The Emotion Bowl

Oh, MY!

Yes, it's truly The Emotion Bowl!  Who knew?  Right here a short 5 block bike ride away: The Emotion Bowl.

It was emotional and totally awesome football the way football was intended to be played.  The Idaho Falls Tigers versus the Skyline Grizzlies.  The stands were packed beyond capacity.  Security guards were every where.  You couldn't buy a ticket because they were sold out.  TV trucks were lined up like flies to honey.  The roar of the opposing crowds was amazing.  The dueling high school bands brought their best and it, too, was awesome.  Both sides had an army of cheerleaders.  No kidding, I've never seen as many cheerleaders as I saw tonight--not even for a college or pro team.  There was genuine electricity in the air.

When I showed up shortly after halftime Skyline was leading 23-20 and playing to win.  The ball changed hands a few times and in the early 4th quarter, the Tigers got it back.  I was in the perfect position to see the QB fade back and loft a perfect spiral downfield to his streaking wide receiver who caught it in stride and ran untouched for a 80 yard TD.  WOW, you should have seen the orange side of the stadium come unglued.  That put the Tigers on top 26-23 and therein began the duel right down to the last 4 seconds of playing time.  It was awesome and emotional and it had every single fan strung out.  This is football!

I hung on the outside fence rapt.  This game had it all--it had everything.  It had huge amounts of raw emotion.  It had the fans standing on their feet and cheering their brains out--it had the players giving everything they had and it finally had a field goal attempt with 4 seconds left sailing wide right to preserve the Tigers Win.

After the Tiger QB put down a knee to run out the clock the team swarmed the field.  You would have thought it was the Super Bowl.  The stadium rocked with the passionate roar from the Tigers Fans.  I looked on enchanted by it all.  Oh, the things I saw and the thoughts I had.  How I wish I could express them here.
Suffice to say it was truly The Emotion Bowl!

Cheers, jp

 Viva Friday Night Lights!
The photo at the top of this blog post is by Monte LaOrange, Copyright 2010 by The Post-Register.