Musings from Miami: Suck our Oranges Kirk Herbstreit

At the request of the General, I am providing my musings on my recent non-scientific trip to a very non-academic "conference" also known as the Orange Bowl.  It was a fascinating and thoroughly enjoyable glimpse into the world of big time college football for this NIU Huskie fan... right up until the fourth quarter of the actual game.  But we will get to that later.   We always like to make comparisons here at NRS, and we love winners and losers. So it seemed only right that I compare the experience with the first college bowl game I attended (and the first one the Huskies attended in my lifetime... fair warning, there might be a bit of Huskie football history) the illustrious and unforgettable 2004 Silicon Valley Bowl.   

Now, you might be thinking, wow I didn't even know there is a Silicon Valley Bowl?  Maybe you are thinking that because there isn't a Silicon Valley Bowl. Anymore.  2004 was the final year, for many reasons, some of which will be detailed below.  But wikipedia sums it up the best: "The 2004 Silicon Valley Bowl was a disaster from the start." 

Hospitality
Winner: Silicon Valley Bowl.  Because the Orange Bowl was such a loser and someone has to win.
Loser:  The Orange Bowl. As many news outlets are reporting, a drunken Orange Bowl official (easily identifiable by their horrendous Orange blazers that they wear everywhere always) informed an NIU staffer, "We didn't even want you here."  This exchange, ironically, took place in the HOSPITALITY suite.  Nice.  My favorite details are the ones I heard but the newspapers aren't reporting:  the unnamed Orange Bowl official was actually the head of the Orange bowl commission.  When the NIU staffer, an assistant to the athletic director, replied that NIU had a 12 game win streak, the commissioner told the female staffer, "Well, nobody asked you bitch."   At which point staff at the Fontainebleau hotel escorted the commissioner from the hotel premises because they have had problems with him and his drinking in the past. 

Location

Winner: Orange Bowl.  79 and sunny.  Miami beach is full of crazy outfits and fun art deco architecture.  The Fontainebleau hotel is hands down the most ridiculously off the charts luxurious place I have ever been.  They don't just have a pool. They have a pool scape.  It's like a land scape, but full of pools. and right behind that is the beach.  There is a Mac computer in every room.  The gift shop sells pez-dispensers covered in sparkly crystals that may or may not be real diamonds.  

A tiny portion of the "Pool scape"

Beach!

Loser: Silicon Valley Bowl. FREEZING RAIN.  SO MUCH FREEZING RAIN.  I realize technically that falls under "weather" not location.  But I'm gonna go ahead and blame that FREEZING RAIN on San Jose.  The Winchester Mystery house was pretty cool though. 

Wildlife
Winner: Orange Bowl.  I fulfilled a life long dream by holding a lemur.  It even reached out and held my hand.  Adorable.  I also held a 2 year old baby alligator, which did not hold hands with me.  And supposedly I saw the largest Liger in the world, but it was asleep in the corner and I was not impressed.  
Loser: Silicon Valley Bowl.  I think all the wildlife was in hiding because of the FREEZING RAIN.  Also I didn't go to a zoo, so this might be an unfair comparison.

Lemur!

Alligator!

Stalker photos
Winner:  Orange Bowl.  This is a landslide victory.  I was able to snap stalker photos of the President of NIU chatting with the head coach in the lobby, and then later the head coach chatting with Jordan Lynch, our star quarterback.  Staying in the same hotel as the team was fascinating.  They were definitely enjoying the Miami sun as about half the team was jumping in the waves for most of New Years Eve.   The first lady of NIU told me she spotted them in the elevator the night before, heading upstairs with about ten different board games.  Good to know they didn't take advantage of the Miami nightlife.  NIU players don't have a good track record there... (although that was a total setup).  

President of NIU and Head Coach Rod Carey stalker picture

Rod Carey and Jordan Lynch and random other football player stalker picture

Former Head Coach Joe Novak and my dad stalker picture

In addition to my NIU-themed stalker photos I also collected a stalker photo of the Governor of Illinois, who was conveniently staying in the room next to mine at the hotel and sitting directly in front of me on the plane ride home.  Although somewhat less exciting, I did manage to collect a non-stalker photo (i.e. he was aware photo was being taken and approved of it) with the governor as well.

Governor stalker photo

Governor not stalker photo

I did not however, capture any photos of Beyonce because it turns out that was just a rumor.  Drake was actually the performer at the exclusive pool scape new years eve party.  Before you ask, I don't have any pictures of him either.  Except for this one:

Loser: Silicon Valley Bowl.  Had camera phones even been invented yet??

Turn Out:
Winner: Orange Bowl.  While many were concerned that NIU wouldn't "travel well", especially since this was essentially a home game for FSU, NIU fans were out in full force.  1300 students were bussed down by the university, and five charter planes were sold out.  Countless more found their way down on their own.  On our way into the stadium an FSU fan was over heard saying "Oh my god there are THAT MANY of y'all?!".  

Loser: Silicon Valley Bowl. Again, to quote wikipedia "Game attendance was a dismal 5,494, which represented approximately 18% of Spartan Stadium's capacity of 30,456."  The fact that both schools were located more than 2000 miles from San Jose might have had something to do with it? Oh and of course, FREEZING RAIN.

Promptness
Winner: Orange Bowl.  I'm actually not sure when it started, but there were rumors it might be slightly behind schedule because of the Rose Bowl.  But even if it had started an hour late it still would have won the promptness award because...

