Getting Close to Home Opener

Along with all the excitement on campus about the home opener, is a lot of hard work too. As I walked around campus today, I saw so many tents being put up around campus, along with all kinds of other work going on. That was especially true over at Arizona Stadium, where tomorrow night we open the home portion of our 2010 schedule against the Citadel.

Speaking of the Citadel.....earlier in the week, I spoke with their equipment manager about what time they would arrive and he told me they were landing just after 12 noon and they would be at Arizona before 1pm today. Well, they ended up getting there after 2:30! They were hustling to get ready for their team walk through at 4:30 today inside the stadium. They rented an Enterprise truck like we take to Fort Huachuca and that is what they drove their team equipment in to the stadium from the airport.

As I was waiting on the Citadel to arrive, I saw many students going over to pick up their Zona Zoo t-shirts. Also, I saw all kinds of workers in and around the stadium getting ready for the game. Below are some pictures of what I saw.




Ben Hulka works on one of his 8 players he has to get ready for the game tomorrow. The managers spend an hour each Friday over at the stadium getting their players bags unpacked and equipment checked:

Jack Banker gets one of his players bags unpacked and into their locker:

Even the "phone guy" was over at the stadium locker room today, making sure the phone lines were ready for Coach Stoops post game interview from the locker room after the game:

Benny Conger touches up all the helmets that need a little painting on the day before each game:

Jack Banker and Ryan Ewalt join Benny over at the stadium locker room earlier today to get their players ready for the game tomorrow:

Mike Reed is responsible for stocking the home game day equipment room. Here he is putting a few extra caps in the cabinets:

The painters were hard at it today putting the finishing touches on the field:

A new edition to the 2010 season, the new Pac 10 logo is painted on the field:

It takes so many people to get ready for a home game! Here, facility maintenance guys are putting down tarp on the home sideline:

This says it all.....BEARDOWN!!!!!