Showing Our Age: A Young Team and Frogs Getting Older

Pre-game festivities

Well, unfortunately we've just signaled the end of another Frog football season, and it didn't quite have the ending that Frog fans had hoped for: we lost the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl to Michigan State (17-16).  Everyone says we're a young team, so we're moving on and looking forward to what next season brings!  This season was exciting...our first one in the Big XII, with many of our old Southwest Conference opponents making a reappearance in Amon Carter Stadium; a remodeled stadium; a sold out stadium; and more support than ever from the community (i.e. purple EVERYWHERE).  BK and I were also proud of ourselves for attending more away games...Baylor and Texas in addition to the Bowl game. It helps that our games are not scattered all over the country. We've decided that we're going to try and go the games in Oklahoma in the future too.

AH and Sam on Christmas

Being the avid Frog fans that we are, BK and I travelled to Scottsdale, Arizona to cheer on our favorite team.  This year was a bit different for us in traveling to the bowl game- for the first time in the 10 years we've been together BK and I did not go with my parents.  Surprising, I'm sure, considering that we're in our "early-ish" thirties, but it's just what we've done.  This year a new baby arrived right before Christmas and the other one had her first birthday right after- a busy time for the grandparents.  I couldn't resist adding a pic of AH here, as she's pretty much the cutest thing ever!

Drinks at Citizen Public House

Back to the Bowl game!  We had a number of friends who were going, so there were about 10 of us that hung out for the weekend.  We went in on Friday afternoon, hung out in Old Town Scottsdale, then went to the TCU pep rally.  The pep rally needs more pep to say the least- it was by far one of the worst that I've attended.  I get why the TCU team can't be there, but give the fans who have travelled so far SOMETHING to cheer about besides an awkward radio host who did not not know how to get fans into it.  The highlight of the night was definitely dinner at Citizen Public House (Surprise...One of my favorite events was around a meal!).  We dined with close friends and had lots of good laughs at one an other's expense late into the night.

Arizona Biltmore

Saturday was fun, but where we really showed our age.  Bowl games have changed some since the early 20s when we wanted to party the entire time.  We all met in the lobby then headed to the Arizona Biltmore for lunch.  They have an amazing brunch/lunch menu and the food and drinks were really good.  Duck fat poached fries, chicken salad sandwich and tortilla soup were some of the highlights.  After lunch we walked around for a bit, then all agreed that we should head back to the hotel for a NAP.  You read right, we all needed a mid-afternoon nap after our day drinking.  That would have never happened before, and we probably would have powered through (not the best idea either).  We'll call it a rebound; most felt that it would be "clutch" later in the night.  This theory proved to be somewhat true.

ASU Stadium

As we journeyed to the stadium, I can see why ASU is the biggest party school in the US. There are bars surrounding the stadium, making it quite the party atmosphere.  We enjoyed some beverages at Gordon Biersch then headed into the game.  Apparently pretty much everyone in Fort Worth fell asleep by half time since it started so much later than normal.  They missed the painful part of the game.  After the game was pretty much a fail, and I've decided that Big 10 fans might be some of the worst I've seen.  Wisconsin fans were absolutely terrible before and after TCU beat them in the Rose Bowl and Michigan State fans weren't much different.  Constantly yelling, cursing, shoving and pretty much just acting like jerks the entire time.  No clue about southern hospitality or manners!

That pretty much ended the Bowl journey 2012 for us, as we headed home the next morning.  A couple of other random things I learned on this trip: Hertz NeverLost navigation system is great for our relationship, and it is surprisingly cold in Arizona in December- take a coat if you go.  

One of my new year's resolutions is to blog on a more regular basis.  BK and I got exciting news about our move abroad at the end of December, so I see that being pretty easy! More to come on that soon!