Always wanted to go to a game in Lincoln. Maybe some day!
And man I loathe how piped-in music has robbed college football atmosphere.
Moi aussi. I took my OSU grad daughter to the UGA game yesterday. She had been once before, but to see an Olympic soccer game, without the hedges.
It was a noon KO, and we left about 7:30 AM. The drive from the ATL is about 65 miles but half of that is a four lane highway with a LOT of stop lights. They are starting to build interchanges but that is 5-7 years off. It's needed. We got there is pretty good shape and I spied a lot on campus that said "FREE PARKING". Indeed it was. Just a block away it was $20. We snared a bus to ride to the stadium, our phone said it was a 23 minute walk. That part of campus is all new to me, I had no clear idea where we were. And it was cold, as in misting rain and 37°F that morning.
I showed her around campus some, my old dorm, North Campus, we dined at a U dining hall, $9.10 for all you care to eat, both had omelets made to order, a far cry from my student days. I even had grits, she said she was full. We walked all the way north to The Arch, which is on the main street with Athens across from it. Athens is a pretty neat town, large enough to have stuff and small enough to be able to get around. I forgot how hilly the campus is, and how spread out. The trees have grown. There was not much tailgating happening at all, due to weather I surmise.
The stadium sits between North and South campus in a valley oriented east to west. The West stands had been rebuilt to add a recruiting lounge and new dressing areas, but no new capacity. The new scoreboard is nice. But the music was really blaring. We entered under the scoreboard and I hope folks having to stand there had hearing protection. You can enter now right off the bridge.
UGA of course was the first public university to receive its charter, but UNC was first to open its doors. Athens back then was not even a town, and in the middle of nowhere really. Land was cheap, owned by the state because the Indians graciously abandoned it to move to Oklahoma.
The crowd was late arriving and there were quite a few empty seats. Our tickets were $136 each on Stub Hub (not including fees) and were on the 25 yard line, lower level, row 58, just under the overhang, but the rain had stopped. We had 5 minutes of some blue sky at the end of the game. I did not ask any scalpers for their prices. I'd guess real attendance was bout 85K.
The band is better than I recalled. Of course the daughter asked how good the band was and I said "Not up to your standards.". The Tech band also performed some at the half.
We stayed the entire game, which was 38-7 at the half and clearly over. Tech simply can't get the athletes to play with UGA and has to rely on that quirky offense and cut blocks. UGA did not have any injuries as a result fortunately. Fromm was very accurate and Swift and Holyfield both could run at will.
We got back to the car via bus and were able to exit rather quickly, going the other way around the bypass loop, but the highway was really clogged, often we needed 3-4 red light cycles to clear an intersection, and construction is starting on some. I guess the areas were way out in the country and the state DOT was saving money, but now the intersections are busy. Got home around 6:10 and the wife had made her famous soup which went down well.
The daughter was very happy with the OSU trouncing of UM and she watched the LSU-A&M game after I went to bed. She flies home today.
