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Road Diary Finally, the Fiend's odyssey comes to an exhausting end
Posted: Tuesday November 30, 1999 11:14 PM
Tuesday, November 30, 1999, 10:05 p.m. EST The Fiend's den, Kennesaw, Georgia And I'm spent. After traveling 6,400 air miles in 142 hours, I finally arrived back in Atlanta at 5:09 p.m. on Tuesday, road-weary and ready for a long nap. Like three days' worth or so. This culminated a week during which I visited eight different airports, slept only 30 1/2 hours in six nights, traveled through all four time zones, checked into in two different hotels (and on one futon in a condo) and killed one battery in my rental car. I'd have to say that the highlights of the trip would have to be meeting John Madden on Thanksgiving morning in Detroit, and being on the field on Monday night at the end of the game to hear the Packers fans fill 3Com Park with Cheesehead cheers as Green Bay ran off the field victorious on a rainy night in San Francisco. Sure, I also got to return to my alma mater for the first time in almost four years, but I was in Boulder for only seven hours, and all of that time was spent working, so it really didn't feel like good hanging-out time. The trip home this morning was exhausting, as I had to leave for the Oakland airport by 5:30 a.m. PST after working at the stadium until well after midnight to finish up stories on Monday night. The flight from Oakland to Dallas wasn't too bad, but there was a strong-smelling, sneezing, wheezing Japanese man with really awful gray tweed slacks sitting next to me. This gentleman was late getting on the plane, and apparently the stewardesses were so happy to have the final person on the plane that they chose to overlook the fact that he had 73 carry-on bags with him. Alright, maybe it was only five, but last time I checked, the limit was two per person, and the airlines were usually pretty militant about enforcing that rule. So this yokel filled up all the remaining overhead bins around us, then put one bag under the seat in front of him, and also put one under the seat in front of me. Yeah, don't mind me dude, I wasn't planning to stretch out and catch some sleep or anything. ARGGGHHHHHH!!! The flight got into Dallas a bit late and I was forced to hustle over to another terminal to catch my connecting flight from Dallas to Atlanta. No smelly people or tweed-slacks wearers on that flight, from a quickie eyeball and olfactory gland survey before I nodded off to sleep. The trip from Dallas to Atlanta proceeded without incident, and I slept most of the way on the almost two-hour flight. My wife met me at the gate, and after scolding me sufficiently for ogling the Raiderettes on Sunday and daring to mention that in my diary, we headed back to the car to fight one more travel battle -- Atlanta rush-hour traffic. It took us about an hour to get out to the northwest suburbs where we live, and both of us were starving so we stopped off at Chili's for a quick bite to eat. We rehashed our respective weekends and she detailed her shopping spree at the outlet mall on Saturday. Apparently, women think that a husband leaving on business for the weekend means a free pass to go spend money at the outlet malls. After arriving home around 7:30 or so, I slowly sorted through my stuff that I had accumulated from covering the four games over the weekend. I unpacked one of my two bags and then sat down to start scoping out the football calendar for the next chance to do a dream weekend like this again. Maybe next year we can start the weekend before Thanksgiving and go to games the previous Saturday and Sunday as well, just so we can get the air mileage total up over 10,000! I also want to thank my good buddy The Fanatic, for stepping in for me on Saturday for the Georgia-Georgia Tech game. Did we pick some great games to go see this weekend, or what? Thanks for reading for the past six days, and I hope that my trip brought a little flavor of Thanksgiving weekend football into your life. Yours in pigskin, The CNNSI.com Football Fiend
