After a late night updating the site, Jonn and I headed to bed. We planned on sleeping in since
the game was on late, but both of us were up early anyway. We cleaned ourselves up, put on our special
game day outfits, and headed to the subway station.
At the Union Station transfer, we were herded into the trains to Pasadena... and ended up on a train
full of UT people! It was hilarious to watch the USC fans walk by, poke their heads in, and decide to
switch cars. Even as the train made it's way North, USC fans (both those decked out for the game and
just regular Los Angelenos) at each station would decide to sit elsewhere.
We arrived at the Memorial Park station and made our way to the shuttle bus. There were thousands of fans
coming from all directions. The line for the shuttle wrapped all the way around a full city block. Jonn
and I decided to take our chances and walk the nearly 2 miles to the stadium.
The walk wasn't that bad at all... in fact, it was pretty fun walking along, seeing the makeshift vendors
setup along the street, feeling the energy in the air. Between the two of us, we got many funny looks
and hook 'ems in our direction. At one point, a pair of USC fans stopped us to take our picture with
them!
We slowly made our way towards the stadium area with tens of thousands of fans. I had pre-ordered
tickets to the official tailgate, so we found our way to the opposite side of the stadium for the
festivities. The tailgate was PACKED. There was barely room to walk around! We scooted our way
through the crowd to the food line and managed to find a table with some open seats. We ate and
chatted with some Longhorn fans who had travelled from Temple, just north of Austin. We waited
and waited for the band to arrive, but we eventually had to settle for the "entertainment" band
to play what was a sort-of swinging version of the Eyes... it felt very strange to sing it without
the real Longhorn Band as backup.
Once we decided to head to the stadium, the circus began. We couldn't walk two steps without a
Longhorn fan asking to have their picture taken with us. Sometimes it was one person... sometimes
in a group. At one point, someone wanted a picture of just the two of us and there had to be at least
five cameras pointed at us. Even outside the tailgate, a random fan wanted her picture with my horns on.
It was like we were some kind of fan celebrities!
We finally managed to get into the stadium and find our seats. We were right in the middle of the
Texas section, 50 rows above the ESPN Gameday set. It was a really great vantage point from which
to view and enjoy the game.
Andy arrived, with his son fully decked out in USC gear. I had sold my two extra tickets to Andy,
who had worked very closely with my father and has become a great friend of my whole family. So
I suppose I could forgive him for bringing the enemy right into the heart of our section. Of course,
it would turn out to be a surprise bonus to the event.
Watch the Longhorn Band in Pre game
Download the movie
The Eyes of Texas - Pre game
Download the movie
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USC fans walking to the game |
Walking to the game from the subway |
Official Texas Tailgate |
Longhorn Band fringe |
Our fringe |
Andy and his USC-fan son |
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