Conquest in the Commonwealth (Part 1- Go West Young Man)

Finally, Autumn is upon us once again. I love the cooler weather that promises a much needed respite from what has been a brutally hot and humid summer. I love that the new Fall Season will be premiering shortly. I love that the kids will finally be back in school. (whew!) But most of all, after a brutally long 311 days made bearable by repeated viewings of the 2008 Rose Bowl (2007 as well) saved on the DVR, finally, COLLEGE FOOTBALL IS BAAACK!

As a special treat, our beloved USC Trojans opened what promises to be another National Championship season by traveling 3000 miles to take on the University of Virginia Cavaliers in Charlottesville. No way would I miss this! After my dear wife surprised me with obscenely overpriced tickets bought online, we packed up our cardinal SUV with provisions, the grill, a cooler full of Yuengling, a suitcase full of cardinal and gold attire and the SCions, popped in a CD of the Spirit of Troy and made the drive west on I-64 with Tribute, Fight On and Conquest blaring.

I was pleased with the number of V for Victory signs I got from other Trojan faithful who passed me on the road. Apparently UVA only made 4000 tickets available for SC and none were sold by the ticket office. They were instead given to the high dollar donors and boosters and the rest of us were made to fend for ourselves. When Lisa tried to contact UVA directly, the dude in their ticket office told her that they were sold out of single game tickets. However, he further stated that they had a huge spike in season ticket sales with delivery addresses in Southern California. That's freakin' badass! Buying a full season pass to another school's games just so you can watch your own team whip the snot out of theirs, while sitting with their alumni?! Brilliant! Of the 64,000 capacity in Scott Stadium, I'd say that 10% were in Cardinal and Gold.

Anyway, I was even more pleased with the number of dirty looks (and middle fingers) I got from the larger number of Wahoo faithful on the road. I'll admit I presented quite a target with my cardinal vehicle festooned with decals, alumni plate frame and personalized tags. I just had to laugh. I have nothing at all against the Cavs nor the Hokies. We've been in exile here for five years and we are sick with seeing and hearing nothing but Tech this or UVA that. ACC this, SEC that. The PAC 10 sucks. . . blah, blah, blah. What the hell is a Wahoo anyway? Isn't that some kind of gamefish? I could go on and on. Maybe in a future post.

All the while I was on the lookout for my buddy Rob. Rob is a co-worker of mine and another displaced Californian from Chino who ended up out in Hampton Roads courtesy of the Marines. He's a jovial fellow who's quick with joke and/or cut down and is an avid fan of UFC and MMA. In fact, he studied with my son's Jujitsu/ Muy Thai instructor. Rob's stocky stature developed with an emphasis of strength and power over speed and agility caused him to be nicknamed the "Mexican Mudslide" by my old platoon- he may not be swift, but when he gets you, you're done. Mudslide never went to 'SC but he's a fan. In fact, his brother was a high school teammate of Sedrick Ellis. Needless to say, he too was excited about the game and he even paid more than we did for his tickets. He left later than we did, and we were trying to coordinate a rendezvous point to tailgate. Lisa was especially looking forward to this since Mudslide makes a mean carne asada, a favorite of ours that is difficult to come across in authentic form in our neck of the woods.

Anyway we arrived in Charlottesville fairly early, about 1045 for a 1530 kickoff. Even then I was somewhat concerned about being able to find a place to tailgate, what with all the game day traffic and all. After being told by the lot attendant that parking at the stadium was "reserved" (read: for those in orange and blue who pay lots and lots of money to the school year after year after year) I drove a bit further down the road and was guided into a parking structure. I'd never tailgated in a garage before, but what the hell. I paid my ten bucks, hoped for the best and drove in.