Travel games for football are always a handful. As we drive 1 hour to the airport it takes us another hour and a half to load up. I interviewed a player during the transition from the bus to the plane and I asked “What is your favorite thing about traveling on an airplane to a game?” he said, “The best part is landing because the plane ride is uncomfortable with all these people and some guys are scared and be screaming so I’m just happy to land”. That is very true because it’s very rowdy while the plane is in the air.
After landing, everyone gets onto another bus to go to the hotel. Now that we have landed everyone is back laughing and joking around like before. I asked another player “How was the flight and what are you excited about now?” he said, “The flight was okay I’m just tired now and I can’t wait for dinner and then ice cream because after a long plane ride Aint nothing better than a hotel meal with ice cream for dessert”. That is the truth because, for some odd reason when the hotels make food, it’s delicious and very good. During dinner, we eat and have fun mostly. We all talk and take a load off and be ourselves around our brothers.
In the mix of that, we have meetings that last until 8:30 pm. The meetings are long and time-consuming. It’s fun to hear everybody joke around in between the meetings because even the coaches joke around with us. After the meetings, we eat ice cream and play games or just hang out. Sometimes we doordash food and eat again just because we want to. We also go to other teammate’s rooms and watch other football games or just chill out and laugh some more.
After we wake up we usually have an early breakfast and then a walk-through. When we do that they release us and send us back to our rooms until lunchtime. We talk and watch other football games while we wait around. Whenever lunch comes everyone wears their headphones and begins to lock into the game. We ate lunch and this time it more quieter and focused on the game. Then we load the buses up and head over to the stadium. Then it’s game time!
After the game is over we get food and then load up the buses. When we are on the buses we all talk about the game or see who else is playing at the moment and watch their games until we arrive at the airport. When we arrived at the airport I asked a player “What’s the best feeling after a travel game” and he said, “After we get off the plane because that’s how I know we are almost home and I can’t wait to go to sleep”. That was a very reasonable statement and makes sense because after games the plane rides seem to take forever and then getting back on a bus to go home feels like a lifetime. Once the hour bus drive ends and we arrive on campus everyone rushes home to get some rest and then we do it all over again the next week.
PineBurr Blog 