About two weeks ago, I got to do something that I haven’t done in quite some time as a sports writer, and that was experience a game as a regular fan.
And lucky for me, that game was the Cotton Bowl between Tulane and Southern California.
As some of you may remember, I’m a New Orleans native and was raised a Tulane fan. More importantly for this story, my dad has been a lifelong fan. No one in my family is a Tulane alum, but my grandma grew up right by Tulane Stadium. My dad still has her 1939 season ticket pass framed, which for eight games cost 75¢. To give a brief history lesson, Tulane was a powerhouse during the 1930s and 1940s and has more SEC titles than six current teams in the conference.
For context, in that 1939 season, Tulane defeated Clemson, Auburn, Ole Miss, Alabama and LSU and then lost to Texas A&M 14-13 in the Sugar Bowl.
And as we all know, years later, the school decided to move away from athletics and focus on academics, which has created much misery for Tulane fans. The Green Wave’s signature undefeated 1998 season was the glory days I would often hear about but never imagined happening again, much less coming close to duplicating that success.
So after Tulane’s loss to Southern Miss this past season, it seemed the Green Wave was going to have moderate success, which is more than in the past. Yet quickly, they were in the Top 25 rankings and are even ranked ahead of LSU, and let me say if you had told my 10-year-old self that, well, I would have never believed you.
Before their conference championship, I called my mom and told her that we had to plan a trip for a major bowl game because we wanted to make it a Christmas present for my dad. The stars aligned because I was able to manage my hectic work schedule perfectly to make it happen.
If you know my father, you know he’s reluctant to go on a road trip, and if we had suggested it, he would have shot it down. So I did what any good son would do and told my mom to lie to my dad and say we had already bought the tickets. Although he was briefly reluctant, he quickly warmed up to the idea – mind you, with all of us thinking Tulane had no chance of beating USC, who features the Heisman trophy winner.
Arriving in Texas, I had never seen that many Tulane fans in one place. It felt like a Green Wave consumed the town because everywhere we went, “Roll Wave” was shouted at us.
Our hotel actually shuttled people to and from the game, so it was perhaps the easiest parking setup I have ever experienced. Ironically enough, when I’m working, it usually takes asking for directions a few times to find the media entrance, but since I wasn’t on the clock, of course, we saw it right away.
I have to say, AT&T Stadium is a piece of art. It’s immaculate. I’ve never been in awe of a stadium like that, so if you get the chance, you should check it out.
Now because of my profession, I can’t exactly watch a game like an average fan, and it takes a lot for me to be on the edge of my seat. Typically, when I watch a game casually, I think about how I would write my story. Towards the final four minutes, with Tulane down by 15 to USC, I thanked the good Lord that I didn’t have to write. In my experience, the final four minutes of a college football game get crazy, and I know that if I was writing my story, it would have been about Tulane’s loss. Sure enough, the Green Wave pulled off the unlikely comeback, and naturally, I would have had to rip my story up.
And yet, in those final four minutes, I found myself on the edge of my seat along with mom and dad and the rest of the Tulane faithful – most of which were drunk college kids - in complete disbelief, trying to absorb every second of each moment.
Strangely enough, the Pine Belt area made an appearance, with Petal alum Deuce Watts making an incredible catch that set up the Green Wave’s game-winning touchdown. Admittedly, at that moment, it struck me that I probably should have written a story on twin brothers Deuce and Phatts Watts and their triumphs with the Green Wave.
But my brain quickly returned to the moment to watch the final play, and as soon as the officials returned from the replay booth to announce a touchdown, it was pure pandemonium. Both my mom and dad were at levels of excitement that I had never seen before, and all-around me, Tulane fans cheered for joy while others were brought to tears.
Even though I was happy not to be working, Tulane’s win over the mighty Trojans was a moment as to why we love sports and how it has the power to bring people together. It was even a little more special to share that memory with my mom and dad.
Andrew Abadie of Pine Belt Sports can be reached via email at andrew@hubcityspokes.com. Follow him on Twitter: @PineBeltSPORTS.
