Archives for 2007

This past Friday night was the BBOC Beat Bama pep rally. It’s always a big event since I had been involved. We even have TV coverage from Knoxville. Cameras were there in 2003, 2005 and again this year. We’ve had UT cheerleaders and Smokey twice. It was going to be another 200+ crowd based on the RSVP’s I was monitoring. We get out of town guests from all places that want to attend the pep rally. So I found myself drawn to help out once again. I knew I would be handling registration, money collecting or name tags – would be mostly set up. Seems my niche was found for me in ticket collecting. At the last large event like this I suggested we funnel people through one door, only allowing ticket holders inside for food and to hear the guest speaker. I was troll everyone had to get past and I was asked to do that once again. I offered a few suggestion hear and there – including starting the buffet line 45 minutes earlier than “planned” – it was a good thing they did, people were still getting plates as the guest speaker started.

I also went with a hidden agenda – trying to find tickets for the game. I was willing to pay face value for them. I made mention to one person that I was looking. Things got busy and I never had time to pursue it anymore. Another long time member came up to me and asked if ticket became available, would I go? I said yes, of course. Again I got busy and never thought anymore about it. I had been on my feet since 3:30PM working and then started collecting tickets around 5:15PM. I was finally able to get plates for Jeff and myself around 7:30PM. I told the girls working the line that when they see me, they are almost finished for the night. The tables reserved for the members working that night had been given to the cheerleaders. It was pretty much standing room only with about a dozen tables outside. I told Jeff to guard the table. I don’t mind being on my feet while I’m working, all I have ever asked for was a place to sit down when I done. And each year I wind up losing the place I thought I had.

So we sat in an old booth that had been removed from inside during remodeling but had not yet been carried off. While we were eating, the member who asked me if tickets became available would I go, came up up to us and slipped something in my hand – it was 2 tickets to the game. We were stunned and speechless. While we were cleaning up I ask about paying for them – I was told that we had earned them through all of our hard work. Again, both Jeff and I were speechless.

But this is not where the story end. Much of “the rest of the story” may not make sense if you don’t understand college football rivalries or how seriously Alabama and Tennessee fans take their college football. Most Alabama fans went to the University much less have a college education – they just grew up around it. Some “fans” don’t even understand football. On a tangent (since I fall into the category of fan who didn’t attend UT, but does have a college education ironically from a university in Alabama) I would love to know what the number of fan graduate to fan is for both schools.

On Saturday, we were up at the crack of dawn, gassing up and on the way to Tuscaloosa by 7:15AM for a 11:30AM kick-off. Since we were so early leaving we missed the bottle neck of traffic leaving Birmingham. The University had made some improvements to game day and clearly marked a rural road route which took us off the interstate. We found our way to a designated parking area, parked and started walking to where all the tailgating activities where. It’s not so much like tailgating more like tentgating – hundreds upon hundreds of pop-up canopy type tents with matching folding chairs. TV’s with satellite dishes, food, drink and fans. All pretty good natured before the game. We found the official UT Alumni tailgate party. We skipped the breakfast since we grabbed chicken biscuits before we hit the road. We were just trying to kill time – if I recall correctly it was barely 9AM. Maybe I should start using the time stamp on my camera. We stayed for the pep band and the cheerleaders. We noticed that the group of cheerleaders this morning was not the same group from Friday night, very curious. After all that finished up we worked our way towards the stadium, walking around the entire outside trying to kill time. We still had over 90 minutes before kick off.

We entered the stadium with about an hour to go. Our seats were in the new upper deck expansion. The visitor always get the nose-bleed seats. Add some injury to the insult they faced into the sun for the entire time we were their. I remember sunscreen for Talladega. I remember sunscreen for the MSU-TN game. The sunscreen was still in the truck from that game. I forgot to grab it for this game. Jeff was wearing shorts, his knees were bright red. I had on jeans and could feel my legs cooking (I confirmed the burn when we got home). By half-time I was feeling the heat and starting to get sick. Jeff managed to make his way down (he had to go a second time because it was just so crowded that he couldn’t move across the concourse) and bring back 3 bottles of water. I felt better after getting water back into me but my forearms were very burnt.

