Rocky Mountain Hiiiiiiiigh, Coloradoooooo
Hello and welcome to the resurrected Fansville Field Trips! First off, I apologize for skipping several years since our last entry from the 2021 trip to Wisconsin. If you are unfamiliar with this series, here is our mission statement:
We have a friend group that attends one big non-Tech game per year and we intend to document those experiences here. You can expect some fun tailgating stories, some hot takes, some fawning over stadiums, and some ramblings about “atmosphere”, but most importantly you’ll find the honest account of a few guys on a quest to experience all that the wild and wacky world of College Football has to offer.
If you’re interested in the previous written installments of the series, check them out here:
Before we get into this year’s trip, I’ll make up the missing entries to y’all with a quick recap of what the Fellas have been up to for the last couple of years:
2022: Kentucky vs South Carolina. I was unable to make this trip, but I’ve been told that the most memorable part of the game itself was the wildcat screech they played in the stadium on first downs. Allegedly one (unnamed) Fella also attempted to try his hand at alchemy by putting a Tropicalia floater on top of whiskey ginger; I’ve been told it was a poor choice made at a desperate time. In related happenings, some Fellas claim they were over-served on the bourbon bus tour. Can’t believe I missed this one.
2023: Arizona State vs USC. Lemme tell y’all, the desert is HOT: the temperature at a 7pm kickoff was a dry 97 degrees. Our golf excursion on Friday was done in triple digits under a blazing ball of fire. Despite the sweat though, we had an awesome time in Tempe; the golf was fun, the food was great (shout out to the Chuckbox – I wear the t-shirt once a week), and the Sun Devils have a great gameday atmosphere (we collectively witnessed our first CFB drone halftime show – it was great and also terrifying in equal measure) (by the way, we were on Cam Skattebo before the rest of the country noticed him this year: I wrote down “Cam Skattebo is a battering ram” in my trip notes). We also got to watch Tech beat Wake Forest from the Devil’s Advocate Sports Bar before kickoff – the look on the bartender’s face when we asked him to turn on The CW was priceless and worth the trip alone. I think he thought we were pranking him, and then 10 minutes later some other patrons asked us “are y’all,…watching this game?”. Overall this was a great trip – Tempe was a (figuratively) cool town, and the game was loud and fun.
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That brings us to 2024, which saw the Fellas return to the cold weather to see Colorado take on Utah. With the desire to yell at everyone we met about 1990, we arrived in Boulder ready to experience Rocky Mountain High.
Weekend Timeline
Thursday 7:45pm: All Fellas have arrived at the Denver airport and after picking up the rental car (not the Tahoe we were promised, but a Hyundai Palisade, made by the official sponsors of Georgia Tech, who are incapable of error and great in every way) we head out to Boulder.
Thursday 8:57pm: Being a group of East-coasters, we decide to stop at In-N-Out for dinner; it’s well worth it. I don’t really understand why people try to compare In-N-Out with Shake Shack though: In-N-Out is very clearly fast food (in a good way) while Shake Shake is fast casual. They have their own lanes and can co-exist happily. We got the true Colorado experience as the people in front of us hauling ski bags struck up a conversation with another group that also arrived with ski bags.
Thursday 9:40pm: We arrive at the VRBO. It’s on the Boulder register of historic places it turns out. It’s a great house: it has a fireplace, a child’s bed for Bill, and a creepy doll that sings Ring Around the Rosie. Literally what more could you want? We all retire to bed pretty early since our brains are still on east coast time.
Friday 6:00am: Jack and Stephen are awake and hit the road to scout out Pearl Street. We’re thoroughly impressed by the downtown scene. Like if Market Square in Knoxville was 4 times as long. Everyone else is awake by 7:30am. We get some coffee and pastries down the street at Boxcar and plan out our day.
Friday 9:00am: We take the traditional Friday morning walk around campus. The mountain setting is gorgeous and all the buildings have a consistent brick aesthetic that blends in really well. Nearly everyone we see is wearing Buffs gear. We visit the bookstore and are once again blown away at the options that other schools have for apparel and merchandise. Something about the PRIME merch rubs me the wrong way a bit though – one in three shirts has his branding and it’s clearly a popular choice, but it feels weird.
Friday 12:15pm: Lunch at Torchy’s. Ain’t nothing better than fast casual Mexican. We tried to go to Efrain’s on suggestion of Host Dave, but they were in the middle of dealing with some sort of fire issue, so we walked through McGukin’s Hardware (a truly enormous place and you can find nearly anything there) before settling on Torchy’s.
Friday 2:30pm: We drive to Golden, making a quick pit stop at Colorado School of Mines. They do in fact have a mine you can tour, but we sadly don’t have enough time. Maybe next trip.
