American College Football League - USC vs Idaho

Brownie and Winnie says:

This day is a Saturday. We have bought two tickets to an American College Football game: USC vs Idaho, at the LA Sports Coliseum which starts at 7.30pm. The coliseum is just a 20 mins walk from our place, so no need to drive, or any problem of parking. Parking is expensive around US$6-10. But in downtown LA, parking lot for a LA Lakers game at Stable Center can cost US$40-80!!

We start out early so as to prevent last minute panic from not being able to find our seats; as the coliseum is very large. Along the way, we pass by another house nearby and see that there is a wedding going on with performance put up by a stiltwalker. It is indeed an eye-opener for Singaporeans like us to be able to spot a wedding reception like this going on within the compounds of a house. It looks like a Mexican or South American wedding, as the people living are from these places. Not like any usual day, there are more vehicles passing by 38th St, which winds along the houses as they are heading towards the coliseum to watch the football game.

As we cross 39th Street to the Exposition Park opposite, we see a lot of people having picnics on the green green grass. Most of them are wearing the red USC jerseys or t-shirts. They are actually having picnic before going in to watch the football show. So we walk alongside the Exposition Park and upon reaching the road junction, turn left into a small road which leads to the LA Sports Coliseum. Upon reaching outside of the Coliseum, we see a lot of people also having picnic on the grassland just outside the entrance. Some have already finished their picnic as can be seen by the used paper plates, forks and spoons lying randomly on the grass.

Arnold's mayor election sticker on the floor...

As we turn around, we see a band of USC students marching along the road towards the Coliseum and simultaneously playing their musical instruments, mostly trumpets, saxaphones and drums. These are the pre-game and half-time musical band, who have been practising so long and hard just for today's performance. The music is very lively and rhythmic and they actually create quite a commotion when they pass by those rowdy groups of people having picnics on the grass. They wear Roman warriors costume, looking just like Trojans.

We stay outside the Coliseum for some time before going in the gate. At the gate, we pass our tickets to the lady stationed at the gate before going in the entrance.

Our tickets illustrate our seat numbers and the gate number that they are near to. We ask a lady at work nearby how to access our seats and she directs us towards gate number 1 on the righthand most. We have to walk for quite a long distance before we reach it. Along the way, we queue up and buy a big big bag of popcorn. We go towards the seats and sit down comfortably on the benches.

The time is ticking by and soon it is reaching 7.30pm. Soon, we see the group of football players running into the fields in single file and they are from the other group from the University of Idaho. After that, they are followed by our star players from the University of Southern California, which is also where Brownie is studying. USC has a very famous reputation of winning the national football leagues consecutively. The USC band players who have just passed by us outside the Coliseum are also playing at the side of the field cheering on the USC team. There is also a group of USC girls adorning white sleeveless and short white skirts. They are also dancing gracefully acting as cheerleaders. They are followed by a Roman knight riding a white horse right into the field and along the perimeter of the field.

Soon after that, the football show begins to start. It starts by the referee blowing the whistle. It is an exciting show between the two universities. Soon after two hour, the result is obvious with the USC team leading by a score of 21 versus 3 that is the midtime score. And its 10pm, looking both tired and wondering what time the game will end... We start to head home soon after that for fear that the crowd may get too difficult for us to handle at the end of the game. But not before we catch the half-time performance by the Trojans matching band...

We walk out along the outside perimeter of the stadium. We see a lot of USC students and their families walking around and socialising with their friends. There are a lot of temporary shops set up along the perimeter and there are lots of foodstuffs being sold like hotdogs, popcorns, USC soft toys and rugby balls, snacks like potato chips and chicken wings and so on. Soon we are out of the stadium and heading towards home.