Lexington Revisited: 2008 Georgia-Kentucky Road Trip

When BFR and I went to the Kentucky game last year, we had what might be one of the best road trips imaginable.

If you've never read the story, I've posted the best part of it below.

You can also see the original post here. It is longer, but I recommend you read my entire blathering to get the full experience.

Luckily, the friends we made on this trip are coming to Athens for the game and BFR and I will have the opportunity to re-pay the hospitality.

Lexington: A Road Trip For The Ages

Disclaimer: Read this story of our trip from Lexington, because you know going to Auburn, or anywhere else for that matter, won’t be this good. This story, my friends, is why you go on road trips.

POST GAME

After the game, we searched for the one group of Dawgs we knew, but never found them. We did run into all the players as they were coming out of the locker room. BFR and I were able to speak to AJ Green real quick, and also say hi to everyone's favorite person, Willie Martinez.

On our way back to the car, we stopped at a tailgate of a group of Kentucky fans. We had seen this tailgate initially walking to the stadium. This setup was astounding.

These fans had a trailer that, on the inside, was essentially a bar. The upgrades included flooring, nice cabinetry, seats, a huge area for food, a giant flat screen TV, and a smaller flat screen TV. A large opening on the side of the trailer with a counter provided a perfect seating area to enjoy the spread of food and drinks while watching other games on the two TVs.

Outside of the trailer were tables and chairs in blue and white, and the entire setup was surrounded by a white picket fence and a Kentucky flag flying over it all.

This awesome tailgate was right on a nice corner lot just a small parking lot’s distance from the stadium. Essentially, it was the best location imaginable.

We introduced ourselves to this group and met Elmo, JR, Chrissy, Joe, Michelle, and a whole host of kind people whose names I can’t remember.

We were talking with everyone for a good while, and they invited us to stay and watch the LSU/Bama game with them.

In the midst of all this, Joker Phillips walks up to Elmo and some other people at the tailgate. Joker wasn’t walking by at chance and they stopped him. No, Joker was walking by and purposefully stopped.

BFR and I were just blown away. Not only is this a great tailgate, but Kentucky’s [future] head coach is here talking with everyone (he didn’t seem to be in the best of moods, which is understandable).

As we watched the game and drank with these great people, we began to learn a lot about Kentucky.

Kentucky fans would rather be terrible at football and be in the SEC than be great at football in another conference.

AWESOME.

Kentucky fans despise Louisville. Their description of Louisville fans reminded me of Florida fans, which automatically makes me hate Louisville.

AWESOME.

They criticized Big East football games as being worse than watching a duck fart or listening to Oprah. Louisville vs. UCONN is not a real football game.

DOUBLE AWESOME.

They also loved Munson, and their favorite quote was Munson speaking about Lorenzen: “Godzilla is on the loose!”

AMAZINGLY AWESOME.

At about the time LSU/Bama went into overtime, they were ready to leave and we were planning on heading towards Atlanta. However, our new Kentucky friends insisted we join them at a steakhouse called Malone’s (It also conveniently has a sports bar). How could we turn this down?

BFR and I arrived at the steakhouse and joined the group in the bar. JR, who played for Kentucky in the “Couch era” told us he was inviting a friend of his named Anthony White, who also had played for Kentucky.

SEC fans may well remember Anthony White, who also played for UK during the “Couch era.” Anthony let us Georgia fans know that he considers Herschel Walker to be the best running back in SEC (and college football) history…but he considers himself the second best (embellishment on our part, makes the story better and Anthony would definitely go with it!). He is the only back in SEC history with 1500 receiving yards and 1500 rushing yards in the same season, thus he has enjoyed the nickname “Mr. 1500” as much as he was enjoying his Courvoisier Saturday night.

The eight of us sat down for a great meal and several more hours of talking about football, basketball, baseball and life in general. The conversation focused on sports and held the attention of the entire table and most of the rest of the restaurant. Anthony dropped one-liners on us like bombs:

-“One time playing Georgia, I was giving Kirby Smart the business! No offense, but you had a white DB trying to tackle me?!?”

-That Tennessee quarterback is horrible. Every time he drops back, it looks like he is playing dodgeball with the defense!

-Joker Phillips should put me in, I’ll win a national championship right now.

After treating us to a wonderful meal (that we tried to pay for), we bid farewell to this great group of people as they headed home.

We, on the other hand, didn’t head home. We joined Anthony at a party afterwards with a bunch of ex-football players from Kentucky and some of the UK Athletic Assoc staff.

Even decked out in red and black, everyone was great to us, particularly Anthony for bringing us along and introducing us to everyone there.

After a few hours, we knew that we had at least a three hour drive ahead of us, so BFR and I decided to call it quits and we headed back to Knoxville.

All in all, this was the best experience we could have imagined, far exceeding our simple expectations for our trip. I have a new found appreciation for Lexington, the University of Kentucky, and their fans.

