What I did this weekend

I didn't go into hiding this weekend, I wasn't hungover or arrested or anything (I don't even drink, so hangovers are a bit tough to get for me).  I just had a busy weekend and then a lazy Sunday.  I had plans in my head of doing blogs on Friday and Sunday, but things changed.  I didn't even get to catch up with reading other blogs until late last night.  It wasn't a complete wash though as I did get to scan some stuff to show off this week.  I would have likely been able to post yesterday if it didn't take so long to upload videos on Facebook.  I still prefer Youtube to post videos, but a couple years ago I posted video of a game on there and someone claimed I stole the video from them (they said they shot the footage, even after disputing it Youtube pulled the video), so I decided not to post sports videos on there anymore unless its high school or something.

Friday night was obviously Halloween, and my two nieces and two nephews stayed the night.  I knew with it being busy I wouldn't get much done, so the most I hoped for was a good night's sleep.  I got a few hours so I was happy.  I was able to bid on a few things on Listia, which most I won, and once I get them I will show them off.  I also got to watch The Muppets Movie more times than I planned.  Though I like the movie, so it was fine.

I'll skip Saturday for now, and tell you about Sunday.  Daylight savings didn't effect me because I was still awake during the hour you fall back, so I didn't get extra sleep that way.  When I finally fell asleep I got solid sleep.  So much that I missed most of the first half of the Chiefs game.  I did see the equivalent of a full game (would have been more if the Rams QB started the game better), and got to see some NASCAR including an interesting post race which racers got into a fight.  Can't wait for the suspensions, but since Jeff Gordon was involved, punishments won't be too harsh.

The Kentucky Wildcat busses.

Anyways, the meat and bones of this post will be on Saturday.  I attended my second Mizzou Football game of the year, and had a blast.  I even talked to my boss (I guess he's my boss, I considered myself employed by them still though I haven't worked a game this year), and he asked if I wanted to be an usher instead of a program seller for the final game.  I'm still thinking about it, I think ushering gets better pay and more hours, but you don't get a bonus.  Since the game is a day game on Black Friday, I imagine they will be short staffed, so it will still be easy money, so its something to consider.

I try to take one moon shot each game if the moon is out.

I took a ton of pictures, somewhere in the neighborhood of 300, but I'm not posting them all here.  I took so many because I am still getting used to my new camera I got in early August and still messing around with it.  One feature I am liking is the continuous shot, which I used a couple times during the game taking up most of the pictures.  If you want to see almost all of my pictures you can check out my Facebook page.  I don't make all my pictures public, but I did this album.  If you don't want to see them on there, I am going to pick a few to post here too, as you can already tell.  I also have some videos on there too. 

Nice view of the Stadium and the makeshift Team Store.

I went with my friends Jason and Crystal.  We started the day by going to the Zimmer Radio Networks Tiger Tailgate.  If you ever come to a Mizzou game and don't tailgate, this is a must for you.  Since we never tailgate we always go here (you might remember I posted the passes from old games a few days ago).  It is free as long as you have the passes, and you can pick them up in a variety of locations the week of the game.  They serve food from Burger's Smokehouse (I think its funny their name is Burger and they sell primarily ham. Their surnames are Burger btw), and Lutz's provides the chips.  They also have cake and either beer, soda, or water.  You can't beat that for free.

The view of the Tiger Tailgate as we were heading to the Stadium across the street.  I got to say hi to my friend Beazl too.

After the tailgate, we made our way inside the stadium who was just getting ready to open the gates.  When we go we generally get there as gates open as we hate how a lot of people wait until the last minute to get their seats.  For this game, I didn't have a ticket in the same spot as my friends, as I had a hill ticket.  A hill ticket is basically general admission, and first come first served on seating.  It usually gets crowded quick so if you want a good spot you have to get there when gates open.

A nice view of the hill and the rock M.  I stood along the wall at the bottom the whole game.

I lagged a bit before finding my spot on the wall directly to the left (or right depending on your location) of the goal post.  It was a great spot as you could see a lot of the action on the field and if you couldn't, the jumbo screen was directly behind me.  I never had a hill ticket before, but I might be more open to it in the future.  I honestly planned to leave my spot in towards the end of the third quarter to take pictures from other spots of the stadium, but I didn't.  I liked my spot I stayed there until towards the end of the fourth quarter once the game was pretty much decided.

Big MO, it was (maybe still is) the largest drum in the World.

The Helmet Car.  I forgot the official name.

The newly renamed MIZZOU-KA!

The Missou firetruck aka Truman's Taxi.

I think I enjoy the atmosphere of the game itself more than the game sometimes.  This game wasn't the greatest, and if I just wanted to watch the game, I could watch it on TV, but its the atmosphere that really makes the game come alive.  The attendance was a bit short of people's expectations, but there were 62,004 fans at the game, which I think is great.  While I wish every game is a sell-out, I don't think too many can complain about that.  The only complaints I might have had were the TV timeouts, which didn't seem too bad this game, and the temperature.  I expected it to be cold as the game was ending, so I was prepared.  I was feeling chilled earlier in the week, so I was worried I would be sick for the game, but I felt pretty good.

