Monday, September 1, 2014

Michigan State 45, Jacksonville State 7


August 29, 2014

What a great way to celebrate our anniversary! After I wrote the last blog, we had a very quick dinner and then caught a shuttle bus from our parking lot to Spartan Stadium. As we got closer, the crowds were getting bigger, and it became clear that we were on the very fringes of the tailgate celebrations. The area around the stadium was just PACKED with people and tailgating set-ups, as well as students coming from the dorms and others getting off the parking lot shuttles from other lots. So much energy, it was just electric.

It has been a long time since we’ve been in Spartan Stadium, and it has changed so much. The electronic scoreboard is only two years old, and it’s the biggest in the state of Michigan—5,300 square feet. Completely massive. We asked someone to take our photo with the scoreboard in the background before we crossed the street and joined the throngs heading into the stadium. I was afraid it would take a while to get in, but they instituted a “no bags” policy a few years ago—meaning no pocketbooks or any other kind of bag. As a result, everyone moved in smoothly… but also, my only camera was my phone. All these photos were taken with my phone, but it died before the game got going, so I have no action shots.

Once inside, we encountered a Spartan Spirit store which was packed with green clothing and people who were buying it as if there were no tomorrow. I squished into the store and discovered they had the kind of decals we wanted for the RV, but the lines were simply not moving at all, and I wanted to go up to our seats. In fact, we really should have left about 30 minutes earlier, because I forgot about the pre-game show with the band. We got there just in time to hear them play the MSU Fight Song, and then they waited in formation for the team to come out and take the field.



The game was wonderful, even though it was not exactly full of tension. The Spartans scored in 4 plays on their first possession, and they scored in two plays on their second possession. By halftime the score was 38-0. We just relaxed and enjoyed the beautiful evening—although it had been overcast, there was no rain, a nice breeze was blowing, and we just loved the entire experience. When the game was over, we found that the Spartan Spirit store was still open, with almost no one there anymore, and we bought a bunch of decals and magnets for our RV (yes of COURSE we did!). We caught one of the last shuttles back to the parking lot (there were still a few RVs there), and went to the Walmart in Okemos to spend the night. All in all, it was so much fun and we loved the whole experience. I just keep thinking we should go back for a whole weekend sometime, because there is so much new stuff to see on the campus since we went to school there. We will have to find some time.


Meanwhile: GO GREEN!!!! Next week against the Oregon Ducks will be a very different game…. Details to follow.

1 comment:

Aimee said...

I REALLY hope you bought a banner or flag to fly from your RV. *grin* I bought us prezzies for FB mania also. Little prezzies. You'd use 10 at a time....