about here. Ahh… married life…

Also, John was quite proud of his latest addition. See left. I do know one thing… John, my man, you gotta get your ass to the gym. I know ’round’ is a shape, but that is ridiculous! Thus, the running joke for the weekend was John’s weight and lack of wind. I laughed pretty hard when he got winded rolling over in bed. I think when you break a sweat when you brush your teeth, that might be the sign for a lifestyle change…

Since we certainly weren’t going to hang around our hotel for the day, we decided to venture out and explore the area a bit. We wanted to head out to find the stadium just so we would know where we were going. Unfortunately, I forgot to take my camera with me for the day, which was a real bummer. Sorry for the lack of images.
University of Phoenix Stadium is literally built out in the middle of nowhere. As you can see from the pictures. I understand wanting to build where land is cheap and all, but man… there is NOTHING out there. They are building a big retail/entertainment complex next door to the stadium, but there is certainly no nightlife or vibe around that place. Which is too bad. As amazing as that stadium is, after talking to some people down there who have been to the Fiesta Bowl in Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, that is just much more fun. I can believe that.

The area of the stadium really reminded me of the area that the Idaho Center was built here at home. That was in the middle of farm land when they built it 10 years ago too. They have put a bunch of stuff around it now, but it is still out in the middle of nowhere. For my money, I would MUCH rather attend events on BSU campus or in Qwest Arena downtown before driving all the way out to Nampa. But that’s just me.

After a quick tour of the Stadium area we set out to find Tempe and the Mill Ave District where the New Years Block Party was going to happen that night. So we got back on the freeway and navigated the maze.

We found it easily, and since we were on the right side of town, John wanted to go back to the casino. Imagine that… John wanted to gamble some more! So, we headed over there at about 10 in the morning. I can tell you this, it was not as much fun in there in the morning. There were probably 70% fewer people, but some how there was 200% more cigarette smoke. That was the WORST ventilated casino I have ever been in. I dropped another hundred in no time and had to head outside to get some fresh air. By the time we left, maybe a little more than an hour after we got there, I felt like I had smoked about 20 packs of cigs. Ugh. I could hardly breathe. Absolutely disgusting.

One other thing about the casino I found strange. Both that morning and the night before, we had many many dealers as they migrated around. Of course, we were wearing Boise State gear as we were playing. Not one of the dealers had any clue about what was going on that weekend. They thought we were Denver Broncos. They asked why we were in town. They asked who we were playing. They asked where we were playing and what game it was. They had absolutely NO clue about the whole deal. And these weren’t female Filipino immigrants either. We are talking regular old white guys. I know, Phoenix is a big city and there are always lots of events going on, but shouldn’t your dealers know when and why people might be visiting your casino? How can NONE of them be college football fans? Amazing.

Another funny dealer story. You know how they will ask you where you’re from, what you do, etc. One dealer was asking John what he did, and John told him he ran a lumber mill. Dealer says, “well, you’ve got all your fingers so you must know what you’re doing.” To which John held up his left hand and said, “actually… I don’t…” See, John had his left index finger removed due to a bone tumor years ago. We found it hilarious, but the dealer was falling all over himself trying to apologize.

Ilinda wanted to do a little shopping for their boys at home, so we found a large outlet mall just off the freeway. Arizona Mills Mall was pretty impressive for an outlet mall. The strangest thing was the Neiman Marcus outlet store. I have never been in a legit Neiman Marcus. I don’t know what sorts of things they have. But, if this outlet store was any guide, I’ll never need to visit one. They had some of the most hideous 80’s style hip-hop brightly colors paisley shirts for sale… regular price $500, now on clearance for $230. What!?! I couldn’t believe the prices on what I was seeing. There was a sport coat that would have been right at home in the wardrobe of Sonny Crockett on Miami Vice for $3,500 dollars. The thing was, the store totally felt like an outlet store. Cheap fixtures and racks. Kinda grungy. “BLOW OUT CLEARANCE” signs. Combined with the prices, it was seriously like shopping on another planet.

We had plans to have lunch with some local people that Ilinda knew from the internet, so after shopping for a bit in the other stores, we were off to find this Mexican restaurant called Garcia’s. By this time I was pretty hungry, so that was just fine with me. We found the place and pulled into the parking lot. The strange thing was there were 2 buildings, both with “Garcia’s” signs on either end of the parking lot. We were quite confused how that was supposed to work. Apparently, one was just a take out sort of place, while the other was the sit down joint. Odd.

