ARIZONA beats CAL

You're welcome, other teams competing for the top 10.

[pictures to come]
A story about the Arizona Football Experience
Today was Homecoming at Arizona. Around 10am, my neighbors started up the grill and drinking. I wandered over to campus to check out the scene. And, I will admit, I was impressed...relative to what I was expecting. The mall was full of tailgating tents. The homecoming parade was in progress. Basically it was as if greek row had been uprooted and transplanted to the mall. Tent after tent was labeled with frat and sorority letters, some with frat party music blasting, minimal food and lots of beer. The homecoming "parade" was in progress. This I will say I found less than impressive - though I have no comparison - it did not live up to my imagination.

I met Julie on University Blvd for lunch. We got a table with no problem. We left at 1:10 and got to the game, walking up the stairs to our seats, just in time to see the 1:30 kick-off. (About a 10 minute walk on a normal day). (Also of note, we heard no pre-game prayer, no National Anthem [though maybe they do not sing that before college games?]). We were on the 60th row, in the Cal section, at side of the end zone. Once inside the stadium, I realized just how small (56,000) it was - compared to other stadiums I have been in (UT - 106,000+). The stadium is not closed on either side. There is a second deck only on one side. There are sky boxes on the other side.

It was a beautiful and perfect day for football - upper 70s and breezy, with high clouds that moved in as the afternoon progressed. We had the sun setting behind us and since we were in the corner, we quickly had shade. The first half was slow - it was 17 Cal - 3 'Zona going into the locker rooms.

Arizona exploded in the second half. Arizona scored in the 3rd quarter, making it 10-17. Then, in the 4th quarter, Arizona scored and picked off a pass to score again and Cal had to settle for a FG. Cal got the ball back with under 3 minutes to play. An impressive pass out in front and near the sideline let their receiver take it to the end zone. But, after review, the play came back (the 3rd review of the game, and in all 3 their was "conclusive evidence" to overturn the call on the field). Arizona held Cal and with just over a minute to go, Arizona picked off another pass and took possession.

As soon as Arizona got the ball, students began pouring over the fence onto the sideline. Arizona snapped it 3 times and on the 4th snap, with under 25 seconds to go, fans started to pour on the field. Cal fans were stunned and Cal players filed off the field.

The Arizona win was carried by their defense. Final score: California 20, Arizona 24. Unfortunately, the batteries in my camera died before the end so I could not capture the final glory. It was all glory and celebration on the Arizona side, shock and disbelief on the Cal side - sorry, Julie.

I hope this story has provided a good reflection of what football is like at Arizona. It was homecoming, so that might have influenced the experience. The usual observations applied: parking available around campus, fans arriving close to kick off, etc. Another observation, I began calling people to check on the Florida-South Carolina score (too bad about the final score) and was able to talk to Erica on my cell phone from where I was seated. This would not be possible in other stadiums due to noise level. Overall, I had a great time and I appreciate Arizona football a little more. Now to worry about Tennessee and Alabama.

Other observations of note:
Since it was homecoming, the Queen and King and the runner up females were presented. Apparently, homecoming queen and king do not exist at Cal. I relayed to Julie a story I read in the Crimson White Alabama student paper. Title: "Homecoming queen dreamt of wearing the crown since childhood" Quote: " "Take a minute, look around, enjoy it. It doesn't get much better than this." Those were the words Lauren Burch, 2006 Homecoming queen, heard from Governor Bob Riley as she stood on the football field Saturday during half-time of the Homecoming game." Hahahahaha. Julie found this quite amusing as well. Oh SEC schools.

Also of note were the many "creative" designs using Arizona t-shirts to make sexy sorority wear. Previously I had seen the "Zona Zoo" shirts with the collars cut wide and tank-tops in 80s style and shirts cut to make tube tops. Today I saw girls with their shirts cut and re-tailored into dresses with bikini halter tops and a short skirt length and girls with shirts cut into mini-tube top and little hot shorts made out of shirt material.