Keely (sister), Amy (sister-in-law), Damon (brother), David and I at the game!
We got to the Rose Bowl around 3 p.m. after getting our rental car, checking into the hotel, and scarfing down some subway sandwiches in the car. Parking was $100! but the stadium was really neat. There is no upper level so there isn't a bad seat in the house. No poles in front of your view (Cotton Bowl, Dallas, 1991) or anything like that. We sat near the borderline of Texas and Alabama fans. However, there were WAY more Texas fans than Alabama fans there at the game. We had a much bigger crowd - probably 2/3 of the people were wearing Orange. They had pre-game stuff going on and we saw the teams warm up. We could see the GameDay set up and Lee Corso put on the Longhorn head of Bevo meaning he was picking us to win.
The excitement was palpable. Lots of nerves and waiting for the game to begin. Once it did, Texas immediately showed their strength and we were watching a team who was ready to win. I felt it - I felt what it was like to believe your team is going to win the national championship. And then the unthinkable happened and just like that, a whole different ballgame.
I can definitely say it wasn't the game that we went there to see. Colt McCoy was supposed to play in that game. He worked so hard to get us there and it's his senior year and everything comes crashing down. It was heartbreaking really. Hence, most of the second quarter, half time and most of the 3rd quarter, my sister and I pondered why God would do this to Colt (her question, not mine) when he is such a faithful young man, etc. (I came to the conclusion that someone on Alabama's team needed this win more for his life than Colt did for his and taking Colt out was the only way for them to beat us and Colt will do something even better one day - but that topic is a whole other conversation). :)
BUT as bad as things began to look, we rallied back with a true freshman quarterback. It was unreal. When we scored the second touchdown and it was 24/21 with minutes to go in the game, I have to tell you that was the moment that made it all worth it to me. As we saw Texas score, me, my sister and my brother turned towards each other, screamed at the top of our lungs, had tears in our eyes, put our arms around each other (the three of us) and jumped up and down with such excitement and hope. There will be many things I remember about the whole experience but that image will always stick in my mind. It goes back to being 14 years old and attending my first UT-atm game with my 20 year old brother who was attending The University of Texas. He was older than us and wanted to take us to that game. From then on, I knew I wanted to be a longhorn just like him. Almost 20 years later, the three of us and 2 of our spouses are at the national championship game. I felt like I had won no matter what the score was.
Needless to say, the game didn't turn out like we had expected. Not one bit. But we were glad to be there. "Proud to be a longhorn," as my brother says.
Indeed, some people say, "it's just a game." But to me it's much more than that. :)
5 comments:
While we were watching we were thinking of you guys. Inspite of the loss I bet it was still an awesome experience.
So glad you were able to go!! That made me tear up, reading about the 3 of you siblings being together and emotional.
Go Horns. It will always be a what-if game, won't it? Glad you got to go, and what great memories!
You know what is great...I remember you talking about going to that first game with Damon. It was several years after the game that we met..but I remember it! I watched the game and thought of you often! It was really fun! ( we do not watch football around here)
I am glad you were able to have such a memorable time..regardless of the loss. Sometimes the experience is enough!
Heartbreaking is right...but I loved the interview that Colt had after the game. I'm not even a die hard fan, but that game was so hard to watch. I thought of you while watching. I'm glad you had a great time!
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