Stadium Dogs Were Served

Well, it's been a long and exciting day for me today (Thursday). This morning, I got up at my normal time, but instead of getting ready for work, I got ready for a football game. Madison Academy played in the state finals in Tuscaloosa and my dad and I headed south about 7:15 this morning to go watch the game.
We first made our obligatory stop at the Hardees at the Decatur exit. Anytime we head south in the early morning hours, we stop at the same Hardees and this time I was prepared with some coupons. After getting some breakfast we got back on the road and made really good time as we missed the Birmingham rush hour and there were no accidents along the way.

We took the Coaling exit to get to Tuscaloosa; I think I’ve mentioned before that this is the exit I used in college and like to use to this day because it takes an indirect route into the city and therefore you miss all the crazy traffic on McFarland Boulevard. When Justin and I went to Tuscaloosa in May, we took this exit and were not able to get through because the roads were still blocked from all the tornado debris. Now, seven months later, most of the debris is gone, but the landscape along the road is practically bare.

This was my dad’s first trip to Tuscaloosa since the tornado and he was amazed and the vast emptiness that the tornado left behind and said he was glad to have not seen it when it was full of debris. After driving through Alberta City and down 15th street, we then had the challenge of making it over to the stadium and finding a place to park. Since classes are still in session, there are student cars on campus and finding a spot to park was not as easy as one might expect. The Baptist church was charging $20 to park in their lot; but finally we found a spot and didn’t have to pay anything, which was our goal in a parking spot.

We made our way to the stadium and headed towards the coach statues as my dad also has not seen the Nick Saban statue and wanted to take a look at it. As we were walking towards it, in a moment Jackie probably wishes she had on video, I somehow missed a step off the sidewalk and fell over, landing on my knees and hands which were subsequently scraped up. There was a cop sitting in the car right where I fell and he got out and asked if I was okay. My dad asked too and asked again after I just sat there for a minute. My eyes teared up and I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. I chose laughing. It’s typically the best medicine.

Outside the stadium, folks were passing out free megaphones and pens and even Elsie the Bordon Cow was there serving up some samples of chocolate milk and eggnog and passing out free cups and notepads. I don’t even think we have Bordon dairy products in Huntsville, do we? If so, I don’t know where they are sold.

Elsie!

My dad and Elsie

My dad had got out tickets online so we made our way inside and found a seat on the Madison Academy side and in the sun which kept us warm. Before the game got started, I made a concession stand run. I saw a lot of people eating stadium dogs and I just couldn’t hold out any longer! The dog was good, but not up to par as the bun was old and my guess is it was left over from the last home Bama game two weeks ago.

Stadium Dog!

MA got off to a good start and was up 7-0 and the game was 7-7 at the half. At the half, I got another stadium dog from a different stand hoping I would have better luck with the bun – I was wrong; but, at least I got one more stadium dog for 2011. MA went up 14-7 in the second half and then late in the last quarter, Handley scored. They went for two but didn’t make it and it looked like MA had the championship in the bag – for all of about five seconds. Handley kicked the onside kick and recovered it, drove the ball down and scored, making it 20-14. MA had 44 seconds to drive the ball down the field, which is what they did. With five seconds left, from less than 20 yards a pass was thrown to the end zone and caught… but the receiver was out of bounds and the game came to an end. It was definitely a game of ups and downs. One of the best games I have seen in a long while, if only MA had won it would have been perfect!

My nervous dad!

After the game, I was handed the keys for driving and thanks to my mad knowledge of the campus, we were able to avoid all the traffic on University Drive, which was crazy. Actually, they have a built a ton of buildings since I was in school there and I did take one wrong turn where there was once a road that went down to the river but now is just a turnabout; but I got us out of town after that one mishap and we got on the road a lot quicker than other folks, I would venture to say.

We made a stop at The Fish Market in Birmingham which is one of our favorite places to eat. The food was just as wonderful as expected. Then we got a dozen Dunkin’ Donuts, 2 for me and 20 for my parents because Deb loves some donuts, don’tcha Deb?

We made it to my house at about 5:30 and our day of adventure came to an end. It was a fun and exciting day. Despite the loss, we had a great time. Here’s to a championship for MA in 2012.