EPIC weekend!
This was the weekend of the Hall of Fame ceremony. The whole family, along with Mom and Dad, Cheri & Dann, and Kral, Rand, and Dean went up to The Farm to see the induction. Parker Blackman and Craig Forsyth were there from the team, along with Jane and Andrew. Started the weekend with a trip down memory lane - a breakfast at Hobees (all 5 of us, Mom and Dad, and Cheri). I of course had "the usual": Hi-Hat ommie with coffee cake, and a Strawberry/Banana energy blend. Connor followed my lead with the same thing. Cruised around campus with the same group, bookstore, then back to hotel to start gearing up for the ceremony that night (Friday). 5 of us to shower and get in nice clothes (ties for all us boys) is time consuming!
I was pretty nervous going into the Ceremony. Had the speech pretty well down, but kept making minor changes, so definitely not memorized. Upon arrival, I did a video shoot for the Buck Cardinal club - just some questions about what it means to be inducted, memories from school, etc. Then on to happy hour where we started seeing other inductees (met Misty Hyman, swim, and Ellen Estes, water polo). Pretty soon we're into the ballroom and the ceremony. Dinner and then the speeches.
I was 3rd, and went directly after Ron George. His speech was great - no notes or anything, just up there talking. Seems like he's done this before. :) My intro video called me a nerd, and mentioned computers and stuff, so I played off that to break the ice at the beginning. I felt pretty good once I got the crowd laughing about the sweats over the shoes story from Freshman year. Whew - done. Now just relax and enjoy it. Pretty late night - went until after 10, and kids were whooped. They did great.
SAT - football game day. Hall of Fame tailgate party, ran into a lot of the same people from the night before, but got to chat with some of the other inductees. The Scholz clan showed up - they're using our extra tickets. Don Shaw, John Alstrom, Craig's family, etc.
The football game was awesome. Pretty busy keeping everything coordinated - had 2 sky box tickets, so took turns taking kids up there. See pics on Flickr. Killer view from up there. Avery, then Connor, then Jamie and Ben.
Halftime deal - I was able to weasel the kids down there with me. There was another inductee with his smaller kids, and the staff seemed OK with that, so then just a few seconds before we left from in front of the stands, I waved our kids down. Super special to share that moment on the field with them. They loved being out there, and Jamie got a killer picture of us on the big screen scoreboard!
We WON! Pretty tight game, but pulled it out (see next post) - next up - OREGON. HUGE game.
Toured campus after the game with Kral, Rand, Dean and our family. They really enjoyed the walk around, as they hadn't seen the campus before (Dean played vb there twice, but only to the gym and back). Pizza at the hotel for dinner just to hang with the dudes and chat.
Next morning (Sunday), our family and Mom & Dad went to Alcatraz. Super fun - Ben LOVED it. Back down to SJ airport that night for a flight home.
