Canis Rufus Annoying Drunkus

(Finally carving out some time to blog. I am only about eight weeks late with this one.)

Canis Rufus Annoying Drunkus is Latin for Annoying Drunk Red Wolf (sort of) and is also the title of this post which reviews a road trip to the Belk Bowl on December 27, 2011 in Charlotte.

Not having any real rooting interest in this game, we took this trip to break up the Christmas week (along with a Carolina Hurricanes hockey game a couple of nights later). There is certainly nothing wrong with a little tailgating and college football and the short drive to the Queen City is manageable for a nice day trip, so why not? This game pitted the NC State Wolfpack and the Louisville Cardinals and was an 8:00 PM kickoff for a nationally televised ESPN audience.

Weather the morning of the game was just crappy - cold and rainy. We had such good weather this year for our Duke football home games, so I guess we shouldn’t complain. We left Hillsborough around 1:30 PM and by 2:00, the weather had cleared and we had lots of sun for the remaining drive on I-85. It was a nice drive until we hit Kannapolis and then it was just pure unadulterated traffic hell. It took us about 75 minutes to travel the 12 miles from outside Kannapolis to Concord (northeast of Charlotte and the area where the Charlotte Motor Speedway is located ). I have no idea as to the reason for the backup – somebody at the tailgate mentioned there was an earlier accident, but I never confirmed that. It is a notorious stretch of I-85, but I have never encountered it that bad. Of course, I have a lot of Cody N™ in me when it comes to tolerance (or lack thereof) for traffic and I got separated from Tony (driving down as well), so there was way too much personal stress. We eventually got the logistics straightened out, interlocked in downtown Charlotte, and got to our lot together around 5:30 PM.

But what a parking spot! (Here is a link to a larger map.)

Directly across from Bank of America Stadium, we stumbled onto a surface lot that was wide open. $20 USD. Plenty of room for tailgating. Convenient Porta-Potty access. They even provided recycling trash bags. What more could one want or need?

(I am not sure why I derive such joy out of premium tailgating spots – it probably appears sad to outsiders. Don’t judge me!)

It was already in the low 40s by the time the tailgate started and it would dip to around freezing during the game. The wind was pretty strong all evening as well. I’m sorry, it was cold as hell. How did I manage to survive for 21 years in the Keystone State? (BTW, it was 72 degrees here today.)

The game? It was enjoyable. Lots of offense and NC State took control at the end of the first half and never looked back in a 31-24 win that wasn’t as close as the final score indicated. Here is the ESPN wrap on the game.

When you really don’t have a rooting interest in a game, you will tend to focus on the periphery (like paying a little more attention to the folks sitting around you). In this game there were two drunks that stood out. The first was a college age kid (NC State fan) who was in our row. By the end of the first half, he was so blotto that he was swaying while standing. (Of course, they sell beer at these bowl games.) When NC State scored on a Pick-Six to break the game open in the 3rd Quarter, this asshole got right in the face of these two respectful Louisville fans sitting in the row in front of us. They showed far more restraint than I would have if I were in their shoes.

The other drunk was Canis Rufus Annoying Drunkus. This guy was an NC State fan with a white golf visor. He was a happy drunk and would continually try to engage Tony and Chris in their Duke gear and me (wearing a blue windbreaker over my Pitt Sweatshirt). Canis Rufus was actually sitting with a large contingent of Louisville fans (perhaps these were his co-workers). Very friendly and a life-of-the-party kind-of-guy. The big issue with Canis Rufus was he stood the whole freaking game. I must have snapped 10 pictures of this Happy Drunk holding court – I couldn’t avoid him in the frame. Talk about a zero self-awareness level.

The funniest part of the evening was the end of the third quarter when Mr. Happy Drunk missed the last-call-for-alcohol. At the timeout between the third and fourth quarters, this dude went for what must have been his 13th beer run that evening. Well, you snooze, you lose. About five minutes later he came back to his peeps with the most sorrowful, heart-broken, look on his face. Looked like his puppy had been shot. But his boys set him back up with some shots from their flasks and he was good to go.

Here is a short Flickr Slideshow from the 2011 Belk Bowl, held on December 27, 2011 in Bank Of America Stadium in Charlotte, NC.