It would be the coldest Baylor football game in history, with dangerous driving conditions for traveling to Waco, but you couldn't convince these boys to miss the game to save their lives. Oh no.
This was the very last game to ever be played in the Floyd Casey Stadium, and it's history was to be celebrated under conditions we'll not soon forget.
If you've never had the pleasure of experiencing how cold Texas can actually be, you're missing out.
If it weren't for our ridiculously thick apparel and white breath, you might not think it was very cold outside by the landscape's appearance, but I assure you even though it was 24F, the wind chill of 11F, cloudy skies, freezing fog, wind, and humidity of almost 100% were the real kickers.......without any snow to romp in and make it all feel fabulous and worth the suffering.
The family gathered early for a tailgate party, complete with a T.V. to watch more college football, a Keurig machine to make hot chocolate, two little space heaters (because all the really awesome propane heating lamps in North Texas were completely sold out due to the winter storm and lost electricity), and a generator to power it all.
This game was sold out forever ago, so Baylor made accommodations to squeeze in more people by opening up the cement bleachers and even removed part of the stadium to add more seating.
And the weather didn't seem to scare many people away......at first.
I had on my insulated winter running tights, blue jeans, ski socks, Uggs, a tank top, a long john under shirt, a sweater, the inner layer of my ski jacket, a trench coat, running gloves AND ski gloves, a scarf, my fleece neck guard that I used to cover most of my face (and hide the fact that my nose was constantly dripping cold-induced-snot), and a fleece lined knit hat; so bundled, in fact, that my trench was overstuffed, comically limiting my range of motion........and I was struggling.
We assumed after we were out of the open wind and nestled within a crowd, the cold wouldn't feel as harsh, but boy or boy were we wrong; even sitting close and using a blanket on our legs was no match.
"My toes are so cold!"
"I can't feel my phalanges! They're numb!"
Everyone had the same complaints, but the strongest of the strong toughed it out, together, for the big finale.
Sure, some of the crowd bailed early, but the important part is they came out and tried.
The heavy fog even tried settling down on us, in efforts to scare us away, but if these players were sticking through it to play their hearts out, so were we to scream our hearts out.
Even more importantly Baylor pulled it off with a solid win to conquer the Big 12.
Smiles were abundant as we watched the fans rush the field for the last time.
Public displays of affection were pretty common too.
And even Patrick well tell you, emotions were high as he hugged his dad and reminisced about all the great times they spent in this very stadium.
We waited for the shutting down of the lights ceremony to commence, celebrated the win over a Mexican dinner, and then Patrick and I tried not to die as we drove home over too many frozen, melted, and refrozen overpasses to count.
Did I mention I wasn't sure if my toes were still attached by the end of the game and I was afraid to walk because I literally couldn't feel anything past the balls of me feet?!!
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