My First Football Game at War Memorial Stadium

First an apology, I started this post nearly two weeks ago and put it aside.  But I thought that I should finish it before I write the next one.

Before you leave

You must prepare the vehicle.  

Random Football Thoughts

Jarius Wright is a player.  On the 58 yard pass to Wright in the first quarter, he could have eased out of bounds, but instead he lowered his shoulder and gained several more yards.  Then, just a few plays later he reached up and made an outstanding one-handed catch that was almost a touchdown.  That seems to be a characteristic of the entire team under this coaching staff.

Stadium Thoughts

No, it is not a complete dump.  In some ways it is even nicer than Neyland Stadium (the home of the Tennessee Volunteers.)  The difference of course is the capacity:  Neyland holds 102,037, while WMS holds 53,727.  It felt newer than Neyland did, but that may well be because of recent enhancements to WMS.

It has the capacity for being really loud.  The first Hog Call was impressive.  Since WMS is an enclosed bowl, when the entire crowd is involved, it is really loud.

Is the crowd better than at RRS?  Not to my mind.  There were too many waves or attempts to start the wave.  And why on earth were there beach balls being tossed around?  Maybe that is a function of the Razorbacks never being pushed by the Bears.

I don’t mind people who stand when the action calls for it.  But the folks in front of us stood for most of the first quarter.  They did finally sit.

I agree with Coach Bobby Petrino that it is the responsibility of the team to perform in such a way that the crowd gets into the game.  Now to my mind that does not mean that the players should run around and motion to the crowd to get them involved, no, it means that they should play hard and the intensity will transfer.

My Host for the game

Carl Long (Hillcrest Hog for those on the HI message board) sold me a ticket for the game.  But then he allowed me to park at his home (just a few blocks from WMS) and then gave me a brief tour.  We made it to the old WebHogs tailgate site.  Some of the crew were there and it was good to see them.  I also managed to find Ken Neil (HOGinBA) and we had to talk a little baseball in addition to predicting great things about the future of the football program.

Thanks to Carl for his hospitality and his suggestions on getting out of town.  Although he has never had to fight that traffic, his idea of a way to leave was a good one.