Thanks for coming back to read part deux of the story of my best day! If you missed part 1, you can read it here.
The Big Man has a parking system when he tailgates. He parks as far away as possible to avoid the crazy traffic. Traffic that also includes people, drunk, walking through the streets.
And when I say far away, I mean far away. Like a 45 minute walk. It took us less time to drive to our parking spot than it took us to walk to the tailgate from the car.
Oy.
But little did he know, I had a grand plan for our long walk. I packed a travel bottle of vodka to go along with the Red Bull we brought for the tailgate.
Because if there's one thing I can't stand, it's beer. Unless it's Smirnoff Ice, which is NOT beer. THAT is nectar of the gods.
I realize not liking beer may seem snobby. And when in Buckeye Nation for my first tailgate, I should do what the Buckeyes do and drink beer.
But. I can't. I blame it on all of the beer I drank in college. Which, in a word, was a shitload.
Anyhoo. When we arrived to the tailgate, or a 45 minute walk from the tailgate, I unveiled my grand plan.
Me: "Hey - what do you think of drinking RBVs on the way?"
Him: "We don't have RBVs. We only have RB."
Me: Look! (pulling out my airplane bottle)
Him: "But we don't have glasses and there are open container laws."
Me: "I don't know about you, but I'm just drinking a Red Bull on the way down High Street." At which point, I opened a Red Bull, drank 3 ounces out, poured in my half of the vodka and said, "see?"
Him: "You are brilliant."
Me: "I know. Let's go."
I won't bore you with all the details of the tailgate, mostly because tailgates are known for heavy drinking, high fiving, finding bathrooms and spilling drinks on yourself. And I'm pretty sure all of that happened.
And I know it was fun. When the Big Man told me it was time to go to our 2nd tailgate to pick up the tickets and head into the game, I was all, "What are you talking about? I'm having fun here!"
He said this was how we had to roll because we had yet another 45 minute walk to stadium.
I was all, "What the hell are you talking about? Does that mean we have a 90 minute walk back to the car?"
He said "let's not talk about that right now." And off we went.
The walk was . . . interesting. Including a moment of tears over the completely toxic toot someone in front of us cut. We were in tears over how bad it smelled and how funny it was that it smelled so bad.
We arrive at tailgate #2, pick up our tickets from the Big Man's client, who wouldn't stop marveling at what a beautiful wife the Big Man had.
I was all, "who's he talking about?"
The Big Man's all, "You, dummy!"
At which point I decided I could stay with his client and listen to his obvious wisdom all night.
But AGAIN we were on the move.
Into the stadium.
Holy shit. Who knew? It's amazing in there. Stupendous. Awe-inspiring, even in 30 degree weather in a "kind of" losing season.
It was scarlet day, so the stands were a sea of red. See mine up there? That's the Big Man's coat - since I don't even have Ohio State gear to wear.
The game?
I could have never imagined a football game could be that much fun. That exciting. That moving. That close!
We almost left at halftime. Total snoozer up til then.
The second half was a totally different story. Like, they won it in the last 20 seconds close. Like they won it by throwing a 40 yard touchdown pass to win by 4 points. People went crazy. I went crazy. It was, truly, the coolest thing ever. And I don't even like sports.
This is what the fans did after the game.
Finally, it was time to go home. Walking the HOUR it took us to get back to our car, freezing, hungry, thirsty, a little hungover, and tired, I turned to the Big Man and said, "When we're old and gray and I'm on my deathbed, ask me what the best day of my life was. I'll tell you it was today. Being with the kids all morning and having this experience with you tonight."
And then we cried a little, in the cold, dark, windy night, surrounded by thousands of happy fans. Because sometimes that's what you do when you realize you've just shared your best day with your best friend.