Monday, November 29, 1999 11:35 p.m. PST 3Com Park, San Francisco, California The Football Feast is over. Now the fun of trying to get home begins. If you think you have a bad commute tomorrow, mine is going to be more than 3,000 miles to get home. CNNSI.com's First Annual Thanksgiving Football Feast closed out on Monday night with the greatest football game ever played in the history of God and man. Well, maybe not to most of you, but to the 5,000 or so Packers fans in attendance at 3Com Park on Monday night that is surely the case. Seeing the Packers win such a meaningful game was the perfect capper to my four-game journey. I hadn't seen the mighty Pack play in more than five years, and to get to see them play a road game against an intense rival like the 49ers was quite a thrill. And to see them play such a solid game was nice as well. Sure the 49ers are down this season, but it's still fun to beat them and watch their fans cry. The rainy weather in San Francisco reminded me of the NFC Championship game two years ago when the Packers beat the 49ers in very similar weather conditions. That team was a healthier and the stakes were higher, but with the Pack fighting for playoff positioning, the win Monday night was huge. I was down on the field for the last five minutes of the game, and I would like to personally thank whoever invented Gore-tex parkas. The rain was coming down pretty hard near the end of the game, but not as hard as the fans were coming down on San Francisco's offense when it failed to convert a fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line in the final few minutes. Steve Stenstrom played awful on Monday, but the rest of the offense has looked just as lost since Steve Young was lost with a concussion a few months back. After the final gun, I walked off the field about five feet behind Brett Favre, and he acknowledged the hearty legion of Packers fans who had braved the lousy weather to watch the end of the game. Favre was limping pretty badly after getting beat up in a physical game, and his sore big thumb on his right hand was wrapped heavily in ice. Favre waved his sore right hand to the crowd and smiled approvingly as he made his way into the tunnel toward the locker room. My travel day is going to get started bright and early tomorrow. I am going to have to wake up by 5 a.m. PST to drive across the Bay and catch my 8:06 a.m. flight out of Oakland. After changing planes in Dallas tomorrow afternoon, I am scheduled to arrive in Atlanta at 5:13 p.m . EST. My wife has relayed message to me that she will pick me up at the airport, but I'll believe it when I see it. Maybe I'll just head from the airport to check out a high school practice or something. I don't think I've quite had my fill of football yet. There must be some kind of football Methadone clinic that I can go into to wean myself off of a weekend like this, rather than going cold turkey (no pun intended). I'll cap off my adventure with one last journal entry tomorrow evening when I get home. All kidding aside, it will be great to see my wife, my dog, my own shower, my king size bed and, most importantly, my DirecTV so that I can watch 13 games next Sunday instead of just the one I saw this Sunday. Kind of sucks not to have a game to go to tomorrow after all of this fun this weekend. Anyway, I'll write more tomorrow from the friendly confines of my den in beautiful Kennesaw, Georgia.
Monday, November 30, 1999 3:55 p.m. PST 3Com (ne: Candlestick) Park, San Francisco, California Everyone has a tale of Thanksgiving weekend travel, and now I have mine. I guess it's not as much a travel mishap as it is an act of stupidity on my part, but it is pretty funny all the same. It wasn't funny last night when it was happening, but now that I am 22 hours removed from it, the situation even makes me smile a bit. May the teasing from co-workers and family members begin. After making it through five days, six flights and three games worth of fun, I wandered back to my rental car last evening in the parking lot of the Network Associates Coliseum in Oakland to find that the battery was dead on my car. In my haste to get into the Coliseum to set up for the game, I had left the lights on in my rental car, and during the seven or so hours I was in the stadium the battery had been completely sapped of all of its juice. Now a deserted parking lot in Oakland at 9 p.m. probably isn't the best place to be hanging out for long, so I ran back inside the stadium to call for a tow truck to come give me a jump start. The gentleman on the phone said that it would be about 15 minutes. AN HOUR AND 10 MINUTES LATER THE WRECKER PULLED INTO THE PARKING LOT TO HELP ME OUT!
