Goin' Duck Huntin'

This is Jeremy.  Sarah is taking the week off since we are on vacation.  But, on Saturday, Merrick and I went to the ASU v Oregon football game.  It was a great game, and Sarah thought it would be a great idea for me to write about that game.  The game was fantastic!  We splurged and bought tickets on the 15 yard line, sixth row, since the tickets were a birthday present for Merrick and I.  Oregon jumped out with the lead, and ASU came back with a 57 yard throw to tie them and then kicked a field goal in the second quarter to go up 10-7.  With that, we went into halftime.  Merrick and I made friends with the three guys sitting next to us, and at halftime, the guy sitting next to us said, "If we win, we should jump the wall and storm the field."  I just laughed because, as much as I hoped we would win, we were only up by three, Oregon was ranked sixth in the nation, and ASU had lost their last four games in a row.  Needless to say, I was not holding onto hope and was just hoping the game would be enjoyable.

In the third quarter, ASU scored another field goal, making it 13-7.  But, the more exciting part was that Merrick made his way onto the jumbo tron.  They were doing a "Jersey Cam" and looking for people with sports jerseys on.  Merrick had his sweatshirt on, and I told him to take it off and see if he could get on, as he was wearing his Pat Tillman jersey.  He was wearing Grandpa's sweatshirt, because he forgot his at home in Oregon.  As he was hastily taking off the sweatshirt, I could see the camera guy by our section was looking for someone.  So, as soon as Merrick got the sweatshirt off, I helped him stand on the bleachers and he started waving.  I saw that the camera man was pointing his camera at us, so I knew it was only a matter of time before they showed Merrick.  So, I trained my phone on the jumbo tron and waited, and he popped up.  It was really cool.  Before we left for the game, Lollie told Merrick to make it onto the jumbo tron, and the mission was accomplished.

   

At the start of the fourth quarter you could tell that the crowd was starting to get anxious.  ASU had a lead, but not a large one.  With a 26 yard touchdown pass and a field goal, ASU went up 24-7.  The stadium was rocking, and the Oregon fans we were sitting by were dejected as they saw their hopes of a College Football Playoff spot going down the drain.  Then, in the course of about 4 minutes of game play, Oregon scored two touchdowns, making the score 24-21.  The Oregon fans were excited and ASU fans were thinking, "This is where we snatch defeat from the jaws of victory."  Then, on our side of the field, ASU's quarterback threw an absolute bomb to hit Brandon Aiyuk, #2, for an 81 yard score.  Oregon came back and scored another touchdown, but it was to little to late.  As ASU went into victory formation, the guys sitting next to us started reiterating that we should hop the fence.  Then we saw the student section starting to jump the fence, and saw that security was not stopping them, so Merrick, the other guys, and I made our way to the fence and hopped over.  We ran onto the field, with the rest of the fans, and were jumping up and down and chanting ASU! ASU!  We were able to get some pictures with two players, including Brandon Aiyuk, who caught the game winner, and with the mascot Sparky.  It was great experience, and worth every penny.  I never thought I would be at a game where people would hop the fence, but when you upset the #6 team in the nation, it is expected.  It was great to break the rules of the stadium and hop the fence with my 10 year old.

Merrick was on cloud nine after the game and could not stop talking about how cool the game was.  As we were leaving the parking garage he saw the sign below and said, "Nuvernight parking."  I just laughed and asked if he wanted to try that again.  Again, he said, "Nuvernight parking."  I asked him what he thought Nuvernight meant, and he said maybe it meant that you "could never, ever park there."  I told him to try one last time, we were in the parking garage for a while since there were a lot of people trying to leave at the same time.  That is when he finally saw the spacing and said, "Oh, it is 'No overnight parking.'"  All in all it was a great game and a great experience for Merrick and I.  Hopefully, it is the first of many ASU games for us.