The Event
I’ve watched the Senior Bowl my whole life. It’s one of those things that you probably don’t think. Hey, let’s plan a trip to the Senior Bowl. But when you are basically living in the area, It’s a sunny day, and you want to immerse yourself into the local culture. You pile into Big Pearl and head to Mobile.
Cathy has never actually been to a college football game so she was up for the trip. We bought general admission tickets for $15 a piece and a $15 parking pass. Can you say affordable. Now like any event there are better seats and packages. I think seats on the sides down low were around $45. Personally I wouldn’t spend the money. While the stadium was mostly full. There was plenty of room to move around and find a good vantage point.
I have to apologize. We had planned to get there early and enjoy the Fan Zone and the free concert before the game. We ended up getting a late start and turned into to wrong entrance to reach our parking area. Sadly we missed both this time.
Our parking lot. 401 was actually easy to get to and a short 1 mile walk to the stadium. There were shuttles but the lines were long, we needed the exercise and it let us see a little of the campus. . The game is held on the campus of the University of South Alabama. This is a well maintained campus, at least what we could see. Hancock Whitney Stadium is on the small side for college football but it’s nice and well laid out. Concessions and restrooms were sufficient and well placed.
The purpose of this game is to showcase seniors to NFL scouts. So obviously the atmosphere is different than a typical college football game. The cheers erupt in patches when a player from a certain school makes a play. There are mascots from many of the major colleges. College players, former players, college coaches, NFL coaches and NFL scouts are everywhere.
The atmosphere was nice, but lacked the enthusiasm of a game during the season. We still enjoyed it very much and we were blessed with sunny day. I would recommend this to any college football fan that’s in the area. It’s fun, affordable and the last taste of college football until spring practice starts.
On a side note. We met some locals and they said Dauphin St. fills up with all the players and NFL people after the game so if bumping into them interests you just head on over and start bar crawling. Dauphin St is pretty much one bar after the other. There’s also a Madi Gras parade a few blocks over so you can really make a night of it if you want to.
Breweries
Since we blog about breweries I want to give some kudos to Braided River Brewing. The put special labels on their Spotted Tail German Pilsner and brand it as Jaguar Ale. More on Braided River later. This is a very nice German Pils and I would recommend it.
We headed out a little early to beat the traffic. There were two breweries just a few blocks of of our path home and they were in walking distance to each other. So we decided to stop for bit. Our first stop was Old Majestic Brewing. The brewery is located a few blocks from Dauphin St. at 656 St. Louis St. So it’s away from the craziness but close enough to walk to Dauphin if you decide to. The venue is really nice and has a big front lawn complete with corn hole and a large gas fire pit. The beer is worth the stop. I particularly enjoyed the Majestic AF, a Kolsch and the Reflections Imperial IPA. Cathy had champagne seltzer that I tasted and it was very good. It didn’t have the dry finish that most seltzers have.
The staff here was super, helpful, fun and even danced on video for us. We met some super nice patrons on our first stop. On the way back to our car later we stopped in for one more beer and met some more fabulous people who made Cathy sing for them. We have new Facebook friends now.
On a side note. Next door is the Cheese Cottage. This is a delightful little charcuterie and sandwich shop. They we bring your food to your seat at the brewery and it is wonderful. I had an amazing club sandwich and we had one of there many charcuterie choices. Don’t go to Mobile without trying this place.
So after some time at Old Majestic we walked a few blocks down on the same street to Braided River Brewing. This is also a nice venue. It lacks the lawn but it’s situated on a corner street and has picnic tables on both sidewalks. It has a space in a parking lot for food trucks to visit. The staff here was also friendly and helpful but a little more low key. No dancing here.
I got a flight and I’ll be honest. I had high hopes after having their German Pils earlier in the day. Maybe I just choose poorly but I just didn’t care much for the beers I tried. You can see them in the images below. I do like their logo and can art.
We decided to walk up to the parade but it ended up being further than someone told us so we just walked down Dauphin St. for a bit and headed back to the car, stopping back by Old Majestic. All and all it was a fabulous day of sun and fun. We’ve heard Mobile is a little sketch but our experience so far has been positive and we haven’t felt uncomfortable. The locals have been amazing and fun. Just the way we like them. I’m sure we will have more tales from Mobile before we leave the area.
