Postcards From Atlanta - Day 1: Merry Christmas From The Peach City
12/25/2002 7:00:00 AM | Football
Dec. 25, 2002
Today's Terp Tidbit: The last time Maryland and Tennessee faced each other was on Christmas Day 1984 as the Terps came back to beat the Vols, 28-27 in the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas.
By Jason Yellin
Maryland Athletics Media Relations
ATLANTA -- Merry Christmas from the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl.
Today has been a day filled with festivities and travel for the Terps. The team met at the Gossett Football Teamhouse in the early afternoon to depart for its much-anticipated trip to Atlanta for its second consecutive trip to a bowl game.
With some snow on the ground in Maryland, the Terps were excited to be headed a bit of a warmer climate although not much warmer as we learned when we got to not-so-hot-lanta.
The players, coaches and staff were pumped to board the bus and head for BWI Aiprort for the charter flight to Atlanta.
At the teamhouse, there were several hearty fans on hand with signs wishing the Terps well on their trip to the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. There were also several members of the media including Comcast SportsNet television and several newspaper reporters awaiting the team's departure. Butkus and Bednarik Award winner E.J. Henderson was the most popular interview with the media members. Coach Friedgen also spent some time doing interviews.
The four-bus contingent left campus around 2:45 p.m. and arrived at the airprt only to have to wait for a while as the Delta Charter was delayed in arriving. Once the plane got there, it had to go through the de-icing procedure with the cold temperatures.
With the rain falling, we finally loaded up -- the players wearing their newly-issued Peach Bowl sweatsuit, took their seats.
Only 27 players made the flight with the team as many travelled to Atlanta on their own with today being Christmas Day. They were trying to maximize their family-time at home across the nation.
Many of the coaches and athletics staff members brought along their families making for a fun trip.
The flight was mostly smooth for the weather conditions with a few bumps. There was no movie, just a bunch of Delta in-service shows.
The highlight of the ride for the players were the meal, which featured shrimp cocktail and filet mignon dinners. Of course to finish off the meal were the traditional Dove Bars, which are the norm on Terp flights.
The plane landed at Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport around 6:25 p.m., with the pilot from the Atlanta-based Delta crew wishing the Terps good luck in the bowl game.
We boarded the buses and headed our home for the next week, the spectacular Marriott Marquis Hotel in downtown Atlanta. The hotel is 50 floors tall and has 1675 rooms, allowing for many Terp fans to make their way down to the Peach City.
Among the players already at the hotel to meet us in the lobby were defensive backs Dennard Wilson and Madieu Williams, who had come down earlier in the day.
Once we picked up our keys, and settled in at the hotel around 7 p.m., it was time to pick up per diem money for the trip and dinner.
The Terps gathered around 8 p.m. for a team meeting. By that time all of the players had made their way to the hotel via car trips or airplane rides on their own from their homes. Included in that group were Atlanta natives and starters C.J. Brooks, Eric Dumas and Latrez Harrison which had the shortest trips to make to the hotel.
The players have a loose curfew on the first few nights of the trip but will get some good night sleep in anticipation of hitting the Georgia Dome turf on Thursday morning at 11:30 a.m. for the first team practice at the site of the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl.
Check back for the report from the first practice and the first full day in Atlanta on Thursday.
