I left work an hour early so I could come tailgate ASAP. I was not liking the fact that a few blocks away (okay, actually QUITE A FEW blocks away....trust me, I walked it) were Matt and John tailgating having the time of their lives. Well, I might have made that 'time of their lives' part up. I wasn't there so I don't really know, but while sitting in my cube I had convinced myself that they were having the time of their lives and I was completely missing it.
I just google mapped it, and the parking lot they were in was 1.3 miles from my building. I had planned on getting on the free uptown trolley to get me most of the way there, but when I walked up to the trolley stop and the trolley didn't pull up THAT VERY INSTANT, I saw no point in standing there and waiting when I could just walk to the next stop in hopes the trolley would arrive at the exact same time as me. It didn't, so using my same logic I continued on to the next stop. And then the next one. And the next one, etc. You see where I'm going with this? Eventually I had walked all the way there. And I might have made a couple of wrong turns so 1.3 miles was probably more like 1.678 miles. :-)
When I got there, Matt and John were playing corn hole against some Tampa Bay fans. Booooooooo.
And if you'll please forgive the crappy quality pictures, SOMEONE (not naming names because that would be mean since it was his birthday) forgot my camera so all I had my was camera phone)
They did that for a while, then we had a drink or two, then we ate giant 1/2 pound burgers. All the while the temperature is dropping and it's getting cold. And we are adding on layer after layer of clothing. By the time we left for the game, we all looked like we might've been football players ourselves.
We then went to our seats WAYYYYY up top. The upper deck is the place to be...the people up there are so much more fun than the wine and cheesers on club level and the lower level!
At one point, I had to go to the bathroom so I left and didn't really pay attention to what section I was in or anything. When I tried to come back to my seat, I had NO idea where John was. John had both of our tickets in his pocket so I was screwed there too. I was lost completely. I felt like a lost child. You know how they tell you to just stay put where you are until someone comes to find you? I am walking breathing proof that that works. Apparently I came up the right stairs, but was looking into the section to our left. He saw me as I was walking back down and came down to retrieve me. I was pretty embarrassed. Maybe I need one of those leash and collar things, no?
So if you are uncool and don't know, the Panthers won 38-23. It was such a great game. The only thing that would have made it better was if I had remembered to wear my glasses so I could see the game. Ha. Well, I could see somewhat. I could tell that a black jersey threw an object and another black jersey caught it, to (eventually) be tackled by several white blobs. My camera phone also forgot to wear it's glasses:
It was such a fun night, and I hope John had the best birthday ever!
Oh, and GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO PANTHERS!
