Harry Potter and the LA Memorial Coliseum

Amanda and I went to our first Quidditch match this evening. It was really exciting. About 100,000 people showed up to root for Gryffindor House as they attempted to beat Hufflepuff and win the league. It was rather predicable, though, when Harry caught the snitch and saved the game, after battling the effects of a nasty spell cast, no doubt, by one of those sneaky Slytherins.

All kidding aside, USC is a scary football team. Granted, they played Arkansas, who is not exactly the team they were two years ago when QB Matt Jones pretty much singlehandedly beat my beloved Longhorns in Austin (which prompted me, acting in my official capacity (from my parents' living room), of course, to call for Mack Brown's job before the game was even over), but you have to be pretty damn good to score 70 points in one game, right? Of course, Texas Tech scored 80 today, and we have to play them in a few weeks, but I'm much more worried about having to face USC in the Rose Bowl on January 4 for the national title. (Yeah, I'm cocky, and no, I'm not worried about jinxing the Horns by saying that, mainly because I don't really think I have that much pull.)

I'll be the first to talk smack about USC's Mickey Mouse PAC-10 schedule, but they're not at all like the average PAC-10 team. They're more along the lines of an NFL team. I'm not saying they're on the same level as the Pats or the Colts, but maybe the Packers or the Bears. Not only do they have what looked to me to be about the most flawlessly executed offense I've seen in a college game maybe ever, they play in one of the most intimidating stadiums I've seen. This place, from the moment I walked in, was overwhelming. This was the text message I tried to send to Jeremy when the game started: "USC stadium is F'ing ENORMOUS. i feel very overwhelmed." I say I tried to send it because I couldn't even get cell service in there. That's some serious home field advantage, when you won't even allow anyone to signal for help outside your walls. I've got two pictures that sort of show how cavernous this place was, but I couldn't figure out how to combine them into one picture, so here's the left side:



and here's the right side:



It was a fun game, and I feel really bad for the older couple we talked to on our way to the tailgate, who were clad in Arkansas gear from head to toe. I don't know if they enjoyed it as much as some of the other people there.

PS - I just saw a statistic on ESPN.com that USC only had possession for 1:32 in the first quarter. They scored four touchdowns in the first quarter. If you can do the math on that, you'll see what I'm talking about.