Although I have been to Tiger Stadium numerous times over the last 10 years tailgating with various friends, I had never been inside Tiger Stadium to watch a game until the Ole Miss game in '08. We lost that game which bummed me out, then went to the Arky game in War Memorial the next game... we lost that one too. Started to think I was a jinx, but I was there in TS for the '09 Vandy game which we won... and got to experience Rain in Tiger Stadium.
On the other end of the temperature spectrum, I remember going to an 11am game at TS vs State. It was the gold game and the only gold LSU shirt I had at the time was a long sleeve. It rained and there was a delay. Then it stopped and the sun came out at about 12:45pm. Tiger Stadium was like a giant rice cooker. It was SO hot and I wanted to hang myself from the long sleeved shirt that I had elected to wear that day. My kids were not with me on that day, but I figured if I was going to bitch about a cold night at Tiger Stadium that I could also bitch about a hot day.
I wore a big ass fuzzy hair P&G wig I got from the LSU bookstore at the '09 Vandy game... with the rain it became a big heavy sponge that flung water everywhere everytime I turned my head. We were just a few rows up from the endzone on the visitor side, the Vandy fans kept bitching about the water I was flinging on them.
That was my first ever game in TS. It was in 2006, I believe. My wife asked me where the yellow line was, and she couldn't understand why I started laughing at her! We wound up leaving about 45 minutes into the lightning delay.
My son was 5 for his first game, Ole Miss last year. We made it through the whole game, and he had a blast. He had no voie by the end of the game. At one point Ole Miss was either up or really close and driving and the guy sitting next to us asked my son how we were going to stop them. His response was to "kick them in the pecans." That kind of became the cheer of our little section for the rest of the game.
My son was never a very big football fan (and I consider this my greatest failure as a father). His first game in TS was against Middle Tennessee shortly after 9/11. His favorite part of the game was Lee Greenwood singing "God Bless the USA" at half time.
Great time for this thread to re-appear. I have been living in Alabama since 1997. Since that time I have made it to numerous away games for the Tigers (@BAMA, Auburn, MSU etc...) and I always make it back home for 1-2 games per season. Usually these are guys weekends. For the last couple of years I have been telling my girls that I would take them to a game in Tiger Stadium. Now the time has finally arrived. My "Tiger" family (wife is an Auburn Fan) is going to be there when the Tigers storm the Death Valley turf for the first time in 2013. I wanted them to get the full fanfare and excitement of a night game without the extra "stuff" that tends to go on for the big rivalry games (they are 9 and 5 years old). They are pumped! But as excited as they are, they can't hold a candle to dad. I cannot wait for them to have this experience and look forward to being there with them to take it all in: Mike's habitat, the march down the hill, the band, the crowd, the pre-game, the chants, the game and all the associated sights, sounds and experiences. And I'm looking forward to letting them scream at the top of their lungs for 3 - 4 hours while never hearing their parents say "hey, hey, not so loud girls!" My first experience in Tiger Stadium was the Earthquake Game. I was hooked before, I was completely addicted afterward .... Geaux Tigers!! Young and Old!!
My first game was 2000 against UAB. ugh. My daughter is 2 1/2. I thought about bringing her to a game this year but she's probably too young still. I think we are going to bring her to the homecoming parade this year and maybe next year we'll try a game.
