Patrick Jones
Guest
Four Games in Three Days and a Buckeye Win!
Patrick Jones via our good friends at Buckeye Battle Cry
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Four games in three days, what a weekend!
As many of you know, I took a football trip for the ages last season when I was able to see three football games in one day. I never thought I could top seeing OSU/Navy, Maryland/James Madison, and Towson/Central Connecticut in one day last season but I was able to top that and then some last weekend.
When the 2015 football schedule came out, my friend Phil and I already knew we were heading to Blacksburg for the OSU/Va Tech game. As we started looking at other teams in the area’s schedules we quickly discovered that teams such as Pitt, WVU, and Marshall all played at home that weekend. Once the days and times for all games were released, the football Gods shone down on us and did the remarkable. Pitt would be taking on YSU at 1 on Saturday…..WVU would be taking on Georgia Southern at 7:30 that night making it feasible for us to get 2 games in on Saturday. The next great news came when the Marshall/Purdue game was announced to be a Sunday game. It was official….we would get in 4 games in, in 3 days. We did our best to find a local college in the area that might be playing on Sunday as well, but to no avail.
We got to Pittsburgh around 12:15 on Saturday and began the daunting task of trying to find a place to park. I’ve said or years, “whoever designed the city of Pittsburgh had to be high, cause you can’t get that drunk”. I hate that city…with a passion. Parking around the stadium was passes only and any public lot was 30.00. Yes, 30.00 to park for the Pitt/YSU game. As we got further away from Heinz Field, parking was still hard to come by but we lucked into free parking on the street about 20 min’s from the stadium. We’ll take it. Along the walk we were able to experience a little bit of the Pitt tailgate experience in a few lots. It was mostly kids and it was mostly drinking. I’m very surprised that with a program that has the tradition, albeit a while ago, that Pitt doesn’t take more pride in it’s program. They play in a pro stadium but they manage to turn it into as much of a college atmosphere as they could. It was probably 3/4 of the way full and the we’re pretty into the game. I had an Ohio State “15” shirt on and got several O-H’s and a ton “Zeke” and “EZ”‘s thrown my way throughout the day and the fans were very nice and cordial. We stayed till the end of the 3rd quarter and decided to get on our way to get to Morgantown to be able to check out campus and such.
Mountaineer Field
Georgia Southern vs West Virginia
We got to Morgantown around 5 and lucked into 10.00 parking about 20 mins from the field. We made our walk up to Mountaineer Field and the sea of blue and gold was kind of sickening when you equate it to TTUN’s color but Mountaineer fans definitely know how to tailgate. The stadium is a basic two deck affair that holds about 60,000. The tailgate’s were fabulous and large. You name it, they had it. However, the fans weren’t nice at all. WVU is the reason why alcohol shouldn’t be sold at college stadiums. This was the first and only time I was cursed at and told OSU sucks….in not so many words. The WVU fans were drunk and belligerent from the opening kick. We spent the entire first half dodging selfies from the 4 girls in front of us and WVU has a cheer or chant for 1st down, 3rd down, and 4th down. They also do this idiotic cheer to a scene from the Wolf of Wallstreet with Leonardo DiCaprio and Matthew McConaughey. I can’t make this up people. They pipe in the most ghetto music during the game instead of using their band and they have their student section in the upper deck of the opposing team. Odd. We ended up leaving at halftime, in part due to the fact that the WVU fans were beginning to fight themselves and were getting out of control and also in part that we had a three and a half hour drive. One of the cool things from the WVU games however was when the entire stadium sang Country Roads by John Denver. Very very cool. On to Huntington we were!
We got to Huntington around 2am and just desperately wanted some late night Taco Bell but only could find a 24 hour McDonalds, which was ok, BUT, they would only serve us quarter pounders, fish sandwiches, chicken nuggets, or fries. Ummmmm, ok. We settled on some chips and beef jerky from a gas station and headed off to bed. We got on campus around 1pm for the game and found a decent place to park. The campus is pretty small and quaint. It was a sea of green everywhere you could see. We found a guy who sold us his tickets at face value. Joan C Edwards stadium is very small, it holds about 38,000. It’s only one level but it was pretty loud. We sat in our seats and the guy in front of me immediately began talking to me (I once again had an OSU shirt on) about Cardale and JT. That turned into Urban which somehow led to Lebron. The guy actually ended up being from Hudson, OH which is only a few min’s north of where I live. At halftime we decided to go over and sit with the Purdue fans. They were pretty fun……until a few of them got kicked out for fighting each other. It’s been rough being a Purdue fan recently I guess. The game began and ended with pick 6’s by Marshall and Purdue carried on with the misery that was week 1 for the B1G. We got back to the room and just crashed and began to ready for the next day.
