Froglaw's Travel Log - Dateline Tempe

[Froglaw]

1. SW Airlines from Love to OKC. Delayed Thursday night. Got there late.

2. SW Airlines from OKC to Phoenix Sky Harbor. Made up time. Then sat on the Tarmac for 20 minutes waiting for the gate to clear.

3. Get to a Sports Bar around 10:30 at night to watch the end of the Baylor UCLA game. Bar closed at 11:00.

4. Get to the Scotsdale Resort. Room 068. On the very end of the complex. No parking spaces available. 1/2 mile walk with lugage.

OUTBOUND TRAVEL RATING - 1 (and that is generous).

5. Met NavyFrog at Ocotillo Golf Club on Friday 10:30 a.m. Great morning. Initial score of 10 out of 10 until NavyFog tells me that is what I get for flying SW. Attended the Pep Rally. Ate at Don & Charlie's (Ribs and slaw - the best).

FRIDAY NIGHT RATING: 9.5

6. Played golf Saturday morning at Ocotillo with two Wisonsin fans and a Canadian. Score of 8. No NavyFrog to razz me.

7. Went to the hotel room and closed my eyes at 3:30. Woke up at 7:00 with only an hour and 15 minutes to get to the game.

8. Get to the game. I have a Lot 7 pass. Nobody knows where Lot 7 is located. Find Lot 7 after 15 minutes and just make the kickoff.

9. Attend game. Two TCU fans in front of me screaming the entire game about Sky returning punts. Said "Our Special Teams Coach should be fired." I asked them to tell me his name. The reponse for the seriously P.O.'d young man is, "Don't talk to me." I laughed my a$$ off. Man, was he hot.

GAME EXPERIENCE RATING: 4 (6 if TCU had won).

10. Back to the Hotel Room. Get up and go to Phoenix Sky Harbor. 45 minute wait to check in bags even with my "A" level Boarding Passes I got when I checked out of the Hotel. Fly through El Paso with Baylor fans coming back from San Diego.

RETURN TRAVEL RATING: 4 (we did not crash and the nachos in the El Paso Airport were pretty good).

FROGLAW RATING: 6 overall

 

[NavyFrog]

Had a great time with golfing with you. But you shouldn't really fly Southwest.

 

[frognutz]

I like these. Thanks for posting. Have you considering real-time updates?

 

[full house frog]

I am at Phoenix Sky Harbor now after a beautiful day in the valley. The poker room at the Wild Horse casino was very juicy and I even won 40 bucks on the penny slots. The wife wasn't so lucky, though.

 

[OldSchoolFrog]

1. Fri, 0820 SWA, DAL to PHX via SAT. Changed to 100pm. DAL to HOU, HOU to SAT. All done on my iPad. Costs me some additional points but that's it. Suffered through Tech fans on the plane, but they were rooting for us. HOU to PHX announces that the Frogs are on board and wishes us luck. Flight attendant gave me free beer. Approved.

2. Cheap cab to W. Approved.

3. W upgrades my room. Approved.

4. Rest of Frog crew arrives. Sushi there. Drinks at Mastros. Drinks at El Hefe. Late night pizza. Approved.

FRI TRAVEL 7. FRI night 7.

5. Breakfast at Breakfast Club. New friends made with the locals. Frog Spirit spread. Teach the bartender a Lamberts favorite, Mimisoa with Vodka floater. Finally see and MSU fan. Angry. Breakfast and locals, approved. MSU not.

6. New sunglasses run at Fashion Square. See lots of Frogs spending Frog dollars. Most of mall is purple. Meet the hot team babysitter from KState. She chats up the old guys. Approved.

7. W upgrades me again. Very approved.

8. Town car to Tempe via Circle K for minis. Approved.

9. Z Tejas. Second run in with MSU fans. Even after to buy them shots and good banter, they are just an angry lot. So so. MSU sinks below a "meh" rating to a "What the Heck??"

10. Walk to the storied Sun Devil Stadium. Reminisce of Cowboys win there and Rattle & Hum. Also about how terrible Glendale is. Make plans for Spring Training, Approved, with historical points.

11. Third attempt to chat with MSU fans. New rating "I Love You".

12. Game. Venue 6. Stand. Yell. Drinks circulate between 40 something's and 50 something's. Not super energetic, but not bad. "Provisionally approved". Ramps up, turn it up for last quarter. Comments about SD making us nervous. Oops. That's why he makes us nervous (to one of the wives). Alma mater. Relieved that the season is over. Game "meh", Fans. Approved. Team (vote hidden).

MSU fan, number 4. Hate.

13. Town car back. The Mint. Very Approved. Late night Pizza, Round 2. meh.

Saturday - started greatly approved. Ended with a long sigh.

14. 0700 breakfast with buddy from Army days. Ride to Airport. Flyby Lane. Hate waiting. Approved.

