Citrus Bowling

Happy New Year!  Hope your year started off as well as ours did (and no, it did not involve rolling fruit at objects J).  Our Missouri Tigers football team played in the Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl on New Year’s Day held here in Orlando.  Russ had looked online, and through a link on the university’s website, found seats for $9 each plus tax and a fee of $5.75 to have them emailed…yes, really.

The game was scheduled to start at 1pm, but we arrived at 7:30am, set up the grill, and cooked ourselves up some breakfast before enjoying some Bloody Marys (that’s what’s in the red cups above).

We were the first to arrive in this particular lot so were able to get a 
great spot right across from where the Tigers would be arriving.  The Missouri equipment truck was already there as was their opponent’s just a few yards down the road.  Mizzou was playing the Minnesota Golden Gophers, and a huge contingent of MN students had arrived to cheer on their team.

 

The team buses began showing up a couple of hours after we got there, coming in stages.  The first bus carried mostly staff, practice squad, and second string players.  About an hour later, arriving with a police escort bearing Tigers flags on their motorcycles and logos on their helmets, came the rest of the team, and there were plenty of Mizzou fans waiting to cheer their arrival.

 

There were lots of pre-game events though we didn't attend any (most cost a pretty penny).  However, a little further down from the Gopher’s equipment truck was a tent with a private pre-game party with visits from each team’s band, cheerleaders, and mascots.  Since this part of the event was outside, we had walked down in time to see/hear some of the Missouri band and cheerleaders and even got

a close-up of Truman as he left to head towards the stadium.  Just outside our stadium entrance was a small group of the Minnesota band that had stopped to entertain the fans by singing “Hey Baby!” which seems to be a standard with many college bands.

 

   This was the first college bowl game held here since the recent renovation of the stadium last year.  About 90% of it was torn down and replaced over a period of nearly 10 months…really an amazing feat when you think about it!  Once inside we easily found our seats which turned out to be really

great.  They were in the upper deck in the corner, almost directly above the tunnel from where the Tigers would emerge, and close to the band and other Mizzou fans though it seemed that there were way more Minnesota fans in attendance!

 

    Pre-game consisted of brief musical selections from each of the college bands (Mizzou at left, MN below left) plus a performance by the All-American Spirit Squad consisting of several hundred cheerleaders and dancers.  Only the nation’s best between the ages of 12 and 21 were selected to join in the pre-game and halftime events.  The Universal Cheerleaders

Assn. (UCA) and the Universal Dance Assn. (UDA) held tryouts at summer camps last year for the opportunity to perform.  Joining them on the field were 50 All-Star Mascots who were also chosen from UCA summer camps around the country, and only 12% of the mascots trying out earned the chance to perform (below right).

The national anthem was sung by the a capella group Voices of Liberty and near the end two Air Force fighter jets flew overhead.  I wish I had snapped a photo of the flyover, but my hand was over my heart and I was so wrapped up in experiencing the moment that I didn’t think of it till the moment was gone.  (The pilots were from Tyndall AFB and got a rousing ovation when they were introduced on the field at the 3rd quarter.)

It was a great game, though the first quarter was a little unnerving with the Tigers down 7-0.  It was still a little too close for comfort at the half with Mizzou up 10-7, and even going into the 4th quarter only being up by 2 points.

        But the Tigers prevailed, bowling over the Golden Gophers with a 33-17 win in front of a crowd of 48,624.  What a game…what a win!

 

      Near the end of the game Coach Pinkel was doused with the obligatory bucket of Gatorade, and I actually got a couple shots of him “enjoying” his shower!

 

Missouri’s defensive end, Markus Golden, was named Citrus Bowl MVP, but this half of the defensive dynamic duo dubbed Golden-Ray
insisted on having his pass-rushing partner, defensive end Shane Ray onstage with him to accept the award.  As Ray said, “We dedicate everything to each other.  Without him, there can be no me. Without me, there could be no him. We’ve always fed off of each other.”  A couple of very humble and classy guys.

 

We headed back to the car and hung out for awhile waiting for the traffic to die down.  We watched as the players came out the team entrance to greet family, friends, and fans, and each was carrying his own large Papa John’s pizza.  They had definitely worked up an appetite and earned it!