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Tailgater
Member Posts: 1,389
I traveled over to Seattle for the game Saturday night and to say the least, it was for me a different kind of football experience. It was my second visit to the new stadium, the win over BSU being the first, and it wasn't my first Husky home game played at night, but it didn't seem like a football venue I'd been to before nor a place I'd miss much by never returning. It wasn't some kind of weird road trip, just unfamiliar.
I was a little disappointed that my son decided (with of course my permission) to not attend Saturday's 8;00 pm kick-off, but at age 50, he's a bit burned-out on Husky Football after 40 years of steady attendance....... and he has projects to attend to for his business. I invited an old UW alumni friend who was happy for the invite. Two grandsons, one a college sophomore and the other still in HS, were eager to help grandpa find his seat........ a third grandson was invited to watch Husky Football from the ambience of a friend's suite. All my grandsons are huge Huskyfans and it's primarily for them that we keep the season tickets and Tyee membership going.
I decided not to tailgate which was perhaps a first for me, but rather to get us all food and beverage at the stadium. We parked in Lot E-1A around 5:30, where a good sized party was well underway, and walked to The Zone which I found to be more than a little disappointing. I'd been to The Zone before at halftime for a beer and hot dog, but found the menu selections to be sparse for any kind of pregame fare. About then, I started to regret not being back in E-1A
We all had Met. Grille sandwiches ($9 to $10 ea. w/o sides) which were just okay, nothing special, and a bottled water($4 ea.). There was nowhere to sit and eat and the stand-up area under cover was jammed two hours before kick-off. The KJR music was blasting way too loud making the audio from the bigscreen TV's impossible to hear, but it wasn't long before the KJR noise was turned down and we were able to watch and listen to Oregon beating up on UCLA.
Leaving the Zone, the grandsons went to find their brother and checkout his friend's dad's suite...... while my fellow alum and I took a leisurely walk completely around the stadium concourse at the 100 level. The concessions appeared to be as good as or better than The Zone and while the Met's sandwich settled heavily in my gut, I wished I'd waited and chowed down on some Ivar's. While we looked for our traditional cookies which apparently are now history at Husky Stadium, there were pretzels, popcorn, and candy everywhere which couldn't appeal to cookie lovers. We each settled on a smallish bag of over-salted peanuts ($6) and another bottled water($4).
My friend later found a frosted cupcake which I believe was $4. I saw the best looking foot-long hot dog I'd seen vended in a long time and it was only $9 (Can a package of Ballpark Franks and a dozen buns be had at the supermarket for less than $9 ?). There were no long lines at any of the concessions, but it was still 40 minutes before kick-off when our walk-around the stadium was completed. While walking from the northeast end of the open horseshoe to the southeast end before looking for our seats in section 104, we ran into a mob of Husky lettermen and coaches lining up to get into the stadium, some recognizable from the James era....... and I began to get a feel for what was in store for us inside.
The game was more than okay..... it was interesting and not sloppy with tons of yellow flags flying at round. CAL is not very good, but we are not great and both teams seemed to enjoy playing. Once the stadium filled up, I was impressed with how many fans showed-up and there were few empty places noticeable outside of the student section. I was surprised to see our team come onto the field wearing UW Purple and Gold and actually looking like Huskies, I assume in memory of the Dawgfather even though the Huskies on the line of scrimmage still struggle to look the part.
CAL's defense obviously took note of how the Sun Devils destroyed our offense the previous week in Tempe. The Bear's overloaded and attacked the Husky offensive line from tackle to tackle with five to six defenders (DL's and LB's or safeties) and far too often stuffed our ground game early while getting some penetration on half or more of Sark's called pass plays. It seemed to me like there was one Bear and sometimes two coming through our offensive line free to harass Keith Price at least once in every series of downs. More than once I thought I counted as many as seven or eight bears on the line of scrimmage or up close in the box.
The Bears gambled on defense as the Sun Devils did and slowly but inevitably paid the price. Most of Sankey's 241 yards rushing were gained on four(4) long runs and KP twice hit Mickens with long bombs for TD's. It seemed obvious by the end of the first half that the Huskies would win easily, but the scoreboard at halftime had the Bears behind only by ten points. I don't understand why our offense continues to struggle making adjustments early and needing a halftime to get it's collective heads out. Whatever's happening or not happening on the sideline or in the locker-room at halftime is not a KP nor Sankey problem. At the end of the third quarter with the game's outcome decided, a large percentage of fans stood and left. It was getting late, but I don't think I've ever seen that before. We always stay 'til the end and there were few left in the stands by then.
We sat or stood through the entire halftime celebration of Don Jame's life. I'm typically not big on these memorial things, but I believe we can conclude that in death, DJ finally received the appreciation he deserved from a University that far too often was I think indifferent to what the man gave us. For those who consider ourselves Huskyfans and were fortunate to have lived through the glory years(1975-1992), I don't think any of us ever doubted the Dawgfather nor failed to appreciate the great fun his acute dedication to our favorite game provided for us on football Saturdays. I pretty much kept it together during the flag at half-mast routine, the Carol James and family coin toss, the halftime big screen montage of DJ's legacy at UW, etc., but the Husky Marching Band playing "Celebration" bringing back with a vengeance those memories of post-game celebrations in the Rose Bowl........ well, that was almost too much for a tough old fart like me.
