BCS Trip: The Plane Ride
Around 10:30 a.m., Wednesday morning, our intrepid pack of NBC 4 heroes were sitting in the Atlanta airport, waiting for our flight to New Orleans. Omar saw a guy with long dreadlocks sprinting toward the ticket counter. “Is that… Albert Dukes?“ Omar asked. I of course said, no way.
A few moments later here comes Malcolm Jenkins… Then Beanie Wells and Brian Robiskie. Then Alex Boone and Todd Boeckman. That’s when we knew—we were on board “Buckeye Air.“
Players receive some nice perks for playing in bowl games (including a Nintendo WII this year from the BCS), but they can also make their own flight arrangements to the game city and pocket the difference on their plane ticket. It’s usually a couple hundred bucks at most.
Two years ago I sat with Kirk Barton on the four hour flight to Arizona—that’s when I discovered Kirk’s girlfriend was from my hometown. Anyway, I get on the plane and I see my row coming up (row 27) and one guy sitting in the three seats. That guy—Beanie Wells.
We chatted for a bit, asked about his mom and he asked about my little boy. He read through my LSU media guide and took a nap, and I did the same. Then when we got into New Orleans, we all split up and headed downtown. Funny how the travel works out sometimes…
Anyway, here’s photo proof of our plane ride ... More to come from The Big Easy.