Joan C Edwards Field
Purdue vs. Marshall
We got on the road for Blacksburg around noon for the three hour drive. We got to Blacksburg and decided to take a driving tour around campus before we parked and got out. I’ve been to Blacksburg, VA several times in my life the campus is just breathtakingly gorgeous. We drove over to the drill field and low and behold found a free parking spot!! Every, EVERY single person we encountered were as nice as humanly possible. Every one would say to us, “welcome to Blacksburg, good luck tonight”.
We were welcomed in to tailgates, given free t-shirts, and asked to have pictures taken with. Virginia Tech fans are the class that all fans should be judged by and the fan base that all fans should want to be like.
Virginia Tech fans were and are the nicest fans ever!!
We walked around the stadium a bit and stumbled on the Buckeyes walking into Lane Stadium which was very cool. I wanted to get into my seat as early as possible to take in the Lane Stadium atmosphere. For a stadium that only holds roughly 68,000 it is very very loud. The scenery around Lane is also breathtaking.
Breathtaking scenes around Lane Stadium
The fans in our section couldn’t have been nicer. We had OSU fans from Columbus and some Va Tech fans in front of us and it was like we had known each other for years. We were able to take advantage of the great back drop to get an O-H-I-O pic with the field the back ground. We grabbed several of those pics around Lane Stadium.
O-H-I-O with our new friends from Columbus
O-H-I-O at Lane Stadium
One of the things I couldn’t wait for on this trip was to see the pregame and the Enter Sandman entrance and it DID NOT DISAPPOINT. WOW is all I can say. It was way louder than any OSU game entrance I’ve ever been to and the place was literally shaking when the fans and students began jumping.
As the game started and the Bucks jumped out to a 14-0 lead there seemed to be a confidence amongst the OSU fans around us but I quickly reminded Phil, how many times did this team get up 14-0 last season and let a team back in…….and let the Hokies back in they did. When Va Tech scored to make it 17-14 that place was rocking like no other. Buckeye fans were on edge and Hokie fans were loving life. Then it happened…..one hit to Michael Brewer and the news that he was out with a collar bone injury literally killed the enthusiasm of the Hokie faithful. OSU went on to put the game away but the spirit never left the Hokie fans. On the way back to the car many Hokie fans congratulated us and told us great game, once again, all class. Amazingly it took us all but 10 minuets to get out of Blacksburg and onto the highway back home.
All in all, this experience was one of my top two or three weekends of all time. Four football games in three days was amazing topped off by a great Buckeyes win. We’ve already begun looking ahead to next year to see what kind of trip we can come up with but I don’t think it will ever top this.
The post Four Games in Three Days and a Buckeye Win! appeared first on The Buckeye Battle Cry: Ohio State News and Commentary.
Continue reading...
Patrick Jones via our good friends at Buckeye Battle Cry
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Four games in three days, what a weekend!
As many of you know, I took a football trip for the ages last season when I was able to see three football games in one day. I never thought I could top seeing OSU/Navy, Maryland/James Madison, and Towson/Central Connecticut in one day last season but I was able to top that and then some last weekend.
When the 2015 football schedule came out, my friend Phil and I already knew we were heading to Blacksburg for the OSU/Va Tech game. As we started looking at other teams in the area’s schedules we quickly discovered that teams such as Pitt, WVU, and Marshall all played at home that weekend. Once the days and times for all games were released, the football Gods shone down on us and did the remarkable. Pitt would be taking on YSU at 1 on Saturday…..WVU would be taking on Georgia Southern at 7:30 that night making it feasible for us to get 2 games in on Saturday. The next great news came when the Marshall/Purdue game was announced to be a Sunday game. It was official….we would get in 4 games in, in 3 days. We did our best to find a local college in the area that might be playing on Sunday as well, but to no avail.
We got to Pittsburgh around 12:15 on Saturday and began the daunting task of trying to find a place to park. I’ve said or years, “whoever designed the city of Pittsburgh had to be high, cause you can’t get that drunk”. I hate that city…with a passion. Parking around the stadium was passes only and any public lot was 30.00. Yes, 30.00 to park for the Pitt/YSU game. As we got further away from Heinz Field, parking was still hard to come by but we lucked into free parking on the street about 20 min’s from the stadium. We’ll take it. Along the walk we were able to experience a little bit of the Pitt tailgate experience in a few lots. It was mostly kids and it was mostly drinking. I’m very surprised that with a program that has the tradition, albeit a while ago, that Pitt doesn’t take more pride in it’s program. They play in a pro stadium but they manage to turn it into as much of a college atmosphere as they could. It was probably 3/4 of the way full and the we’re pretty into the game. I had an Ohio State “15” shirt on and got several O-H’s and a ton “Zeke” and “EZ”‘s thrown my way throughout the day and the fans were very nice and cordial. We stayed till the end of the 3rd quarter and decided to get on our way to get to Morgantown to be able to check out campus and such.
