Wazzoo-v-WazWho?

Look up qwest field (ie Seattle Seahawks) on google earth, you get:


So who's playing, and what the hell is going on? This is a riddle originated at Googlesightseeing. That site has a whole list of captured sporting events, but none of near the magnitude of this one.

You can either go sort through the threads discussing this
picture and then go read the old game stats yourself like i just did
for an hour, or you can take my word for it: this is EITHER the
final play of the 2004 WSU-Colorado game, or the first play of a WSU
drive in the 2nd Q versus Nevada in 2002.

From those two links, you can quickly scan down to possible suspects by looking for yardline.

I'm leaning toward Nevada. Heavily.

The CU play would be much
cooler to have captured forever because the previous play was a WSU
fumble on the goalline with 2 sconds left in the game(!). CU, the
visitor, would be in white. Had WSU scored, they could have gone
for two - which this picture likely would have recorded - to take the
game to OT. Instead CU took a kneel-down and that was that.

Several things in the picture match, like the endzone
(north). The down and distance is damn close, though the
placement looks closer to the 3 than the 2, but hey, this is from
space, remember.
The problem is: that doesn't
look like a kneel down. CU, if that's them, has 2 wideouts and
the WSU linebackers are not on the line preparing for a classic
last-gasp-leap. There appears to be one very very deep safety -
sort of the worst-case, last-play formation, but it looks like WSU has
11 guys up towards the line, so that may be a ref.

Also, the crowds around the aisles appear to be
funneling in. If the final, last-second, game-deciding play had
just happened, it seems like the crowd would either be streaming out,
or more likely still in their seats. Also, the sideline masses
don't seem particularly clumped on the northend, as they would be had
the game's key sequence just occured.


the Nevada play fits even better. the key is that, despite being the official hometeam, WSU wore white. It's the only
at-Seattle game WSU has worn white for in at least the last 5.

So early the second quarter, in the second quarter, Nevada punted to WSU, who took over on the 3. With a satelite watching, Jason Gesser came to the line and (say 'cheese'! - click) handed off to the RB who ran for 3. Sounds about right for a 2-wideout set.

The unsettled crowd also seems much more likely for mid-2nd quarter against nevada.
Only problem: gametime weather was hazy and party overcast.

I didn't solve or discover any of this, though I think this post is the best analysis of this little mystery out there. the leads came from the posts on threads you can find at googlesightseeing.
there's also a discussion about what color the writing on the roof would
be, but whatever.

and more important, The Season is coming.