Someone once said something like “a new day brings new opportunities,” and we just couldn’t help but think along these lines when we finally crawled out of bed around 11:15am Boise Time.
The sleep that had been enjoyed was still not enough after a brutal 20-hour travel odyssey that brought us all the way from the tropical humidity of Miami to the rugged mountains of Boise. But, so be it. As our hero Hunter S. Thompson was fond of saying, “Buy the ticket, take the ride.”
Today’s ticket is a hot one, in some circles at least. It grants us admission to the much-anticipated MPC Computers Bowl, where Your Miami Hurricanes will take on the grizzly Nevada Wolf Pack.
But before we trekked over to The Blue of Lyle Smith Field, we headed down to the lobby of The Red Lion Hotel, where we were greeted by the sight of several dozen green-clad Miami People. There they were, scattered throughout the Coffee Garden, lounging in the lobby and milling about in the hallway. As it turns out, they were members of the band, the cheerleading squad and the Sunsations. As you probably know, many of them possessed several strong characteristics, and we couldn’t help but wish we had showed up in the lobby a little bit earlier.
But oh well. What can we do? The past is the past, and today was all about the future. So after talking to a few Miami students who had braved the journey – complete with an ESPN-themed sign that read “CanEs on Smurf turf Pound Nevada” (personally, we would have preferred, “You’re With Me, Blue Leather”). We headed out for lunch, then over to The Blue, where these two proud teams were preparing to dive into this hotly anticipated matchup with all the strength they could muster.
Arriving about two hours before kickoff, we were shocked to find that the atmosphere that surrounded this game was, well, pretty much dead. Very little tailgating, at all. No strains of Rick Ross or Uncle Luke or “In The Air Tonight.” No music at all, really. Perhaps the “magnitude” of this game had something to do with that. Perhaps the distance played a role. And perhaps the fact that it was about 20 degrees and slightly windy also factored in.
Whatever it was, it wasn’t terribly impressive. Neither were our credentials, which were printed on very cheap-looking purple (?) cardboard, laminated for extra style points. And neither was the press box, which took awhile to reach and was rather limited in scale. It did possess, however, some very cozy space heaters, wireless internet access, and, best, of all, a rather stunning view of the Whatever It Is Mountain Range due north of our seat.
We couldn’t help but contrast it to the view from the Orange Bowl press box, where one can look “across the ocean over there” and take in the always evolving skyline of downtown Miami.
Street lights or ski slopes? Beaches or mountains? Palm trees or fir trees? Orange or Blue? Maybe, in the end, it’s all a matter of perspective. Or maybe we are all, when everything’s accounted for, God’s Children.
But we digress. There is a game to be played here. And very soon. Due to our Other Obligations, we are uncertain as to just how much, if any, perspective we can provide on the game.
So, if you don’t hear from us again tonight, we wish you a very Happy New Year’s. Cheers!