The game was a disaster – TN never lead at any point in the game. What I saw, from where I was, makes me want to start a new blog “The musings of a wannabe sports psychologist” but that’s another digression. We held out until the 4th quarter – it was time to leave like so many other TN fans. We still had to make our way through the gauntlet of obnoxious AL fans. It was along walk back to the truck and we tried to be nice. I was in the middle of a “Fire Fulmer” conversation as we were walking around an old TN fan – as we passed I heard him give me an “amen” to my comments.

We should have taken all the TN stuff off before we headed out – we got flipped off a couple of times. The back road had more traffic but it was still better than the interstate route and the taunts we would have had to endure there. We still have to make it through the comments we will get Monday morning at work – most of them will not be very “Christian-like”.

So for all my hard work, I got to witness an embarrassing loss by TN to AL and a bad sunburn.

I had to have a colonoscopy on Monday due some symptoms that I am 95% sure are a result of scar tissue from my hysterectomy. The colonoscopy results were as I expected – nothing wrong inside my colon.

The “prep” leading up to the test was an ordeal in itself. I started the clear liquid diet Sunday morning. I had made a peach flavored Jello Jigglers to “chew” on. I had diet ginger ale and some regular lemon-lime soda. I lived on banana popsicles – they were my main staple for the day. I had a cup of the WalMart brand chicken broth – never ever buy that crap. It was awful. Luckily, I had also bought Wyler’s chicken bouillon – I only made one cup of it. Again, the banana popsicles got me through the day.

At 4PM I had to drink the most gawd awful, vile tasting crap I have ever encountered – Fleet Phospho-soda. When I went through this prep before, the first time I had to use Magnesium Citrate and the second time it was a gallon of Golytely but then neither time did someone have to go inside my colon. The first 1.5 ounce worked within 15 minutes and continued to work for the next two hours. It worked so well I had to stay in the bathroom. I wound up throwing big thick beach towels on the floor with a pillow and used another towel as a blanket. Just when the nausea from the first round had gone away and I started feeling semi-human again, it was time for round two. I had to hold my nose and chug the devil’s brew down. It was so awful, it made me cry. It immediately upset my stomach. I went back to laying on the floor. It didn’t help, I thought maybe if I sat up the solution from hell would work it’s way out of my system just a little quicker. It wanted out alright, but not in the direction it was supposed to go. Good thing I had a bucket in the bathroom with me – none of it stayed down. Poor Jeff was out side the bathroom door. I know he felt so helpless, him just being out there was all the moral support I needed.

I’m not sure what time it was when I felt safe enough to head out of the bathroom and lay on the bed. Jeff cut open a plastic garbage bag to lay on the bed for me. I spread my two big towels over it and tried to get some sleep.

The next morning I was a little worried that because I hadn’t consumed the full 3 ounces of Satan’s bile I might not be able to have the colonoscopy. But then I still had the final stage of the “prep” to complete – the enema. Enough said.

We headed to the hospital for the test. I get to the hospital registration in plenty of time, but they are running behind. On the good side that meant less time waiting at the G.I. Lab. The nurse in the G.I. Lab who did the I.V was good, no bruising afterwards. Whoever came up the warm blanket idea needs to win the Noble Peace Prize. It is the most comforting thing I have ever encountered in a hospital setting. The time for the procedure had come, I was walked back to the exam room. After getting hooked up to all the monitors, the nurse said because of my low blood pressure (it was down to 90 over 45) she was going to have to lower my head because the meds she was about to give would lower it even more. I remember her asking me to unbend my arm so the meds could flow, the other assistant asking me to scoot back a bit and then walking up in recovery. The Demerol and Versed worked very well – I wish there was something similar for the prep portion.

The good news is that I won’t have to have another colonoscopy for 10 years.

We drove to Starkville, Mississippi to watch the Tennessee – Mississippi State game on Saturday. The ride over wasn’t bad at all. We noticed more TN fans along the way than we did MSU fans and traffic was much lighter than it would have been in the game was in Knoxville. We passed an older couple with MSU magnets on their car as we were leaving Birmingham. They passed us later on down the road – it was a back and forth type thing. We didn’t think anything of it. We came up on the toll bridge over the Black Warrior River on the west side of Tuscaloosa with money in hand. When we got to the toll booth the lady told us the car in front of us had paid our toll and said to tell us we were flying the wrong colors. Then next time we saw them we all waved and smiled.

