Tales of Bowl Games past

[WoolyBully]

Mr & Mrs Bullheaded (Matt & Lorraine Harbert), Emily VanDusen (Mrs LakeBull), Cindy Robinson

My compact car was unavailable at the El Paso airport, so this is what we were wheeling around in. In the interest of the rental company I field tested the

off road functionality of this vehicle.

OK, check out the very nice parking lot. And there, to the right, that brown trailer looking thing? That's the indian casino we happened across.

 

 

[Bull Matrix]

7 hours ago, WoolyBully said:

Mr & Mrs Bullheaded (Matt & Lorraine Harbert), Emily VanDusen (Mrs LakeBull), Cindy Robinson

My compact car was unavailable at the El Paso airport, so this is what we were wheeling around in. In the interest of the rental company I field tested the

off road functionality of this vehicle.

OK, check out the very nice parking lot. And there, to the right, that brown trailer looking thing? That's the indian casino we happened across.

 

 

Great pics! Think the SunBowl so far has been USF biggest bowl game invite. I still mad that I missed it due to work. I had to basically folllow the game via play by play on my phone while trying to do the year end close out at work lol. Co workers kept telling me that the game was not going well for USF which basically ruined my new years. I opted to stay home from celebrating the new year due to that game as I was too sad & depressed. 

[BullyPulpit]

15 hours ago, Brad said:

As I recall at a place called Jason's.  @BullyPulpit and others put it all together. A great crowd and special guests Judy G and Lee Roy I believe.  Spoke to the crowd.  Good food except for the chicken enchiladas (most people know NEVER to order those in El Paso, or you will. 

Hard to believe we have no pictures from that event.  

Found some:

Can't have a party in El Paso without the pinata and @BullyPulpit!

 

 

 

 

 

Gallery

USF South Florida Bulls (thebullspen.com)

 

 

 

 

Awesome trip with the exception of the actual game. Things just were more special back then. 

[Bull Matrix]

Ok my next bowl game that I was able to attend was the Birmingham Bowl Tech Tech vs USF. I missed the previous Birmingham Bowl against So Carolina due to work. So when USF was selected again to go back to Birmingham I was shocked. At first I was not going to go because of my work schedule. I knew if I went it would be a fly in for just about one day and fly back home kind of deal so not much time to see & experience the bowl game festivities. As I was working the more I thought about finding a way to make that trip happen. I believe that bowl game was on 12/23 which put me on a time crunch to be able to get back for Christmas Eve family obligations. I was able to find a late flight on the evening of 12/22 and book a hotel room at the team hotel for two nights. After work on 12/22 I had a coworker give me a ride to the airport. The flight had a hard landing In Birmingham late that night so by the time I checked into my room and went to  the restaurant/ bar where the pep rally was I basically missed everything lol. I got to meet up with USF fans that stayed and had tons of drinks with them so that was cool. The hotel bar was packed with USF fans too so we stayed up drinking. Didn’t get much sleep because the game started at 11am and we had to catch that bus from the hotel to Legion Field. By the time we got there there were fans and tailgate set ups outside the stadium. HOT came by and sat played some until a small cold rain storm came through. Thankfully the rain stopped for the game but it was a chilly overcast day with wind blowing in our faces.  The best thing I spotted at that time at Legion Field was the Tito’s tent selling great drinks. Tons of vodka helped keep me warm so I had a blast walking around that junked up old stadium lol. As Trip mentioned there was an annoying bell ringer for Texas Tech. Thankfully USF got the last laugh in that shootout. Fun game!! Got back to the hotel and decided to go to four points area to eat at a cool restaurant. Can’t remember the name but we ran into some UAB fans that congratulated us for the win. Very classy fans. Finally made it back to hotel to get some sleep before the early flight back home to Tampa on Christmas Eve. Took a Uber to the family obligations and basically finally passed out from the fun quick trip. 
 

 

Edited December 1, 2023 by Bull Matrix

[John Lewis]

35 minutes ago, Bull Matrix said:

Think the SunBowl so far has been USF biggest bowl game invite. 

Certainly the most prestigious Bowl game that USF has been invited to.

I really wish there was more of a push between the bowl games that year to have USF be invited to the Gator Bowl. Texas Tech went there that year. It would have made more sense for a ticket selling standpoint to have Texas Tech in El Paso and USF in Jacksonville.

[Bull Matrix]

7 minutes ago, John Lewis said:

Certainly the most prestigious Bowl game that USF has been invited to.

I really wish there was more of a push between the bowl games that year to have USF be invited to the Gator Bowl. Texas Tech went there that year. It would have made more sense for a ticket selling standpoint to have Texas Tech in El Paso and USF in Jacksonville.

Yeah I agree. That would of been the smart thing to do. I think back in those days the bowl game contracts we not very flexible so they basically went with conference tie ins instead of being more flexible like they are today. I noticed something cool on one of the Tampa downtown trolleys. They have a trolley decked out promoting the Reliaquest Bowl. They showed SEC BIG TEN & ACC as the tie ins.  I didn’t realize ACC is now part of that bowl which used to be the Outback Bowl. Gives them tons more flexibility now as I believe I heard that Notre Dame may be one of the invited teams now.

[MikeG]

On 11/30/2023 at 4:10 PM, Brad said:

Same, what fun there at the Meineke.  I vaguely remember the post game.  I believe MikeG had photog credentials.  I can't remember if I did.  Either way we spent the postgame in the media room playing poker and drinking while also uploading hundreds of pictures of our first bowl game.  Mike took my money. 

I might have taken your chips in the hold em tournament we were running but if memory serves--- @E.T,  ( @E.T. ?) won the poker tournament.

[E.T.]

Only been to the First Bowl Game and it was a blast!

Was living in Brazil and flew up the day before ... remember the tournament afterwards vaguely.

[CousinRicky]

Bringing up an old story semi related to bowl games. At our first bowl game we had someone take a pic of our family (daughter, wife & me). Used that pic as my avatar on here for years. After my daughter dated a guy, who is now her husband, she got a call from him a few days later asking if the name CousinRicky rang any bells. Welp, he recognized her in my avatar pic. Rest is history.

[bullsmania]

On 12/2/2023 at 1:33 AM, MikeG said:

I might have taken your chips in the hold em tournament we were running but if memory serves--- @E.T,  ( @E.T. ?) won the poker tournament.

Great trip. Yes, @MikeGhad media credentials.  We played poker, drank and got up early after the game for a very early flight.  I believe Mike and I snuck a peek at the black tie soiree USF had for NYE but went and met up with others for the poker game.