Weekend isn’t over yet. I’m writing this from my hotel room in Charlotte seeing if Michigan can climb back in this game. Came down to watch WVU-UT. I’m no Gator, so don’t expect anything eloquent.
After dropping the kids off at school Friday morning and making arrangements for them to stay with my mom (thanks mom) my wife and I made the 3 1/2 hour drive down I-77 to Charlotte. We got into town around 1:30 and went straight to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch.
We then checked into our hotel room at the Marriott in downtown Charlotte and about 5 minutes in realized we were right beside a roomful of college kids who, like most college kids, like their music loud and conversations louder. We rolled our eyes and laughed at our luck.
After just kinda chilling out for a while in the room we headed out into town around 5 to see what we could get into. We first walked to a little wine bar with a WVU flag flying out front but after inspecting their food and drink menu we decided they had nothing we were terribly interested in. We then headed to a place called Ink and Ivy and hung there for a while on an outside deck listening to a live band and knocking back a few drinks.
We left there and went to Whiskey River which is apparently the official WVU game watch bar in Charlotte. We took two steps inside and realized this was true. There were wall to wall WVU fans and the line around the bar was 10 deep on every side. We went across the complex to a Wild Wings Cafe and ordered apps and beer and watched Utah St give Michigan St fits. From there we went back to the hotel bar, had a few more drinks, and called it a night. What we noticed Friday night was the crowd around town was overwhelmingly WVU fans. We both estimated it around 80/20.
This morning I was heading down to the hotel gym around 8:00 when I met WVU OC Jake Spavital on the elevator. Apparently, this is the team hotel and we weren’t aware. We both said how excited we were for the game, shook hands, and parted ways. In the gym I spotted WVU President Gordon Gee stretching on a mat on the floor. After lifting weights I got on the elliptical and in a few minutes WVU AD Shane Lyons got on the elliptical beside me. We talked for about 20 minutes. He told me his son is the long snapper for Akron and was playing his first collegiate game in Lincoln tonight against the Huskers. He told me this is the part of the job that’s tough, having to miss things like his son’s first game. Just made small talk. Seemed like a nice guy.
We left the hotel around noon to grab some lunch before heading to the stadium. We also noticed Vol Nation was out in greater numbers today compared to last night. We found a place called French Quarter and ordered wings and quesadillas while watching Texas and Texas Tech look like crap.
From there we headed to the stadium and watched WVU take UT down 40-14. After a “meh” first half Will Grier looked the part of a Heisman candidate picking apart the young Vols secondary in the second half on his way to 429 yards passing and 5 TD’s.
After the game we came back to the hotel, had a couple of much needed salads, and came back upstairs. Great weekend. Good food and drink, a WVU win, and some adult time with my wife. Good interaction between the fanbases too. Saw no real bad behavior from fans of either team. Although one group of WVU fans in my section apparently got kicked out for vaping of all things.
Heading back to tomorrow to WV and praying for a safe trip.