The process of actually getting the car started took only about 10 minutes, but the friendly, toothless, rather inebriated man apparently thought I was giving him the Please-tell-me-all-about-your-worthless-life-including-how- you-helped-a-friend-install-a-new-roof-last-night look. After prying myself away from his enrapturing tales, I headed back toward my hotel in Belmont across the Bay, grabbed a loaf of bread and some sandwich meats at a grocery store, ate and went to sleep. I never did hear from my brother-in-law last night, which led me to start wondering in the entire family is conspiring against me while I'm on this trip. He did call this morning ... FROM UTAH! What, he couldn't hang out for another day to hang out with his only brother-in-law? I slept very late this morning, and after showering off my caked-on layer of Oakland grime, I headed off on what amounts to The Fiend's personal pilgrimage. I went to the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco to visit the Grateful Dead's house. I had been once before with my wife when we were in town for a wedding a year ago September. But it was good for me to be able to go alone and properly pay tribute to the greatest thing to come out of San Francisco this side of Rice-A- Roni. The house itself is spectacular -- a large purple and pink (no, I'm not kidding) old Victorian home at 710 Ashbury St. in a hilly neighborhood just southeast of Golden Gate Park. I spent a couple of quiet minutes in front of the home reflecting on all the joy that the music of the Dead brought to me over the years. Well, that and all the great ... never mind, my parents might be reading this. Hi Mom and Dad! I had lunch at Zone Rosa, an incredible little taqueria on Haight St. a block east of the park, and went shopping for CDs at Amoeba Records, which is one of the neater record stores I have ever seen. From there I hustled over to Candlestick Park (I refuse to call it 3Com, though the Palm Pilot is a pretty nifty little invention) to check out the scene before heading into the stadium. Well, to be honest with you, there wasn't much of a scene. I don't know that I can sum up the differences between San Francisco and Oakland any better than the color of their uniforms does. 49ers fans are much more of a wine-and-cheese crowd than the Jack Daniels and raw meat fans in Oakland. That could have something to do with the exorbitant fee of $20 that they charge to park by the stadium. Sky-high prices usually tend to keep the riff-raff out. Fortunately there were plenty of Cheeseheads in the parking lot cooking bratwurst, drinking Miller Genuine Draft, listening to polka music, and talking to one another with funny accents. It makes me feel like I'm at home when I hear that wonderful nasal accent. The clouds are thickening as gametime approaches, and the forecast is for heavy rains overnight in the Bay Area. That could of course cause problems with the Packers-49ers game tonight, but also with my 8 a.m. flight out of Oakland tomorrow morning. That's it for now. I will check in again after the game tonight. Go Packers!!!
Sunday, November 28, 1999 7:45 p.m. PST Network Associates Coliseum, Oakland, California The stands are empty, the lights are off, and the Raiders are done. The First Annual CNNSI.com Thanksgiving Football Feast has been a rousing success so far in terms of the quality of games we have seen. Four games attended, and 13 total points have determined the four contests. I can only hope that tomorrow's Packers-49ers game lives up to the rest of the weekend's games. Three of the four games were decided on the final play, with Eric Crouch's touchdown run winning it for Nebraska in overtime on Friday, Luke Manget nailing a field goal in overtime in Georgia Tech's thrilling win over arch-rival Georgia on Saturday afternoon, and then Pete Stoyanovich hitting a 44-yarder as time expired to win it for Kansas City on Sunday. You can't ask for much better games than that. Sunday's game here ran the gamut of emotions for both teams with turnovers, big plays and key mistakes crafting a dramatic script down the stretch. I can't say that there was too much excitement to be found following the game, since the Raiders' locker room was quiet following the loss, and the Chiefs' locker room was emptying out quickly to catch their flight back home. As a former kicker, I felt sorry for Michael Husted after the game, but he was very gracious in answering questions about the missed kick, and about his struggles this season. Tyrone Wheatley was a little less forthcoming with eloquent answers, berating an Oakland reporter with a couple of expletives after he was asked what he thought was a dumb question about being disappointed. I had been waiting to chat with Wheatley myself, but after hearing his foul mood and even fouler mouth I decided not to subject myself to such fun. The best tidbit I can share from after the game is that I got to check out the Oakland Raiders' cheerleaders as they walked off the field and as I was heading to Jon Gruden's press conference. The most impressive thing about the Raiderettes is their size. The size of the cheerleading squad, not what you were thinking, geez. I have never seen a professional football team that had so many cheerleaders. Groups of them stand in each of the four corners of the stadium, giving everyone in the stands equal opportunity to ogle the East Bay's finest clad scantily in silver and black. And, since you are wondering, most of them are a bit on the buxom side -- they don't call it Silicon Valley out here for nothing. No thrilling announcer or celebrity journalist sighting to be had today, since the No. 14 crew of Ian Eagle and Mark May was doing the game for CBS television. I would've thought that this game deserved better treatment than that, but no one at CBS called to ask my opinion on which announcers they should've sent to this game. So four games down, one to go. Tonight will be a good night for me to catch up on some sleep, but hopefully not before getting together with some family. My 22-year-old brother-in-law Jake lives in San Francisco, so I hope to hook up with him this evening for a late dinner and some carousing. Maybe he will have talked to his sister to see if I'll have a place to go home to on Tuesday when my nomadic journey is complete. Hope you enjoyed your NFL Sunday, and I will write more in the morning.