The third person on the left is Marcus James.  The 7th from left (in yellow) is Ben Askren.

Former Missouri Tiger and current Carolina Panther, IT'S KONY EALY!

One thing Mizzou does well, maybe other places do to, I can't say, is they manage to fill time in-between the action.  Every timeout they generally honor people on the jumbo and the field.  The top photo was to honor former student DA's or something (I honestly forgot).  I hear of three of the people they announced.  The first was former Missouri Running Back Marcus James.  Marcus didn't play a lot, but was a Tiger during the early 2000's.  I got to know him a few years ago while he played for an indoor football team nearby (I'll blog about that some other time).  Known as Superman, James still holds a record or two despite having minimal playing time.  Another name I heard of was Neville Miller.  People outside the Columbia, Missouri area may not know the name but I know him best as a weatherman.  While at Mizzou he competed in Track & Field and after he graduated served as a volunteer assistant coach for the Track team for a couple years.  He even qualified for the 2008 Olympic trials.  It looks like today he is a meteorologist for KMBC, the ABC affiliate for Kansas City,  The third name I heard of was Ben Askren.  Ben was an All-American wrestler for Mizzou and eventually made his way into MMA.  I believe he is undefeated in MMA, but while he should be in the UFC, has most notable competed in Bellator.

The second photo is of Kony Ealy.  Kony is probably only behind only James Franklin as my favorite players I have met.  I expect big things from him in the NFL, and won't be surprised when people start to take notice of him.  This week I was able to win a couple cards of him off Listia pretty cheap.

I think the card on the right is my first one of him as a Panther.

This week was a sad for the Missouri Tigers family,  as John Kadlec passed away.  Known to Mizzou fans as Mr. Mizzou, Kaddy done literally everything at Mizzou at one point or another.  I remember him most as the color analyst for the football games, but he did everything from being assistant coach to broadcaster, to ambassador to the school.  Someone mentioned he was the only person at Mizzou to have a lifetime contract.  The practice fields for the football team were long ago named for him, and before the game, they made a video package for him, observed a moment of silence, and even had Mr. Mizzou painted on the sidelines for the game.

Another advantage I had at the spot I was at besides being close to the action (and losing hearing due to the firetruck blaring and the Mizzou-ka popping off) was I got to talk to a couple people.  One I didn't talk to per se, but got a high five from him.  It was Truman the Tiger.  Truman has won multiple College Mascot of the Year awards, and might be most remembered in recent years for dropping the glass trophy of a Bowl game a few years ago.  A long line of people have been under the costume, including Dan Meers who is also known as KC Wolf!  The other person I got to shake hands with R. Bowen Loftin.  He is the new chancellor of Mizzou after Brady Deaton vacated the position.  Loftin is known for his bowtie, even going by BOWTIEger on twitter.  He is very approachable, and was very nice.  He walked around the stadium shaking people's hands thanking them for coming.

















In the end, Missouri came out with the win, and in the process Shane Ray set the new team record for sacks in a season with 12, and has an eye on the SEC record. I can't complain with that outcome.

I also got some free stuff before the game like this koozie, a pair of sunglasses, and a sign for the game.  I like the free loot they pass out before the game.















All in all I don't think I could have asked for a better day.  The only thing I might have wanted was to see one of the players on Kentucky play.  One of the reasons I went was to see Steven Borden play.  He is a tight end for the Wildcats, and was listed as a starter.  I never saw him play once, and might have only caught a glimpse of him once on the sidelines.  The reason I wanted to see him so bad wasn't because I was a huge fan of his, to be honest, I've never seen him play.  The reason I wanted to see him play was because I am a huge fan of his dad.  His father Steve, is a little bit of a celebrity.  He appeared in the movie Ready To Rumble.  Alright, he's more famous than that.  Steve Borden is a professional wrestler known as... STING!  STING'S SON PLAYS FOR KENTUCKY!  I have been a huge fan of Sting since probably the 80's.  Since I never got to see him wrestle live, the next best thing would be to see his son play football.  Oh well, I still got to see my team win, and had a blast from the moment we left to go to the game, through the adventure of finding a restaurant that wasn't crowded post-game (we decided on Freddy's) until the time we got home, so I can't complain one bit.

How about a shot of the game!  This was the opening kickoff, Marcus Murphy with the run back.

I hope you guys enjoyed reading this today, and enjoyed the pictures I posted.  As I stated before, I take a lot of pictures, so if I am out of ideas one day, I might post more of these pics on another post.

Mizzou Arena from the backside of Memorial Stadium.

Stuff from the game, the hill ticket was my ticket.

I have a couple packages I got in the mail last week to show off this week and a few Listia wins and other surprises.  Since baseball season is over, I won't be posting as much Royals stuff as frequently, but will have a good amount of stuff to showcase.  I will start posting more Mizzou, Chiefs, and other random stuff, besides packages and Listian wins and such.  I don't think you will be too disappointed.

Thank you for reading and have a great night.