So what say we start off 2011 with a good ol' fashion adventure, Ducks style!! Much like last year's Oregon Rose Bowl adventure, me and Pops were lucky enough (and I think there was a huge amount of luck involved in this) to score a pair of tickets to The Natty!! (And we only had to pay the modest $300 ticket price, rather than the $18,000 StubHub price.)
And boy, was it an adventure. Flying into Phoenix the day of the game, we discovered that our hotel had somehow "misplaced" our reservation. As we drove to the game in our rented Civic, I had to scramble to find somewhere to sleep for the night. Eventually a Holiday Inn Express was found that had a 2 bedroom smoking room for a reasonable $260. Ouch... but it beats sleeping in the car.
So we get to the stadium... and it turns out you were supposed to buy your parking passes in advance? Would have been nice to know, seeing as how there was no alternate plan. So we parked the rental car in a lot we didn't have a pass for, declared "Screw it!", and headed off to the official UO tailgater. But not before snapping a quick picture of a well-known stow away...
So the tailgater proved to be a little less than its $90 price tag had suggested. It provided a modest all-you-can-eat lunch and a bar with 10 drink tickets (a reasonable amount), which I did my best to dispose of...
...but the gosh darn marching band, cheerleaders and mascot Duck decided to make their way into the party and start their little to-do right in front of the booze line! Come on, people... we're running out of time and I only have 10 tickets to use!!
Ah well, might as well get into the Oregon spirit. Besides, there'll be plenty of $9 beers to buy inside! So after downing a few quick ones, we made our way in, got past a few formalities...
...and it was on! The clash of the titans!! Heisman winner vs. Coach of the Year!!! War Eagle vs. Duck mascot that was suspended for fighting!!!! Aw man, let's do this!!
So it turned out to be one hell of a grudge match. Both teams had defenses far beyond what had been anticipated, and it proved to be a surprisingly low scoring game. But that doesn't mean it wasn't crazy. When the Ducks came back and scored a touchdown with a 2-point conversion to tie it up in the 4th quarter... I've never had problems with high blood pressure in the past, but I thought my heart was going to explode.
In the end, it was a rough loss, but if you have to lose it might as well be in the final moments to a field goal. After the game, Auburn offered a lot of "This was God's work" and "That play was an act of God", which seemed both unnecessary and offensive. When I got back to the hotel, I overheard Cam Newton on TV saying, "I guess we just got the last laugh." All the fans at the stadium were friendly and positive after the game to Ducks fans, which is commendable. But Cam Newton, Auburn's coach and the rest of those sons-of-bitches ain't gettin' no love from me. We'll see who gets the last laugh next year.
That being said, it was still a most excellent adventure (even if it did end in the same manner as last year's Rose Bowl). We've still got an amazing team, and I still love my Ducks.
To conclude the story... upon our arrival home, Dad said, "Well, we probably should have just spent all that money on a 3D TV. It would have been about the same, except we would have had a better view." True, but some adventures are worth having the old fashion way.
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