"Well that was fucking awesome." Dare I quote myself, these were the first words I energetically shared with my wife as she kindly provided designated driving services for my day drunken state. We were leaving the parking lot of Freetail Brewing Co, from the first big time game watching party. It was the historic game, the party and the thrill of both that had me riding high.
Sure, the game got delayed two days, but damn, was it worth the wait. I'm not going to lie, I thought we were in trouble early, real early. After USA drove down and scored a touchdown on their first drive, they stopped the UTSA offense with a three and out. They were about to score again, and I was feeling that FBS teeth kicking I kept hearing about, albeit from another newbie. I started slouching in my chair which hit the back of another seated at the table behind me, as the small beer factory was starting to catch the eye of the fire chief. Then something big happened, Triston Wade intercepted a pass in the end zone and as he took a knee, we all jumped to our feet. From there UTSA scored a TD, recovered a fumble on the kickoff and scored another. It was on!
The late first half touchdown was concerning and the third quarter was pretty flat. Fret not, fans, the fourth quarter brought the fireworks. Anyone reading this knows how it all went down, the seesaw lead change, the late USA touchdown and of course the kick.
Anytime I watch a potential game tying/winning kick, as soon as I see the shot of everyone lined up, my mind gives a quick prediction of what is going to happen. I didn't like what my crystal ball was telling me, I wanted to grab it and throw it against the TV, like Eli on those DirecTV commercials. Thankfully I was wrong, and somehow a kicker on the worst FBS team was able to hit a pressure filled 51 yard field goal.
The place went completely nuts. People were standing on chairs going crazy. I considered stripping down to my g-string and streaking the place, but remembered I made a questionable call of going commando in the morning. No shit, it felt like a Spurs playoff game. Below is a still in time of me basking in the glow of certain victory:
Check out the youtube video of the crowd's reaction...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zrcJkJy1Ms&hd=1
Anyway, can't overstate the victory enough. Readers already know all the first that it accomplished and what it means. Seeing the game on ESPN (the ocho, sure) gave that feeling that we have arrived. Being able to watch the game at a bar, even as an Internet stream screamed big boy football. To top it off, being in a room with a few hundred passionate Roadrunner fans cheering each play, well, we could have been any other major program. Might as well have been a bar in Columbus, Baton Rouge or
Randoms:
- Nice to see Eric Soza throw some pretty balls downfield. Well, as downfield as we can expect from him. While most of the passing was short routes, the second two touchdowns were good throws with a little yardage on them.
- While I would like to have seen more than one sack for UTSA, it was interesting to note that Soza was not sacked. Not bad for an offensive line that has been a preseason concern.
- Heard comments about receptions being spread around, but how about carries? It was expected that Glasco and Okotcha would share carries, but Armstrong's load made it more of a three team comittee and receivers got three.
- Very impressed with Texas State dominating Houston. Not sure if it means we will have a tougher late game this year or easier early game next year, if either.
- Streaming games for a large crowd is pretty stressful, but we were lucky to have two systems setup. It was the game within the game for me to watch the direction of the heads in the bar as the TVs would get off sync.
- Two things regarding ESPN3, can you show the damn down and distance, after a few pitchers of beer it gets hard to do the math. Oh and yeah, our coach is not Larry Cocker, you would think after being in two BCS championship games the production crew would get it right. They got Vinnie running that shit?
- It was really cool meeting some of the Interneters. Even met some guys from the spurstalk days, now that's old school
- We aren't hosting a full on tailgate party, but are inviting anyone to stop by and hang out. We should have a keg of Freetail beer that we will share with friends of the site. Details to come, make sure you're following us on Twitter.
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