Capital One Bowl Diary: Day 1
December 26, 2006 | Football
Follow the University of Wisconsin football team each day as it prepares for the Capital One Bowl. From practices to leisure time, uwbadgers.com will cover it all. Make sure to check out the photo gallery for each day as well.
Following some lifting and meetings, the team flew out of Madison at 3 p.m. Christmas Day. The chartered flight was a Northwest airplane that was making its maiden voyage with passengers (yes, we were the first!). Probably the best feature of the plane was that each seat had its own television screen; passengers could choose from many movies new and old (all for free), and even play videogames.
'The airplane was unbelievable,' senior OL Joe Thomas said. 'It was the best flight I've ever been on. I didn't want to get off, and I don't like flying.'
Around 7:30 p.m. ET, the plane landed and the team was greeted by the Capital One Bowl representatives and warm weather. And just like last year, the travel party had a massive police escort (every on ramp on the freeway and intersection in the city was blocked off) for the trip to the Peabody Hotel, about 14 miles away. When the team arrived, some members of the media were waiting outside to interview head coach Bret Bielema.
About the Peabody: This is a luxurious 27-story, 891-room hotel located near the gigantic Orange County Convention Center and only a few miles away from SeaWorld. The team stayed here last year and was more than happy to return.
At 8:30 p.m., everyone gathered together for Christmas dinner, which consisted of a grilled chicken salad, followed by sliced turkey, roast beef and mashed potatoes, then a large assortment of desserts such as pecan pie, cheesecake, apple pie and a sundae bar.
Santa Claus made an appearance and handed all the children gifts'specifically, red UW football jerseys with their last names on the back.
After dinner, the players were free for the evening.