Sunday, November 28, 1999 11:35 a.m. PST Network Associates Coliseum, Oakland, California What a great two days of college football on Friday and Saturday!!! Can CNNSI.com pick the games to go to, or what? I dare say that my esteemed colleague and I got to see the two best college football games of the season over the last 48 hours. I'm thoroughly jealous that the Fanatic got to see such an amazing game yesterday in Atlanta between the Dawgs and the Jackets. I'm also jealous of his 11-minute commute home after the game, especially compared with my 9 1/2 hour travel day from Denver to San Francisco last night. I had to fly through Dallas to get to San Francisco from Denver. Now please go pull out a map quickly to look at the logic of this. No, go on, I'll wait. Back yet? Okay, now draw a straight line from Denver to San Francisco. Once that line is drawn, go find Dallas, Texas on the map. The Fiend is no geography major, but it appears to me that Dallas is 800 miles THE WRONG WAY from San Francisco. UGGGGHHHHHH!
Fog delays in the Bay Area kept the plane on the ground in Dallas for over an hour, and I didn't check into my hotel until after 2 a.m. (which is 5 a.m. Eastern time on my body clock). After four hours of sleep, I woke up this morning at 8:30 a.m. to begin my trek to the stadium across the Bay in Oakland. I crossed over the San Mateo Bridge and made my way north on I-880 to the Coliseum. I pulled into the parking lot at the Coliseum just after 11:00 a.m. and wove my way to a spot through the throngs of silver-and-black clad fans. It appeared as if most of the fans had been drinking since shortly after clearing the turkey off the table on Thursday, and the decibel-level in the parking lot was unbelievable. Fans blasting music everywhere, tailgate parties in full swing, and every last person was wearing silver and black. I can't even imagine what these barbarians, er, people would do to anyone who dared to wear Chiefs gear to this game. We've all seen the crazy Raider fans with their faces painted, waving machetes and other illegal weapons for the television cameras from time-to-time, and I always think the same thing when I see that on TV... Do these people have jobs? Seriously, is the guy under those spiked shoulder pads really a tax attorney out in Concord? Is that lady with Raiders tattoos covering her body actually a lawyer from Walnut Creek? The best sight of the morning was of a relatively normal (by this crowds standards at least) looking woman who was walking toward my car. As she passed by, I turned around to follow she and her family walked past, and the back of her shirt read "Piss on the Chiefs." That just perfectly summed up this rivalry to me, and made me even more anxious for the approaching kickoff. Inside the stadium the loudspeakers are blaring Joe Satriani, Ozzy Osborne, and other assorted hard rock tunes. I'm guessing that not a lot of people in the stands here own Enya compact discs. Kickoff is about 75 minutes away, and I can't wait for them to get it on in Oaktown. I'll talk to you later tonight after the game.