15. SWA PHX to HOU, and on to MSY to meet wife for NYE. Flight crew buys me a free bloody and is only MSU fan I like. Good intelligent talk with flight attendant about all the free trips and changes on SWA, that finally make some sense by charging for missed flights. HOU gate crew lets me hop on earlier flight to MSY. They could hit me for more points, but they don't. She had a Dallas Cowboys jersey on. Approved.

Sunday experience. Approved.

16. Arrive in NOLA. LSU fans say they are a little nervous about opening with us. Friendly smack talk. Drinks exchanged.

2013 Frogs Season. Pre-Approved.

 

[TCURiggs]

1. Headed West from my house around 6:15 a.m. Thursday morning. Drive took about 16 hrs w/stops (had a longer than expected lunch with a customer in Midland). No speeding tickets and my brother came through clutch with pulling up bowl games on his laptop.

2. Got checked-in at the Hilton Scottsdale, changed clothes and headed to Old Town. Started off at El Jefe and ended up having a long night. None of us saw the first night drunk coming... figured we'd wait and blow it out Friday night. Had a blast.

Friday rating - 9 (had a blast that night)

1. Woke up in a hungover state of confusion but had to head NE for our first round of golf at Tonto Verde. We had a frost delay, but we teed off about 30 min late and had a great time. However, the cart girl was off for some reason, so that was a little disappointing. Had a few drinks after the round and headed back to the hotel.

2. Got cleaned up and headed to the W for the Letterman's event. We got there way too early so it was empty. We went across the street to a sports bar and ended up staying there for the night. Good times but nothing too eventful.

Friday rating - 7

1. Woke up Saturday feeling much better than Friday and headed to Vista Verde for our second round of golf. Again, we had a frost delay but the course was great and they actually had a beverage cart.

2. Got cleaned up at the hotel and headed toward Mill St for some pre-gaming. Ended up at a bar called Zuma (I think), and it was a good spot... drink specials and good looking waitresses. Walked to the game from there and had good seats. We got in one confrontation with a Michigan St fan who wanted one of the guys in our group to sit down. We weren't over-doing it with the standing but would get on our feet after big plays. The other fans in our area were on our side and the guy and his wife ended up leaving at half. Had a great time throughout the game until crap hit the fan.

3. Got back to the hotel and went to sleep around 1:30 AZ time.

Saturday rating - 8

1. Woke up at 4:45 AZ time to head back to Fort Worth. Drive home took about 15 hours, as we took fewer stops. My brother came through clutch again by getting some NFL games up on his computer. I drove the entire time both ways, so I was pretty tired when it was all said and done.

Sunday trip home rating - 7 (that's about as high as I can rate a day with nothing but a 15 hour road trip)

Overall rating - 8. If we won, It would be a strong 9.

 

[TCURiggs]

Side note - we walked in to the sports bar Friday night to see large football players sitting at the bar drinking, wearing purple. I was a little nervous until they turned around and had K-State gear on (they apparently just got to town for the Fiesta Bowl). I thought we were about to be in for more Boise/Fiesta Bowl stories.

 

[joejordan]

December 25: AA flt to ATL - just beat the snow delay, Cap'n not interested in getting stuck in DFW on Christmas Day, as he lives in Miami.

Rental Car ready and waiting, made good time to Rome. Funniest family in America. 1 daughter had a bug, that wanted out both ends.

Dec 26: A veritable cornucopia of foodstuffs, all day.

Dec 27: On to Alpharetta, in an uneventful caravan of 2 cars. Got new glasses frames - from France, ooh lala.

Dec. 28: Met my daughters BF, played trivia at Hooligans Tavern in Roswell, won 2nd place. I screwed up the final wager. I hate gambling. Her BF said he loves trivia, offered no good answers. Jury still out.

December 29: Spent the day with family, went to Decatur and had lunch at Green Ginger. Meh. Got to Loco's Pub about 7 pm, and the whole crew was there - Big Bama, Coach, Decko, BernDaddy, Steve-O ( he did his Clemson dance), CheckU, and Connie. We celebrated a bit, then watched football. And celebrated. Then we toasted the Frogs, and celebrated. Then I drowned my sorrows, but not really. My wife drove CheckU and me home.

Dec 30: AA back to DFW. Delay of about 4 hours. Had to cab it to my brothers house because he had to go watch the Cowboys lose.

Great trip.

 

[West Texas Frog]

Like a typical West Texan...driving roughly 12 hours anywhere is no big deal.

