Football, football, and more football

So it's GAMEDAY and you know what's missing????

Babies. :(

Ok. I guess not every gameday can be like the last the weekend I was in ATL, but I sure miss baby david and baby hayden. Of course I miss all my georgia fam and friends (and by "Georgia", I mean the state and not just UGA OF COURSE)!! Good thing my JACKETS won last week AND this week to help ease the pain ;)

Now while it's nothing to do with ACC or SEC football, nor does it remind me of home (perhaps it what it reminds me of what is missing up here and what is exactly OPPOSITE of home), it has made me want to write about a recent trip: a University of Washington Football Game with Joe!!! While his parents were lucky enough to tour the Italian countryside, I was lucky enough to tour the "U-dub" campus with Mr. Joe: I was so excited - my very first northwestern college football experience!!!!

The differences were obvious right from the start - we took a bus to get there and did no tailgating, pre-game drinking, or flask sneaking. Different but certainly not unacceptable (don't forget - I was in the band). However, what was crazy was that we weren't the exception! We passed a few tailgates but not many at all and I don't think I even smelled beer the entire day. So basically it was the anti-UGA. ;) The stadium also felt very different inside - much more like a high school stadium with a large track around the field, temporary bleachers at one end zone with a soccer and baseball field squeezed in close behind. Very strange, but we had great seats so we could practically see the players' faces.

Then it got even weirder. I thought I understood the magnitude of the hot caffeine addiction up in these parts, and I thought I understood how different the culture was, but going to this game brought this realization to a whole new level. Do you know what the longest line in the whole stadium was for? The hot dogs? Nope. Sodas to spike? Not even a thought on these people's minds. (!) It was for COFFEE!!! I kid you not kids. There it was: a starbucks in a stadium. Not just a carafe or two - not just an option in the regular refreshment stand - an entire Starbucks store, complete with 5 or 6 baristas, the entire menu and all the fancy machines and flavors required to fulfill all of the orders. Crazy!! Add to that a city that just can't get their mind grapes around the fact that Coke is the superior cola by a million miles and I'm at a loss for words. Well...wait...more like full of new rants ;)

But hey - it ended in my first real, live Washington Honeysuckle sighting (and therefore tasting, duh! but alas, I could not get Joe to partake - his loss....) so I guess not all was lost....

So flash back to current day and here I sit in downtown Seattle - South Lake Union's Jillian's Billiards to be exact, and I have to confess I have this wretched black "G" sticker on my cheek. That's right folks - I'm sitting at a sports bar with Clay and the UGA Alumni of Puget Sound - I'm pretty sure this qualifies me for girlfriend of the year - and I'm pretty sure you should all remind Clay..... seriously - a "G" on my cheek!!! Oh the things you to support each other when you are in a city of strangers.....

One GA and one GA Tech win later, I'm back at home and thankful that Clay didn't think to get a picture of me. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go take a shower and was the UGAness off me while singing every GT fight song I can think of... buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz ....