\"On a dark desert highway...\"

[MrMustang1965]

*yawn* Oh, man! Am I ever pissed! I overslept on Friday night and almost missed today's SMU v. Navy game in Dallas! All because I had an awful nightmare Friday night about the game, too! Let me tell you about it real quick before I get in my car to drive to Dallas from Houston for today's game...

My nightmare began with me driving up from Houston 'on a dark, desert highway with the cool wind in my hair (and) the warm smell of calitas rising up through the air...(then) up ahead in the distance I saw a shimmering light.' SMU's gridiron palace, Ford Stadium, with its lights ablazing and fans pouring in to see new head coach Phil Bennett's debut, was before me.

I arrived on the SMU campus and quickly found a parking space in the multi-level 'orange' parking facility. Already, I was concerned because you know what 'orange' means in Texas (think U.T.) and I HATE those guys! But I just fluffed it off...what else could go wrong, right? And, besides...we don't play those teasips anymore...the last time I saw SMU play UT the Mustangs got trounced! Nothing like that could happen today!

I arrived at the stadium and looked upon Doak Walker plaza where something that kind of resembled a pep rally was taking place...I wasn't too sure...there were cheerleaders on the plaza...and there was the Mustang Band, too. And there were SMU fans standing around the plaza...but everyone was in a trance. The cheerleaders weren't really doing any cheering...just some high kicks and gymnastics...and the band was playing "Peruna" and "The Mustang Fight Song" but no one was singing or yelling along with them (except me!) and people were staring at me like "What the f**k do you think you're doing?" It kind of reminded me of "Night of the Living Dead". I stayed around a few more minutes and then the band and cheerleaders walked into Ford Stadium...like zombies. It kind of reminded me of lemmings migrating towards a cliff.

Really odd dream I'm having so far, huh?

When I got inside Ford Stadium (section 107...10 is my unlucky number, 7 is my lucky number...10 coming before the 7...hmmm? Is that a bad sign?) I took my seat and got ready to watch the pre-game activities. At mid-field, there were two of my idols of years gone by, preparing to toss the coin for the Mustangs and the Middies...Don Meredith (SMU QB) and Roger Staubach (Navy QB) of the Dallas Cowboys! Meredith, in his red coat, face tanned and weathered and gray hair...Staubach in a blue shirt and still looking like he could take the field and lead the 'Pokes to a last-minute victory! Meredith reminded me of 'the devil'...Staubach reminded me of "the angel"...what a weird dream this is!!!!

The Mustangs won the coin toss and then the Mustang Band begins playing "The Star-Spangled Banner". Everyone is singing along in true patriotic fashion and at the end of the national anthem, there is a fly-over by Navy jets from the nearby Naval air station...defeaning jet engines roar in my ears! The MTV video "Rock the Kazbah" by The Clash flashes thru my mind...I think to myself, "I hope this isn't a sign of things to come during the game...Navy doing a bombing run on the Mustangs!"

Then it gets REALLY WEIRD! Fireworks go off at the south end of Ford Stadium as a 'finale' to the national anthem....and it sets the grass on fire! OMG! Smoke starts billowing off of the hillside, choking SMU fans near that end of Ford Stadium and along the walkway behind the Diamond Vision screen/scoreboard!...and then the Mustang Band begins playing "Varsity" and I don't hear anyone but me singing it! (And I didn't even attend SMU!)...Some pour soul is running around with a fire extinguisher trying to tap out the numerous grass fires that have sprung up! And then his fire extinguisher runs out of chemicals and he starts stomping out the fires with his feet! But he can't get to all of them!!! I get the feeling that this is his penance in hell...and that there's some kind of odd symbolism to all of this...Hell fires, "Varsity", Navy jets on bombing runs over Ford Stadium...Maybe Sigmund Freud could figure all of this out but right now I just want to watch the Mustangs stomp the hell outta Navy! And this nightmare keeps getting weirder by the minute...maybe I'll wake up soon...it can't get any worse!

And then...it does! SMU scores first on a Wallis to Hampton 13-yd. pass play! Could victory be in sight? Are the glory days back? And then all hell breaks loose...the Mustangs look like they aren't even sure if they are supposed to be on the field..and the Middies score FOUR unanswered TDs and Navy goes up by 28-7...As the gun sounds to end the half, the Middies are grinning from ear to ear on the opposite side of Ford Stadium...and as they head to the locker room, they march in military fashion in front of the Mustangs who have been halted by the coaching staff right in front of my section. The coaches look at the Mustangs with scowling faces as if to say to them: "You don't DESERVE to go in front of Navy right now! They're whipping your [deleted] out there! Let a team that's busting its gut to win go in first...when you show that you can do the same, then we'll let you go first into the locker room!"

And then I'm confronted by the Mustang Maniac! A clown in some kind of pseudo-Batman costume made up to look like a Mustang that fires off a spud rifle loaded with t-shirts into the stands! I wonder to myself: What idiot thought up THIS? And how much $$$ did it cost that could have been better spent elsewhere?

At the halftime, the 1982 Mustangs take the field to be honored...OMG! This nightmare is just friggin' weirder by the minute...the Mustangs that SHOULD have been National Champions in 1982 are lined up in front of me, waving and smiling...looking like they could take the field at any moment and give any college team of today a run for its money! (I try to wake myself up but I can't!!!! MY GOD!!! Why can't I wake up???)

The Mustangs and the Middies come back for the second half and it all becomes VERY, VERY fuzzy for me...Navy scores 10 MORE unanswered points...I slowly feel myself coming out of a deep, hard sleep...the last thing I remember as I was running for the doors of Ford Stadium is a final score of Navy 38, SMU 7!

What a nightmare! I mean it was awful...as I woke up this morning in a cold sweat, I thought to myself "Thank god, this was just a nightmare! I just can't wait to get to Dallas today to see SMU kick Navy's butt up and down Ford Stadium!"

So...I'll see you at the game later today, folks! I mean, can you believe this nightmare I had last night? Just friggin' weird!

"What's that? It's Sunday? It REALLY happened?" HA HA HA! Oh, come on...don't make me laugh! I think I'm gonna pee on myself! HA HA HA! Seriously, I'll see you later today at the game in Dallas....long drive ahead of me "on a dark desert highway..." HA HA HA! You're killin' me! Really! You're just killin' me!

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"Winning ain't everything...but it's a lot more fun than the alternative!"

[This message has been edited by MrMustang1965 (edited 09-01-2002).]

[This message has been edited by MrMustang1965 (edited 09-02-2002).]

[Lefty]

Nice work MrMustang1965. That might be the best post I've read yet. Great stuff.

[smu'06]

In some ways, I'm glad I choose USC because of that post...I feel sorry for the freshman who started their PONY DAYS that way.

THIS IS POST 150
Not bad for a GAMECOCK