Saturday, November 27, 1999, 8:28 p.m., Atlanta, Georgia, CNN Center One word: wow. That's all you need to describe the college football classic that was Georgia Tech 51, Georgia 48, and I'm ever-grateful to have had a front-row seat. In fact, Dez White practically fell on my feet when he caught the bomb to set up Tech's tying touchdown. I spent most of the game in the press box, but made my way down to the field with about five minutes left, thinking I would just watch the clock wind down and then go do some interviews. Instead, it was back-and-forth, back-and-forth into overtime, and the atmosphere was incredible. The pocket of red-clad Georgia fans were going nuts and the Yellow Jackets fans appeared stunned as the Bulldogs drove down the field for what looked to be a chip-shot field goal to win. But when Jasper Sanks (allegedly) fumbled at the 1, the place erupted in a sea of yellow. Many of the students behind me were jumping all over each other in the stands. It was mass pandemonium when Tech's final field goal sailed through. Students stormed the field, immediately surrounding Joe Hamilton as he tried to leave the field. As they headed to the locker room, one massive lineman whose number I didn't catch screamed, "Yeah baby! To hell with Georgia" Needless to say, beating the 'Dawgs is a monumental deal for Tech fans, especially two years in a row, especially in dramatic fashion. It's safe to say they'll be partying on The Flats tonight. As for me, my immediate future definitely involves a nap. Covering college football is an all-day test of your endurance that I usually fail. But I know I'm better rested than The Fiend. The next time you read this diary, it will be back in his hands.
Saturday, November 27, 1999 11:14 a.m., Atlanta, Georgia, Grant Field/Bobby Dodd Stadium I've got nothing but love for my traveling colleague. I envy him for being at possibly the best college game of the year in Boulder on Saturday -- not to mention all the frequent flyer miles he must be accumulating. But even the chance to hang out with such distinguished musicians as Third Eye Blind isn't worth extended time spent in airports over Thanksgiving weekend. Can you believe that guy? Hey, I've got a good idea for a story: let's go to the Post Office and buy stamps -- at midnight April 15. Let's go the DMV on the last day of the month. My only travel this week involved a brief trip to Cincinnati to see my family. After returning last night, it was extremely pleasing to be able to sleep in my own bed, wake up and drive about five minutes to the stadium. And what a stadium it is, here on the historic Flats of Georgia Tech's campus, at Grant Field/Bobby Dodd Stadium, one of the last truly beautiful urban settings for college football. What's more amazing is that this scene takes place only one exit north on I-75/85 from the CNN Center -- a.k.a. "The Office." I've spent most Saturdays this fall trapped on the 10th floor of that building in front of computer monitors and televisions, so it's exhilarating to be out here, amidst the smell of beer and roasting hot dogs, ready to watch an actual, live football game. There's not a cloud in the sky. North Ave., the main drag outside Tech's campus, is a sea of red (Georgia) and yellow-and-black (Tech) as fans make their way here. From my seat at the 40-yard line in an open press box, I can watch smoke billowing from the parking lot and listen to the sounds of the band warming up just outside. A yellow sign across the way from me reads, "Have you kicked your Dawg today?" The other reason you don't see me jetting off to Detroit or Oakland is simple: who wants to spend the weekend watching No Fun League football? Three hours inside a Dome watching the Barry Sanders-less Lions against the everybody-less Bears? Come on. We'll take 'Dawgs vs. Jackets/Joe Hamilton vs. Quincy Carter/tailgates/cheerleaders/fight songs any day of the week over any sport that involves Gus Frerotte and instant replay. Speaking of which, this one's going to be a war. Georgia-Georgia Tech is always huge, but this year's on a while different level. Bulldogs have been kicking themselves the entire last year over "the one that got away" (21-19) in '98, breaking a seven-game Georgia win streak in the series. The trash talk began way back over the summer and intensified this week, with fans of both viewing a win as the only way to salvage "disappointing" seasons (remember, Tech had aspirations of a BCS game before losing to Wake Forest last week; Georgia was overmatched against Florida and Tennessee but was stunned to lose to Auburn). I'm tempted to crank call the Fiend in his hotel room out West, where it's 8 a.m. and he's getting roughly his third or fourth hour of sleep all weekend. But instead, I'll go get some grub and soak in some more of the great American pastime that is college football. Saturday, November 27, 1999 2:22 a.m. Jason and Paula's place, Denver, Colorado Let me give you the good news first, before reliving the pain and sorrow that was The Fiend's return to Folsom Field on Friday. I went to the Nuggets-Timberwolves game at the Pepsi Center in downtown Denver on Friday night, and that place is just amazing. Best of all the new arenas in the league that I have seen. Great building, and a great neighborhood around it lend extra character to an already impressive new facility. And the Nuggets won their fourth straight, so that was fun to see as well. After the game we went to Old Chicago's for some top-notch pizza, and then headed back to Jason and Paula's beautiful condo in the "Golden Triangle" neighborhood of Denver, where we caught up and swapped old college stories while enjoying each other's company. Alright, enough of the storytelling and the nicety-nice, let me vent for a moment here...
