They came together on a hot afternoon in Los Angeles, howling and clawing at each other like wild beasts in heat.
Under a brown California sky, the fierceness of their struggle brought tears to the eyes of 90,000 God-fearing fans.
They were 22 men who were somehow more than men.
They were giants, idols, titans.
Behemoths . . .
— Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72
Ah, but that was another era, before the BCS, before Rose Bowl media assistant Stephanie Montano was required — by the protocol of the collegiate football oligarchs — to look a correspondent of The American Spectator square in the eye and say, “I’m sorry. There’s nothing I can do.”
No press credentials, no exceptions, and although many others had been denied in the same fashion, none of those others were genuinely gonzo. They hadn’t Paid Their Dues.
But it’s OK. I’ll get to the game somehow, some way. Besides which, the bureaucratic rigamorale of Official Media Credentials is irrelevant, now that I’ve filed my definitive pre-game story for the Spectator:
PASADENA, Calif. — College football expert Stacey Mickles yesterday offered a bold prediction for tonight’s BCS finale — a repeat of top-ranked Alabama’s 32-13 victory in the Southeastern Conference title game, which brought Florida QB Tim Tebow to tears.
“If we can make Tebow cry, we can make anybody cry,” said Mickles, a Crimson Tide fan and Army sergeant currently stationed at Fort Dietrich, Maryland, who was in town for the game with her boyfriend and fellow soldier Richard McAlpin.
Some may doubt Sgt. Mickle’s expertise, but none of the doubters were wearing crimson and white yesterday outside the stadium in Pasadena where ‘Bama hasn’t played in January since 1946. . . . .
Read the whole thing. Here’s the video of my interview with Mickles and McAlpin:
The universal language of human brotherhood: “ROLL TIDE!”