What a day! It was crazy, exciting, stressful and most of all amazing. Atlanta was definitely not ready for all of the Hoosiers in town which made navigating the area, checking into our hotel, and finding a spot for lunch challenging, but in the end that didn't really matter. Cameron found us a wonderful Italian restaurant for our noon day meal and an awesome front desk clerk helped us get into our room early. From there the rest of the day was absolutely unbelievable.
Cameron and Cora spent the morning and early afternoon with us touring Centennial Park before heading to the Fan Fest at the convention center next to the Mercedes Benz Stadium where the Peach Bowl would be to play. Thankfully, everything was walkable, so we didn't have to worry about driving or taking an Uber anywhere. Meg and Nick arrived just as we were checking into our room which worked out perfectly as they were able to go with us to the Fan Fest after a short rest at the hotel. The walk over as crazy. We passed the IU sponsored ticketed event, which was packed with fans, John Mellencamp songs and "Hoo, Hoo, Hoo, Hoosier" chants everywhere making downtown Atlanta feel a lot more like Kirkwood Avenue in Bloomington.
As packed as the streets were on our walk over to the Fan Fest, it was nothing compared to the convention center. There was so much to see and do including games, food booths and a lot of football fans. After meeting up with Cameron, touring the area and getting something to drink, Doug, Meg, Nick, Cameron and I headed to the stadium. We were definitely early, but that gave us a chance to see the football team arrive by bus and navigate the entry points.
We parted ways with Cameron once we got into the stadium. He was seated in the front row with the other directors from SAB while we were in the tier right above him. I was extremely pleased with our seats. We could see very well and had the Jumbo Tron above us to catch the action in the other endzone. We spent the eighty minutes before kickoff talking about the game, watching the warm-ups, trying out the snacks (Nick's favorite part) and enjoying the Chick-Fil-A cow mascots. It was amazing to watch the crowd file in as we estimated the percentage of Hoosiers in attendance to be well above 80%. The cheers and the enthusiasm grew as game time drew near and exploded once the team ran out of their football helmet.
I know that we all really thought they IU would win tonight, but there were still moments of nervousness throughout the day. I was definitely worried when Oregon took the field as the hype around their defense and their quarterback who many felt would be the number one pick in the draft over Mendoza was everywhere. I told myself that we were playing extremely well and had already beat the Ducks once, but the media was getting to me, and I was losing starting to lose confidence.
In the end, I had nothing to worry about. On the first play of the game, Oregon threw a pick six and from there the Hoosiers dominated the game. My fears of a tense, down to the wire game like last nights were gone and we all had an awesome time watching the Hoosiers do what they do best - win. Without the stress of a tight game, we instead made enjoying the game a priority. During the next few hours, we listened to Nick rank his favorite snacks, watched Cameron do the Chicken Dance on the Jumbo Tron, joined the crowd singing IU's fight song and waited with over 50,000 other fans for the trophy presentation. The only downside to the evening was walking to our hotel in a downpour.
Although the Peach Bowl was a lot for Doug and I to manage, we were both so incredibly glad that we went. It was an experience that neither one of us will ever forget. I thanked Cameron, Nick and Meg multiple times when we got back to the hotel for helping us make this journey. Neither one of us plan on going to the National Championship game in Miami next week. Instead, we will just enjoy it on our television and hope that we get to see Cameron on national TV just like all of our friends and family did tonight.
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