Bad things happen with the Huskers in town, and bad things certainly did transpire at Folsom Field late Friday afternoon. The Buffs' furious comeback was one of the most impressive I have ever witnessed in person, as Colorado clawed back into it on the strength of some clutch catches from Javon Green and John Minardi. The crowd was as loud as I have ever heard it, and Colorado really was feeding off of the emotion from the crowd during the comeback in the fourth quarter. Even after tying the game at 27, I just had a bad feeling about things. While standing on the field waiting for the game to end to go into the locker rooms to do interviews, I turned to my old friend from school, Chris Dempsey, who now writes for the Boulder Daily Camera, and said that Colorado would find a way to lose the game. Heart-breaking losses at the norm to Nebraska for Colorado over the last eight years, and I just knew something weird was going to happen. Pain and suffering rule the world of Colorado fans when it comes to the "Red Letter Game" each year against Nebraska of late. Not even I could've imagined the pain and heartache that Jeremy Aldrich's missed field goal caused myself and other members of the Buffs' Nation. We were so close to beating our archrivals for the first time in nine years, but it wasn't meant to be. The Fiend was a decent kicker in high school, and I happened to have attended kicking camp on the hallowed turf (pre-installation of natural grass this season) of Folsom before my sophomore year of high school. In fact, my career-best field goal of 52 yards was hit into the very South end zone where Aldrich missed his 34-yard try. Maybe The Fiend should've been playing in the game -- I think I still have some eligibility left.
The Fiend will be taking the day off on Saturday to make his way out to the Bay Area for Sunday's Chiefs-Raiders game and Monday's Packers-49ers game. But check back on Saturday because my good buddy The Fanatic will be picking up the adventures at Grant Field in Atlanta for the Georgia-Georgia Tech game. It should be quite a time on The Flats at Tech Saturday, so please stay tuned. Friday, November 26, 1999 12:55 p.m. Folsom Field, Boulder, Colorado After an exhausting day of travel, I have finally made it to Boulder. But today was quite a day traveling, and I really can't wait to relax a bit with friends following the Huskers-Buffs game this afternoon. I woke up at 3:30 a.m. Eastern time to drive the 45 miles from my hotel in Auburn Hills to Detroit Metro Airport west of downtown, hoping to get a standby seat on a Northwest Airlines flight from Detroit to Minneapolis. I was able to get on the first flight to the Twin Cities at 7 a.m., and I made a 9:25 a.m. connecting flight in Minneapolis that got me into Denver at 10:25 a.m. Landing in Denver was quite emotional for me, since it was the first time I have been in Colorado in almost 3 1/2 years since I graduated from the University of Colorado in May, 1996. It was gorgeous to see the snow-covered peaks, and the sun was shining spectacularly as it usually does on the Front Range. I was so eager to get to Boulder to see the game, see old friends, but with the busiest shopping day of the year today, what I ended up seeing was a lot of traffic. The drive from Denver International Airport to Boulder usually takes approximately 45 minutes, but due to football game traffic, and people heading out to the various malls that dot US Highway 36 between Denver and Boulder, it took me nearly a 1 1/2 hours to make my way up to Boulder. I hit the big hill heading into the Boulder valley at about 12:15, but traffic was extremely