Monday, January 11, 2010

Philadelphia, PA - The Penn Quaker

10/20/07 - University of Pennsylvania - Franklin Field



At first glance, this may seem like a strange destination for a Saturday in the fall. After all, there is major college football going on everywhere. Baseball playoffs were still going strong. So what, you may ask, brought us to Philly for an Ivy League football game? Why, art, flying food and one of the creepiest looking guys you'll ever meet, of course.

As the planning began for a destination for our anniversary weekend, the Mrs. suggested Philadelphia, PA. Good cultural experiences and delicious foods were enough to sell me on the trip so she took care of the travel arrangements and I snuck a peek at the local sports schedule. We arrived Friday morning and detoured to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Now I'm not going to fill space here trying to act like I'm some sort of cultured art buff. Frankly, I don't know my Sergio Asti from a hole in the ground. But, c'mon, these are the steps from Rocky! OK, truthfully, I don't mind art. We walked through the museum for about 4 hours, had a somewhat overpriced lunch, and wandered down those famous steps to the see the Rocky statue, which now has a permanent home near their base, and I had a good time. We saw a few Picassos, a bunch of medieval weapons and some nudity. Art lover or not, that's a full day.

After checking into the hotel, we grabbed a local magazine (you know, the ones sitting on the coffee table in your room when you arrive) and looked for a good restaurant. Deciding to try something new, we went for Israeli cuisine and took a cab ride to a little hole in the wall place just off of South Street. Seeing as how neither of us had a clue what we were ordering, we opted for the sampler. What they brought us was a gigantic plate for two filled with cultural favorites from their menu. I wish that I could tell you what I ate because the vast majority of it was really good. After struggling to find room for desert, we walked South Street for a little people watching. Although enjoyable, after a day of Renoir and tabouli, it was time to switch the focus back to something a little more familiar - college football.

Franklin Field was built in 1895 and although its most famous events (such as the 1960 NFL Championship and FDR's presidential nomination acceptance speech) are probably in the rear-view mirror, it still serves as a nice home for an Ivy League football game. Tickets were available at the gates and we got to our seats in time to see the marching band perform "Drink a Highball" during their pregame field show. During the song, the band marched into the formation of giant Martini glass and as those students representing the level of liquid slowly marched towards "empty", the music became sloppier as if the band was becoming drunk themselves. Ah, those clever Ivy Leaguers.

We used halftime as our opportunity to head down to the field and meet up with the Quaker himself. He is downright creepy. I mean, seriously, I wouldn't blame a 5 year old for needing therapy if this guy snuck up on him. Fortunately for us, he was nice enough to come over and pose for a picture with Mrs. Mascot Hunter. You'll also notice that she finally secured a set of thundersticks, something that many stadiums have banned and that she had been wanting for years. At the end of the third quarter, the band again struck up "Drink a Highball", only this time during the phrase "toast to dear old Penn", the student section hurls toast onto the field. It was surreal. One piece made it to the twenty yard line. One piece hit me in the back of the head. If you look carefully at the picture, you'll notice the sky seems full of little specs. That would be flying toast. They even have a toast zamboni (modified street sweeper) to clean up the debris. The game was fun and would be a good option for a family with young kids. After all, the tickets are cheap, seating is plentiful and they get to throw food. Just make sure they keep a safe distance from the Quaker.

We rounded out our stay with a walk around Penn's Landing (not very exciting) and a trip to see the Liberty Bell. After an authentic cheesesteak we decided that we had hit our limit for culture and calories and headed home.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Congratulations Big Al

Congratulations to Big Al. Thanks to your support (and a timely injury to Colt McCoy), your Alabama Crimson Tide are College Football National Champions!!!

We had the privilege to take in a game in Tuscaloosa and meet Big Al back in 2008 and both he and his followers treated us with wonderful southern hospitality. I can't think of a more passionate or loyal fanbase to celebrate this victory and I'm sure they were consuming ribs and champagne well into the night.

But why Crimson Tide you may ask? And why an Elephant? Early Alabama teams wore red socks which led to the school's color. Then, in the early 20th century, a sportswriter began quoting a Rudyard Kipling poem using the phrase "A Thin Red Line." One rainy night, the thin red line turned into a Tide of Red moving down the field and the Crimson Tide was here to stay. As for Al, early 'Bama teams were quite large relative to their opponents, leading one fan to call out that "the elephants are coming." With most of their starters returning in 2010 and another top-tier recruiting class lined up, I think the Elephants will keep coming for a while now.

RIP - Tusk II

Tusk II, the live mascot of the University of Arkansas Razorbacks, died of natural causes this past Monday on the family farm where he lived during the offseason. Like many college teams, Arkansas has a costumed mascot as well as the live version. Tusk II inherited the job from his father in 2005 and led the Razorbacks to a 35-28 record including a 20-17 victory last Saturday in the Liberty Bowl. His brother, Tusk III, will take over as official mascot.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Pistol Pete suspended for tonight's game

Pistol Pete, the mascot for New Mexico State University, will not be on the sidelines tonight as the Aggies open conference play in basketball. This is a result of the incident from last year's WAC playoffs where he got into an altercation with Utah State's mascot Big Blue. Basically, someone offered Big Blue $100 to try to rip off the fake mustache of Pistol Pete during a timeout. Pistol Pete responded by chasing down, attacking Big Blue and, well, you can watch the video for yourself. Since Utah State won that game, Pistol Pete's season ended and the suspension was held over until their first league game of this season which, as luck would have it, is against Utah State. Fear not Aggie fans, even though Pete will not be patrolling the sidelines, DJ Downs, the student who portrays Pete, will still be in attendance and they plan on passing out fake mustaches to the first 5,000 fans in attendance. No word if Big Blue has been offered a $100 bounty on any of those.

The game is live tonight at 9PM on ESPNU.

Capital One Mascot of the Year Announced

Congratulations to Bearcat from the University of Cincinnati for being named the Capital One Mascot of the Year yesterday. He defeated Bill the Goat from Navy in the finals. Unfortunately, it was not as successful of a day on the gridiron for Bearcat as his team fell 51-24 to the Florida Gators in the Sugar Bowl.