Week 9 - Don't Rock The Boat!

Husky stadium has been standing in some semblance for almost 100 years now. Six years ago, it underwent a major transformation from a dilapidated dump, surrounded with a spectacular view to an impeccable palace with the same spectacular view. Location and appearance wise, this is one of the most magnificent cathedrals in all of college football. Husky Stadium sits on the edge of the University of Washington campus on the banks of Lake Washington for an incredible picturesque setting. The lakeside location has lent itself to a form of pregaming called “Sailgating” where boats of all shapes and sizes drop anchor or tie up to a dock within view of the stadium. On the decks of the boats the parties take place with all the elements of a ground based Tailgate. This is another must do experience for all college football fans. There are only two other colleges that boast Sailgating next to the stadium, Tennessee and Baylor.

Seven years ago, I attended a rainy, cold night game at UW before the renovations and with no tailgating (http://dantailgate.blogspot.com/2010/11/week-12-recap-wet-cold-weekend.html ). This would be a well needed do over for me as I felt I did not get the true Husky football experience on that trip. For this year’s rendition, we rented a house with the Dons of Danville (Gervolino, Desimone, Quilici) and a few normal named guys such as Campbell and Duncan. Leaving the lodgings to anyone other than myself always makes for some surprise sleeping arrangements. We caught a Friday afternoon flight up to Emerald City and joined the other half of our loyal DFTers who were well into their cups. We reconnoitered the “Grunge Capital of America” Friday night for proper houses of worship and philanthropic endeavors in order to be better mentally and physically prepared for game day on Saturday. The night ended with a bag of healthy cheeseburgers from Dicks.

A rare weather report calling for warm sunny skies in the Evergreen State and an early kickoff time of 12:30 called for an Oooooo dark thirty revelry and a convoy to our disembarkment dock. Our ship captain for the day would be Steve Baird on the SS Fireball, or so it was renamed. Major props to the NW DFT Chapter President, Timmy “Snowflake” Desimone for organizing the boat trip.  Timmy’s posse of fellow Cal Poly Millennials joined us on our Sailgate through Seattle Harbor and onward to Husky Harbor on Lake Washington.  The temperature was in the high 40’s and the cloud layer and fog were very low as we pushed off and headed out. Homemade Bloody Mary’s and other libations were served to get the boat rockin and the blood warmed. An amazing stack of muffuletta sandwiches were handed out along with a killer frittata. The adults in the crew were mature and well behaved as the Millennials worked on a handle of Fireball. Actually, there may have been a few adults that partook in that ritual as well.

Our arrival into Husky Harbor was commensurate with the fog touching all the way to the water. With visibility low, we continued the on-board soiree with gusto. After a few minutes, the fog lifted and yachts, boats and other water craft appeared everywhere. The magical Husky Stadium popped out like a slow-motion magic trick. Blue skies and sunshine replaced the cool misty scene and the celebration was now in full swing.  Tales were swapped, spirits imbibed and desserts were consumed. As the clock struck 12, we hailed the water taxi down that would take us to shore at the steps of the stadium. One more stop before the stadium to watch the Millennials and one of our crew have a shotgun contest.  

 

Boys being boys!

 The view from the stadium on this gorgeous fall day was beyond words. The Huskies were hosting PAC 12 rival UCLA and their cocky QB Josh Rosen. The Dawgs took the field to music of Jimmy Hendrix’s  Purple Haze as the crowd of 70,000 was electric. UCLA would get on the board first with a field goal. It would be their last lead of the day as Washington matched that field goal and kept on scoring behind running back Miles Gaskin until they hit 44 to UCLA’s final tally of 23. Of course, when things were not going well, Sally Rosen decided her hangnail was too much to bear and so she departed the battle and left her team to fend for themselves once again. A real leader would rub some dirt on the wound and get back out there. He is lucky that there was another Bieber on this day that he was not worthy to walk in the shadow of, otherwise Rosen would be a repeat Bieber. The Huskies were dominant in all phases of the game as the defense showed signs of looking like the group from last season. After the final whistle, we headed to Tavern 12 sports bar in University Village to watch more CFB and the World Series.

Around the country

Notre Dame continues its season long resurgence with another win over another top 20 team as they dismantled the NC State Wolfpack in South Bend 35 -15.  In dreary Columbus, Ohio, the Buckeyes came from 15 down in the 4^th quarter to edge the Nittany Lions 39-38.  The Iowa State Cyclones are for real under Coach Matt Campbell as they bested their second top five team in a month taking down TCU 14-7. The fans in Ames stormed the field in Celebration. Too bad Coach Campbell will probably be coaching at some place like Florida next year as I hear there is a house for sale in Gainesville now. Speaking of which, the Gators were humiliated by the UGA Dawgs in the battle at the world’s largest cocktail party in Jacksonville. Death threats or no death threats, the Gators game was simply dead. The OK State Pokes win the shootout with the Mountaineers of Morgantown, WV. The Cowpokes set themselves up for an ESPN Gameday slot in Stillwater next week as they host their in-state rivals Oklahoma for the Bedlam game. Speaking of which, the Oklahoma offense was unstoppable in a big victory over Texas Tech and pretty boy Cliffy K. Washington State fell for the second time in three weeks to the much improved Arizona Wildcats whilst surrendering 58 points in doing so.  Michigan State suffered a defeat at the hands of the boys from Northwestern. Miami and Wisconsin remain unbeaten by beating absolutely nobody.  Columbia suffers their first loss of the season and Frostburg continues its winning ways. 

DFT siblings and nephew at Stevenson College Tailgate

The 3 Amigos in chilly Norman

Bieber –  This week’s awardee is a Hollywood actor moonlighting as a stadium security guard. For those of you that are fans of the movie Superbad, one of the main protagonists “McLovin” must be hard up on cash as he was working the UW game. A member of our crew who’s name shall not be spoken or written made the mistake of “allegedly having a flask and being spotted by McLovin. Too make matters worse, our teammate actually handed the said flask to McLovin thinking he was one of our crew. The yellow jacketed guard taking his job way more serious then he needed to be, confiscated the flask and insisted on our boy to accompany him to the security office to be ejected. However, our elusive teammate was able to shake McLovin in the bowels of the stadium and return to his seat. Ten minutes later Superbad reappeared with his bad ass yellow jacket and screamed out “Sir. Surrender your liquor and come with me”.  After much dialogue, our friend agreed to leave and began the perp walk. An extra ticket was handed to our guy by one of us as he was escorted away. McLovin, feeling full of authority and power first escorted the accused to the EMT tent where he was greeted with laughter by the EMTs. McLovin shrugged off the humiliation and proceeded to the security tent. Our perp was searched and his ticket was taken and he was escorted to the exit. However, with another ticket in hand he reentered the stadium and spent the second half in the beer garden area having a swell time while McLovin had no clue he had been outfoxed again. McLovin continued his vigil in watching our group with his crime fighting eagle eye throughout the rest of the game. We felt safer knowing he had overwatch for us.

McLovin and his Doppelgänger

Next week – Next up will be Florida at South Carolina in two weeks for “Railgating”. CFB binge watching, life balance exercises and high school football are in store for me next weekend.

Happy Tailgating!