We were a bit early, so we sat in the bar to watch some playoff football and wait. We got a couple drinks (I had a coke as I was not feeling great from the smoke and the drinking last night) and some chips and salsa. I was starving so I dug in. After 20 minutes or so, Ilinda’s friend shows up with her husband and we got a table.

We sat down and had probably one of the worst waiters I’ve ever had. It took him 10 minutes to take our 5 orders. Let’s just say, English was not his first language. Now, there are 2 things in common to every Mexican restaurant on the planet. One, they serve food on scalding hot plates. Two, food always comes very quickly. Well, at this particular joint, only one of those axioms held. It was a full 45 minutes from the time we ordered until our food arrived. Unbelievable. You can sit down, order, eat, and be out the door in 45 minutes at any other Mexican place I’ve ever eaten at.
What was even worse than that was how I felt. I guess, the horrific smoke intake somehow rebelled against the salsa I ate and I had what was probably the worst heartburn I have ever had. My god, it was absolutely brutal. I ordered a water to try to douse the flames, but it was hopeless. By the time the food came, I was in such agony, I basically just pushed my enchiladas around the plate. Brutal.

Not to mention that I seriously felt like the 5th wheel on this car. Ilinda and her friend. The husband and John (had the vested interests in each other) but I really didn’t feel like talking much. Combined with the magma in my chest, those 2 and a half hours of lunch were practically unbearable. All I could think about was getting some antacid and lying down before the block party that night.

By the time we got out of there, the lying down part was out of the question. There was a Boise State pep rally to kick off the block party and I wanted to be there. We stopped at a local grocery store near our hotel to get me some meds. Lets just say that this place was where the ‘Hispanic food aisle’ was the whole store. All of the signs were in Spanish and English. I was the whitest person in that entire building. I kept expecting to run into an aisle of ‘honky’ food where they kept the hamburgers, french fries and Jell-o.

But, I got my Maalox and we finally got back to the hotel a little before 4. The pep rally was scheduled for 4:30 and was all the way over in Tempe. So, I had about 10 minutes to relax and try to douse the flames.

After a quick refresh, it was time to get back on the road and keep the party going. So, we did.

The story shall continue…

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Finale

Here we go… a blow by blow description of my unbelievable weekend in the Phoenix watching my beloved Boise State Broncos play in the Fiesta Bowl.

Friday, Dec 29th

My plan was to fly round trip to Phoenix from Salt Lake City rather than Boise. After the Broncos clinched their undefeated regular season vs. Nevada (another game I was at) the airfares from Boise to Phoenix jumped to over $400. Being the genius I am, I checked for flights from SLC and found one for $260. I jumped on it.

I didn’t think when I purchased the ticket that it was winter and the weather for the drive might screw me up. Thus, I planned to stay the night in SLC the night before my flight was to leave, just to give me plenty of leeway. Of course, it would turn out I wouldn’t need it at all, but more on that in a minute.

I got on the road at about 1pm. The day was crystal clear and there was not a single icy spot anywhere on the 300 mile trip to Salt Lake.

All was well and good during the drive until about 4:30, when I ran into freeway construction and a Friday rush hour all rolled into one. About 30 miles from Salt Lake, I was fortunate enough to be able to slow down and really soak in the scenery… In other words, I got to come to a complete stop on the freeway, which is always one of my favorite things in the world.

The traffic finally lighented up and I approached my exit. Well, at least it was the exit that Microsoft told me to take. I used MapPoint to plan my trip, and Microsoft screwed me. I got off at exit 316 like they told me, only to find NOTHING THERE. So, after a quick pee break, I get back on the freeway. A couple miles down the road, I saw a sign pointing to what I thought was the exit I was supposed to take… well, it was an exit too early. To top that off, it was an exit with no corresponding on ramp. Thus, I’m driving in the dark through this industrial area looking for a way to get back onto the freeway. When I finally find an on ramp, I realize that this ramp is AFTER the exit I should have taken. Well shit. So, I stay on the freeway knowing my hotel is by the airport. I should be able to find that.

I drove until I found an airport exit. Great! Back in business. Well, that was until I found myself cruising around these deserted loops around the airport. I’m on these freeways that drive past the damn FedEx terminal. Its pitch dark out here and I have no idea where the hell I am. On top of this, my gas tank is hovering very close to ‘e’.