I was a little disappointed that my son decided (with of course my permission) to not attend Saturday's 8;00 pm kick-off, but at age 50, he's a bit burned-out on Husky Football after 40 years of steady attendance....... and he has projects to attend to for his business. I invited an old UW alumni friend who was happy for the invite. Two grandsons, one a college sophomore and the other still in HS, were eager to help grandpa find his seat........ a third grandson was invited to watch Husky Football from the ambience of a friend's suite. All my grandsons are huge Huskyfans and it's primarily for them that we keep the season tickets and Tyee membership going.
I decided not to tailgate which was perhaps a first for me, but rather to get us all food and beverage at the stadium. We parked in Lot E-1A around 5:30, where a good sized party was well underway, and walked to The Zone which I found to be more than a little disappointing. I'd been to The Zone before at halftime for a beer and hot dog, but found the menu selections to be sparse for any kind of pregame fare. About then, I started to regret not being back in E-1A
We all had Met. Grille sandwiches ($9 to $10 ea. w/o sides) which were just okay, nothing special, and a bottled water($4 ea.). There was nowhere to sit and eat and the stand-up area under cover was jammed two hours before kick-off. The KJR music was blasting way too loud making the audio from the bigscreen TV's impossible to hear, but it wasn't long before the KJR noise was turned down and we were able to watch and listen to Oregon beating up on UCLA.
Leaving the Zone, the grandsons went to find their brother and checkout his friend's dad's suite...... while my fellow alum and I took a leisurely walk completely around the stadium concourse at the 100 level. The concessions appeared to be as good as or better than The Zone and while the Met's sandwich settled heavily in my gut, I wished I'd waited and chowed down on some Ivar's. While we looked for our traditional cookies which apparently are now history at Husky Stadium, there were pretzels, popcorn, and candy everywhere which couldn't appeal to cookie lovers. We each settled on a smallish bag of over-salted peanuts ($6) and another bottled water($4).
My friend later found a frosted cupcake which I believe was $4. I saw the best looking foot-long hot dog I'd seen vended in a long time and it was only $9 (Can a package of Ballpark Franks and a dozen buns be had at the supermarket for less than $9 ?). There were no long lines at any of the concessions, but it was still 40 minutes before kick-off when our walk-around the stadium was completed. While walking from the northeast end of the open horseshoe to the southeast end before looking for our seats in section 104, we ran into a mob of Husky lettermen and coaches lining up to get into the stadium, some recognizable from the James era....... and I began to get a feel for what was in store for us inside.
The game was more than okay..... it was interesting and not sloppy with tons of yellow flags flying at round. CAL is not very good, but we are not great and both teams seemed to enjoy playing. Once the stadium filled up, I was impressed with how many fans showed-up and there were few empty places noticeable outside of the student section. I was surprised to see our team come onto the field wearing UW Purple and Gold and actually looking like Huskies, I assume in memory of the Dawgfather even though the Huskies on the line of scrimmage still struggle to look the part.
CAL's defense obviously took note of how the Sun Devils destroyed our offense the previous week in Tempe. The Bear's overloaded and attacked the Husky offensive line from tackle to tackle with five to six defenders (DL's and LB's or safeties) and far too often stuffed our ground game early while getting some penetration on half or more of Sark's called pass plays. It seemed to me like there was one Bear and sometimes two coming through our offensive line free to harass Keith Price at least once in every series of downs. More than once I thought I counted as many as seven or eight bears on the line of scrimmage or up close in the box.
The Bears gambled on defense as the Sun Devils did and slowly but inevitably paid the price. Most of Sankey's 241 yards rushing were gained on four(4) long runs and KP twice hit Mickens with long bombs for TD's. It seemed obvious by the end of the first half that the Huskies would win easily, but the scoreboard at halftime had the Bears behind only by ten points. I don't understand why our offense continues to struggle making adjustments early and needing a halftime to get it's collective heads out. Whatever's happening or not happening on the sideline or in the locker-room at halftime is not a KP nor Sankey problem. At the end of the third quarter with the game's outcome decided, a large percentage of fans stood and left. It was getting late, but I don't think I've ever seen that before. We always stay 'til the end and there were few left in the stands by then.
We sat or stood through the entire halftime celebration of Don Jame's life. I'm typically not big on these memorial things, but I believe we can conclude that in death, DJ finally received the appreciation he deserved from a University that far too often was I think indifferent to what the man gave us. For those who consider ourselves Huskyfans and were fortunate to have lived through the glory years(1975-1992), I don't think any of us ever doubted the Dawgfather nor failed to appreciate the great fun his acute dedication to our favorite game provided for us on football Saturdays. I pretty much kept it together during the flag at half-mast routine, the Carol James and family coin toss, the halftime big screen montage of DJ's legacy at UW, etc., but the Husky Marching Band playing "Celebration" bringing back with a vengeance those memories of post-game celebrations in the Rose Bowl........ well, that was almost too much for a tough old fart like me.
Comments
DR
A cup of hot chowder will be good in November, especially if the Colorado game is at night.