Mountaineer Field
Georgia Southern vs West Virginia
We got to Morgantown around 5 and lucked into 10.00 parking about 20 mins from the field. We made our walk up to Mountaineer Field and the sea of blue and gold was kind of sickening when you equate it to TTUN’s color but Mountaineer fans definitely know how to tailgate. The stadium is a basic two deck affair that holds about 60,000. The tailgate’s were fabulous and large. You name it, they had it. However, the fans weren’t nice at all. WVU is the reason why alcohol shouldn’t be sold at college stadiums. This was the first and only time I was cursed at and told OSU sucks….in not so many words. The WVU fans were drunk and belligerent from the opening kick. We spent the entire first half dodging selfies from the 4 girls in front of us and WVU has a cheer or chant for 1st down, 3rd down, and 4th down. They also do this idiotic cheer to a scene from the Wolf of Wallstreet with Leonardo DiCaprio and Matthew McConaughey. I can’t make this up people. They pipe in the most ghetto music during the game instead of using their band and they have their student section in the upper deck of the opposing team. Odd. We ended up leaving at halftime, in part due to the fact that the WVU fans were beginning to fight themselves and were getting out of control and also in part that we had a three and a half hour drive. One of the cool things from the WVU games however was when the entire stadium sang Country Roads by John Denver. Very very cool. On to Huntington we were!
We got to Huntington around 2am and just desperately wanted some late night Taco Bell but only could find a 24 hour McDonalds, which was ok, BUT, they would only serve us quarter pounders, fish sandwiches, chicken nuggets, or fries. Ummmmm, ok. We settled on some chips and beef jerky from a gas station and headed off to bed. We got on campus around 1pm for the game and found a decent place to park. The campus is pretty small and quaint. It was a sea of green everywhere you could see. We found a guy who sold us his tickets at face value. Joan C Edwards stadium is very small, it holds about 38,000. It’s only one level but it was pretty loud. We sat in our seats and the guy in front of me immediately began talking to me (I once again had an OSU shirt on) about Cardale and JT. That turned into Urban which somehow led to Lebron. The guy actually ended up being from Hudson, OH which is only a few min’s north of where I live. At halftime we decided to go over and sit with the Purdue fans. They were pretty fun……until a few of them got kicked out for fighting each other. It’s been rough being a Purdue fan recently I guess. The game began and ended with pick 6’s by Marshall and Purdue carried on with the misery that was week 1 for the B1G. We got back to the room and just crashed and began to ready for the next day.
Joan C Edwards Field
Purdue vs. Marshall
We got on the road for Blacksburg around noon for the three hour drive. We got to Blacksburg and decided to take a driving tour around campus before we parked and got out. I’ve been to Blacksburg, VA several times in my life the campus is just breathtakingly gorgeous. We drove over to the drill field and low and behold found a free parking spot!! Every, EVERY single person we encountered were as nice as humanly possible. Every one would say to us, “welcome to Blacksburg, good luck tonight”.
We were welcomed in to tailgates, given free t-shirts, and asked to have pictures taken with. Virginia Tech fans are the class that all fans should be judged by and the fan base that all fans should want to be like.
Virginia Tech fans were and are the nicest fans ever!!
We walked around the stadium a bit and stumbled on the Buckeyes walking into Lane Stadium which was very cool. I wanted to get into my seat as early as possible to take in the Lane Stadium atmosphere. For a stadium that only holds roughly 68,000 it is very very loud. The scenery around Lane is also breathtaking.
Breathtaking scenes around Lane Stadium
The fans in our section couldn’t have been nicer. We had OSU fans from Columbus and some Va Tech fans in front of us and it was like we had known each other for years. We were able to take advantage of the great back drop to get an O-H-I-O pic with the field the back ground. We grabbed several of those pics around Lane Stadium.
O-H-I-O with our new friends from Columbus
O-H-I-O at Lane Stadium
One of the things I couldn’t wait for on this trip was to see the pregame and the Enter Sandman entrance and it DID NOT DISAPPOINT. WOW is all I can say. It was way louder than any OSU game entrance I’ve ever been to and the place was literally shaking when the fans and students began jumping.
As the game started and the Bucks jumped out to a 14-0 lead there seemed to be a confidence amongst the OSU fans around us but I quickly reminded Phil, how many times did this team get up 14-0 last season and let a team back in…….and let the Hokies back in they did. When Va Tech scored to make it 17-14 that place was rocking like no other. Buckeye fans were on edge and Hokie fans were loving life. Then it happened…..one hit to Michael Brewer and the news that he was out with a collar bone injury literally killed the enthusiasm of the Hokie faithful. OSU went on to put the game away but the spirit never left the Hokie fans. On the way back to the car many Hokie fans congratulated us and told us great game, once again, all class. Amazingly it took us all but 10 minuets to get out of Blacksburg and onto the highway back home.
All in all, this experience was one of my top two or three weekends of all time. Four football games in three days was amazing topped off by a great Buckeyes win. We’ve already begun looking ahead to next year to see what kind of trip we can come up with but I don’t think it will ever top this.
The post Four Games in Three Days and a Buckeye Win! appeared first on The Buckeye Battle Cry: Ohio State News and Commentary.
Continue reading...