Tag Archives: San Jose State

Husky Stadium is a special place for us, and we’re guessing a lot of our readers feel the same.  Given that this is the last year for the stadium as we know it, we thought we’d offer up some of our favorite memories that came on Montlake.  With memories, there’s always the chance that they’re only special to the people involved, but hopefully with this series you’ll see something of the importance these memories hold to us.  With a few of them, maybe you were there as well.  The bye week seems like a good time to start, with more posts to come throughout the season.

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My first trip to Husky Stadium was the 1995 Apple Cup.  I was in the eighth grade, and as near as I can remember, I went with my dad and his two cousins, Dave and Steve.  Reading about that game now, it turns out that it was a pretty great game, with the Huskies winning on a late field goal.  I have vague recollections; we walked out talking about Ryan Leaf’s debut, how the Cougars had themselves a quarterback.  Mostly, I remember being excited to be at a Husky game at long last.

My first real memory at Husky Stadium came a year later.  We bought season tickets for the first time, along with Dave and Steve, but they decided to stay home for a late-season game against cupcake San Jose State.  My whole family decided to go, along with my friends Mike and Tyler.  My birthday was the next week, so my parents gave me an early present: a corduroy coat I had picked out earlier.  They thought I might want to wear it, and I did, but I decided to go with my ski coat instead, in case of rain.  It was a good move.

We got to the game early and found seats in the east end zone.  It was cold already, and in the open bleachers at that end of the stadium, the wind blows off the lake and right onto your legs and back and neck.  On cold days, you hope the section is full and that big people are sitting behind you, because that’s the only thing that blocks the wind.  When half the crowd leaves for concessions or the restroom at halftime, the temperature seems to drop twenty degrees instantly.

As the band was lining up to take the field, my dad looked toward the sky in front of us and said, “If this was Yakima, we’d have a hailstorm in about twenty minutes.”

The band played, and the flag was unfurled for the Star Spangled Banner.  The flag holders made their dash across the end zone to retrieve their instruments, and the tuba players donned jerseys for their weekly pre-game game of football before the players took the field.

As the Huskies ran out of the tunnel, it started to hail.  Then, it started to rain. Continue reading →