Fiesta Bowl - Introduction

TCU, after a brilliant season, ended up in the 2010 Tostitos' Fiesta Bowl. The team boasted the number one defense in the country, grounded by future NFL draftees DE Jerry Hughes and LB Darryl Washington. The offense, finally keeping up with the Frogs' D, was ranked 4th in the nation with a killer running game and a passing game to match. Many people in the nation, including some national media, thought that TCU deserved a shot at the national championship. Some people even thought the Frogs deserved a chance over #2 ranked Texas, who barely survived the Big 12 Championship to get in the big game.

For the entire season, TCU had dominated their opponents. They won a big road game at Clemson, dominated BYU in Provo, and took care of business against Utah with the national spotlight on them. And, unlike every other Horned Frog team in recent history, this team didn't have a slip-up. There wasn't a San Jose State (2000), Southern Mississippi (2003), SMU (2005), or Utah (2008). The team looked focused and immensely talented.

As I said before, I felt like the Boise State matchup was an insult. Not only because I wanted the Frogs to play someone more significant (even if they didn't make the title game, a matchup against Florida would've been nice, I thought), but I also felt like the NCAA was putting us at the kids table. Sure, they'd give us some big kid food...but they wanted to shove us in Arizona so we wouldn't disturb the other bowls.

It made me mad, and it made a lot of other people even angrier. Some people didn't go to the game because of the matchup, one we all assumed we would win pretty easily. The talk stopped being about the game itself, and it started to become how we could prove to the nation that we deserve the #1 ranking in the Associated Press poll.

And because of the history of the event, I wanted to be there to see it all. I have been a season ticket holder for four years now, and I had enough points to get two tickets to the game. And when it came time to set up travel arrangements, I decided to go with the official package of the university.

It was pricey. Probably way too much for me at the moment. But as I sit here with no mortgage, no wife, and no extra charges...I decided to go for it. It would be four days in Phoenix in the middle of winter...a nice vacation to end an amazing season.

And as the game approached, I got more excited. The bowl was propping up Boise, giving TCU plenty of firepower if the NCAA tried to use the "well...you just beat Boise" argument against us. I was extremely confident in the team, and I really felt like it was going to be a great party. Plus, when some of my friends asked where I'd be watching the game...it was always fun to tell them I'd be there.

Plus...it'd be three days off work to start the new year. What more could you ask for?

The schedule arrived, and there was plenty of fun stuff to do. The more I read about the hotel, the more I liked it. And I convinced Ashley to consider driving into Phoenix on the first day to see a Suns game.

Yeah, it was going to be expensive. But it was going to be really fun, really exciting, and really memorable.

And for a while there...it was definitely all three. But when the big time came...the "memorable" part was the biggest, and the fun slipped away.

Next part - Pre-Game Days.