road trip to colorado - day 2 - football

On Saturday evening we headed out for "the big event" i.e. the football game between the University of Texas Longhorns (Mark's alma mater) and the Colorado University Buffaloes. From our hotel in Boulder we waited at a nearby bus stop for a shuttle to take us to the game. Interestingly the Texas fans (in burnt orange) outnumbered the Colorado fans (in gold and black) at this stop.

Although he follows the college football every weekend, Mark hasn't been to a "live" UT game in nearly 20 years. There are 119 teams in Division 1A of college football in the US, so teams don't get to play every other team. This Texas game being played in Colorado is the closest geographically to where we live and was the main "inspiration" for our Colorado trip. We had great seats in Row 19 on the 40 yard line. We arrived at the game early, in time to see the teams on the field for their "warm ups".

Even the "big men" know how to stretch. Texas quarterback Colt McCoy is in the center of this pic wearing #12. At 6ft 3" and 205lbs he's one of the "smaller" guys on the team!


After the warm-ups, the players left the field and the Colorado marching band entertained us for about 15 minutes before playing the national anthem.

Next it was time for the Colorado Buffaloes mascot "Ralphie" to take a spin around the field. Despite her name, Ralphie is actually a female (because female buffaloes are smaller and less agressive). Ralphie does a lap of the field before each half at Colorado home games. She runs around the field at speeds up to 25 mph (40km/h) and it's amazing watching her 5 student-athlete handlers trying to keep up! The Texas Longhorns have a longhorn steer called Bevo as their mascot, but I have to say that Ralphie might top Bevo as the coolest team mascot.

The stands were now full (53,927 spectators) and with all the hoopla over, the teams finally took the field. Boy football teams here have a lot of players!

Colorado were the first to receive. This is the first play. I know there's a football in there somewhere!

Here's a couple of happy fans at the end of the game. The final score? Texas won 38-14. Texas is currently ranked #5 in the nation. Next week they play Oklahoma the #1 ranked team. Should be an exciting game. HOOK'EM HORNS!