Road trip....

[Laxplayer]

In an effort to continue to expose my children to different experiences and continue to emphasize being a student athlete I secured 6 tickets through a connection for the Stanford-ND game this past Saturday. With a friend of mine and his two sons (one is a HS QB and wants to attend Stanford) and my two oldest children we rousted the quartet out of bed at 5:00 and hit the road. Getting to Stanford was an easy drive. With lots of coffee and still feeling the slight affects of getting home late from a Friday night broadcast and the triptofan from Thursday we made the drive in around 5 hours. Stanford is an absolutely gorgeous campus. Tons of land, great scenery, nice lay out, great area etc....We hooked up with our tickets and took our seats. What a beautiful stadium. I remember seeing the old bowl on TV several times and often wondered, how the hell did anyone ever see from being so far away. The new double deck makes it great to see. You're not too far away from the field but being in the second deck you're high enough to have a nice view. Stanford fans are very cordial. There was no trash talk between ND and Stanford fans. Much different than walking into the coliseum. My kids didn't ask what certain words meant which has been my experience in the ghetto of LA. The Stanford people did a great job on the stadium.
As far as the game went.....both teams seemed to want to set the term offense back about 50 years. Lots of ND fans there. Harbaugh will do a good job with Stanford. He's energitic, and enthusiastic and people seem to really like that. Getting out of the stadium was a little difficult but who cares because I didn't have to pay to park. That's right, it was free and I didn't have to worry about the questionable people who may want to relieve me of my car a la U$C. Hell even UCLA charges you to park now. We got a little lost but that's ok around Stanford because there is no fear of getting shot a la U$C. We finally found the freeway around 5:30 and with about an hour delay through Gilroy we made the trek home pulling in the driveway around 11:30.
My daughter has now put Stanford on her list of colleges she wants to attend which is good because she's a 4.0 but daddy can't afford it. Nice place, wonderful setting, great facilities. Hell the players even walk back to a facility about 1/4 mile away from the stadium while people are still BBQing and eating their post game grub and libations. All in all it was a great experience in a beautiful place....and to think I did the entire trip without alcohol.......

[peter dragon]

sounds like a good trip

[GreginPG]

In an effort to continue to expose my children to different experiences and continue to emphasize being a student athlete I secured 6 tickets through a connection for the Stanford-ND game this past Saturday. With a friend of mine and his two sons (one is a HS QB and wants to attend Stanford) and my two oldest children we rousted the quartet out of bed at 5:00 and hit the road. Getting to Stanford was an easy drive. With lots of coffee and still feeling the slight affects of getting home late from a Friday night broadcast and the triptofan from Thursday we made the drive in around 5 hours. Stanford is an absolutely gorgeous campus. Tons of land, great scenery, nice lay out, great area etc....We hooked up with our tickets and took our seats. What a beautiful stadium. I remember seeing the old bowl on TV several times and often wondered, how the hell did anyone ever see from being so far away. The new double deck makes it great to see. You're not too far away from the field but being in the second deck you're high enough to have a nice view. Stanford fans are very cordial. There was no trash talk between ND and Stanford fans. Much different than walking into the coliseum. My kids didn't ask what certain words meant which has been my experience in the ghetto of LA. The Stanford people did a great job on the stadium.
As far as the game went.....both teams seemed to want to set the term offense back about 50 years. Lots of ND fans there. Harbaugh will do a good job with Stanford. He's energitic, and enthusiastic and people seem to really like that. Getting out of the stadium was a little difficult but who cares because I didn't have to pay to park. That's right, it was free and I didn't have to worry about the questionable people who may want to relieve me of my car a la U$C. Hell even UCLA charges you to park now. We got a little lost but that's ok around Stanford because there is no fear of getting shot a la U$C. We finally found the freeway around 5:30 and with about an hour delay through Gilroy we made the trek home pulling in the driveway around 11:30.
My daughter has now put Stanford on her list of colleges she wants to attend which is good because she's a 4.0 but daddy can't afford it. Nice place, wonderful setting, great facilities. Hell the players even walk back to a facility about 1/4 mile away from the stadium while people are still BBQing and eating their post game grub and libations. All in all it was a great experience in a beautiful place....and to think I did the entire trip without alcohol.......

