ASU Football

It’s no secret that we’re big ASU football fans.  Scott has missed a single home game since 1987 and Kim hasn’t missed a single one since joining Scott at the games in the 1997 season. It’s something we love sharing together – hell, we even had an ASU-themed wedding reception.

Gameday rituals

So it’s not unexpected that we take the game day experience seriously. Game day usually sees us gathering all the tailgating supplies – yes, we’re ones with the ASU-branded shade canopy, camp chairs, trash barrel, chip-and-dip-helmet, serving dishes, snack table, salt and pepper shakers, and so forth – and pile them into our Subaru Forester, the one with the Sparky stickers and custom plate that reads SNDLVS1. We don our gold shirts, ASU necklaces, wristbands, jerseys and other paraphernalia and set the game to record. During the drive down, Kim reads aloud the newspaper’s articles about the game and we get ready for the game by blasting the fight song and other football-related tunes and videos.

We meet up with friends south of the stadium for the pregame tailgating. Sometimes this is an elaborate affair with many prepared dishes, and sometimes it’s more low key with pizza or subs. It nearly always involves at least a grill and lots of snacks. We don’t drink, so it’s decidedly less raucous and annoying as most hardcore tailgates. Nonetheless, we have a good time listening to the pregame radio show and visiting with friends before the game. After we pack up and get our stadium seats and things together, it’s time for Scott to paint Kim’s face before we begin the ritualized 1/2-mile walk to the stadium.

We sit in hallowed seats in Section 38 in the south endzone. They’re great seats – close to the action, restrooms, snack bar, student section, band, video board, and most importantly, the Tillman Tunnel. We purchase extra season tickets each year and bring friends to each of the games.  Win or lose, we’re loud and supportive and we always stay until the last whistle, no matter how well or poorly things are going. Scott listens to the radio broadcast on a small headset radio and provides the post-game stats, coach’s interview, and other analysis as we trek back to the car after the game. We finish game recap and keep the post-game call-in show on even after we’ve returned home. After that’s over, we’ll often pop on the recorded game and watch it again the same night. What can we say, we’re big fans.

The long, dreaded offseason

Of course, football season is only so long. After the end of a successful season, we always try to attend the bowl game. That’s not always possible – particularly if it’s in expensive Hawaii – but we try hard to make it to each one. That means that we can’t schedule our winter vacation until we know which bowl game we’ll be attending. We then decorate the car, load up for the trip, and head on out to support the team. We’ve been to the 2002 Holiday Bowl, the 2004 Sun Bowl, the 2005 Insight Bowl, and the 2007 Holiday Bowl together.

The sudden shock of the onset of the offseason is always tough to deal with. But luckily, it’s not all dead time, longing for the start of another season. We keep track of the recruiting battles, spend an inordinate amount of time on fan forums debating player talents, predicting position battles and the outcome of next season’s games, and otherwise gossiping about the state of the program. Once spring ball comes around, things pick up a bit and we try to attend a few practices to check out the new recruits and see how returning players are progressing.

The spring and fall camps are a great time to chat with players and get autographs – something Kim has been particularly adept at. She’s especially proud to have signatures of several of ASU’s most talented and productive players on her jersey – Andrew Walter, Ryan Torain, Zach Miller, Keegan Herring, Rudy Carpenter, and Troy Nolan just to name a few. In fact, we maintain what amounts to an ASU room, which houses our tailgating supplies, wall posters and decorations, and two glass display cases of ASU memorabilia. We recently added a full-sized helmet signed by much of the 2007 co-PAC10 championship team, a gift from Kim on Scott’s 30th birthday.

Scott runs GoDevils.org, a collaborative fan site that aggregates news about ASU football.

Season and bowl summaries

We’ll be adding season by season summaries as soon as we get a chance.

Go Devils!