Bowl Bound

At about this time tomorrow, I'll be down in Charlotte, partaking in the festivities of the Meineke Car Care Bowl. While I know I said not long ago that there are too many bowls, I will despite that count bowl season as one of the most wonderful times of the year. Not only do college bowls combine the two primary topics of this blog--sports and marching band--but they bring in a few other pieces I hold dear as well.

Tomorrow's festivities begin with a street festival and a pep rally. In my professional life, I work in student affairs, specifically with campus programming, and this speaks directly to that. In fact, one of the companies with which I do a good deal of business will be providing equipment for this event. And, of course, both bands will be present. I haven't seen USF's Herd of Thunder live since Homecoming 2007, and I'm looking forward to Clemson's Band that Shakes the Southland as well; while I'm all Bull, there's a soft spot in my heart for Tiger Rag, being a Tiger from my high school days. After that, the USF faithful will likely take over an Uptown bar for the evening.

Friday morning, I'll get up and head out to the tailgate lot. It looks like I'll actually be sharing space with quite a few folks I knew when I was at USF, so it'll be a nice little reunion of sorts. I'm attending the game with my friends Kristy (no affiliation to either team, just a football fan living in Charlotte), Jenn (fellow USF alum) and Laura (a Clemson fan). I'll be switching my swag up a bit as well; with a noon kickoff, this'll be a breakfast tailgate, and I'll be doing breakfast casseroles prepared by the good folks at New York Butcher Shoppe here in Greensboro, one of my favorite spots. My in-laws also got me a set of cornhole boards for Christmas, so that'll turn it up a notch. And my new car, a Chevy HHR, is certainly an upgrgade from my previous 1995 Civic.

After fun in the lot, it is my intent to make it into the stadium in plenty of time to catch both bands' pregames. While I expect to be fully outnumbered by Clemson faithful, I'm hopeful that the Bulls can pull off the upset. After all, last time I was in that stadium wearing green (Eagles-Panthers last year) I walked out both outnumbered and victorious; here's hoping for a repeat!