Friday 3:30pm: We make our way across town to the Coors factory for our scheduled tour. The first takeaway is that this place is MASSIVE – “factory” is an appropriate description. The second takeaway is that they give you three (3) beers along your tour! Banquet was the best of the bunch, but they give you tons of choices. One lady in our tour group was confused when she found out that we were not in fact on a bachelor’s weekend. Joe was incredibly excited to hit up the gift shop, and every Fella came away with a souvenir (I got a t-shirt and a deck of cards for my collection). Everyone really enjoyed this – I highly recommend going if you’re in the area. Stephen is still unsure how much he spent on those 51¢ pressed pennies with the logos on them because the machine kept spitting them out at him after he swiped his card on the reader. Guess we’ll never know…
Friday 7:00pm: We head “downtown” for the Pearl Street Stampede, which is essentially a pep rally featuring a gold fire truck that looks eerily similar to our own.
Friday 7:30pm: We stumble into the Sundown Saloon. This place was incredible, it is exactly what you picture in your head when you hear “dive bar”. It was underground, every booth was torn to shreds, half of the room was taken up by pool tables, and every inch of the walls featured stickers and sharpie graffiti. We got a pitcher of PBR for $9 and a table in the back. The five guys next to us had about 50 Coors Banquet cans on their table.
Friday 8:30pm: Dinner at West End Tavern. The food was great, but sticking around to the bitter end to watch the Tyson/Paul fight was not. We’ve walked about 20k steps today and maybe feel as tired as Iron Mike. Also, no amount of Coors beverages will prepare you to see Mike Tyson’s cheeks on live TV.
Saturday 7:00am: We depart the house bright and early for game day – Boxcar scone in hand.
Saturday 7:30am: We make our way to the Big Noon Kickoff set. It’s considerably less crowded than a GameDay set, but it’s still cool. They also clearly don’t audit the signs as much as GameDay because we saw some absolutely out of pocket things written for God and the national television audience to see. Bless the Colorado student population and their feelings towards Utah.
Saturday 8:15am: We continue on a journey around the tailgating areas. It’s pretty crowded and everyone is in good spirits. It’s 30 degrees and the sun is barely in the sky but several people are wearing short sleeves or less. I guess they’re built different out here.
Saturday 8:20am: Jack and I eat free french onion dip and chips they were handing out; this was my breakfast. Stephen gets a breakfast burrito from a food truck called “Seoul Flava” that was also selling “hot dog soup”.
Saturday 8:45am: Stephen talks us into a tailgate based on them having a Wisconsin flag and telling them that we took a previous trip there. They were extremely nice and gracious hosts, but they did not miss an opportunity to rib the couple of us who chose to wear Utah gear (Note: I do actually regret this. I was blinded by not wanting people to think I only bought Colorado stuff because it’s en vogue right now. From now on I will be a grown up and commit to rooting for the home team on these trips. Consider this my formal apology to the Colorado fanbase).
Saturday 9:15am: We make our way into Folsom Field and find our seats.
Saturday 9:55am: In maybe the most chaotic tradition in all of college football, Ralphie is run on her lap around the field. The sidelines here are only about 10 feet wide, and I would be TERRIFIED if I were on the field for this (or in the front row for that matter). They introduce Ralphie’s handlers on the big screen in the same style as the players, it’s pretty neat.
Saturday 10:00am: Kickoff. Lemme just say, 10am kickoffs should be banned. East coast dummies like us getting to watch a “noon game” is not worth it. I’ve been fully radicalized on this issue: just play the game at normal local time and make TV work around it, regionality is the whole point of college football. Stop trying to master time zones, they are ungovernable.
Saturday 10:01am: Shedeur Sanders throws a horrific pick on the very first play of the game. I mean awful. Guy directly in front of us throws out a string of expletives that are instantly recognizable as some Grade A SEC stuff.
Saturday 11:35am: The stadium plays Closer by The Chainsmokers. The crowd kinda sings the “from your roommate back in Boulder” line but it doesn’t sound like they’re really into it. College kids these days probably don’t know who The Chainsmokers are. BaCk iN mY dAy I had to hear this song on a loop for what felt like a year (note: I’ve been humming it since I got home, I hate myself).
Saturday 12:05pm: Ralphie is run around the field again before the second half starts. You know how kickers are normally out practicing as soon as the band leaves, even if cheerleaders or other people are still on the field? Not here, they clear out QUICK for Ralphie because she’s the real (terrifyingly large and dangerous) star of the show. She’s kind of like a beefier, sentient Reck actually – she lives on a ranch in an undisclosed location and has a team of student handlers (that are counted as varsity athletes) that look after her.
Saturday 12:50pm: Travis Hunter makes a cool catch and everyone goes crazy.
Saturday 1:05pm: The crowd sings happy birthday to Buffs superfan Ms. Peggy. I learned about her 5 minutes ago but I’d die for her.
Saturday 1:12pm: Utah’s 4th string mono-encumbered freshman QB (who happens to be Zach Wilson’s little brother – I need to know what Thanksgiving is like in the Wilson family now that they straddle both sides of the Holy War) throws his third interception and what was a sorta close game has become a blowout.
Saturday 1:35pm: The game ends, but we stick around in the stands to watch Joe’s Clemson Tigers avoid disaster against Pitt on Bill’s phone.
Saturday 3:00pm: we head to Twisted Pine Brewing for some late lunch and beers. I had a delightful coffee stout, and the wings and pizza were fantastic. The guy at the bar was also incredibly friendly and helpful; I’d recommend this place in a heartbeat.
