Good evening everyone. I heard the lyrics above via ALT 98.7 out of Los Angeles on iHeartRadio when I was doing my wash about an hour ago. "But Coach, why? You always wash your clothes at 7:00 a.m. on Saturday or Sunday..." I can hear y'all pondering this anomaly in my schedule. WELL, someone didn't wake up at 7:00 a.m. yesterday because someone celebrated their birthday on Saturday...
Let's quickly rewind to the end of last week where I was extremely tired and not feeling very well. I stayed home from work on Thursday and somehow managed to struggle through Friday. In celebration of my birthday weekend and KNOWING that I was about to take a nice long nap, I ordered 2 medium 2-topping pizzas from Domino's as soon as the campus bus dropped me off. Then I checked my mail and found a birthday card with a $50.00 check from my dad - SCORE! Then I looked at the date and realized that I wouldn't be able to use it Saturday because he wrote in my actual birthday as the date - bad beat... Then I proceeded to eat one slice shy of a WHOLE PIZZA before I slept...
Fast forward to Saturday... I left Austin at about 9:30 a.m. knowing that the UT/OU game kicked off at 11:00, and that the Nike Outlet Store opened at 10:00. When I arrived at Nike, I picked up a pair of wristbands (have I told you before that ever since the time that I started playing online poker, I have always worn a wristband while on my computer because it made life easier on my right wrist while moving the mouse around?). Then I got to the shoe section... I needed another pair of sneakers because my old pair squeaked so much that I was told that I sounded like Donald Duck when I walked... I pretty much always buy some variation of the Nike Trainers because I like the support that the width of the shoe provides (compared to the width of a running shoe). So, long story short, I got out of Nike for about 80 bucks after picking up TWO PAIRS OF SHOES (hey, both pairs were 30% off), a ballcap (you know me), and the wristbands. And yes, I was at Nike longer than I had anticipated, and the UT/OU game had already started...
I still needed to pick up the new Blue October CD 'Sway' however (remember, this is my birthday weekend), so I stopped at Hastings on my way back into town. Thank goodness that Blue October doesn't release a new CD every week, because I'd have to buy EVERY ONE... :)
So the day is going well so far, and I'm only one quarter late as I stroll into Bobcat Nation to use the first of the pair of $25.00 tabs that I won in their football pick 'em contest (I thought that I'd have a chance to win again this week, but the guy that I'm one game behind also picked the Chargers to win tonight, so another bad beat)... I walk in as the Texas defense is returning a turnover for a touchdown, making the score 10-3 Longhorns at that point - hmmm.... :) I enjoyed a ribeye cheesesteak sandwich with a side of fries and three adult beverages as the Longhorns DOMINATED THE SOONERS 36-20. I had said here that I thought that Texas could win the game if their defense showed up and Gray and/or Brown went off (all of that happened), but the Horns STIFLED Oklahoma. As you can imagine, Bobcat Nation had a largely pro-Texas crowd, and I literally got the chills (goose bumps, whatever...) when the Horns returned a kick for a touchdown - a great game and lunch. My bartender and friend Alyssa (not that Alyssa) told me that my tab was only about 21 bucks as I was about to leave for Bobcat Stadium (very kind of her), but I had sat for long enough and it was time to continue my adventure (i.e., I wasn't in Las Vegas and the drink couldn't leave with me)...
One funny thing before I left though... When I told Alyssa that it was time to go tailgating, a guy sitting off to my right at the bar asked, "where?" I answered, "the stadium," to which he replied, "DUH!..." Now note here that I really wasn't trying to be sarcastic, but it's just that I know so many people, and I'm not shy, and people at tailgates (even strangers) tend to be really outgoing anyway, so yeah..., I was just going..., to go..., tailgating... ;) He was asking me WHICH SPOT I was going to be tailgating in (in case there's still confusion)... :)
So I walk to the tailgate (which is about the same distance as I used to walk from my old San Marcos apartment to Bikini Hill - i.e., no sweat)... Now at this point, that 60% chance of rain is NOWHERE to be seen, and it's in the 80's, and SUNNY... I easily find my friend Courtney's tailgate, who I had communicated with via facebook (I was still trying to find someone's extra ticket to the game, in case any of you missed my begging last week - it continued into Saturday)... Courtney had something very special for me - WATER!!! You have to remember that I was about to turn 100 years-old on Saturday, and walking that mile in the heat after being SO TIRED the 2 previous days... Bless you Courtney! :D As I drank all of Courtney's waters, we discussed Blue October (don't get me started), and San Marcos, and why the tailgate wasn't as busy as we thought it might be. I arrived at about 3:00 p.m., and the game was kicking off at 6:00 p.m. The UT/OU game up in Dallas was an obvious answer, as people were likely to have either gone to the game or watched it on t.v. The ACL (Austin City Limits) Music Festival was also going on, which consisted of several bands playing on several stages all day long, and a lot of the college crowd was sure to be in the ATX. Also, that threat of rain... However, I thought that THERE MUST be more people tailgating on the other side of the stadium. After HIKING AROUND THE STADIUM, I learned that I was WRONG... I found a bunch of parked cars, and in a move that was equally as ill-advised as the initial hike, I saw a small group of tents WAY OVER beyond the outfield fence of the baseball field, and I proceeded to HIKE over there also... This was the alumni tailgating area, a definitively smaller group of people than the one that I had left, but I saw someone that I knew (shocking), and I was offered a bowl of gumbo. A STEAMING BOWL of gumbo, and it was in the 80's still - no thanks... After I returned to the other side of the stadium, Courtney informed me that I could have ACCEPTED the gumbo and carried it back with me (sorry Courtney)...