Watching ND?? Watching Stanford?? How is that possible?? Poor guy.

[Laxplayer]

Hey, it was fun......something I've never done before so what the hell.....and it was positive bonding time with 2 of the 4 kiddies. I'm setting a positive example by attending sporting events without alcohol.....man was that tough.

[The Seer]

Maybe it's me, but the last few times I've seen you you're abstaining from alcohol...

Keep it up and your cred won't be worth shit.

[Laxplayer]

Hey, easy there seer......it's kind of against the rules for me to drink during a school golf match, but trust me it's not abstention at all. Just a bit of sense which I've lacked in my previous 43 years.

[Mikey]

RACK the road trip.

I went to about 90% of the home games there for about 10 years when I was growing up. Walked around the stands selling Pepsi and Mug in cans for two seasons in the old stadium.

You said that parking was free. It used to be that the land surrounding the stadium was just basically a big empty field of grass dotted with oak trees, and you would park about where you wanted to for free. Tailgating was like a picnic in a park. Is it still like that or have they replaced it with a parking lot?

[GreginPG]

RACK the road trip.

I went to about 90% of the home games there for about 10 years when I was growing up. Walked around the stands selling Pepsi and Mug in cans for two seasons in the old stadium.

You said that parking was free. It used to be that the land surrounding the stadium was just basically a big empty field of grass dotted with oak trees, and you would park about where you wanted to for free. Tailgating was like a picnic in a park. Is it still like that or have they replaced it with a parking lot?

So is Stanford your 2nd favorite team?

[Mikey]

Who do you think my favorite team is?

[Laxplayer]

Since I've never been there Mikey I have no idea what's new and what's not new. We parked in a lot right off a street where the team was dropped off and saw some athletic facilities with a training room. We were right near the aquatic facilities.

[GreginPG]

Who do you think my favorite team is?

Hey I asked you a question first.

[Mikey]

OK.

No.

Your turn.

[Nolesy]

Looks like you still haven't learned how to mix in a paragraph break since your last road trip repost:).
Sounds like it was a great time.

[GreginPG]

OK.

No.

Your turn.

Ok.

I have no fucking idea.
P.S. I'm not sure I know anyone whose favorite team is Stanford.
I had an uncle that graduated from there and I think he liked Notre Dame better.
It might have had something to do with the fact that 3 of his kids went to ND though.

[Dinsdale]

I'm not sure I know anyone whose favorite team is Stanford.

In the last month or two, the University of Oregon has recieved private donations of $100 million, and $75 million from separate benefactors.

And they're both Stanford grads (although Phil Knight attended Oregon for most of his collegiate career, and I believe did postgrad stuff at Furd).

[Mikey]

OK.

No.

Your turn.

Ok.

I have no fucking idea.
P.S. I'm not sure I know anyone whose favorite team is Stanford.
I had an uncle that graduated from there and I think he liked Notre Dame better.
It might have had something to do with the fact that 3 of his kids went to ND though.

My parents went there.
My older sister and her husband went there.
For a long time I was a big Stanford fan.

For various reasons pertaining to their admissions policies and decisions I have somewhat soured on their whole act. A lot of arrogance there, though I still do admire their refusal to dump their academic standards in order to pump up the athletic program.

I do have some connection with SC...my brother and my step-daughter both graduated from there.

You might actually be right that Stanford is my second favorite. I don't know. I'm more of a PAC10 fan at this point than anything else. I'd like to see SC win the national title (no chance this year though), but it also gives me some pleasure to see Stanford beat them. When I was hanging out there SC was the #1 enemy (besides Cal). Those were good years for Stanford football - two straight Rose Bowl upsets vs. unbeaten and untied Big 10 teams.

(The school I went to doesn't have a football program and is D2 in everything else)