tight as I neared the stadium. The game kicked off at 12:40 with me still about a mile away from the stadium in my car. No sooner had the game begun that Nebraska had a 7-0 lead on a long Dan Alexander touchdown run. I hustled to find a parking spot on "The Hill," gathered my things and made my way to the stadium. I didn't get into the press box until 12:45 p.m., and by that time Alexander had tacked on another touchdown to boost the Huskers' lead to 14-0. Seven minutes had elapsed by the time I took my seat, and things weren't looking good for Colorado. We'll see what happens, since this game has a history of being close and down-to-the-wire over the last several years. Following the game tonight, I am planning on meeting my roommate from college, Jason Munoz, at the Nuggets-Timberwolves game, and then going out for pizza at Old Chicago's in Lower Downtown Denver. I can't wait to check out the new Pepsi Center, and I am thrilled to be able to spend some time with Jason and his fiance, Paula, at their condo in downtown Denver tonight. I will write more tonight when I get home from the hoops game. In the meantime, go Buffs!!! Thursday, November 25, 1999, 7:33 p.m., Pontiac Silverdome I would venture to say that Turkey Day in Detroit was an unqualified success. Sure, I missed my flight to Minneapolis at 6:30 p.m. that was supposed to connect me through to Denver tonight, but I'll catch another one in the morning and be in Boulder by game time. I hope. Today was certainly one of the best days I have ever had -- what football fan wouldn't be psyched to have hit the motherlode by running into freakin' John Madden on Thanksgiving Day? He has been as much a part of my Thanksgiving memories as any of my family members for as far back as I can remember. Sorry Mom, but his turkey on TV always did look better than yours. In addition to seeing John Madden first thing in the morning, I got to hang out with Third Eye Blind backstage; I ran into Fox Sports' Daron Sutton (an old friend with whom I used to work with at Headline Sports); I rode in the elevator with Lesley Visser down to the press room; then I capped it all off by bumping into Tim Allen in the Lions' locker room after the game. The Fiend is hobnobbing with the elite today! Tomorrow will be a day to see old friends rather than pop cultural icons, as I will be returning to a place that is very near and dear to my heart. By this point you know of The Fiend's fondness for football played on the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field, but I don't think I've divulged my love for the Colorado Buffaloes quite yet. Though it may be hard to believe, The Fiend actually has a college degree, though it is a B.S. from Colorado, so that doesn't really count for much, I guess. Bachelor of Science in Journalism, not a bulls*&t degree, if that's what you were thinking. So I will be up bright and early tomorrow morning to hit the road for Denver. My flight leaves at 7:00 a.m., and after connecting in Minneapolis I should arrive in Denver at 10:23 a.m. That should give me just enough time to get up to Boulder by kickoff at 12:30 p.m. Tomorrow will be my first trip back to Boulder since I graduated in May, 1996, and I'm expecting to get a bit emotional as I drive into town. I'll let you know if The Fiend gets soft on you in his first return to his alma mater in three-and-a-half years. Hope your Turkey Day treated you well. Now you have to ward off the desire to take a post-dinner nap and rally for the rest of the weekend, because there are still four more games to go in our journey! I'll talk to you from Boulder tomorrow afternoon.