Loser: Silicon Valley Bowl.  While sitting in the stadium, in FREEZING RAIN, waiting for a game to start is always fun, do you know what makes it more fun?  When the power is out!  Immediately before the game was supposed to start a transformer near the stadium blew and it lost power, delaying the start of the game.  In my memory, this delay lasted at least three hours.  According to wikipedia it lasted 23 minutes.  Since wikipedia wasn't there, sitting in the DARK in the FREEZING RAIN, with a sinus infection, I'm going to trust myself on this one.

Poetic Justice
Winner: The Orange Bowl.  NIU's president was the representative for the non-AQ conferences when the BCS was amending it's rules to avoid anti-trust legislation.  He was one of the people who proposed the rules that ultimately allowed NIU to make it to the Orange Bowl this year.  The AQ reps agreed to the rule because they didn't think any non-AQ school could ever meet the criteria (non-AQ conference champion ranked 16 or higher and ahead of at least one AQ conference champion).  But NIU did meet the criteria, and they did it just in time for President Peters's final bowl game before he retires. 

Loser: The Silicon Valley Bowl.  There is no justice, poetic or otherwise, in a world full of FREEZING RAIN.

Transportation

Police escort. NBD.

Winner: The Orange Bowl.  Now I know what it feels like to be the President. And it feels pretty damn cool. I never want to drive anywhere again without a police escort.  I would save so much time! It might seem a little bit like a waste of Florida tax payer dollars to employ at bunch of policemen to shut down a five lane highway for a bus caravan of fans on their way to the stadium four hours before the start of game time, but I enjoyed it.   We aren't exactly critical personnel for the game, but it was a nice touch anyway.  Who wants to have to drive with other cars on the highway next to them??? That is so low class.

Courtesy Car

We also had an official Orange Bowl Courtesy Car at our disposal.  But we never used it, because there are no roads between the hotel and the pool scape/beach. 

Loser: Silicon Valley Bowl.  I'm pretty sure they made us walk up hill both ways in FREEZING RAIN to the stadium.  Actually I don't remember it at all.  But that alone tells me there wasn't a police escort. 




Swag
Winner: The Orange Bowl.  I have so many "credentials" on lanyards for various things that I was afraid my neck wasn't going to be strong enough to wear them all.  I also have two Orange bowl patches, a t-shirt, a beach towel, a new years eve tiara, a beer cozy, several necklaces, an orange pin, a luggage tag, and some pom poms.  Overall a good haul.  The grad student in me was extremely tempted to walk off with the extra tea bags from breakfast with the governor, and I wished I had a tupperware for all of the left over bacon.  But I had to pretend to be a normal person, so I left all the tea and bacon where it was (even though it was Damman Freres tea for the tea snobs out there!  I'm looking at you Rlee21!).  

Loser: Silicon Valley Bowl.  I think I have a t-shirt somewhere? Maybe? But I might have paid for it?  I definitely didn't have "credentials."  I'm not even sure we needed a ticket to get into the game.  They did have a fruit basket in our hotel room when we got there, but the card had someone else's name on it so it doesn't really count even though they let us keep it. 

Money
Winner: The Orange Bowl.   The MAC got $8 million for NIU's appearance.  Plus my dad got handed a personal check for $1 million to finish off the naming rights gift for the indoor practice facility.  

Loser: The Silicon Valley Bowl.  NIU got paid exactly $0 to participate.  And spent a whole bunch of money on tickets that no one used.

Governmental Decrees
Winner: The Orange Bowl.  The Governor of Illinois was on hand to declare it officially "NIU Huskie's Day" in the state of Illinois.  

Loser: The Silicon Valley Bowl.  As far as I know, no one decreed anything.  But if they had, I hope it would have been a decree that we could cancel the game due to weather and just go home. 

Too far from field?

The Football Game
Winner: The Silicon Valley Bowl.  Because NIU won the game.  Although in my memory of the game they lost, because everyone lost everything that night because POWER OUTAGE AND FREEZING RAIN.  But the scoreboard disagreed with me.

Loser:  The Orange Bowl.  Because despite a valiant effort for three quarters, NIU didn't win. I'm not sure who our quarterback was that night, but for most of the game it definitely wasn't Jordan Lynch.








The Flight Home
EVERYONE LOSES ALWAYS.  It's not a good idea to have football games run until almost 2 am and then have people on charter flights that require them to be packed and in the lobby of their hotel at 5:30 am.  I could have told them this 8 years ago. In fact, I probably did tell someone this 8 years ago, but no one ever listens to me.  At least this time I wasn't sick. 

The Legacy
Too Soon To Call.  The effect of the Silicon Valley Bowl on Huskie football is pretty clear.  After a 21-year drought, and a particularly shocking lack of bowl invitation in 2003 (despite finishing 10-2 with a win over Alabama at Alabama) the 2004 Silicon Valley invite sparked a new era in Huskie football where the question stopped being if we would be invited to a bowl game, and started being where we would go.  Here's hoping that the 2013 Orange Bowl is a similar turning point, where we can stop wondering if it will be the Little Cesars Bowl or the GoDaddy Bowl, and start asking which BCS bowl game?  At least until the new college playoff rules take effect. Although it's interesting to note that under the new rules, NIU still would have been guaranteed a BCS slot this year.

2014 Sugar Bowl here we come!   First stop, Iowa.  Look out Agent R.  We are coming for you.