I can’t imagine going to a football game as a normal person.
Sometimes, I think it would be fun to stay out at a tailgate too long, arrive at the seats late, miss everything there is to see in the pageantry of the pregame, and then not really notice what is happening on the field.
Perhaps some time I will try it. Then again, I feel like it won’t be soon.
There were good things last weekend, just as there were the week before in Laramie, just not many on the field.
The flyover of two Blackhawk helicopters very low right over my head was incredible. The rumble didn’t start until after they were shown on the big video board, and by then they were over the roofline of the Rochelle Athletic Center. In each chopper, the copilot waved out the door, clad in a bright gold T-shirt.
Seeing them was marvelous and made me cry.
A new feature this year at night games is the stadium lights going to strobe and fireworks after every Wyoming score, in addition to the canon in the south end zone.
That, combined with the gorgeous moon peeking over the south end of the east upper deck as the game began made for some gorgeous scenery.
The Pokes even wore the very best uniform combination, brown jerseys and gold pants. If I got a vote, I would have them wear those for every home game, always.
And I am old so get off my lawn and take the names off the backs. If you play for Wyoming on the front as Coach Jay Sawvel has said, that should be enough.
I loved the message that it sent when 10 years of Cowboys did not have names on their jerseys.
And we must talk stridently about the Western Thunder Marching Band.
I have been a band fan forever, and have an antique CD in my car that the band sold years ago.
When I am at the wheel, the sun roof opens, the windows go down and the CD starts as we arrive in town on 3rd Street.
Then it also blares as we make our way into Summit View parking lot, half of which is going to close October 1 to begin construction of the new and badly needed UW aquatic center.
So about that one night with the band. They are going to Pasadena to march in the Rose Parade in January.
Their halftime show Saturday was all about California and things they might see and do there.
One segment of the show featured the band forming two volleyball players, a net and a small circle of kids who were the ball.
And I have no
Idea how this happened, but the volleyball players moved one stick arm at a time and sent the ball over the net back and forth. It was absolutely mind blowing.
Of course they need money to send their huge group to Pasadena, and a QR code on the big screen helped that process.
This is the 50th anniversary of Bobbi Brown Barrasso being named Homecoming Queen at UW.
The Pi Phis held a reunion last weekend and purchased a message shown on the video board in honor of Bobbi, who died of brain cancer in February.
It was great to see many sorority sisters I hadn’t seen in 50 years, and we had a nice visit.
On Saturday before the game, we toured our old house, first on the row, which was sold to the university after national Pi Phi closed the house in 2013.
The Tobin House, named in honor of our Pi Phi sister and beloved Dean of Women Peg Tobin, is now used to house students in the Honors College program, which made many of us laugh.
The house has changed substantially inside, but the solarium is still on the east side of the main floor, just off the foyer.
It was the late night place to be with the fellas, before or after curfew. If those solarium walls could talk…
Apparently, BYU is not on Wyoming’s football schedule in the future. That will be bad for creative T-shirt sales.
And while some may credit them for being a worthy opponent, I will say this:
We all need to do everything in our power, whether by booster support, throwing the ball where the receiver is, or closing the defensive gaps, to make sure an opponent never sings to their fans on our field after a game again. Ever.
Sally Ann Shurmur can be reached at: SallyAnnShurmur@gmail.com
