Friday, December 20 -
Monday, December 23, 2019
Our beloved 7-5 University of Washington Huskies were invited to play in the 28th Annual Las Vegas Bowl against the 12-1 Mountain West Conference Champion Boise State Broncos on Saturday night.
Thus, on Friday afternoon after both Jacob and Mike finished their half-day school sessions to signal the start of their two week Christmas break, we were all off to Sin City to join Andy, Jenn and Kevin for a fun weekend in the desert.
On the way to Nevada, we needed to stop for dinner so we opted for the unique dining experience that is the famed Barstow Station.
Mike and Jacob went with Mexican dishes while Laurie and I opted for the wonders of the Chinese cuisine found at the Panda Express.
Afterwards, we all just had to have some ice cream.
Cotton Candy Ice Cream
for Jacob led too . . .
. . . his wanting to give Poppo
and Gigi a kiss
For once, we both said a hardy "NO!"
We pushed on to the Las Vegas version of Casa Contreras where we had a fun reunion that lasted well into the night.
Saturday morning was a meant
for a special Luhca libre moment
Who are these three wrestlers?
After a two out of three falls winner was determined, we headed to Sam Boyd Stadium to do a little tailgating before the kickoff of the Las Vegas Bowl.
For the Huskies, this would be the 40th Bowl game in program history with the first one having been the 14-14 tie with Navy in the 1924 Rose Bowl.
I did not attend that one.
For me though, it would be the 18th Husky Bowl that I've attended. Here is the list of the Husky Bowl games that I have seen:
1978 Rose Bowl win over Michigan, 27-20
1981 Rose Bowl loss to Michigan, 23-6
1982 Rose Bowl win over Iowa, 28-0
1985 Freedom Bowl win over Colorado, 20-17
1989 Freedom Bowl win over Florida, 34-7
1991 Rose Bowl win over Iowa, 46-34
1992 Rose Bowl win over Michigan, 34-14
1993 Rose Bowl loss to Michigan, 38-31
1996 Holiday Bowl loss to Colorado, 33-21
1999 Holiday Bowl loss to Kansas State, 24-20
2001 Rose Bowl win over Purdue, 34-24
2001 Holiday Bowl loss to Texas, 47-43
2010 Holiday Bowl win over Nebraska, 19-7
2011 Alamo Bowl loss to Baylor, 67-56
2012 Las Vegas Bowl loss to Boise State, 28-26
2013 Fight Hunger Bowl win over BYU, 31-16
2019 Rose Bowl loss to Ohio State, 28-23
2019 Las Vegas Bowl . . .
So, entering tonight's contest I had seen the Huskies amass a record of nine wins and eight losses in the first 17 bowl games that I'd witnessed.
With Aaron
As is usual, when we parked our vehicle in the stadium's parking lot, we began talking with the other tailgaters parked near us.
That is how we met a group of American football coaches, wearing mostly Boise State blue and orange colors, from Yorba Linda H.S. in Orange County, California. They were all there because one of their former players is a Freshman Defensive End for Boise State.
Aaron asked me what my ties were to the U of W and I said that I had been on the Huskies teams the mid-1960s and somehow graduated in 1969.
Aaron then mentioned that his father-in-law was also at the U of W at about the same time and was also on the Huskies football squad.
Really, what is your father-in-law's name.
Gene Duncan.
Goodness gracious, Gene Duncan was my first college roommate in the Fall of 1966 in the Huskies' athletic dorm known as the Crew House.
What a small world!
Additionally, one of the Yorba Linda coaches named Jim had both played and coached American football in Poland. The EuroBall world is a small one too.
Sam Boyd Stadium in the distance
Andy was willing to use a
Los Angeles Rams cozy to keep
his beer cold
Andy is a die-hard Oakland-Los Angeles-Oakland-Las Vegas Raiders fan, so this was a sacrifice.
As is usual at tailgates,
a football game started to break out
FS Jacob Contreras about to
light up anything that moves
Taking a Pick-Six to the HOUSE!
Kevin, Laurie and Jacob
With Mike Callahan,
Yorba Linda's Offensive Line Coach
Mike's son Michael is a Senior offensive lineman at Yorba Linda HS who just signed National Letter of Intent to play for Boise State next Fall.
Two young Corn Hole enthusiasts
Bundling up to enter
Sam Boyd Stadium for the
4:30 p.m. kickoff
Family friend Tim Marik
corrupting Laurie
Sam Boyd Stadium has been the
home stadium of the
University of Nevada-Las Vegas Rebels
The Rebels along with the Las Vegas Bowl will both move into the new $2-billion Allegiant Stadium, the future home of the NFL's Raiders, in 2020.
Jacob during the National Anthem
The Huskies took the field first
Here come the Broncos
Jacob was ready to fight the elements
Time to kickoff the
2019 Las Vegas Bowl
The Husky defense started off
the game playing superbly!
We were all excited to root
the Huskies on to VICTORY!
We were eight of the 34,197 fans at the game.
These cousins were having a
lot of fun again tonight at the game
The cousins enjoyed watching
the halftime band activities
Mike taking a selfie
As for the Dawgs, they came to Las Vegas not to compete but to KICK ASS as it turned out.
The Huskies were flying
around on Defense
The Offense was making plays as well
Still the Broncos were harassing
the UofW QB early on
At the Half, the Huskies had a commanding 17-0 lead.
TD WASHINGTON!
The passing game made several
good plays in the game
QB SACK!
It was a DOMINATING performance
in Head Coach Chris Petersen's
last game at the helm of the Huskies
My record at Husky Bowl games is now 10-8-0.
Meanwhile, back in Florence, Italy on this fine Saturday . . .
The now 8-0 U16 Skorpions won their
semi-final National Playoff game
in fine fashion over the previously
undefeated Guelfi Firenze!
In the other semi-final the top
seeded, now 7-0 Seamen Milano
routed the Cernusco Daemons
The U16 National Championship
Game will be played on January 5th
in Milano's Velodromo Vigorelli
On Sunday morning, Jacob enjoyed
playing with Kevin's new bulldog
puppy named Abbey
Since both Andy and Mike's families are 100% into the entire Star Wars franchise, we headed to the local AMC 18 theater to watch the just released Episode IX of the series, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
WHAT'S THE NAME OF
THAT ITALIAN RESTAURANT?
Oh my?
The boys were pumped!
They all had a great, edge of their
seats experience and relived/analyzed
the movie the rest of the day
After the movie, I just HAD to
check out this restaurant
On entering, I was quickly met by the owner, one Giovanni from Calabria.
I quizzed him about the name and he got a sheepish grin in telling me the story of the name.
I liked Giovanni and his sense of humor instantly!
We will definitely eat there the next time we are in Las Vegas.
On Monday, it was time to say our farewells to Andy, Jenn and Kevin and head home too Camarillo for Christmas.
A stop in Victorville at Emma Jean's
was, of course, MANDATORY!
Emma Jean's was busier than usual
but just as delicious too
All in all, another great weekend with family, friends, football and food!
Gene Duncan, WOW!
No comments:
Post a Comment