Buckeye Bash

Posted Jan 8, 2007 by Chris Taylor

Updated Jan 8, 2007 at 12:23 PM

Today is the first official event for us, the Buckeye Bash at Chase Field-Home of your Arizona Diamondbacks. We drove downtown fairly early and had lunch at a great bar called Marjley. It’s owned by former Suns basketball star Dan Marjley. Very good bar food.

From there we walked around downtown on our way to the Bash. Downtown is a nice place with a lot going on. There seemed to be lots of bars and restaurants near the sports complexes. They are also constructing a light rail system. It has a lot of roads messed up and/or closed. Driving a few of the streets feels like a driving test with all the cones and barricades.

There are a lot of people buying/selling tickets all around. We saw a very long line for game programs but decided to wait until tomorrow. Then we saw different programs that were anything but official looking. But, people were still buying them. I tried to snap some pictures, but the guy moved away quickly. Hmm….

We stood in a long line around the stadium, but got in and got good seats. I was even able to catch up to my fellow NewsChannel 8 friends behind home plate. The rally was fun, but a few breaks where they showed video highlights were a little too long. If you’re watching the game on TV, I hope you get to see the OSU halftime show. They did the same routine at the Michigan game, and the formations during the Titanic and Star Wars songs are really cool.

The announced crowd was over 37,000 Buckeye’s at the field. I couldn’t believe it when I saw the upper deck start to fill. The players and coach Tressel were encouraging the fans to do their job and be as loud as possible Monday night.

Sunday night we went to Scottsdale. What an easy drive around the valley. We had dinner at the Roaring Fork at the advice of some Tampa Tribune co-workers (Thanks Michelle Bearden). Way too much food, but very good. There were thousands of fans around downtown Scottsdale as each team had their own parties. There were a few cop cars and fire engines when we were parking. It appeared that a Florida fan had ripped a bench out of the ground and thrown it at someone or something. Other than that, there was just a bunch of chanting and good natured fun. I heard a lot of “War Eagle” and “Go Auburn” chants directed at Gator fans. They countered with some “chomps” and “You suck.” But drunk people aren’t always the most creative.

Not wanting to be tired for the big game, we showed our age and headed back to the hotel before midnight. Like I always say, “Nothing good ever happens after midnight.” The Buckeye party emptied quickly after we heard they ran out of beer. I’m not sure if there were any turf wars, but I hope everyone was at least safe.