hawk football: i'm one of them! (pause) aw! dammit!

(gregg, after patterson's knockdown sealed the win) you know, this is one of those games, that seems a helluva lot better in hindsight than it did for the last 30 minutes.
(brent) (nodding in agreement)
(steve) (still in shock ku held on) uuh, what? ...

What a magical, absolutely magical, Saturday of football at beautiful Kivisto Field at Memorial Stadium. You had everything you could possibly want. It was sunny. But not excessively hot. (A really good thing when you're still suffering from a poison ivy outbreak, every drop of sweat only adds to the itching). It was the trifecta of Old School Hawk Football attendance, just me, Gregg and Brent. We had rockin bacon burritos to open the day, courtesy of the lovely Ashley.

And a season long dream came to fruition. As always, read along for the details ...

* I arrived first! I have no idea how it happened. I haven't been on time for a Hawk Football game since ... well, since I lived with Gregg and didn't have to be "on time". So hooray me! I also took a huge gamble today: I changed up the gameday gear. I still wore the KU shorts ... but I switched t-shirts to the Fighting Manginos shirt. My reasoning? I wasn't going to "drink like a champion today", so I didn't want to disgrace the Joe College shirt. The gamble (barely) paid off. Thank God. Now I can officially rotate that t-shirt into the gameday approved gear rotation and won't have to do a quick load of laundry on Friday night anymore ...

* Gregg sent me a text picture of the bacon sizzling for the burritos on the drive out there. As a fan of bacon (verifiable via my Facebook page) ... woo! woo bacon!

* the burrito was outstanding. Although I'm with everyone else -- we need a "side by side" comparison of the bacon vs sausage burrito.

* Brent arrived next. Since noone else was going, it was time to do what we do best ... pack up the burritos and head for some football.

* in honor of last week's iPod debacle, Gregg added the original (and by far, best) version of "Take My Breath Away" to the playing rotation. Although we never hit "Look Away". I actually thought of that walking in, "holy sh*t, we screwed this up!" Thankfully, a decision on top of Mount Oread overrode this incredible brain fart in the football god's eyes ...

* managed to park just north of 8th on Ohio. Gregg, obviously trying to build the karma bank account, warned a couple trying to park where we did last week that "you'll get ticketed". The couple thanked us and moved on. (And yes, every car within 30 feet of the stop sign at 8th and Ohio was ticketed. To the tune of $55.)

* Another $8.09 of alcoholic bliss purchased at Jensen Liquors. Jensen Liquors. If you live in Lawrence, give them your business! (north side of 9th between Louisiana and Mississippi).

* and the karma was repaid on the walk in, when a chick warned us at 10th and Mississippi "cross the street! there's bees in those bushes ahead!" I thought she was ... well, nuts. Until the postgame, when we walked in front of said bushes ... and both Gregg and I got stung. And I'm allergic to bee venom. So now I have no way of telling what swelling in my left hand is due to the bee, and what's due to the poison ivy. I swear, my life so should be a friggin sitcom.

* reached the sidewalk to head up to the Campanille, and Gregg asked "should we even bother?" The usual illegal tailgate was set up right by "The Bench". I countered with "didn't we discuss a new drinking tradition last week? Walk up, get hacked, then drink at the other bench?" So we walked.

And holy crap. They didn't hijack the bench! Gregg: "Confirm its his bench!" Brent: "Yup, its Coach Fam's!" G and I hit the Captain. Brent hit the Smirnoff. A shot to Hawk Football. On the Don Fambrough Memorial Bench. (Although is it "memorial", considering the guy is still alive? That's a gray area.)

* After a shot or two to the greatness that is Don Fambrough ... into the game we go! The (joe pesci voice) yute! ticket is still perfect, with one delay of entry penalty, over the last two years.

* I sat down for Sunflower Song. Apparently that caused folks around me to laugh. I'm telling you, I am NOT wrong about this! Sunflower Song Sucks! Roll in Africano or Jazzy Jayhawk and revitalize, revolutionize, at least shake up, the pregame tradition that probably hasn't changed since I was in diapers.

* The flyover was late on the Anthem. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Flyovers are the single biggest waste of taxpayer dollars known to man. And when you're $9 trillion in debt, you can't afford wastes like that.

* The game itself was every bit as close as you'd expect. A few things I wanted to highlight:

* Opurem was beyond outstanding today. As a true freshman, thrust into this spot with (literally) noone to back him up due to Sharp's injury, he rolled up 100 yards, scored twice, and only made one mistake (his fumble on a vicious hit that stripped him of the ball). Job well done.

* For Southern Miss, their QB, Austin Davis, is a future pro. This kid is gonna make it in the pros. He is calm, poised, and converted more 3rd downs than I care to remember. The kid is a pro. Ditto his tight end, #84, Leroy Banks. Somehow, he's listed as the backup in the program. 84 caught every damned ball thrown in his direction.

* Seriously, Southern Miss is a damned good team. I'd say they're playing for the CUSA title, unless they're in Houston's division. If they are, then USM vs Houston is for that division's title. A well coached, talented team that pushed us as much as they could. Thankfully, it just barely wasn't enough.

* Highlight of the game: the blurb after Hawk Football in the post title. We sat behind a bunch of freshmen today. (Class of 2013? Dear God I am old. I am effing old). Anyways, actually, for freshmen who are (just about) half our age, they were pretty cool. That, and they had a hot as holy hell chick with them in a "I want to get a tan" outfit. She was ... she was a winner, that's what she was. God bless her boyfriend, he seemed cool, and if you're sleeping with that every night, you are one lucky fellow, that's for damned sure.

