Last week was all about Pro Bowl. Thursday was the NFL Players Play 60 event. I picked up Alec from school and we hiked over to the football field on base where the festivities were being held. Much to my surprise there were already a ton of people there. Parents had actually taken their kids out of school early to make sure they got there early enough to be some of the few allowed to participate. We stood in line for 30 minutes to be told that they were no longer accepting children to participate but we were more than welcome to watch from the bleachers. Lets just say watching on the bleachers left a little to be desired. We stayed just long enough to take some pictures and get a pass for a free movie ticket on base for waiting in line for nothing. On top of all of that they had cancelled the players meet and greet so it turned into nothing more than a photo opportunity from the stands.
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| Colts mascot Blue and a few of the cheerleaders |
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| Steve Jackson of the Rams |
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| Devin McCourty of the Patriots |
After taking my pictures the kids and I walked over to the park since they didn't get to participate at Play 60. They completely forgot that they stood in line for 30 minutes for no reason once we got to the park.
Saturday was simply a day of shopping and browsing a mall we haven't checked out yet. Both of the kids got new big kid booster seats for the car. They are very pleased with their new seats.
Sunday was a big day for us. Kyle and I had tickets for the Pro Bowl at Aloha Stadium. We dropped the kids off with the babysitter for the day and headed off to tailgate with some friends. We got to park in a special parking area because we came with a friend who had a wonderful parking pass. After some confusion about where our other friends were parked, we treked around the stadium to the parking lot where everyone was tailgating. Kyle cooked up some brauts and hot dogs and we hung out for a while before the game.
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| The grillmaster |
The weather was sunny and warm when we got there. As we were tailgating however the clouds started to become rather ominous.
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| Storm clouds above Aloha Stadium |
Not long after the clouds began to roll in the rain started coming down. We decided to pack up our coolers and head back to our car to drop them off. After walking halfway around the stadium to our lot we were all sufficiantly soaked. To add insult to injury the wind started to pick up and added a rare chill to the air. We put our coolers away and headed to the staduim gate. We made it in the gate and found our soaked seats. I didn't realize how good our seats were. I was just excited to go and see the game.
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| A view from our seats |
We watched the pre game and all the set up that goes into it. They sure can make all those pieces for the stage move quickly across the field! They introduced all of the Pro Bowl cheerleaders first followed by the NFC and AFC players.
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| Terry Bradshaw prepping for his pre game commentary |
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| Pro Bowl Cheerleaders |
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| All the pre game festivities |
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| Banners pulled over the crowd during the pregame |
After the pre game was complete they began getting ready for kickoff. Much to my excitement Eagles kicker Akers started practicing his very precise field goal kicks while we were waiting.
Also to my delight, Vick was the first NFC quarterback to line up with the team and start making plays. It was exciting to see players that I watch on Sundays play football right there in front of me.
The game started rolling and the NFC started kicking butt and taking names. Before I knew it the score was 42-0 and it wasn't even the second half yet! The game seems more slow moving when you watch in person. I never really realized how much the commercial breaks we see on tv fully affect the flow of the game in the stadium. There was a lot more standing around than I expected because of the necessary commercial breaks. During these breaks the cheerleaders performed or the mascots acted silly. I really enjoyed the mascots especially the Colt's mascot, Blue. He loved to dance any chance he got. They made an announcement during one of the breaks that streaking is strictly forbidden and they mascots all came running out sans the jerseys they had on just moments before. They were dressed for the beach in speedos or swim trunks and had towels in hand. After streaking across the field they all laid down there towels to catch some Hawaiian rays.
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| Working on their tans near the endzone |
By halftime the game was such a blowout that most of the people around us decided to leave early and try to beat the traffic. There was no way I was going to leave early. I was prepared to milk every little bit of the experience no matter what the score of the game was. The AFC started to make a little bit of a comeback and the got close to tieing the score towards the end of the game. Evidentally a few guys weren't listening to the streaking announcement earlier in the game because with only a few minutes left in the fourth quarter, a guy hoped the wall and ran across the field. All the players just stood there and suprisingly no one came after him until he had made his way from one endzone to the other. Two more guys decided to follow his lead and jumped the wall as well and ran across the field as well. The cops decided to take notice at this point and tried to catch them but those guys were pretty agile and managed to avoid the cops for a good amount of time before being apprehended. It was hilarious to watch and the players seemed amused as well. Just minutes after the streakers the AFC made a fantastic trick play to bring the score a little closer. They missed the 2 point conversion and untimately lost the game but it was apparent that they whole game was all in good fun and the score didn't really matter. After the game we stayed for the MVP ceremony and once they started to clear the field we finally made our way out of the stadium. I knew our parking spot was good but it wasn't clear just how good it was until we were leaving and got back on the highway with no problem within about 3 minutes. We picked up the kids and made it home just as our tailgating friends were making it out of the parking lot. Sadly they left before the streakers and trick play so all that time was wasted trying to get out of the parking lot. I'm definitely glad we missed that madness.
All in all it was a great experience and I would love to go again next year. This week is much quieter than the last one. For me it is filled with homework. For Kyle and Alec it is back to work and school. This weekend we will watch the Super Bowl but that is about all we have planned. It will be nice to have a relaxing weekend. I will update again when I have new photos and stories for all of you.
