Home Opener Excitement!

This Saturday was the home opener for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons against Ole Miss. I was supposed to work on the Habitat house, but Hurricane Hanna prevented that from happening. (We got some rain overnight Friday and early Saturday morning, but honestly, it was nothing like what we were expecting. We did buy rain gear in preparation, but by Saturday mid-day, it was sunny and 85).

Since I had originally thought that I was going to be arriving at the stadium right at game time after Habitat, I hadn't made any plans with anyone else regarding tailgaiting. Chris suggested I just take some food and drink, sit by my car, and read a book or something, but I told him that seemed weird. However, when he called me at 1:30 and told me it was getting crazy there, I thought maybe I should go just to be sure I got a parking spot. So... as difficult as this is to admit - and as pricelessly pathetic as it really is ... I solo pseudo-tailgated. My version of this involves an apple, a string cheese, a bag of almonds, and a couple of strawberry Smirnoff Ices - and lots of wandering around the parking lots so it looked like I was just on my way to meet some people somewhere else.

While meandering through the lots, I tried to take pictures to give Chris and y'all an idea of the craziness outside the stadium pre-game. Let me just say, the longer I walked, the funnier things seemed and the bolder I got with the picture-taking. At first I was just trying to nonchalantly snap a few pics as I walked by, but by the end, I was just walking right up to the tables to get some good shots.

I'm sure I got a few funny looks - which could also have had something to do with the fact that I was wearing a red and white striped tank top and blue jean shorts. I had had a dressing dilemma - it was entirely too hot to wear anything black (which is all I had in ways of Wake wear), and the only piece of yellow I own happened to be in the dirty clothes. So - I figured I'd be a rebel and just dress like one (Ole Miss' colors are red, white, and blue). I am holding firm to my refusal to follow the apparent Southern style and wear a dress and heels to the game - yes, at least 50% of the women there were wearing dresses...at a football game! I just don't get it. I dress for comfort - not fashion!

I did get to use my outfit choice to my advantage at one point during the game though - I caught a shirt when the Deacon mascot began shooting them out of the T-shirt gun! I've never caught one before! The guys around me were giving this grumpy, older, tobacco-spitting man who was sitting right in front of me a hard time because it was right above him. I tried to convince them to give me a break - I obviously needed some Wake Forest gear... Unless I can find somewhere to trade it in, I won't be wearing the XL. But I figured Chris would love it - at least the slogan. Last year's slogan was "Paint It Black" and this year it's, naturally, "Back in Black" - which just so happened to be the same slogan his senior year at Metamora. Go birds...

The Winston-Salem air show was also going on this weekend, so one of the special guests at the game were the Geico dot-matrix fly team who can spell anything you want in the sky apparently. And I have to admit that seeing Go Deacons like that was pretty cool...

The other special guest - the selected honoree who gets to "open the gate" at the beginning of the game - was 2008 Olympian (and Wake Forest basketball standout) Chris Paul. It was pretty awesome as he held up the gold medal for all to see.

And finally, to the game - holy cow! E-X-C-I-T-I-N-G! I won't even try to recap it all - I'll save that for the experts: ESPN. But in a nutshell, Wake marched down the field with 1:01 to go and kicked a field goal with 8 seconds remaining to win the game. It was unbelievable! And, there was lots of refereeing drama that didn't make the ESPN highlights that added to the atmosphere as well! Nothing like starting the season off with a bang!