Left early Friday morning with wife, and two high school senior girls (one being my daughter). Not as many stops as you would expect with female companions. Fun trip driving out west listening to music and playing games to pass the time. Arrive in Scottsdale and stay at the Hyatt House in a two bedroom suite in Old Town. Great location for shopping, drinking, eating and later driving to the game in Tempe. Took the girls to a decent Mexican food restaurant in Old Town (Barrio Queen). Later met up with Navy Frog and his family for drinks that night at the Bungalow Bar in Old Town. After watching the Tech game on the big screens at the bar...I took cheese cake back to the hotel for the girls. All good!

Saturday...ran a shuttle service to Fashion Square Mall in Scottsdale for a day of shopping while I sat comfortably back in the hotel watching bowl games. Left for the game and stopped at an In and Out Burger near the stadium for great food to take to the lot for tailgating. Met up with Navy Frog and his family for pre-game drinks before heading to the game.

Great seats (30 yard line) and good fun despite the outcome. Only one drunk MSU fan that was obnoxious sitting near us, but I have seen and heard much worse. Easiest traffic exit from a bowl game ever!

Drive back home always seems longer...win or lose. I drove the entire trip over 1,500 miles out there and back. Saw the Frog Horn on the way out of Phoenix and many other Frog fans along the way.

Despite the loss...I would give the trip an A-.

 

[frogbyproxy]

Left at 6:00am on the 27th.
Arrived at Route 66 Casino and Hotel 5:30pm
Lost $300 first three hours but won at 9:00pm a good sum.
28th left the Hotel at 10:00am
Arrived Tempe 4:30pm Courtyard Tempe of Ash ave.
Arrived Casino Arizona 9:00pm and lost $500. :blush:
29th Checked out ASU and local restaurants including a Beer Brewery? Sorry forgot the name.
TCU Alumni Tailgate! Only person I recognized immediately was Scott who was at the Buffet! :tongue:
The game! Perfect seats with only one problem which looked to be telephone transmitting mini tower.
30th traveled back to casino.
31st made it back although was given a warning by Highway Patrol outside of Vernon! :dry:

 

[ftwfrog]

7pm saturday- Planted my [Craig James] on the couch in weatherford at 7pm.
7pm Starting drinking.
9:15-Got pissed off watching Texas pull a win out if their [Craig James], but didn't care too much because I knew we were going to shine.
9:20 started drinking a little more heavily to calm the nerves.
10:45 Halftime. I was feeling happy. Drank a little more because I'm happy.
12:30- the cussing, self pity and angry drunk begins. Drank a little more to drown the sorrows away.

Overall rating - 2( because I woke up the next morning and didn't puke)

Happy new year.

 

[Ron Swanson]

Riggs, don't think I knew you had a brother

 

[Ron Swanson]

8 AM - Threw the pork butt on the smoker

3:45 PM - Threw 3 racks of ribs on the smoker and cracked my first beer

8:00 PM - Pull off the ribs and pork butt, throw on the chicken thighs/breasts, and sausages. After my 12th or so beer, I texted a girl I had intended on not inviting. I have one rib to see how they turned out, went back out to tend the grill, come back inside 10 minutes later and all three racks of ribs are demolished.

Halftime - Hammered and having a blast

3rd and 4th quarter - Getting pissed and frustrated

Oberkrom nails the 53 yarder - The entire party is jumping up and down high-fiving

MSU kicker nails the 48 yarder and our final drive craps the bed - I start with my drunken "woe is me, we were the better team" routine.

Stayed up til 4:00 AM drinking away my sorrows, felt like a absolute dogcrap the next day.

 

[purpledawg]

8 AM - Threw the pork butt on the smoker

3:45 PM - Threw 3 racks of ribs on the smoker and cracked my first beer

8:00 PM - Pull off the ribs and pork butt, throw on the chicken thighs/breasts, and sausages. After my 12th or so beer, I texted a girl I had intended on not inviting. I have one rib to see how they turned out, went back out to tend the grill, come back inside 10 minutes later and all three racks of ribs are demolished.

Halftime - Hammered and having a blast

3rd and 4th quarter - Getting pissed and frustrated

Oberkrom nails the 53 yarder - The entire party is jumping up and down high-fiving

MSU kicker nails the 48 yarder and our final drive craps the bed - I start with my drunken "woe is me, we were the better team" routine.

Stayed up til 4:00 AM drinking away my sorrows, felt like a absolute dogcrap the next day.

Did the girl show up?

 

[Ron Swanson]

Did the girl show up?

Ha... yes

Long story

 

[Spike]

Anyone else watch Cheap Trick?

 

[purpledawg]

Ha... yes

Long story

I've got time.

 

[TCURiggs]

Riggs, don't think I knew you had a brother

Dude, you've met him several times... red-headed fella.

 

[r7commish]

I've got time.

Me too. We need details.

 

[Ron Swanson]

Dude, you've met him several times... red-headed fella.

Didn't know that was your brother. Probably just assumed he wasn't because he had red hair, and you don't look like you've got anything near a red head in your family

HA