At this point, I fell off on the photo documentation. Didn’t have as much zeal as the days before, unfortunately. The bus was gradually more tardy and I was getting a little bit sick from lack of good sleep. In Albuquerque, New Mexico, we all decided to got to a bar near the station. Everyone decided a few drinks would help us sleep. I, being under 21 years of age, did not and could not partake. Damn.

Here is Brad and Josh as we left the bar that I believe was called Tucanos. Josh was taking forever to drink his beer, so Brad and I waited while the others got back to the station.

cross posted, and more after the jump, from facephotos
+ Josh Birnbaum + Roxy Ryan + Brad Vest

More to come…

The second day was on and off. Everyone was tired because of Greyhound time. We stopped two or three times during the night and was ordered off the bus. No more than 2 hours of sleep at a time. “Sucks a lot!” We gradually fell more behind as the incompetence of the Bus grew.

In Amarillo, Josh, Brad and I stopped at a Japanese food place a block away from the station. I had not been to Texas for a couple years, but I remembered everything as I walked in the door to this place. A man standing behind a sushi bar greeted us with a “Whats up Amigos?” in broken english. He had a 10 gallon hat on, and a western style shirt. Classic. Everything is not only bigger in Texas, it is much, much more cowboy. We met a guy from the Bay Area while we where waiting for the food. Talked about Bhutto’s assassination and surfing. What a Californian.

We got the food to go and went back to the bus stop, as we feared we would miss the Bus. Much to our chagrin, we did not even come close to missing it. The bus was being changed because the heater of the old one died. As if we couldn’t tell on the way. It was really, really hot during the night, then really, really cold during day. I hate you Greyhound.

So we were running even more late.

Brad didn’t want to waste his wasabi.

cross posted, and more after the jump, from facephotos
+ Josh Birnbaum + Roxy Ryan + Brad Vest

 More to come…

Greyhound Time
Greyhound has a complete and final hold on your life, have a nice trip. Everything from who you talk to, what time you are in any one place, when you eat, where you sleep, and how you go to the bathroom is controlled by the Bus.

Example of a conversation @ St. Louis. Takes place between a customer and a Greyhound employee:

-”I am sorry, but what is the hold up. Aren’t we supposed to be departing?” the customer politely asks.
-”No. I just told everyone what was happenin‘.” the employee spits back.
-”Sorry, but I was at the end of the line at the back of the room, I didn’t quite hea…” the customer is interrupted.
-”The bus will be here in a couple hours!” the employee shouts and turns away.
-”Oh. Why then did all the others leave, and we are still here?” At this point the customer is confused about why a hundred people in front of the small group had just departed on the same bus he was supposed to be on.
-”Out of all these people, you are the only one giving me problems. What is that ()?” with an audible expletive underneath her breath.
-”I apologize again…” interrupted once again.
-”The bus will be her in a couple hours! A COUPLE HOURS, PEOPLE!” the employee screams so as everyone can hear this time, and proceeds to walk away, only to be found again 2-3 hours later when the bus arrives.

This is just a dramatization, but close enough to what happened to the group in St. Louis. Logistics is not what Greyhound does. They do what we now call Greyhound time. If there are three buses leaving from one location and must transfer at another location, only have two buses ready, and the third bus is just stuck at the transfer spot for an indiscriminate amount of time, and is abused the whole time. Sounds logical right? Great way to get returning customers.

Josh shoots the boredom at the St. Louis station. Alex and Jason laugh.

This is gonna cut into the Rose Bowl events.

cross posted, and more after the jump, from facephotos
+ Josh Birnbaum + Roxy Ryan + Brad Vest

“IT’S TOO HOT!”, More to come…

Dropped off in St. Louis on time and well adjusted, I was looking forward to the rest of the ride with some sort of optimism, everything seemed to be going alright. We had time to eat at this point. We went in groups, one group would go get food, while the other stayed behind to guard our luggage (as we where dropped off at a station in the middle of the ghetto, see Top 10 on the DI Sport Blog). The Chinese restaurant next door sounded more appetizing than the KFC across the street, but looked much lest inviting. Asian food of varying degrees of quality would become or menu for the next few days by quite a coincidence.

