A Crushing Defeat

The Tailgating Crew

It's the day after the big game (for those not into football, that means the BSU/Hawaii game) and we are officially depressed and licking our wounds like a momma cat. I don't know what's more frustrating, the fact that we lost or the fact that we played so poorly.

We started the day out early. Marty, Heather and Jordan arrived at our house so we could follow each other into the stadium. We pulled into Aloha stadium's parking lot around 11:45 and it was already packed. I had never seen so many tailgaters in my life. They didn't have anyone directing people into parking spots so we were on our own. I'm glad we got there early because I don't know how we would have found two spaces together. We ended up parking one in front of the other so we could make room between our cars for our chairs and table.

Too cool to smile, dude

We met a couple of Marines stationed in Kaneohe who were part of a big group next to us. They were all sporting Univ. of Hawaii t-shirts, but they admitted they weren't big fans as they were transplants from all over. They seemed rather amused by the fact that we were Boise State fans (at least half of our group were - Marty, Heather and Jordan are Kansas State fans).

It's a huge stadium

All around us was a sea of dark green and we were a little nervous at times, especially when we had to walk through a wall of Hawaii fans that were doing their best to get everyone revved up for the game. But, we found them to actually be on good behavior. They high-fived us and especially loved Noah, who was decked out in his BSU attire. Maybe if it wasn't for Noah we would have had obscenities hurled at us.

Hawaii attire anyone? Nah, we'll pass...

We sat in the north end zone with all the other BSU fans that made the flight over. We had pretty good seats, even though we were sitting among some Hawaii fans. During halftime I found a man I worked with at the Chamber of Commerce in Boise. It was good to see a familiar face and to do a little catching up. At this point in the game, we both thought BSU might still be able to pull it off. They've been known to work miracles before (Fiesta Bowl, anyone??).


Look at all that orange, and a little blue

Got to love that Buster.

He even knows how to shaka and he's not too proud to wear a grass skirt!

Oh, look, someone escaped from the
Polynesian Cultural Center and is
running on the field.
No, wait, it's Hawaii's mascot.

Let the game begin!

After being at the stadium for over four hours, we were ready for the game. It was fun to watch how Hawaii starts their games, with all of their players doing some kind of a Warrior chant. From what I could tell, it consisted of banging on the chest and chanting a bunch of incomprehensible words, but it made for a good show anyway. I can see how that chest pounding would get you geared up for the game. No wonder they won. Maybe BSU needs to start doing a little of that themselves, but maybe right before they head out to the field. Wouldn't want to look like idiots on national tv since we are Broncos and not Warriors.

The score before it got real ugly

A shot of some BSU fans before the sun went down,
before the rain, and before defeat.