About a mile or so from where Daddy grew up is a place called Kinnick Stadium, where the local university football team plays. Daddy spent a lot of time there as a kid; it’s sort of the beating heart of his hometown, to some degree, so it holds a lot of sentimental meaning.
It so happens that a neighbor of Grandma and Grandpa works at the stadium, and offered to give Nyan a tour one day when there was no game. Grandma, Grandpa and Daddy were probably more excited about it than Nyan, to be truthful, but Nyan still managed to enjoy himself.
We started off with a tour of the press box, where we could see the whole stadium from high above.
Then it was down into the bowels of the old building, where the locker rooms are. The visitors’ locker room is well-known for being painted a sort of salmon pink – supposedly to make the visiting team a bit more mellow. There’s no great evidence that it works though.
Then the home team’s locker room, where our boy went a little crazy.
Some words of advice that the players see inside their locker room:
Then finally, it was down the concrete hallway they call the Tunnel, and out onto the field itself. Daddy had been on the field several times before – rushing the field after a particularly exciting victory, mostly – but it’s a totally different feel to have the whole field – the whole stadium, in fact – pretty much to yourself.
Nyan got his exercise in as well. And took a tumble, like all good football players.
PS – little-known fact that “Kinnick” was on the short list for names for our boy before he was born. (Okay, “Kinnick” was on Daddy’s short list. And not entirely seriously, frankly.) Kinnick Stadium is a great place – but we do think Nyan fits our boy much better.
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