UB v
UCONN 1/3/2009
My first bowl game
by
JT Pilaf
The "true blue" came out in full force to the record setting International Bowl in Toronto. Unfortunately the traffic was insane and we arrived to our seats only 7 minutes before kick-off. Despite the traffic and the fear of not arriving on time, we were in good spirit and ready to root for our hometown team (and since no Pittsburgh team was involved, Zachary was more than happy to cheer for the good guys too).
Everyone was using their big boy voices to let the
UB Bulls know we were cheering for them trying desperately to drown out the Husky fans from
UCONN.
The team came out and received a huge ovation.
Then the 1958
UB team was honored for their brave and humanitarian decision 50 years earlier.
Even Zach who knew to boo in this game. Sometimes his allegiances are
askew do to a few family members living in PA.
An early field goal and lead had the Bulls flags a
wavin' and the fans feeling giddy in the moment..
Everyone was happy that
UB had the lead at halftime thanks to the help of 5
UCONN miscues.
And this was just after a few Canadian beers.
Unfortunately the second half didn't fair well for the hometown
heroes and we had to mount a 4
th quarter comeback. With a little over 2
minutes to go Drew Willy led the team right down the field.
And then it happened, wide right, no goal, you now the story, as soon as I snapped this (knowing it was going to
Naaman) thinking it was a TD... the DB for
UCONN was already on his 30 running it towards our
end zone. I asked frantically what had happened and insisted that the refs take a look at my picture, hoping that he had control. To no avail, the refs
couldn't hear me shouting down to them and
UUCONN was going to win 38-20. We quietly gathered up our things and made way to the exits for a long ride home.
We had an awesome time even though
UB didn't win. They played their hearts out and we just
thoroughly enjoyed the moment.
Zach and Emma love to sled and I love taking them. The sun was out, there was very little wind (unlike the day before), and the hill was in peak condition for sledding ready to be matted down by our inflatable vessels of doom.
The walk back up was a bit tiring, maybe my ol' body is telling me it's time for gardening.
Zach with his 11 year old reckless abandon attitude would fly down the hill and then lean as hard as he could to wipe out. I can do that without leaning.
And then the sun fell to end our time out on the hill until another day.
