Oh the Beauty of it All*

*WARNING: This post mentions vomit

The boys traveled surprisingly well for the two-day drive to Florida.

There was a minor projectile vomiting incident in Jacksonville, FL, but we asked for it when we let Pup #2 eat Denny’s pancakes and finish the large quantity of chocolate milk the waitress served him. It is quite amazing what you can accomplish with a roll of paper towels and a container of “Wet Ones”. We were able to get him and the car cleaned up and continue on to Miami without too much trouble.

The visit with my friend was great. All the kids got along great and played and became fast friends, just like their mommas did over 20 years ago. We went to the beach on New Year’s Eve and hung around their pool on New Year’s Day. I know…I suck. The weather was great and it was SO nice to just get away from the craziness of our life for a few days.

Now let’s get down to Orange Bowl business. As you may or may not already know, the game was absolutely incredible. I can’t even begin to describe to you what it was like to attend this game. Penn State was ranked 3rd and Florida State ranked 22nd going into the game. Deep down, I think we PSU fans were hoping for a blowout given the rankings and Florida State’s cake schedule. Penn State hasn’t taken any games this season for granted though and the Seminoles gave our Lions a run for the money.

Penn State fans literally infiltrated south Florida for the game. We were everywhere. We saw fans at the beach, in every restaurant we went to and walking around in general. It was like a Penn State home game.

Our seats at the game were excellent thanks to my friends. They were however smack in the middle of the Florida State section. This was OK, because there were plenty of other PSU around us in the same predicament.

From the sound of the FSU fans you would have thought they were leading the game, but aside from a brief moment, Penn State led most of the game. The Penn State crowd was great but reserved even though we were leading because we knew we didn’t have enough points ahead in the game to be getting all silly and obnoxious. Florida State kept up the stupid annoying tomahawk chop thing even though they were behind, but we persevered, we would not be swayed. The FSU fans finally shut up and even a few started to leave just as Penn State missed a field goal for the win at the end of the 4th quarter.

The missed kick left the game tied and into the first of three overtimes. From there on into the third overtime it was neck and neck, point for point. I have never been to a more stressful game in my life. The FSU people settled down and none of us could believe that both teams kept missing kicks. The last FSU field goal attempt actually bounced off the goal post. The last PSU kick was however, GOOD and the Nittany Lions were victorious!!! What a win!

The drive home was fun in that we were on the road with a ton of Penn State vehicles headed back north. Everyone was honking and giving “thumbs up” going up I-95.

All in all a great experience for which we definitely got our money’s worth! Here’s to the 2006 season when half of the top DC area high school football players join Penn State.