We found our way to the campus and attempted to follow the crowd to the designated parking area. It was bumper to bumper and actually worse than some of the parking we have encountered in Knoxville. When we first turned left onto the campus I noticed a couple walking from an area on the other side of the highway. So I suggested we get out of the backup and head back that way to see what was over there. Turns out it was FREE parking with free shuttle service. We were dropped off a short distance from the stadium. We wandered around for a few minutes and then headed to the stadium – we both were in need of food and a restroom. We found our way to our seats – they always seem to put the visitors in the nosebleed seats. At least there was a nice standing room/walk way at the very top. It was a beautiful sunny day. The stadium was probably the smallest Jeff had ever been to – seating about 53,000 (Neyland Stadium can seat 106,000) it wasn’t a sellout which made it a little more comfortable. We were at least surrounded by orange. Keep in mind MSU has that infamous cowbell and they LOVE to ring it despite the SEC band on artificial noise makers. Hey, its tradition and I like tradition. At least they were on the other side of the stadium.

Since we didn’t know where to catch the shuttle back to where we parked, we opted to walk. The distance was a touch further than the walk from where we park at to walk to Neyland Stadium. I noticed a couple of things; the campus was beautiful and clean and the people were friendly.

The drive home was a little different – it was bumper to bumper to the first exit past Starkville – it was the first major food and motel exit, so that was understandable. Once we got past there, things started rolling until we hit Columbus, MS where Alabama State troopers escorting the buses (and equipment trucks) carrying the University of Alabama Million Dollar Band blocked the road to let them on. Then of course, we had to deal with cars that were afraid to pass the troopers – they were going less than the posted speed limit and they were out of their jurisdiction.

We made it back to Pelham and decided to eat out. Jeff thought I might like a nice dinner before I had to start my clear liquid diet. Unfortunately, that was the second time we had poor service at that restaurant.

We made it home, tired from the trip and didn’t realize we had left our garage door open until one of our neighbor’s rang our doorbell at 12:45AM to let us know. It’s nice to know we live somewhere that neighbors still look out for you.

I needed a hat that said “I’m here for the science” when we went to the NASCAR race at Talladega. The whole experience was a combination of behavioral and physical sciences. The people watching in itself was worth the price of admission. It reminded me of attending a Tennessee – Alabama football game in Tuscaloosa. I do wish they would institute a shirt required policy, though. Most in attendance were Dale Earnhardt, Jr. fans – even the color of their hats and shirts were similar to those of Alabama fans. Many were only there to see Junior win, they started leaving after his car blew an engine. Seating was similar to that of a folding chair, except they were bolted down. At a football game, it’s bench type setting. Both venues have the same issue with “large” people really needing to purchase 2 seats – so when the little E fans started leaving seating became a little more comfortable.

Free parking was available in multiple locations around the track. I was pleasantly surprised with how well the traffic flowed in and out. From what I understand, this had been a real sore subject previous years. Trying to move 200,000 people in an orderly fashion is no small task. That’s more than double what we have experienced at Tennessee football games in Knoxville. A large portion were the overnighters – motor homes, travel trailer, tents – you name it. They came early and left late.

We opted to each carry a small iced down cooler with 2 bottles of water, 4 sodas, snacks and Lunchable type ham, cheese & crackers. This worked out very well. If there is a next time, I would freeze 2 bottles of water (one for each bag) and cut back the number of sodas to 2 each. I’d also opt to bring a larger cooler (that would remain in the truck) with additional ice and food for lunch and maybe dinner. I also carried earplugs and sunscreen – although I somehow missed a portion of my neck. Other bring-along items, if there is another trip – the fold up chairs and maybe a small gas grill. It truly is a social type event and would have been even more fun if my sister and her husband could have been there.

Like I said the sociology side of the event was a hoot – all the way down to the conspiracy theory as to why Junior’s car blew the engine. The physics of the race was fun too, the aerodynamics of drafting, the decibel levels, the speed – yeah, who would have thought I could have turned a redneck event (by the way, they aren’t all redneck – have you seen some of those ticket prices?) into a geekfest?

I’ll try to get the pictures I took posted as soon as I can – I did a lot of multi sequence type shots that I’m weeding through.