Tonight Missouri Wildcats and Northwestern Tigers will square off for the 2008 Valero Alamo Bowl.
But before the teams face off at the Alamodome tonight, the players took some time to have a fun day at SeaWorld San Antonio, including animal interactions and exclusive ride time on the park's Steel Eel roller coaster.
The day started with four Missouri players challenging Uncle Max, SeaWorld's resident walrus to a sit-up contest in front of a stadium of teammates, friends, fans and family. However, Uncle Max does sit-ups in every show, so he was a shoe-in to win. The Northwestern players didn't challenge an animal, but did get in the water with SeaWorld's beautiful beluga whales during a Beluga Interaction Program.
Seeing all of the players getting excited over riding SeaWorld's Steel Eel was such a thrill. SeaWorld offered exclusive ride time (ERT) to the players and their families. Watching moms enter the line kidding their sons (all of whom were at least 2-6 inches taller than mom) about being scared on the coaster was pretty funny. I got a laugh out of players teasing their non-riding teammates for being scared.
Seeing all the Wildcat and Tiger fans making the rounds at SeaWorld San Antonio was pretty neat, too. While hosting the teams, we spotted many black and gold Mizzou outfits along with vibrant purple and black the Northwestern fans sported throughout the park. We wish good luck to both teams in tonight's game. Check out this video of the players visiting SeaWorld. And don't forget to share your rides with us!
Update 12-30-08: Apparently Robert Niles, author of Theme Park Insider, is a Northwestern Wildcat fan, who knew? Unfortunately his team lost last night to the Missouri Tigers 30-23. But they fought hard and turned out only the second overtime game in Alamo Bowl history.
