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MSU Football Trip

Okay....sorry for the long delay.

So the MSU trip was actually quite a bit of fun. Got on a plane Friday morning and flew with the team up to St. Joseph, Missouri.

Stayed at a Ramada Inn....very nice.

Had a big steak for dinner at a cool joint in the Stockyards area. 16 oz. ribeye...I still think that Texas steaks are the best ever.

Then the long day that would be my Saturday game day came quickly.

7:30 a.m.: First wake up alarm

7:33 a.m.: Snooze alarm

7:45 a.m.: After completely ignoring the alarms..I finally wake up and stumble towards the shower

8:05 a.m.: Stumble down the hallway to the breakfast dining room. The eggs were...not eggs. I'm not actually sure what they were, other than gross. The pancakes were good, as was the seven 4oz. glasses of apple juice.

8:30 a.m.: Back in my room and packing my bag and camera backpack for the day. Maryville was a 45-minute drive from where we stayed, and we had to check out of the hotel before leaving. No big deal.

8:45 a.m.: Board one of the two charter buses and start the drive to the stadium....we finally left about 9 a.m. and I tried to not fall asleep on the bus. Honestly, I'm not sure if I succeeded.

10 a.m.: Two hours before kick-off and I walked into the press box with my 100lb camera backpack in tow. They had wireless internet...yay...and I spent the hour surfing the internet and goofing off.

11 a.m.: I headed down to the field to shoot a few features and whatnot. One of the MSU players had a Texas flag draped over him, and the MSU fans started showing up as did the Golden Thunder Marching Band.

11:45 a.m.: Kickoff is rapidly approaching...and the coolest thing ever happens. An airplane towing a banner that said "Go Mustangs...the Pride of MSU" flies over the stadium and makes about 8 passes. The hometown fans are not happy...booing and flipping off the plane. It was the funniest thing I've seen all day.

12:01 p.m.: Kickoff....and lots of pictures commence. Here are some of them.

Jason Palmer/Times Record News
Midwestern State running back Ross Harrison (32) is brought down by Northwest Missouri State defensive tackle Terry Bilbro (98) during the second quarter Saturday afternoon in Maryville.

Jason Palmer/Times Record News
Midwestern State WR Darrius Richard (11) tries to get to the corner around a Northwest Missouri State defender during the first quarter Saturday afternoon in Maryville.

Jason Palmer/Times Record News
Northwest Missouri State running back Xavier Omon (2) runs over Midwestern State defensive back Dezmond Sherrer (13) during the first quarter Saturday afternoon in Maryville.

Jason Palmer/Times Record News
Midwestern State quarterback Daniel Polk (5) runs past a Northwest Missouri State defender late in the second quarter Saturday afternoon in Maryville.

One of the most impressive things about the game was their crowd. They were loud, organized yelling, and packed in the stands. It was a truely awesome sight.

Here's a small sample of their crowd. It was totally packed on the home side and about 3/4 full on the visitor's side. And they said it was a smaller crowd than normal. Awesome.

Their stadium was pretty nice...easily could see that exact stadium (minus the orange track) on the campus of MSU. With a seating capacity of about 7,500 it would be pretty much perfect. Also...the 10 luxury boxes were quite a sight as well. No reason at all that we shouldn't have something like that.

Jason Palmer/Times Record News
Midwestern State WR Keith Flanagan (9) walks off the field after MSU lost their second-round playoff game 27-0 to Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri Saturday afternoon.

So...game over, we lost. Boo. But hey, that team will probably go on to the national championship game. They may win it all...may not.

4 p.m.: Done sending photos to the newspaper here. That didn't take nearly as long as I thought it was going to actually.

4:15 p.m.: Pack all of my camera gear back in the backpack that I borrowed from one of the other photogs. Thing weighs a freaking ton. I'm sure I'm breaking some carry-on weight limit with this thing. But since it's a charter jet...maybe they don't care, I don't know.

4:30 p.m.: I made it back down to the buses before they left to head back to St. Joseph and the airport for the flight home.

5:30 p.m.: Back to the tiny tiny airport and time to board and head home. They had a 12-ft. folding table set up for "security screening" before we could get on. They needed to see our ID....execpt that most of the football players' wallets were already underneath the airplane. The security guy says "Okay...well, if you have one, show it to me." Real good security.

7 p.m.: Wheels touch down at the airport here...and it's off to MSU to grab my suitcase and go home. I'd have grabbed it at the airport, but they just loaded all of the football gear and luggage on a MSU loading van and took it back to campus.

8:30 p.m.: Dinner at the Parkway Grill and that's about it.

Posted by Jason Palmer at 4:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)