Eric15
Living Legend
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- Aug 28, 2011
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I arrived in Atlanta around 8 pm on Friday evening, and met my four buddies at Bucket Shop Cafe in the Lenox area. Unseasonably cool/comfortable night. We sat outside and watched the Auburn/Baylor game. It was an Auburn fan watch party -- something we will laugh about for many years to come is my friend accidentally unplugging the main outdoor TV with his leg that everyone was watching. It took about 10 minutes to reload which felt like an hour in real time. Well you know what, you should have went for the win in 1987.
Saturday morning we Ubered to the stadium around 9:30 am and waited to enter at 10 am. Mercedes-Benz Stadium is an incredible venue. Huge concourses, tons of food/drink options, lots of natural light entering the building. I would be happy to go back to see a game there. We saw Umari Hatchers parents, Rickie Collins parents, Joe the Program Guy, and Mike Tirico. The crowd differential was massive. I'm guessing about 45-50k Vol fans, 6-7k Cuse fans, and 10k empty seats. Whenever see saw SU fans we felt like we were in the movie 300 and had to stick together. Other than one TN college girl who had a voice more annoying than Gilbert Gottfried's, I found all the Tennessee fans to be very nice (probably because they weren't threatened by us). Talked to one guy who went to our 1998 game, and said he really enjoyed his experience in Upstate NY and would love to play there again. Tim Tebow led the crowd in a pre-game prayer. During the game, SU and Vol fans went back and forth booing the others for "faking injuries" not realizing the irony that it was like 50/50. I don't really have an explanation for it.
Getting out the stadium was a nightmare. We walked about a mile to find a place to get an Uber, and found ourselves immersed in a sea of costume-clad nerds heading to "DragonCon." It was absolute gridlock in downtown Atlanta. I made a "Richard Jewell didn't even have it this bad" joke and immediately regretted it.
After the game, we went to a dive bar called Benchwarmers to watch Bama/FSU, and then back to Bucket Shop cafe to watch LSU/Clemson.
Flight back to BWI was entertaining. The flight attendant during the security briefing goes, "We appreciate you flying with us at Southwest, cause we know y'all can't afford more expensive airlines and that's why you with us." The entire plane erupted in laughter.
Can't wait to drive 12 hours round trip for the UConn game next weekend. As people in the Mafia say, this is the life I've chosen.
Saturday morning we Ubered to the stadium around 9:30 am and waited to enter at 10 am. Mercedes-Benz Stadium is an incredible venue. Huge concourses, tons of food/drink options, lots of natural light entering the building. I would be happy to go back to see a game there. We saw Umari Hatchers parents, Rickie Collins parents, Joe the Program Guy, and Mike Tirico. The crowd differential was massive. I'm guessing about 45-50k Vol fans, 6-7k Cuse fans, and 10k empty seats. Whenever see saw SU fans we felt like we were in the movie 300 and had to stick together. Other than one TN college girl who had a voice more annoying than Gilbert Gottfried's, I found all the Tennessee fans to be very nice (probably because they weren't threatened by us). Talked to one guy who went to our 1998 game, and said he really enjoyed his experience in Upstate NY and would love to play there again. Tim Tebow led the crowd in a pre-game prayer. During the game, SU and Vol fans went back and forth booing the others for "faking injuries" not realizing the irony that it was like 50/50. I don't really have an explanation for it.
Getting out the stadium was a nightmare. We walked about a mile to find a place to get an Uber, and found ourselves immersed in a sea of costume-clad nerds heading to "DragonCon." It was absolute gridlock in downtown Atlanta. I made a "Richard Jewell didn't even have it this bad" joke and immediately regretted it.
After the game, we went to a dive bar called Benchwarmers to watch Bama/FSU, and then back to Bucket Shop cafe to watch LSU/Clemson.
Flight back to BWI was entertaining. The flight attendant during the security briefing goes, "We appreciate you flying with us at Southwest, cause we know y'all can't afford more expensive airlines and that's why you with us." The entire plane erupted in laughter.
Can't wait to drive 12 hours round trip for the UConn game next weekend. As people in the Mafia say, this is the life I've chosen.
