Let's go Cotton Bowl-ing

Oh, college football, how do I love thee...let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height of...well, I've lost a little love there due to the outcome of the 73rd and final Cotton Bowl Classic, but I do enjoy those fall Saturdays that are filled with Mike Leach's ridiculous aerial displays and crushing tackles (ok, so the crushing tackles aren't typically courtesy of the Red Raiders, however...we still need to work on that defense). In the spirit of sending out another season in style, Diana (for those of you unfamiliar - best friend from college, love her to death in spite of liberal political leanings - check her out at http://accountantsarecool.blogspot.com/) and I bit the bullet for Cotton Bowl tickets so we could cheer on our Red Raiders live and in person. Even though our team didn't exactly live up to expectations, we did enjoy our first bowl game attendance. A few comments/observations for your edification/amusement:

1) Public transportation in Dallas does work. I don't know if it works on a regular, day-to-day basis, but when we took a chance and opted for the DART shuttle bus service between the Pearl Street station and a Fair Park parking lot, we were incredibly impressed with DART's efficiency. Minimal wait time, quick trip through the ghetto to and from downtown...I was pleasantly surprised. No sitting in traffic for indeterminate amounts of time!

2) Appropriate gameday attire varies by school. When I tried to semi-discreetly capture the wardrobe of assorted Ole Miss fans, my camera angles unfortunately didn't quite cooperate. Let me just say that in my book, flats and a t-shirt knock heels and a tight dress out of the park any day. The males may disagree...but I was comfortable.

3) Texas weather is, was, and always will be unpredictable and often unseasonable. Seats on the sunny side of the stadium on January 2nd led to several comments of "umm...it's hot!" and "where's that breeze?" Please see demonstrated shots of shade-seeking:

Diana seeks shade from her own hand...

...and from those around us. Thanks, tall-ish frat boys!

4) Beverage sales can be unpredictable. In the spirit of all that is festive and college-oriented, Diana and I figured that we would need to throw back a beer before entering the stadium, so we grabbed the overpriced generic lights in plastic bottles and made a circle around the stadium to soak up some gameday atmosphere before heading to our seats. Little did we know that during our struggle to enter the stadium (please see #5), we could have been enjoying same said overpriced generic light beers FROM THE COMFORT OF OUR OWN METAL BENCH SEATS! I was amazed...but as a side note, due to the draining effects of sunlight mentioned in #3, we stuck to water for the duration of the game.

5) Logistics fascinate me. Especially when the logistics concern the entry of 88,175 fans into a behemoth concrete structure that typically facilitates entry through ten, count 'em, TEN, gates. Why they decided to drive these fans through a total of TWO gates for the largest Cotton Bowl crowd in history remains a mystery to me. See large crowd below:

We made kickoff, but only because it happened a little bit later than we thought it would. Get with the program, Cotton Bowl organizers!

All in all, would have enjoyed a Red Raider victory a little bit more, but I'm glad we had the chance to take in the game. Wreck 'em, Tech...next season! Umm...maybe.

Pre-game...and yes, that's coffee in my hand to get me going, courtesy of my wonderful friend. I don't do mornings particularly well.

Get your guns up!