ARLINGTON, Texas — Random thoughts as the Cowboys Classic game between Oregon and LSU gets close to kickoff although even from the press box here at Cowboys Stadium I’m not real sure I’ll know.
But thank goodness for that giant TV screen over the field (note I was about to say the center of the field but that would be a misnomer here at Jerry World. It takes up almost from 10-to-10).
The place is big and I should know since I was sent up the wrong elevator and have seen most areas of the star level and every suite trying to find the press box area. So I got my exercise for the day, thanks very much.
I am actually here as the working guest of Cotton Bowl media director Charlie Fiss, who allowed me to join the “media team” for the game. So I found a neutral blue shirt to wear and here we are set to go for this game.
Driving up Thursday, it was amazing to see all the cars with LSU decals and flags flying as I drove up I-49 and then across I-20.
I was more amazed to see the amount of Purple and Gold that almost matched the Red and Blue at Thursday’s Texas Rangers game against Tampa Bay.
I was a little concerned Thursday evening when I saw the bus load of Oregon fans drive up to the hotel I was staying at Las Colinas, but thankfully by Friday mid-morning the purple and gold were making their impression there. The one thing I noticed driving around Friday late afternoon was that every hotel I drove by seemed to have an LSU car unloading at the front door.
We really DO take over when we go some place.
As I write this part of the column its 30 minutes before the doors open. Some of the media is trickling in. They have played the opening videos for the two teams and they are damn impressive on a big, huge, gigantic, enormous scoreboard. I think the fans will have a “want” to get excited when those things are played.
Even getting here in the parking lot very early, the smells of LSU tailgates were here in Arlington. Someone had to be cooking steaks, there was that unmistakable smell of the grill being fired up and I’m sure there was some duck gumbo being put together in a deep black pot. Hopefully, no Oregon fans were making a Tiger stew (Yuck!).
Gameday was another good show but it just shows how big this place actually is when they showed the blimp shots and there were all these empty parking lots and the GameDay set and fans in one corner of the picture. But for a neutral site, ESPN officials were saying it was the biggest neutral site attendance they had ever seen.
The prelims are taking place on the field, which means the managers of both teams are on the field showing their kicking and catching skills. Watching some of our guys kick shows me we put the right guys in uniform to kick and the right guys in t-shirts and shorts to be equipment managers.
The fans are coming in and a big roar about 4:25 goes up as the Golden Band From Tigerland comes walking on to the field. They’ll take up a couple of sections.
I can see why they call the standing room only area the “party” area. If you aren’t on the first couple of rows you aren’t seeing much and if you are on the first couple of rows you got people breathing down your neck trying to see. It’s all part of the spectacle here. So if you are five or six deep, might as well eat and drink and party and go find a large monitor to watch the game. Sounds like something LSU fans could do very well.
The first two Cowboy Classics were decided by one (BYU 14, Oklahoma 13) and by nine (TCU 30, Oregon State 21). Here’s hoping this contest of the established SEC foe looking to make another memorable march through the season and one of the shining faces of new Pac-12, lives up to all the hype. Excuse me make that all “THE HYPE.”