One of the groups of people that I hadn't seen to this point was the Chi Omega's (the official sorority of this blog). :P I saw a girl wearing a Chi-Omega t-shirt talking with someone, and when their conversation broke, I asked her where the Chi-O's had set up camp. She said that she wasn't sure if they had officially gathered in one place, but when she asked me if I was looking for someone in particular, I told her that I wanted harass their homecoming queen nominee... :) When she found out that I knew Gabby, she QUICKLY FIRED OFF a list of about ten other people that I know... As we continued talking, I found out that Carolina's big sister is Verissimo! I also found out that Carolina knows Alyssa (yes, THAT Alyssa, 'Football Friday's Alyssa's Corner' Alyssa). SECONDS AFTER Carolina learned this, I hear the words, "she's such a Square rat..." EASILY one of the best lines I heard all day... :) I was almost immediately on facebook, and I told Alyssa that if Carolina had already added me as a friend, then that quote would have been a status, with both parties tagged to it... :) Alyssa's response: "Happy to know my reputation is still living..." You know why I worry about the girl being in Abilene now - San Marcos misses her... ;) (Bear with me and you'll get to see Alyssa's cat also)... By the way, Carolina has the SAME BIRTHDAY AS ME, so Happy Birthday Carolina! ;) Also, my friend Gabby REALLY IS a nominee to be Texas State's Homecoming Queen, so if you see the name Gabriela Contreras on the ballot this week, please vote for her. I wasn't sure if supporting Gabby here in the blog (or on facebook or twitter) was within the rules, but she assured me, "Yes! You can promote me on billboards too if you can find any!" Seriously Texas State students, Gabriela Contreras - you'll be well-represented...
Is there a football game ANYWHERE in our future Coach? Yes... :) Thanks to James, who had some extra tickets because the rest of his family couldn't make it, I sat with my friends James and Zach here...
James answered my facebook pleas for a birthday ticket (and I still owe him huge), and I thoroughly enjoyed watching the game with him because he is a very knowledgeable football fan. When we saw that Kentucky was hanging with Bama early, I mentioned that the Wildcats had a "known-commodity" as a coach, and James knew that it was Mark Stoops. He also made a reference back to when Rich Brooks was the coach at Kentucky (I'd say that I'm not the only 100 year-old around, but I'm older than James, and by quite a bit)... :) Anyway, a lot of good football banter continued throughout the game (and James was sitting between Zach and I, so I didn't get to chat up Zach as much), and then there were the "pick sixes..." When our Bobcats were down 14-0 to Louisiana-Monroe, it was the result of A PAIR of interceptions that were returned for touchdowns, and for about SEVENTY yards each... The Cats chipped their way back into the game (a pair of field goals, great defense, numerous punts downed inside the Warhawks' 5 yard-line), and after a late touchdown and game-tying 2-point conversion, we drew a 15-yard penalty on the conversion. The result was kicking off from our own 20, a Warhawk return to midfield, and Louisiana-Monroe's offense scoring their only points of the night in the last minute to defeat the good guys 21-14.
As we drove away from Bobcat Stadium, the drizzle began... Incredibly the rain held off the whole day until the game was over. I don't know if you live in this area or if you follow the national weather scene, but Austin received so much rain late Saturday night and into Sunday morning that ACL was CANCELLED yesterday (that's a big deal)... When I was laying in bed watching football yesterday afternoon, the flash flood watch was in effect until 7:00 a.m. TODAY... Anyway, the plan was to meet up with James and Zach on the Square, but it's easy to understand how the rain and the 3 1/2 hour drive that James made just to get to San Marcos may have changed their plans. And a funny thing happened while I was waiting for their text... As I ran into some of my other friends and mentioned that it was going to be my birthday in about an hour, well..., in no particular order..., between seeing Cydney and Lenny and Carley and JM and Annon and Lauren and Stew and Nick and Raymond and Red and George and Mo..., well..., we'll just say that I had a "substantial number" of birthday drinks and shots... #substantial Oh, and this was after not having eaten since 1:00 p.m. at Bobcat Nation... Not getting down to Harper's in time to get a slice of pizza before they ran out was a huge tactical mistake on my part... :P
And THAT'S how I felt all day yesterday... ^^^^^^^^^^ BELIEVE ME when I tell you that I DID NOT have a beer in my hand (or paw) yesterday... I returned to Austin early Sunday morning, about 18 hours after I had left on Saturday morning, and I did not wake up until about noon yesterday. After waking up I stayed in bed for another SIX HOURS while watching the football games going "UGGGHHH..." Thanks everyone, I had a great birthday! ;)
"Then I proceeded to eat one slice shy of a WHOLE PIZZA before I slept..."
ReplyDeleteUmmm ... I guess that is okay if a birthday is involved. : o ) Obviously, we now know what motivates you.