From Seeing the Sports: Frozen Fenway: BC v. BU

It was the perfect setting.  20 degrees, slight wind, falling snow and college hockey.  An experience of a lifetime, BC v. BU, the greatest rivalry in college hockey, in one of the greatest, most historic sports venues in American history.  From the opening trip to The Cask 'N Flagon (rated the #2 Sports Bar in America according to ESPN), our stop to Game On, the game, and our final bar hop the gameday experience was a once in a lifetime event.

To quote ESPN: With any luck, it won't be the last "show on ice" played at Fenway Park, and with any luck, I'll be there again.   

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4819957

From Seeing the Sports: Game of the Year: Oregon @ Arizona

Coming from Boston, 77 and sunny couldn't have been more exciting.  That was the exact weather in Arizona when I arrived on Friday afternoon to visit my brother and see the Arizona Wildcats take on the Oregon Ducks in one of the biggest football games in Wildcats history.  Upon arrival the anticipation of the game was seen throughout.  Students were donning their "Duck Hunter" and "Zona Zoo" shirts and talking about the game.  The College Gameday Crew was set up and doing their traditional Friday afternoon show, and nothing else seemed to be important.  I enjoyed the experience, and the campus.  I saw the gameday site and the bookstore to look for Arizona stuff.. 

The rest of my day was a bunch of relaxing.  I went to my brother's place after a little pizza at a popular joint No Anchovies.  Living in Boston, I'm not used to being able to sit outside and watch Sportscenter on a Friday afternoon so that was a nice bonus.  We then went to my brothers place to hang, grabbed some In-N-Out for dinner and a Keg for the night.  Then we hung out and got ready for the festivities.

In order to introduce me to all of his buddies, my brother had a party at his place to see the guys and girls and enjoy what Arizona had to offer.  I had a great time and it felt awesome to fell like a college kid again with keg stands, beer pong, and shots of cheap alcohol.  The night ended earlier than probably expected, which worked out well because we had to get ready for College Gameday the next day.

On the East Coast, Gameday is at 10am, in Arizona its 8.  Those two hours make a difference.  After slowly getting out of bed at 7:30, and slowly walking over to the Mall, the site of Gameday, I came upon a sea of people.  The scene was wild as students had been there since 4am and others were crowding to try to get on television  The scene was wild with excitement as cheers were blasted when special guest Amanda Beard picked Arizona and boos when Lee Corso picked Oregon.  After that, I went to a sports bar to watch my Boston College Eagles get smoked by North Carolina, and enjoy a few beers and chicken wings.

The rest of the day was dedicated to Arizona football tailgating, house parties and an early 1 hour entry just to be allowed into the Zona Zoo, the student section that was completely filled up by the 45 minute mark with anticipation. And these fans stayed loud the WHOLE game.  45 minutes before 30 minutes, 10 minutes, down 10-0 early, up 24-14 late and even the play before (and some time after) they lost 44-41 in 2OT.  The game will be remembered for the Arizona fans that began to storm a little too early (up 7 with a minute plus left) or the 4th and 7 play hit by Oregon with 30 seconds left.  I will remember it for the memorable back and forth performance.  The big plays by both sides including a 75 yard touchdown pass for Arizona to go up 31-24, or the Oregon field goal that somehow hit the bar and went in.  I'll remember the crowd, staying lowd and rowdy for four hours, and the anger the fans in the crowd showed to those that began to storm.  It was maybe the most wild game I had ever seen live or on TV and I will remember it forever.   

My weekend ended as it started.  A trip to No Anchovies, watching 4 games on 6 Tv's, sitting outside enjoying the beautiful Arizona weather.  The whole weekend was amazing and one I will remember forever.  Because of the time I spent with my brother, my dad and the Arizona community.

My Trips - From Seeing the Sports - The Weather Held Up! NC State @ Boston College

From My Personal Travel Blog - Seeing The Sports
http://seeingthesports.blogspot.com/2009/10/weather-held-u.html

It rained Friday and snowed Sunday, but Saturday afternoon was absolutely perfect.  Low 50s and sunny - perfect weather to throw on a Northface and hit up the tailgate spots, and boy did we take advantage.  BC tailgates unfortunately don’t start until 3 hours pregame, so a 3:30 game means that Shea Field (the most popular tailgate spot) didn't open until 12:30.  To deal with this, we first went to a friends place down the street to start off with his families famous breakfast sandwich and an ice cold bloody mary.

After that, at 12:30, we took the truck (packed with our grill, table, chairs, speakers, new flagpole and tent and of course plenty of sausages, beer, Champaign and bloody mary’s) and headed to Shea Field.  We arrived to Shea Field ready to party and had the perfect tailgate.  Our spot was filled with a packed crowd, good music, great food, tasty cheap beer and mixed drinks, and great company.  A few of our buddies (whose names I will not mention) barely made it to the game as the shotgunning, strong drinks and shots were just too much for them to handle - Who says that 3 hours isnt enough!

Game was as fun as a 52-20 game could be.  Pure domination, fun crowd (until the cold snuck in) and plenty of celebrations.  At the 7 minute mark of the 3^rd quarter, however, BC went up 38-13 and it was time to call it quits in order to save our hands, feet and rest of our body.  We packed up the group and headed over to Mary Anne’s, the most popular BC dive bar and indulged in some Busch Light bottles and Notre Dame – USC football. 

This led perfectly into the post game tailgate, where we met up, saw those that stayed the whole game, those that left early, and even met up with those that didn’t go at all.  At this spot we finished up the beers and food before heading out and passing out early.

While nothing amazing for the first trip of the Blog, a solid journey overall.  A day of awesome food, great football, a fun time with friends and plenty of drinking.