Anyways. So we're nearing halftime, and the video board starts playing a basketball video that hypes the "16,300 strong at every game ..." and the kid in front of me (who smartly wore a red jersey today, since KU wore red), he starts getting fired up. He's ready. Kind of reminded me of Gregg or Brent 15 years ago. (Sweet Jesus, 15 years ago we were freshmen. 15 years ago! God bless it!)

Anyways. He's fired up. The video did start pretty awesomely. And he lets out a loud "I'm one of them!!!" in response to the "16,300" line.

Then, well ...

(video) (becomes obvious its for women's basketball)
(kid) aw! (pissed off) dammit!
(steve) (laughing his ass off)
(brent) (laughing his ass off)
(gregg) what?
(steve / brent) (explain reason for laughter)
(gregg) (laughing his ass off)

I think "aw! dammit!" has now hit "is it just me ..." status.

* One advantage of an Old School Hawk Football Saturday? No waiting around for chicks' friends, exes, or other assorted one night stands to say hi to. On the other hand, I would have been cool with hitting up Quinton's for some bacon potato soup and a vodka and sprite. I was craving that bacon potato soup for some reason. But off to KC we went.

* Pretty uneventful drive home. I am so looking forward to when the Turnpike expands to three lanes from Lawrence to KC, to get the deadbeat slow asses out of the left lane. Really guys, its simple. If you can't pass the semi or school bus in the right lane in under 10 seconds, don't try. You're a horrible driver and have no business ever entering the left lane.

* So here's the deal as I see it. KU is now 4-0, should be somewhere around 16, 17 when the polls come out this week. We now have the bye week, and might drop a spot or two due to not playing, but at worst we should be 20 entering Iowa State. We should roll them at home. Then, we need a win at Colorado on October 17th to stay atop the North, and get to 6-0, 2-0 conference, entering the game on October 24th.

Our opponent on October 24th, is currently ranked in the top 15, and has a huge roadie at Miami this week. Survive that, beat Baylor at home, and do what Stoops usually does, and beat Mack Brown in Dallas ... how can Gameday NOT come to Lawrence for 5-1 OU vs 6-0 KU in a battle of what would appear to be 7-8th ranked OU vs 12-13th ranked KU?

Gameday in Lawrence. Two years ago, I considered it historic that Gameday showed up at a neutral site for KU / MU. Now? Lee Corso choosing headgear on Mount Oread, in the shadow of the Campanille, is actually a reasonable, rational possibility a month from now. (matchbox 20 voice) let's see how far we've come! let's see how far we've come!

* Going to enjoy a weekend off. I miss my Saturday morning sleep in, its nice to have it back for a week. But finally ...

* The last time we hosted Iowa State ... well, let me set this up. KU was 10-0 and ranked number four in the country. KU enjoyed a laughable, never-even-competitive 45-17 win over Iowa State. It was just me and Gregg that went that cold November afternoon, and entering the fourth quarter, the PA guy informed the crowd (not a one of whom had left) that the Pride of Kansas wanted to pay tribute after the game to the team, so stick around and listen.

We're 10-0! Well on our way to 11-0! And its freaking Kansas Football! Of COURSE we're sticking around!

Well, KU wins. And, yeah I know, I'm a sap, but this is still one of the coolest moments in sports history to me. In 2005, we host Iowa State, and rush the field after an overtime win makes us bowl eligible. Two years later, we're 11-0, we're playing MU for the North Championship the next week, and then Memorial Stadium kind of goes dark. And quiet.

And then you start to hear the drums. (drum voice) da! da! da! da! / da! da! da! da! / da! da! da! da! / da! da! da! da!

Then the trumpets pick up the beat, which everyone recognizes. And then the video board starts showing highlights from the 2007 season. Every huge hit, every amazing reception, every damned score against those Huskers of Corn.

And when the full band starts in, 53,000 plus start singing as one.

"Just a small town girl!
Living in a lonely world!
She took the midnight train going anywhere ...

Just a city boy!
Born and raised in south Detroit!
He took the midnight train going anywhere ..."

I mention this, because on the drive up this morning, on my XM radio, they played the "Glee" version of this song. And it sounded so similar to what the Pride of Kansas and the Fans of Kansas pulled off two years ago, it literally gave me goose bumps.

We never stopped believin' in 2007. Hell, we left the stadium that night, and everyone filing out on Mississippi was STILL singing the chorus. "Don't Stop Believin'! Hold on to that feeling!"

I'm not a KU alumnus. I'm just a fan that has been gratefully adopted as an honorary alumnus by folks who matter. But going back a few paragraphs ... I never, ever, EVER!, imagined the day when KU football would draw 50,000 KU fans into Memorial Stadium. For a non-con game. We've done it. I never imagined we'd be ranked entering conference play. We are.

And the idea that if we do our part, and OU does it part, that Lee Corso might have Baby Jay's head on top of him come 10:59am on October 24th ... well ... its just unimaginable.

Sorry for the ramble, but I don't think coherently when I'm typing based on emotion. (And screwdrivers). Great win today. Huge win today. Enjoy the weekend off. And be ready come October 10th for Iowa State. And then for bowl eligibility on October 17th. And a hopeful historic ESPN appearance in the shadow of the Don Fambrough bench come the morning of October 24th ...