Many folks told us that showing up for an Orange Bowl game between two of the country's historic football powers with the top two coaches in the nation without tickets - was downright foolish. If you would like to read the story of three foolish dreamers - read on.
We arrived in Fort Lauderdale in our rental car at about noon gameday. While lunching at Hooters we noticed Penn State blue shirts outnumbered FSU garnet and gold ones by about forty to one. Folks wearing shorts with white pasty thighs sticking out overwehlmed the bronze tight FSU bellies at least by 100 to one.
After lunch - we drove to Gary's mansion - which is another story to follow tomorrow. We felt like Saddam Hussein entering his walled city of stately dream homes.
Around 4PM - Harry - Nancy - Sally - drove to the stadium. Sally had a VIP parking pass because she volunteered to work for the Orange Bowl Committee. One of Sally's jobs was to polish the Orange Bowl trophy including each orange in it.
Sally Bair is one of my fellow teacher buddies from back in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. There is not a more loyal PSU fan. Sally rode a bus in an ice storm to Newark, NJ - caught a jet to Fort Myers - then drove almost three hours to Fort Lauderdale - just to see us and the game.
Even at 4PM - there were tickets for sale around the stadium - most of the folks that were selling tickets were blue clad FSU fans holding and extra one or two tickets from the 400 level nose bleed section. They were expecting to get the face value $85 for those single tickets in hypoxia heaven - you could tell they haven't been at a bowl game in a while. Closer to the game - ticket prices dropped but not as fast as usual. You could see Sally - Harry - and even Nancy walking around holding up two fingers with one hand and a folded tattered stadium map in the other.
The three of us agreed we would only buy lower level tickets and not pay more than $50 each - a big concession for cheapskate Harry. Many folks were highly insulted when we offered such a low amount for tickets that they paid top dollar for on ebay. Finally - like magic - about 25 minutes before game time - a guy walked up with his wife - and offered me two great tickets for $50 each. They were impatient to get inside the stadium. I offered $30 each - using my usual line that I am a retired teacher onf a fixed income. He balked - but his wife grabbed them and handed them to me. $30 each. When Nancy came back and saw them - she was upper happy. I gave the good tickets to Nancy and Sally and took Sally's 400 level seat for myself. I figured I could follow them to the good seats and sit nearby. To our surprise there was a whole empty row of seats in front of us. We were in the front.
The game was great - the PSU fans were really nice - even the FSU didn't have too much bravado expecting to get pasted. The game was lots of fun. I was proud of both my friends from my old life of 55 years and my new buddies from Tallahassee - the Seminoles.
You know the rest of the story - the game played to a tie after 4 quarters - and they played three extra overtime periods. FSU kicked a field goal that hit the goal post right by us. PSU kicked a field goal that didn't hit in our laps but came close enough for us to call the play. PSU 26 - FSU 23. It was a game for the ages.
We have seen FSU play Nebraska - Notre Dame - Miami - Oklahoma in the "orange bowl." We saw FSU play the Gators and Auburn in the Sugar Bowl This was the game that was for me - one foot firmly planted in "Pennsylvania Coal Cracker Country" and my other foot and my future in "Florida Cracker Country."
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