What is better than a sunny late November day with temperatures in the 70s to check out a college football game, with the Washington State University Cougars in town to battle the University of Arizona Wildcats.
A large grassy area not far from the stadium serves as the tailgate area. The university’s marching band was serenading some of the tailgaters, while apparently making sure they stayed hydrated.
The University of Arizona is a member of the Pac12, one of the major college athletics conferences in the country. Their stadium’s first section was built in 1928, with subsequent expansions over the years.
You would think with a conference rival in town, on a perfect weather day that demand for tickets would be great. This however, was not true, as I was able to find a ticket online for $5 (the service fees cost more than the ticket), and even with that there were, at most, 25,000 people who bothered to show up.
The visitor’s section was most crowded, apparently people trying to escape the late fall/early winter weather of the northwest for sunny Tucson. The sea of red makes it easy to pick out the vendor.
Before the game the band made it’s way down the street into the stadium.
Still, the setting provided some interesting subjects for photography.
The most common use of an umbrella in Arizona – shade.
As with all stadiums, and many other venues, you are not permitted to take in backpacks or large bags, so taking the SLR camera and lenses to the game was out of the question. I have had a small point and click Canon G5X for a few years that I usually use in cities when I want to go incognito, but it works when you need something small to take into a stadium.
With my $5 seat high up in the 2nd deck, the zoom was put to a test. It did an acceptable job, with some dithering when zoom all the way in.
All in all, a great event for a low cost – but the home team lost 31-20.
RDZ Photography 