I hope BFR and I get to return the favor soon to the great people we met, as well as other fans in the future.

Let this also provide a lesson to everyone: If you don’t feel like going on that road trip, DO IT ANYWAYS! After this trip, there are no longer any acceptable excuses for not making the road trip.

Go Dawgs!

AJ in USA TODAY

AJ is finally getting some love in the national press, and Juh-Jones is nowhere to be found.



(h/t to Bill King at Junkyard Blawg, AJC)

MOUSTACHE NATION FROM ARIZONA STATE INVADED ATHENS

On Saturday, we had the pleasure to meet some of the best college football fans we've ever come across. The unique nature and passion of this group is definitely worth mentioning to any and all college football fans. If only we had met them out in Tempe last year, we could have planned out a proper introduction to Athens!

The Moustache Nation is a group of die hard Arizona State fans that are all about what I love: going to a road game as a giant force.

Moustache Nation was set up on North Campus at the edge of downtown, and they had a party starting early in the morning.

Moustache Koozies = Moustache Power!!!

Our friend Diskin and I walked up to their tailgate and were immediately welcomed with great conversation and beer (they have Tecate, we have Natty Light...I'll take the Tecate, please). I'm sure they were concerned at first as to why two morons, one wearing red pants with bulldawgs on them, were walking straight for their tailgate.

Most everyone we talked to were from Tempe, some from other parts of the west coast, and we met a few that were currently living in Atlanta.

Over the next hour or so, we learned the basics of the Moustache Nation:

-They're a large group of ASU fans that are extremely dedicated (we can relate), and pick one road game a year to travel to as a very large group (I'm talking approximately 50 people).

-Several of them often travel to other college football games around the country during ASU's off week.

-Many of them wear awesome moustaches that I could only dream of being able to grow.

-They are named Moustache Nation in honor the great Jake Plummer, who grew a moustache and later began to resemble Ted Kaczynski once he entered the NFL (which I find awesome).

-You know they are the Moustache Nation because they wear yellow jerseys that say "Moustache Nation." The front of the jerseys have a retro picture of their mascot, Sparky, as well as an awesome moustache with "5 Cent Rides" written on it.

-The back of their jerseys say "SALAD BOWL" and "'51." This is in honor of the 1951 Salad Bowl game that Arizona State not only played in, but also lost to Miami (OH). You have to love a group of fans who so greatly appreciate that they played in a bowl called the Salad Bowl, even if they lost.

Boone's Farm, a preferred drink of Moustache Nation...along with hundreds of cans of beer.

We also learned some informative things about hardcore ASU fans:

-Just as we saw last year, they continue to show a passionate hatred of their in state rival, and Dawgs can certainly appreciate that.

-You can refer to them as ASU or Arizona State, but do not abbreviate any reference to them as Arizona. That's a douchebag school over an hour away from ASU. Many of our inebriated Dawg co-eds made this mistake at Boar's Head Saturday night.

-Many ASU fans hold a great disdain the Arizona Cardinals. If you listen to why they hate them, you'd certainly agree. It was interesting to learn the inside history of the Cardinals when they were playing on ASU's campus.

We were able hang out with members of the Moustache Nation several times during the day and several even came over to our tailgate to play some cornhole. We also got the chance to hang out with some of them after the game until last call closed out the night.

Unfortunately for our new friends, the gut wrenching game didn't turn out well in the end for them because AJ Green forgot to let everyone know he is a mutant super hero.

B'NE & MOUSTACHE NATION UNITE!

We want to give a big shout out to Troy, Mark, Chris, Steve, Dan, and all the others for hanging out with us most of the day and for showing us their dedication and how ASU fans party.

You can also check out Troy's store at http://www.cactussports.com. Hopefully those koozies will be up there soon!

Also, while we didn't get the chance to talk, thanks to ASU Jay for his leadership of the Moustache Nation and making it possible for such a large group to travel as a force.

Moustache Nation helps to epitomize what college football fandom is all about, as well as doing a great job of representing ASU across the nation.

We salute you, Moustache Nation!

80's Music Video Of The Week

We did this last season, then we stopped after the season, then we started again back in the Spring, and then we stopped it again.

I promise you this, for the 4 of you out there that care, the 80's Music Video of The Week is here to stay (unless we get lazy again in February).

AUMaverick, who is a colossal 80's music video fan, has joined Bubba and I in selecting videos for this season.

This week's video was picked by Maverick, and it displays why I love his taste.

This video has everything from intense slow motion volleyball to playing guitars that obviously aren't plugged in to anything. Then there is Kenny Loggins...well, Kenny Loggins' presence makes it super 80's.

Here is Kenny Loggins' "Playing With the Boys."



This song is also the background music in this awesome volleyball scene from Top Gun:



Coincidence? I, think, not!