Saturday 5:30pm: we head back to the house to relax and watch the night games. Tennessee makes us all sad. Everybody’s feet are in shambles after standing for the entirety of the game – we were caught off guard by the standing culture that Tech does not possess.
Sunday 6:00am: Jack goes for a 10 mile run in the cold elevation. The original plan was 14 miles down Magnolia Road but upon arrival at the top of the steepest publicly maintained road in the country, conditions were too icy to confidently run so an alternative route was chosen. Psycho behavior, but he showed us some pretty pictures.
Sunday 10:30am: We get seated at Foolish Craig’s for breakfast. It’s delicious, and I’m a sucker for coffee in a diner mug. I’m gonna watch the episode of Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives they were on as soon as I get home.
Sunday 12:30pm: We arrive back at the Denver airport. We catch a glimpse of the blue horse of death on the way in, but the creepy murals are unfortunately in the other terminal. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, it’s time for you to spend a few hours in a YouTube rabbit hole.
Sunday 6:40pm: United runs out of snack mix on my flight and gives me a can of Pringles instead; I am not upset about it. Also, United gives full soda cans.
Sunday 11:35pm (eastern): All Fellas have made it safely home. Another successful trip has come to a close.
The Actual Game
As far as the actual game went…eh? Both teams were pretty bad on offense in the first half: Utah’s 4th string QB is 4th string for a reason, and Colorado’s offensive strategy seemed to be “have Shedeur run around for 15 seconds as his OL collapses and then try to throw a hero pass”. The Buffs got some offense going in the second half, but it was mostly on short fields and mistakes by the Utes (including several Geoff-like special teams gaffs). I know it’s crazy to say after a blowout win, but I’m not really sure what to think of Colorado. Their offense is really just backyard ball and I can’t help but think that when they play an actually good team that’ll break down. They were also pretty sloppy – they routinely had big plays called back for holding.
Still, it was fun seeing Travis Hunter in person. He definitely lucked into his deflection INT and his rushing TD was god awful defense, but there’s no denying that he’s dynamic with the ball in his hand. He routinely bailed out long third downs that looked dead, and it’s crazy to see a guy play every snap on both sides of the ball. Even though you’re expecting it, him being introduced on the video board for both offensive and defensive starters is a real “wait, what?” moment. If the current odds hold and he takes home the Heisman he’ll be the third winner we’ll have seen in our five trips (Joe Burrow and Caleb Williams are the two so far).
Favorite Anecdotes and Personal Highlights
Chris:
- A woman in front of us at the game had a Jell-O shot container break in her pocket. To the chagrin of her husband and friends she then put her hand in her pocket, pulled it back out covered in sticky Jell-O, and waved it around. Her husband yelled “oh come on, GROSS” and I could not stop laughing.
- As someone who grew up in the marshes at sea level, there’s a lizard brain part of me that’s completely entranced by mountains. Even if they’re across a Target parking lot, I’m blown away by the simple existence of mountains every time. I routinely just gazed at the horizon throughout this trip.
Stephen:
- Everything was great so here’s my lowlight: I wasted an hour and a half of my life waiting for and then watching that Tyson fight.
Bill:
- The Big Noon Kickoff signs were awesome, several of them made me laugh out loud (Note from Chris: I cannot publish any of them here, they were WILD).
Shoutouts
- Host Dave for a great house.
- Tour guide Heidi at Coors.
- Mark, who graciously accepted us walking into his tailgate.
Stadium Impressions
I love a good bowl stadium. Folsom Field has a very cool historic vibe – it’s very clear there’s an original part and then a more modern, built-up area above/around it. That plus the brick exterior and COLORADO lettering behind one end zone give it that cool, timeless feel that college football does so well. It’s also right in the heart of campus, so the tailgates flow seamlessly right up to the gates. I wouldn’t say it was crazy loud at any point, but it was completely packed and everyone stood for the entire game. Also, the sheer number of students in that stadium was wild – they filled most of the lower section behind one endzone and had to be at least 10k strong.
Final Thoughts
Overall this was another awesome trip. Cool destinations, nice people, good food, and fun traditions make up the elixir of what we seek on these trips and Boulder delivered. I’d come back in a heartbeat and any Jackets traveling to the game in 2025 are gonna have a blast. Some quick advice if you’re planning on going to that game:
- Stay an extra day or two in Boulder and explore the area (Golden seemed like a cool place to hang out, though we didn’t have time this trip to give it our full attention).
- Stay near campus if you can – it’s a great area and being walking distance is always worth it.
- You’ll definitely want a rental car; it would be a very expensive Uber from the Denver airport and there’s tons of stuff in the surrounding area to explore (if you have the time).
As far as the future of the Fellas, nothing has been decided for the 2025 trip yet; Bill is in pole position to be the game selector and all I know is that I think he’s looking for warmer weather. We were told by Tailgate Mark that Nebraska is actually awesome (big praise from a Colorado fan), so maybe an early season game there is in the cards.