Wednesday, November 25, 1999, Pontiac Silverdome The Fiend has arrived! After a surprisingly uneventful night of travelling, I finally made it to the Motor City shortly after midnight. I landed in Detroit at about 12:05 a.m. last night, and after sitting on the ground for 20 minutes to wait for a gate to open up. I finally departed the plane into the terminal about 12:25 a.m. I picked up my lovely Ford Contour rental car from the Hertz location at Detroit Metro Airport and set forth for the Motel 6 in Auburn Hills. Fortunately for me as a first-time visitor to Detroit , the rental car was equipped with a in-car navigation system. Very cool invention. I just punched in my destination and it told me where to turn, how far ahead the next turn was, miles left until I reached my destination and estimated time of arrival. I checked into my hotel room about 2:05 a.m., after about a 45 minute drive from the airport. The room was nice -- nothing fancy -- but perfect for a football fan on his dream vacation. I woke up at 8:30 a.m. this morning and quickly showered and headed out the door to go pick up my media credential at the Hilton Suites on Featherstone Road. The cold morning air was quite a shock to me, even though I grew up in Wisconsin. Has The Fiend been made soft by living in Georgia for three-and-a-half years? As I pulled up to the Hilton Suites in Pontiac, the first thing I saw in the parking lot was the Madden Cruiser out front. Fans were lined up gawking at the bus, taking pictures and such, when John Madden himself stepped off the bus. Apparently Outback Steakhouse was running a contest where the winner got to ride over to the Thanksgiving Day game with John Madden on the Madden Cruiser, so about 10 of the fans boarded the bus and took off for the stadium in style. That's enough to make The Fiend jealous. I exchanged pleasantries with Mr. Madden, but the bus was running late to the stadium so they had to head out before I could chat with him for any length of time. I left the hotel at about 9:45 a.m. and drove the half-mile or so from the Hilton to the Silverdome and parked my car in the media lot near the television trucks. I am now sitting in my seat in the press box (Row 3, Seat 12) watching the teams go through light warmup exercises. The stands are starting to fill up, and I can't wait to hear 80,311 screaming fans in what is supposed to be one of the loudest football stadiums in the country. That's it for now. I'm going to head back to the press box to grab some turkey and then go cruise the concourses to soak up some atmosphere. Wednesday, November 24, 1999 2:32 p.m. Let CNNSI.com's First Annual Thanksgiving Football Feast begin! My wife is driving me to the airport this evening, and she swears that she'll still be here when I get back. I thought I saw a weekend bag, and a full tank of gas in the car, but maybe that's just me being paranoid. Anyway, I have bigger things on my mind, like the Motor City. I am leaving Atlanta on an American Airlines flight at 7:55 p.m. EST this evening, and after changing planes in Chicago, I will get into Detroit at 12:13 a.m. The Fiend has reserved palatial accommodations at the Motel 6 in Auburn Hills about a mile or so from the stadium, just so I can be as close to the Silverdome as possible. Then Thursday morning I will only have a short jaunt over to the stadium to bond with my people before the big event. The Fiend has never been to Motown, so I am bringing along my Billy Sims jersey and plenty of good assembly line stories to swap with the hard-working people of Detroit. I truly can't wait for tomorrow's game. Attending a game on Turkey Day is something I have always wanted to do -- and to have that dream about to come true in less than 24 hours is an amazing feeling. The tradition between the Bears and the Lions is incredible, and this will be the 15th time the two teams have met on Thanksgiving Day, with the Bears holding an 8-6 advantage. As a Packers fan, a win by the Bears would help out the mighty Pack in the division race a bit, and with how banged-up Detroit's secondary is, an upset by the Bears is not out of the question. Let me just go through my checklist before I leave to make sure that I have everything I need. I crammed my backpack full of four pairs of underwear (that's enough for six days, isn't it?), a couple pairs of socks, two pairs of jeans, my Brett Favre three-time MVP t-shirt and my omnipresent Cheesehead for Monday night. My reading material consists of "When Pride Still Mattered" -- the new biography about Vince Lombardi -- by David Maraniss, "Green Bay Replay" by Dick Schaap, and "Packer Legends In Facts" by Eric Goska. So I should have plenty to read on the trip, and that's not even counting my latest Packer Report magazine. That's it from Atlanta for now -- I'm off to get my fill of airports, motels, rental cars, junk food and football for the weekend. I will write more from Detroit tomorrow morning before the big game. My wife was kidding about moving, wasn't she?
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