Yes, that's right, I celebrated my birthday over the weekend with more than 100 THOUSAND people at Ohio Stadium watching the Ohio State Buckeyes play the San Diego State Aztecs. Talk about a thrilling day!!!
Zach, my son, and I are H-U-G-E Bucks fans!!! I mean to the point that if you don't like football, don't even think about coming around our house on Saturdays during college football season because you won't be welcomed. We promised each other last year, that this would be the year we forked over the money (those tix are NOT cheap) and make the drive to a game. With as many hours as I work between job #1, job 2 and Stitchnmomma I decided it was well worth the money as a birthday present to myself!
We figured if we were going to make the drive, we would make an adventure out of it. Some of the people at my job #1 told me where to park to tailgate. We didn't tailgate, but it was an experience watching the other fans while we were walking around.
Once we arrived in Columbus and parked, the day started with a walk down Lane Ave. to check out the sights. As we drove straight down there after Zach got home from his 3rd shift job, breakfast was in order. And what do you do for breakfast? Well you have beer & burgers at The Varsity Club.
After "breakfast" we walked around some more, including past St. John's Arena down to Ohio Stadium and all the way around the stadium so we could check it out. If you're a fan, it's a magical place to be!
We still had 3+ hours before game time and were trying to decide what to do. After speaking with a very friendly usher, we agreed to quickly make the trek back to St. John's Arena to watch the "Skull Session" that the marching band does before each game. I took video on my digital camera (for the first time ever) and evidently I can't convert it to a file type that can be shared. So, I found one from the prior week's game on YouTube. You can check it out here.
Still time left before the game, so we headed back to the stadium to watch the team warm up & practice. Oh yeah, and to get some pics before it got really crowded.
And crowded is exactly what it was!! It's all bleacher style seating, and you're packed in there like sardines. I spent about 1/2 the game actually standing on my seat and leaning on the concrete wall behind me so I could see over the big guys in front of me.
Not only was it a home game that happened to fall on my birthday, but it was also weekend for the band alumni to come in. More than 700 past members of TBDBITL (The Best Damn Band In The Land) came in for the game. They performed at the skull session, at the half-time show and throughout the game. The oldest member to perform was 95-years-young!!!
Since there were HUNDREDS of marching band members (see pic above), during the half-time show they did the famed Script Ohio as a quadruple script. You can see it in my pic below, and if you actually want to watch them perform it, check out this YouTube video here.
The Bucks won with a score of 42-17, so we were all happy. And I'm pleasantly surprised I didn't encounter one rude person the entire day! Needless to say it was a really LONG day. In fact about 17 hours from the time we left the house to drive there until we got back home. I'm so glad I had the experience of seeing a game in person at "The Shoe", but will also be happy to watch the game next Saturday from the comfort of my recliner. :)
As a side note, I unfortunately found out while I was there the memory card for my digital camera is only 512mb. I'm sure you can tell I don't take a lot of pics except for my xstitch stuff, which immediately get downloaded and saved, so it wasn't something I really thought about. I had to delete some misc. pics I took of some of the tailgating vehicles, signs, etc. so I'd have room for the pics I shared here and the video during the skull session. I'll make sure before my next trip somewhere I get a card with more memory!!
GO BUCKS!!!
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