The Lions Den
We wait in line anxiously...the minutes ticking down. We could hear it in the distance...conquest was happening. The line snakes around and we're still 15 minutes away...12 minutes...10 minutes...we're under the stands now.
With a silent roar, a B2 bomber flies overhead...we barely see it. Before we know it, it's out of sight. It's so stealthy, jokes Wayland...
We turn back around...time's running out...but we're near. Looks like we're going to make it...
Something's wrong up ahead. People are crowding the gate to the left of the walkway...the intensity increases as we get closer. It's like people crowding around a lions cage...the fear...the excitement...
Curiosity overcomes me...what is this ahead? What's going on up there? It can't possibly be that exciting can it?
We slowly approach the cage...my fingers grip the chain link fence, latch on with excitement as I get closer...I am almost within view. I lose sight completely of the end of the tunnel ahead...the end in which I had been waiting this entire time. My mind, completely focused on the cage ahead, knows not what to expect.
A few steps closer now...
...and I look down into the cage below...
The first thing I see is the hair...that dark wavy hair. Then it's the muscles...
LETS GO REY! yells Wayland
We're in a frenzy now...hands grip the fence...fists hitting the metal, jumping up and down...yelling our lungs out. Noise is an understatement...
it only gets louder as the USC Trojan football team emerges from their locker room below and erupts out towards the field. Sanchez leads them out to battle, yelling encouragement as each Trojan passes him.
We're worked up even louder now. Chants erupt. Everyone's going wild now...
And in a moment...just as fast as it started...it ends. They're gone. Past us now...on to the field, where the stadium erupts. We stand again in the tunnel...they're gone...
...but the energy remained...
USC went on to beat Penn St. 38-24 in the 2009 Rose Bowl. It was the single most exciting thing I've experienced with USC football short of the 2005 Orange Bowl victory.
With a silent roar, a B2 bomber flies overhead...we barely see it. Before we know it, it's out of sight. It's so stealthy, jokes Wayland...
We turn back around...time's running out...but we're near. Looks like we're going to make it...
Something's wrong up ahead. People are crowding the gate to the left of the walkway...the intensity increases as we get closer. It's like people crowding around a lions cage...the fear...the excitement...
Curiosity overcomes me...what is this ahead? What's going on up there? It can't possibly be that exciting can it?
We slowly approach the cage...my fingers grip the chain link fence, latch on with excitement as I get closer...I am almost within view. I lose sight completely of the end of the tunnel ahead...the end in which I had been waiting this entire time. My mind, completely focused on the cage ahead, knows not what to expect.
A few steps closer now...
...and I look down into the cage below...
The first thing I see is the hair...that dark wavy hair. Then it's the muscles...
LETS GO REY! yells Wayland
We're in a frenzy now...hands grip the fence...fists hitting the metal, jumping up and down...yelling our lungs out. Noise is an understatement...
it only gets louder as the USC Trojan football team emerges from their locker room below and erupts out towards the field. Sanchez leads them out to battle, yelling encouragement as each Trojan passes him.
We're worked up even louder now. Chants erupt. Everyone's going wild now...
And in a moment...just as fast as it started...it ends. They're gone. Past us now...on to the field, where the stadium erupts. We stand again in the tunnel...they're gone...
...but the energy remained...
USC went on to beat Penn St. 38-24 in the 2009 Rose Bowl. It was the single most exciting thing I've experienced with USC football short of the 2005 Orange Bowl victory.