So much for our brilliant plan of beating the traffic. We decided to make our way to Westgate City Center, an area of restaurants and bars in walking distance from the stadium, but more importantly with a parking lot where we could park and kill some time before our lot opened. We found Yardhouse, a sports bar that was relatively empty when we arrived but quickly began to fill up once we had been seated. The service at this restaurant provided perhaps the most frustrating part of the entire weekend. I don't know what kind of management would allow there to be one waiter at a sports bar next to the stadium where the national championship game is taking place, but that was what happened here, and we definitely drew the short stick. Tables that were seated 30-40 minutes after us had ordered and were eating before we ever even placed our order - it was insane! I've honestly never seen anything like it; usually when a waiter realizes there is a problem with a table, they will step it up and make sure they are taken care of. Not this one - my order even came out wrong and I was so exasperated with it after waiting over an hour for it to arrive that I didn't even bother to send it back for fear I'd never see it again. Needless to say, our waiter received no tip and we could not wait to get out of there!
By this point, we were able to get into our parking lot and headed for the stadium to scope out the area. We took a quick lap around and then headed back toward the Westgate area closest to the stadium on foot, where the Auburn band was playing and Auburn fans once again were out in full force. And once again, the Oregon fans were severely outnumbered, which was making this entire experience even more fun! We bounced around to several different bars to meet up with friends, all of which were completely packed, before heading back across the walkway to the stadium.
We were hustling to get back to the far end of the stadium through the throngs of people to participate in Tiger Walk, a favorite Auburn tradition that we were excited to participate in on the other side of the country! We got to where it was supposed to be and ended up standing around for a long time waiting for the buses to arrive. This was not a normal Tiger Walk in that we could only see the players through the tint of the bus windows rather than having them walk through a crowd of fans high-fiving everyone, but it was exciting once the buses finally showed up and we were all cheering for our undefeated Tigers on getting us all out to the middle of the desert in the middle of January!
Once Tiger Walk was over, it was time to start making our way into the stadium! It was a long walk to the opposite end of the stadium, but we went straight in and got settled in our seats ... and what amazing seats they were! We were basically in a private bleacher box that only had two rows of 8 in it. We were also in the seats closest to the ESPN College Gameday setup and had to stare at Nick Saban's ugly mug throughout the pre-game and halftime.
During the pre-game warm ups, the media swarmed around our star quarterback and Heisman Trophy Winner, Cam Newton.
The University of Phoenix Stadium was a very nice indoor stadium, and our seats were directly in front of a concession stand and the restrooms, so we were never far from the action! When trying to figure out if the game was being played indoors or outdoors while packing for the trip, I learned about the interesting way the stadium is able to keep live grass growing on an indoor field.
The field full of live, green grass and the stands full of spirited, orange Auburn fans:
An exciting weekend in Phoenix was capped off with the most exciting thing of all - Auburn wins 22-19 and is presented with the crystal National Championship trophy!
After the game we were tired and hungry. We had passed an In-n-Out Burger on the way to the stadium so made an executive decision that we must go there. We were not alone - the place was packed with Auburn and Oregon fans. It was my first time eating at this uber-poplar West Coast fast food spot, and I have to say, I was not overly-impressed. Not sure what the big deal is. I will take a Milo's cheeseburger back home in Birmingham over the In-N-Out double double burger any day of the week!
We are passing out hard tonight - a 10:00am flight back to New York awaits me. But it certainly feels good to be going to bed as a national champion!
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