If you want to see some game highlights, well then check out the NFL video highlights. If you want to know where I was, then watch for the Brandon Marshall touchdown. I was just at the end of the tunnel that you can see in that camera angle.
Anyways, a few thoughts from the trip down and of course, from the game time experience in Jacksonville.
– On the way down, we stopped in Lafayette to visit Purdue and we saw Steve. His kid is, as it turns out, smarter than me. Knows a lot more about football than I would ever know.
– Stadiums seen on the way to and from Jacksonville: Lucas Oil Field (Indianapolis), LP Field (Nashville), Turner Field (Atlanta), Busch Stadium (St. Louis). At least, those are the ones I noticed. There were a few college basketball arenas, but I don’t remember any of their names.
– There was a problem with our reservation when we got to Jacksonville. After 14 hours of driving, we had no room. That was a punch to the gut. We were shipped off to a suburban Jacksonville hotel. I was not a happy camper. The room I had reserved was going to be in a beautiful setting right downtown Jacksonville. Now I had to deal with the nightmare that was driving in Duval County. It’s every bit the nightmare you have heard.
– At our hotel, my girlfriend Katie and I were in the pool after the game. We were alone, except for a beetle the size of a Ford Fiesta. Nature in Florida is terrifying.
– We had more booking problems on our way home, when we were trying to figure out where to stop. We called ahead to a hotel in Paducah, Kentucky, and they struggled to find us a room. What is going on in Paducah, Kentucky on a random Monday in October? The front desk told us it’s always that busy on Monday nights in Paducah.
– As for the game, the big thing you need to know was that it was hot. Kick off temperature was 88 degrees, which was tied for third all time for a Jaguars game. My arms were so sweaty, resting them on my legs caused me to sweat through my shorts. My arms sweat through my shorts. Think on that.
– It was pretty much a Bears home crowd there .It was depressing for the Jags fans that were there. At least, I felt it for them. It was, of course, even worse when the game got underway. When t was close, it was terrible football. And then it was just terrible from the Jacksonville end.
– One of those Bears fans was a portly woman who danced to every song on the PA. She got there early, like us, and I thought she would wear out. Nope. And she didn’t drink a drop of alcohol that I saw. Her butt got too close to Katie’s head.
– Pregame entertainment included a high school bad. I was impressed that nobody passed out. Then, their mascot zip lined into the stadium wearing a pink leotard, then mooned some Bears fans (Randy Moss style) and hopped on a Segway, which he drove off into the sunset.
– Another Jaxson D Ville highlight: They had a T-shirt gatling gun. It was awesome. Like, incredibly awesome. I wouldn’t say it was worth the trip, but if you live in, say, Orlando, I would say it’s worth it.
– There were skydivers at half time. They tried to land at midfield with limited success. Only one guy landed on his feet. Biggest applause of the day from Jacksonville fans.
– Blaine Gabbert looks terrible in person. Katie doesn’t have the same eye for football as I do, because she doesn’t watch every week, but in the second half, whenever Jay Cutler would throw a bad pass, she would comment that it looked like a Jacksonville pass.
– Brandon Marshall is a big dude. You don’t realize things like this until you see them in person. At one point early in the game, Charles Tilman went to the tunnel to get checked out for something, and he was pretty big too.
– That said, playing against a good defense like the Jags were was the worst thing that could have happened to them. It was pretty clear watching all game that the Bears WERE the better team, even if it was 6-3 until Tillman returned an interception late in the 3rd quarter.
– One old Jags fan behind us was bemoaning the black jerseys as bad luck, cursed somehow. Well, it was 88 damn degrees, and wearing black jerseys in that heat is more reflective of the decision making endemic to a franchise who drafted Blaine Gabbert as their franchise quarterback. It’s not bad luck. It’s backbreaking stupidity. The Bears looked sharp in white, though!
– There were a lot of fans wearing Scobee and Anger jerseys (in addition to the obvious Maurice Jones-Drews that were omnipresent). That is the kicker and punter.
– Can’t say enough good things about the Bears though. Their first half sucked, but Matt Forte looked healthy, Jay Cutler started to find his receivers, and by the way, the Bears defense is good.
So anyways, here are a couple of pictures from our seats.
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