Somehow, I find the street my hotel is on and make it to a gas station in time.

I would just like to take a second to get on the record how much I HATE the street names in SLC. Or should I say the lack of street names. Everything is a number. And not good numbers like “40th street”… no no… they are all “W 2000 N.” When you are reading a freeway sign that is entirely composed of numbers and random letters, you really start to get frustrated. “wait, was that 200 N or 2000 W?!? Son of a bitch!!” My hotel was on a ‘named’ street, but even that was messed up. North Temple West. *sigh*

I digress. I made it to the hotel (which had the swimming pool and hot tub actually in the lobby, which I found a little odd) and saw my first fellow Broncos in the lobby. Apparently I wasn’t the only one to have the same ingenious plan.

I got a pizza and a beer from the grocery store since there was no way was I going to try to find a “sports bar” in Salt Lake. For those of you who haven’t had the privilege of attempting to drink in Utah, let’s just say it’s an adventure. So, I stayed in the room and flipped between bowl games and Saddam’s execution. It was a strange evening in a strange place, to be sure.

Saturday, Dec 30th

I woke up early. I was geeked up and couldn’t help it. I was packed up and ready for the shuttle to the airport at 9am. The hotel gave me a complementary paper with an interesting little sticky note on it. “If you do not wish to receive the newspaper please contact the front desk for a $.15 refund.” Seriously? How big of a skinflint are you that you are indignant that they stole fifteen cents from you?

I got checked in and through security and to my gate at 9:30. Only problem? My flight was scheduled to leave until 11:55. Oops. I settled in for my wait.

As I read my $.15 paper, I did see that the Salt Lake Tribune predicted Boise State 27 Oklahoma 21. That’s a good sign, right?

At 11, they announced my flight would be delayed 30 minutes.

At 11:40, they announced a 2 hour delay. It appears that our plane had an engine that wouldn’t start. So, they had to fly in a new plane and we should hopefully be off at 3:00. Great. To rub salt into the wound, they boarded and departed another flight to Phoenix. Those of us who were stuck grumbled amongst ourselves about how we got jobbed.

To rub even MORE salt into the wound the airport in Salt Lake is horrible. They had multiple TV’s on all over the place. Every last one of them was tuned to CNN with no audio. There were multiple college bowl games on, but could we see any of them? Absolutely not.

Eventually we got out and got safely to Phoenix. Only about 3 hours late. That made for a long day at the airport.

I met up with John and Ilinda (who flew into Phoenix from Georgia a couple hours earlier) and John drove us directly to the local Indian casino. Gotta love vacation. Weather was beautiful and it is always nice to see palm trees.

Gila River Casino is on the south side of town and John and I headed directly to the blackjack tables. We found seats at a $10 table and started playing and the drinks started flowing. At this particular casino however, if you’re playing the table minimum as I was, you gotta pay for your drinks. John was playing $25 a hand and got his drinks for free. Doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. I gotta think that getting EVERYONE sauced should be your number one priority in a casino. But what do I know.

We played for about 3 hours and I broke even (even after paying for drinks). John, being the stud that he is, ended up $800! So, dinner was on him. Seeing as I had eaten exactly nothing for the whole day, I was more than ready for a little grub.

We hit the road and found the local Claim Jumper. The food was tremendous, but then again, 3 hours of drinking on an empty stomach and I would have been hard pressed to find a meal that wasn’t any good. It was a beautiful piece of prime rib and a huge baked potato. My meal also came with a muffin and whipped honey butter but they cleared that off before I had a chance to partake. In the state I was in, I didn’t even notice until we were leaving. That bummed me out because I love whipped honey butter!

John was not finished gambling… aka. he still had money in his pocket. Thus, we went back to the casino. I proceeded to give them that $100 I had been playing with post haste. John fared a little better, but also ended up giving them some of their money back. We decided to call it a night and head to the hotel.

The good news was that our hotel was right off the freeway. The bad news? Everything else. We drove up and the neighborhood was a bit dodgy, but when I saw the hotel (which was more of a motel actually) had an armed guard in the parking lot, that sealed it. You gotta love those blind internet booked hotels, right? Its almost like the lottery. This place was very much like the Super 8 in Reno. Mostly clean, but certainly not The Ritz. (Picture to left is a lovely stain next to the bed and to the right is a wad of gum on my headboard. That should give you a hint)
However, at that point, I didn’t care. I came in and crashed in no time.

We had big days ahead.

To be continued…