Orange Bowl Game Report

The Orange Bowl was the sweetest sporting event I've attended in at least 16 years. I was 8 rows from the field in the USC end zone, right in front of Lee Corso and his supporting cast from ESPN. The picture to the left shows what kind of view I had from my assigned seat. It was close to the action. I had no complaints.

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• Our first few days in Florida were unrelated to the game. We hit South Beach on New Year's Eve; the Everglades on New Year's Day; and Sanibel and Captiva Islands on Sunday. The first thing we did, that was game related, was attend the Beach Bash at Hollywood Beach on Monday. We stayed out of the water, because it was windy, cool, rough and physalia physalis kept washing up. Physalia physalis is the bluebottle, or Portuguese Man-O-War. I've been stung by one before. That's enough to keep my feet dry when they start floating ashore.
• For the most part, none of the USC folks at the Beach Bash went into the water. Almost all of the people who got their feet wet were Sooner fans. You'd think they had never seen a beach. Of course, maybe some of them never had.
• I was about 18 inches away from the cover of the Miami Herald on Tuesday. I was in line at the beer booth during the Beach Bash, right behind a USC fan with a homemade red hat with oranges. I watched the Herald photographer take the picture and walk over to get her name. The next morning, she was right on the front page. And I was cropped out....
• I love people like her. And the scantily clad SILFs. And the fat dudes with no shirts but lots of paint on their torsos. And the dudes dressed like cavemen. And the guy who looked 'zackly like Doctor Evil. And all the other crazies. They make the games more memorable.
• I like the parking at the Orange Bowl. It is easy to get in and out of, compared to the Rose Bowl or Coliseum. It was easy to get into, and easy to get out of. On the other hand, both Orange Bowls I've attended featured USC blowouts that sent the (larger) opposing team's crowd out the gates early.
• I thought the ticket was going to be a tough one, so I bought mine on eBay, but as it turned out, there were entire gangs of scalpers dying to unload extra tickets cheap. Good seats were there to be had for below face value.
• I love the big flags and singing of the anthem at such events. And the F-18 fly-over was the lowest and loudest I've ever experienced. I later saw members of the flying team at a souvenir stand buying USC stuff.
• We were seated in section 125, which was a neutral section. That still meant that it had way more Sooner fans than Trojan fans. Early on, it looked like 75% or more of the stadium were Sooners. Of course, by the fourth quarter, the ratio was more than 10:1 in favor of USC peeps.
• The Sooner fans around us were perplexed that we were singing anti-Bruin lyrics during the band's performance of Tusk. "You aren't playing UCLA tonight," one pointed out. Hey, we don't care. We'll sing "U-C-L-A sucks" at a Dodger game if it suits us.
• Most of the Sooner fans seemed to be classy. Of course, the punks usually can't afford a trip to Miami in January, so maybe it was just the situation. And there was one a--hole who dressed as Santa and kept flipping off the USC fans, and one other a--hole who made fun our victory sign. USC fans hold up two fingers during certain cheers and songs. It is a "V" for victory. I now know that Sooners hold up a single index finger during kickoffs, and perhaps other times. So this asshat sees us holding up the victory sign and says "You guys are number two, huh? See, we hold up one finger, because we're number one." How ironic, then, that USC was actually #1, and Oklahoma was actually #2.
• There were a few Sooner fans talking smack when it was OU 7, USC 0, and even a few idiots popping off when it was USC 14 OU 7, but they quieted in the second quarter.
• Alcohol sales ended at the beginning of the third quarter. The scoreboard announced the deadline before it was imposed so that Sooner fans could drown their sorrows.
• Since I couldn't sit with Trojan fans (other than  my brother, next to me) until the stands thinned out, the next best thing was to sit next to a Texas fan. In that respect, I got lucky with the seating. There were a bunch of Auburn fans in the stands. They were almost as bummed out as the Sooner fans.
• Kelly Clarkson was pretty cool. That country singer dude was entertaining, too. But Ashlee Simpson sucked. Yes, I booed Ashlee Simpson. Her performance was worse than Jason White's. I booed her early in the routine. She was so bad, I just kept hoping she would do a quick jig and dance off the stage early.
• I also booed one of the "honored guests." I'd never heard of him before, but when he was proclaimed "the architect of the BCS," I booed heartily.
• When the Sooners scored that first touchdown, I was nervous, but then again, the start reminded me of our last trip to the Orange Bowl, and that turned out well for USC in the end.
• In the first quarter, the PA announcer kept calling Adrian Peterson "Antonio Perkins." When he finally got it right, the fans erupted in applause.
• Least omniscient signage: "Trojans are only 99% effective." Um, I'll go with the 99% guys. You can root for the 1% posse."
• Second worst sign: "The Sooner, the better." It was true, the field featured both kinds of players. The Sooner, and the better.
• Game of the year this wasn't. It wasn't even game of the week. The 4th quarter was dull even for Trojan fans. Sooner fans didn't even stay to watch it. But it was a great game by my standards: a W for USC is a great game. Period. An exciting game ending with a loss is a bad game. Period. This was a great game.
• USC's 22 in a row, including three wins this year over top ten finalists, makes this the best USC team ever -- at least since I've been watching. For older folks who think I'm nuts not to prefer the 1972 team, I'll take some slack, thank you. I was five years old in 1972.
• There were some great statistics, records and other fascinating numbers, but if you care about that stuff, you've already read it in the LA Times, the Miami Herald, or the Oklahoma something or other.
• Though I got no good photos of any scoring, several of the TDs happened right in front of me. That was very cool. So was hassling Fowler and Herbstreit, while chanting Corso! Corso! Corso!
• Best quote from the postgame press conference: "Q. Matt, did you get a chance to chat with Larry Birdine after the game? MATT LEINART:  I did a little chatting during the game with him. I don't think I should be talking about that right now."
• I had one of the oranges from the trophy for a moment. It went from the bowl, to the players, to the stands. I passed it along. It wouldn't keep as a souvenir. The souvenir soda cups, on the other hand, rock. I took several home.
• On the airport car rental shuttle bus at 5:00 a.m., there were nothing but Trojan fans. None of us had slept. The Northwest flight out of Fort Lauderdale was delayed due to mechanical problems. That delayed everything else the rest of the day, including costing me my seating on the connecting flight to L.A. To make up for it, the airline upgraded me, my wife and daughters to first class. That was pretty good, especially in light of my original seats being freebies from my mileage credit card purchases. The only thing better than first class seating is free first class seating. Especially after your team just won a national championship.