Empress Chinese take-out in St. Louis.

cross posted, and more after the jump, from facephotos

“IT’S TOO HOT!”, More to come…

Everyone was hopeful and bright eyed about the Rose Bowl. I was glad to finally be on the way. The night before departure was a second Christmas eve for me. With 49 hours and 1 minutes of a bus ride in front of me and a 5 hour car ride behind me, I needed to rest. We all met at the station a bit too early, due to anticipation of what was to come and had a wait that was going to grow exponentially from there…

Here is Brad a short while after departure from Chicago.

Brad’s a giant and a creep.

cross posted, and more after the jump, from facephotos

More to come…

Whether you’re gettin’ ready to head to Pasadena or have just been anticipating the event since the last appearance two decades ago, be sure to check back with DailyIllini.com and the DI Sports Wrap-Up blog with live coverage throughout the Tournament of Roses. The Daily Illini will be your eyes and ears from the Rose Bowl, attending the game and numerous other festivities, as well as delivering all the sights and sounds in California to your computer. Sure, the DI doesn’t print a newspaper during break, but that hasn’t stopped our reporters and photographers from heading to Pasadena to bring live coverage to everyone back home. Our dedicated crew is on a bus (yes, a bus) right now traveling to California ready for the upcoming events. Interviews with the players and coaches, commentary and blogging on the game and the other spectacular events, and photo’s from the bowl, parade and everything else are just some of the things the Daily Illini will be posting on the Web site during the next several days. So tune in to ABC for the Rose Bowl but log on to DailyIllini.com before and after the game for everything you can’t get from the first whistle to the final seconds. And check out The Daily Illini’s Rose Bowl Guide for pregame articles already on the Web site.

The Rose Bowl is a few days away, but our coverage starts right now.

GO ILLINI!

The Poinsettia Bowl.

It all starts with the Poinsettia Bowl.  A clash between the Utah Utes and the Navy Midshipmen.  Tonight’s clash starts the best time of the year, sans March Madness, in sports–the college football season.  I will get to see two or more good college football teams clash at a neutral site for all but three days from now until January 7 of the New Year.  Obviously, the highlight for all of those in the great state of Illinois will be the New Year’s Day matchup between the beloved Orange and Blue and the number six USC Trojans at the Rose Bowl.  And regardless of the outcome, the pageantry and atmosphere in Pasadena should be enough to sustain the recently win-starved and now nourished Illini fans.

But my favorite part is not only getting to season my favorite team since birth in a BCS bowl, but getting to watch good college football for almost every day for almost three straight weeks.  This is where the proponents of a playoff in major college football miss out.  Granted, the bowl system is all about money and a playoff is not a likely scenario no matter how many dual titles are handed out by the pollsters, but the magic of the bowl system, is all about the experience, not so much the destination.  And I know that the BCS may have its flaws, but you can’t replace the unforgettable postseason encounter.

The experience a college football player gets from a bowl game, win or lose, is something they take with them forever.  It helps the players get real-time experience, helps for recruiting, it helps the fanbases and as seen in the C/U area already, helps stimulate the campustown economy.  The bowl season also rescues sports fans from the huge empty crater that is college sports on television during finals week, not to mention the meaningless NFL games that can force even the biggest die-hard to start sawing logs on the couch.  Gimme any of this season’s bowl games over Z-fests like this weekend’s Kansas City at Detroit or the Falcons visiting Arizona in Glendale.

But for all of you proponents of a playoff in college footall, I want you to watch some of the constant football action over the next couple of weeks and look at the tradition, along with the passion and wide eyes of the players and coaches involved, and think for a second if a playoff could make up for all of the pageantry and excitement brought on from the (second) best time of year.

Vince Young celebrating after perhaps the greatest bowl game of all time. Courtesy of www.austinist.com