Go Tigers! 1-0!

For Bobby's birthday, I bought him tickets to the big MU/Illinois football game at the Edward Jones dome in St. Louis. We headed out Saturday morning, after dropping the girls off at Mom and Dad's(thanks for watching them!) We checked into our hotel, a beautiful restored hotel in downtown St. Louis, just a couple blocks from the dome, that we got for a heck of a deal on such a big game weekend. We just walked around St. Louis in the afternoon, people watching and enjoying the beautiful weather. Couldn't go into the Arch, because "weapons are strictly prohibited," and Bobby had his pocket knife.

Headed out to the game around 6:30, and joined the throng of people walking over to the dome. It was the largest crowd ever: completely sold out at 66,000. For some insane reason, we decided to skip the escalators and walk. By the time we got to the top, my thighs were burning big time! Then we had to walk up the final steps to our seats. I told Bobby I wasn't leaving our seat until it was time to go!! Our seats were 4 rows from the top of the dome, but they were great seats nonetheless. We could see the entire field, and I could even see the numbers on the back of the jerseys, even with my bad eyesight. (I did mistake #94 for #84 once, but Bobby assured me he was so big that it squashed the 9 into looking like an 8.)

It was a fantastic game, and we had a wonderful time. The second half really began dragging, thanks to all the tv timeouts and scoring. We did not play all that well in the second half, which contributed to my lack of interest. MU held off Illinois, and we went home happy but tired.

We enjoyed watching all the drunk people around us. One college boy in the row in front of us (we called him Plaid Pants Boy) pretty much passed out in his seat and slept through the second half. Another one in front of us we called Annoying Drunk Boy, and that summed him up pretty well.

The man sitting next to me left at halftime, and shortly after, the guy in front of me asked if that was Art Holliday sitting next to me. I replied I had no idea who he was, and he replied by rolling his eyes, I guess in disgust that I was so dumb. I googled him when we got back to the hotel, and apparently he played for the Chiefs and now is an anchor for a sports show in St. Louis. He whacked me in the head with his elbow during an exciting part of the game and apologized, so he is a nice guy in my book.

There was a row of college girls behind me who got on my nerves. Bobby was tuning them out, but I was having trouble doing that. I won't claim to know everything about football, but I think I have a pretty good knowledge of the game, perhaps above average for a girl. I understand how the game works, penalties, etc. I can't tell you what a certain play was called, but understand how the game goes and can carry on a conversation about the plays. I can thank my dad for patiently explaining the game to me in high school. These girls behind us had no knowledge of football, and spent the night talking about anything but football. Occasionally, I'd hear "oh, so close!" and occasionally they'd cheer when someones name was announced, but that was it. They left early, to go hang out at the bar with friends. They should have just skipped the game altogether and saved their parents some money.

I didn't take my camera, so I have no pictures to show. But if I did, they'd look as good as these do, from the Columbia Tribune.

Here's my boy Chase Daniel, running for more yardage.


And here's my other boy Tommy Saunders, whose grandparents live around the corner from us. He scored two touchdowns.

Fun, fun, fun weekend! Bobby has big shoes to fill for my birthday in November.