 31 |
GAME #62
Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium |
 21 |
| Trip Dates | 10/12/2023 – 10/14/2023 |
| School | University of Memphis |
| Visiting Team | Tulane Green Wave Pre-game Record: 4-1 |
| Home Team | Memphis Tigers Pre-game Record: 4-1 |
| Game Time (ET) | 7:00 PM Eastern (6:00 PM local) |
| Weather | 73 & Cloudy |
| Attendees | Jarrett & Al |
| Jarrett’s Pick | Tulane Green Wave (40 and 21 record) |
| Al’s Pick | Tulane Green Wave (37 and 24 record) |
| Attendance | 35,609 |
| Capacity | 58,325 |
| TV | ESPN |
| Length of Game | 3:21 |
| Seat Location | 15 Yard Line, Approx. 58th Row |
| Miles Traveled | 1,835 |
| Photo Album | Click here for the Memphis Photo Album |
This report is continued from the Florida International trip report.
Travel
It was an evening flight to Memphis after our round of golf. We had a rather uneventful trip to the airport and loading onto the flight, as PBI is a great airport to fly out of, there just are not enough destinations. Once onboard our travel excitement begins.
First on our flight from PBI to ATL, we are able to award the narcissist of the year. The woman, who you just knew was going to be trouble by looking at her, drops her kids in the regular economy section while she sits in the bulkhead row. There was nothing inherently wrong with this as the kids were clearly old enough to sit by themselves but the kids looked like arrogant troublemakers. I know you should not label kids like this, but you all know what I mean. But here is where things get fun. She then proceeded to walk back 15 rows to deliver her kids boxes of pizza. This was during the boarding process. What would a normal person do aside from not doing this at all…wait until boarding ended before returning to their seat at the front, right? This person decided to go against traffic for 15 rows back to her seat. Not even bothering to say “excuse me” to anyone. Asshole! And her kids were like 14. They could have carried their own damn pizza. This woman will clearly be calling college professors when her kid does not get an A in biology after failing every test. And of course the kids left the trashed pizza boxes under their seat at the end of the flight.
But it gets better…or worse for Al. On our way from Atlanta to Memphis, a woman parked her, let’s say 3 year old, in the middle seat in the row in front of mine. She then stood there. It became clear that her seat was not next to her child. Al who was in the row in front of me and across the aisle became concerned. When a new woman who had the aisle seat next to the child arrived, it became clear that the mom was in the middle seat next to Al, and the woman who had the aisle next to the child did not want to switch and give up her aisle seat. But I have left out the best part…the child was sick. I am talking about a runny nose and a violent cough. And what 3 year old covers their mouth when they cough….none. The mom, of course, brought this to no one’s attention and did not ask another person to switch or even the flight attendant for help in getting seats together. As stuff ran down this childs nose, the mom would jump up and straddle Al to get across the aisle to her kid leading Al to believe that he now holds the record for most most reverse cowgirl positions at 30,000 feet. I have no idea how that entire flight did not become ill. Yes the obvious question is why didn’t Al switch seats, or did he like being reverse cowgirled so many times…Debra, any thoughts? Beth would like to insert the slap head emoji here.
Anyway, upon arrival in Memphis, we took a taxi to the hotel and settled in for the night as we had illnesses to fight off.
University of Memphis
We took an Uber to campus and had some lunch at the Memphis dining hall. The pickings were somewhat slim if you were not a fan of Chick-fil-A, which I am not. After lunch we headed out on the walking tour of the University of Memphis.
The first thing that you will notice on the Memphis campus are painted tigers…everywhere. So much so that I needed to google it. And FYI, there are 100 painted tigers on the Memphis campus.
Pre Game
Eventually we headed out to Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium as it was a 6pm local time game. We had the opportunity to take in the tailgating scene and stumbled upon a wrestling ring. Apparently, Memphis is known for its backyard wrestling. As was explained to us, this is a big thing in Memphis and many famous wrestlers got their start in Memphis doing the backyard thing.
The emcee for today’s performance was none other than Jerry Hart. The star performer was Jerry “The King” Lawler, who is a WWE Hall of Famer and brought to Memphis for wrestling night versus Tulane. So apparently this is a thing.
We make our picks and we both pick the Tulane Green Wave.
And before we go into the game, a shout out to Andrew at Memphis who got us set up on this trip. We first met Andrew when he was on the staff at Ole Miss and he has now returned to his home at Memphis.
The Game
Tulane fielded the opening kick and went 3 and out. Memphis did slightly better having to punt after 5 plays. Tulane punted again but that was better than what happened next as on the second play of Memphis’s second drive, Tulane was able to intercept the ball. Nine plays later, Tulane was in the end zone with a 7-0 lead. After a few more punts, Tulane was able to put together a 14 play, 6 minute drive for a field goal and a 10-0 lead. But Memphis was able to answer with an 89 yard drive to cut the lead to 10-7. On the next drive, Tulane would march into Memphis territory, but the Memphis D would hold on a 4th and 3 to take over on downs. Eight plays later, Memphis had its first lead at 14-10, which would be how we would go into the half.
Back to the Hotel
I will say the folks in Memphis are a bit daring. While waiting for our Uber to go back to the hotel, we were waiting at the exit from a parking lot from the stadium. So there was a cop directing traffic and holding up traffic from various directions so people from other directions could proceed, as is very normal during the exit of a large event. People in cars waiting for the cop to allow them to proceed were honking and yelling at the cop that it was too long and they should go now, etc. All the while the cop is like, the more you honk the longer you wait. No kidding. I’d have them in handcuffs, but in what world do you think honking at the cop is going to get you moving faster. The world is full of dumb people.
Travel Home
The next day we had early flights, me back to Florida and Al back to NY. Had to get home in time for the Florida Gator game on Saturday. I am pleased to say the flight home was without any of the issues that the flights to Memphis had. So all was good going home.
Postscript
Tulane finished the regular season 11-1, 8-0 in the American Athletic Conference. The Green Wave’s only regular season loss was to Ole Miss. Tulane played in the AAC Championship game where they lost to SMU 26-14. Their season was rewarded with an appearance in the Military Bowl where Tulane lost to Virginia Tech 41-20, to finish the season with an 11-3 record.
Memphis finished the regular season 9-3, 6-2 in the American Athletic Conference which was good for a fourth place finish. The Tigers were rewarded with an appearance in their hometown AutoZone Liberty Bowl where they defeated Iowa State 36-26 to finish the year with a 10-3 record.
Photo Gallery
For our Memphis photo album, Please click here. You can view as a collage or run as a slideshow. There are comments to explain what is in the photo but most are self explanatory. Thanks to Google, I can no longer embed the slide show with comments.