Incense and Peppermints

The Tailgate – Joined by, Craig “I am a conflicted Big 10er” Castelein and Dave “Wanstaedt” Quillici and Cal Poly defensive tackle Dru “I have no” Manor meandered through the East Bay Hills and ventured into the Peoples Republic of Bezerkley for a day of trunkgating, bargating and of course the Cal/ Arizona State battle in the renovated Strawberry Canyon. Speaking of Strawberries, as we wandered down Telegraph Avenue, land of the unwashed, tie dyed, rastas and wafting odors and flash point for the radical 60’s anti war movement, that 60’s song by Strawberry Alarm clock was playing in my head:

“Good sense, innocence, cripplin' and kind.

Dead kings, many things I can't define.

Oh Cajun spice, sweats and blushers your mind.

Incense and peppermints, the color of thyme.

Who cares what games we choose?

Little to win, but nothing to lose.”

Very apropos for this day. After an hour of trunkgating, squealing wheels, recycling and jumpstarting a few VW busses in our private lot of Benvenue Avenue, we wandered through Peace Park and Telegraph Avenue to our favorite beer garden and bar. The only problem was, it was no longer there. No, not another change of ownership, the building and the block were gone, demolished, with the exception of a façade that looked like 8 Mile in Dirtroit. I thought I heard the ghost of the renowned Philosopher John Belushi shout ”They took the bar! The whole %$&@ing bar!” So we settled into our new watering hole “Pappys” on Telegraph Avenue in time to watch the game of the year, Baylor v WVU. It was more a case of WVU welcoming the Big 12 to their house than WVU being welcomed to the Big 12. Perhaps the greatest offensive game I have ever witnessed with close to a mile of combined offense and 133 points scored. Geno Smith now takes the lead in the Heisman race and deservedly so. Bloody Marys, Stellas, Ribs and sandwiches were on tap for us.

 We wandered up Bancroft Avenue to the game, scalped 3 tickets for $25 each and sat in what should have been the student section. Only there were not that many students in attendance as they were in their bunkers working on their protest plans for the next Occupy Movement, or Code Pink event. That’s what you get from a Nerd school (I say that with affection)! In fact the stadium was only at about 60% of its capacity. After a year away from the friendly confines of the Canyon, the Bears are back in their redone facilities. I would give the effort a B – as it does not look much different than it did. Don’t get me wrong, it is nice. I was just expecting different. I hear the training section built into the stadium is amazing. I was expecting more based on the amount of time and money spent on it. The product on the field gets a D as they fell to Arizona State 27 -17 in a lackluster performance. IMHO, this is Coach Tedford’s swan song and we may see the likes of Bobby Petrino out here next year. If Tedford changes his QB it may save his job. Maynard G Krebs is not a PAC 12 QB.

We lost track of Dru prior to the game as he did not go into the Canyon with us. In the theme for Hangover 3 after searching high and low, we finally caught up with him as he was spotted becoming one with the vagrants, hippies and flea ridden in Berkeley. Pictures below. He claims something about someone slipping him roofies.




The boyz searching for "Dougie" Dru



We can't make this stuff up!



Dru's new friends in Bezerkeley



Around the country - The UW Huskies fertilized the Stanford Tree Thursday night and lifted their legs in celebration in Seattle. The students rushed the field in the opposite manner of the Packers from the now infamous Monday Night game earlier in the week in the same venue.

The Urban renewal effort continued its impressive revitalization in East Lansing as Ohio State took down Sparty in a brutal defensive battle. My nephew was baffled as to why his poster for College Gameday was confiscated by the sign Nazis. I inquired as to what it said. “Every Spartan Pisses Nails.” Can’t imagine why they did not let that on TV. The other Spartans of San Jose State go to 4-1 with a victory in Annapolis over the deflated Midshipmen. The class of the Big East Cincy knocked out the ACC powerhouse VA Tech Hokies 34-31. The Longhorns roped in the Cowboys in Stillwater as young QB David Ash came of age. In the battle of the old ugly throwback unis, Taylor Martinez and the Huskers squeaked one out in Lincoln over the clawless Badgers. The combination of UGA running backs Todd Gurley and Keith Marshall, affectionately known as “Gurshell” (They still miss him in Athens, don’t they?) had all they could handle with the Vols in a 51 – 44 W. Woof Woof Woof UGA! The Tennessee faithful appeared to be somewhat dismayed.

Ole Miss gave Bama a scare …for about 15 seconds until the NCAA’s only professional team kicked it in gear and rolled Colonel Reb and his squad out of Tuscaloosa.

LSU and Towson? Oh come on Mad Hatter, you can do better for competition. This kind of game is a lose - lose for you. We used to beat Towson in Rugby annually. Big rival of Frostburg State. I once got a concussion playing them and proceeded to man up, play on and then lead the team in song in the post game soiree! (Not that that has a damn thing to do with college football).University of Miami fans, as much as I don’t like the Canes, you need to get out and support your team cuz they have an exciting young QB who just broke some institutional records yesterday (No not the Institution where many of your alum end up). In a monsoon in Hattiesburg, MS in Favre stadium the Louisville Cardinals stormed back to win on a game clinching drive. How about those Beavers from Corvallis? QB Sean Mannion throws for over 400 yards as the Beavs scratched and clawed their way to another win in the desert. Boise offense finally gets on track only to be let down by their defense in New Mexico barely escaping with a win. And the Black Mamba and the Ducks win ugly in Seattle against Wazoo and the gun slinging Leaches. The Purple Cats and the Nittany Cats each tally up W’s in the Big 10 leading up to their Cat fight next week in Happy Valley. Clemson rebounds by taking the BC Eagles down in a spirited battle and UCLA goes to 4-1 over the lowly Buffs in Boulder.

Tradition of the Week - This is a new section dedicated to traditions that the D1 A schools have as part of their gameday football experience. I would like to hear from you all on your favorite traditions and a picture is preferable. First two traditions are from Michigan State and Ohio State. Sparty fans walking by each other on game day are known to do the following: One Sparty fan will see another and yell “Go green” and in response the other fan will yell back “Go White”! The Ohio State faithful will yell out “OH” and the response “IO”! Now let’s hear some from you all.

Gripe of the week – Once someone is part of College Football they are always part of College Football, thus making them liable to be the target of my ire in this section. This week’s ire, errr praise goes to none other than the blog’s all time favorite villain or hero, depending on your view. You see once again Coach Pete “The Cheat” Carroll was up to his old antics. For those of you watching this week’s MNF game between the Seahawks and Packers you know what I mean. We saw ole Robin Hood Hizzzself taketh from those witheth and giveth to those withouteth. The Packer DB in the eyes of 99.99999% of the world clearly intercepted the ball. After a ridiculous call on the field and in the replay booth, the Seahawks were awarded a touchdown they did not earn now dubbed “The Inaccurate Reception. I am not going to berate the refs and the worst call in football history. I want to point out the behavior of Cheaty Boy. He ran around the field celebrating the horrible outcome like his boy actually caught the ball. In his interview he could not hold back his exuberance for the fraud that was committed. He is the Judge Elihu Schmaels of football in that you would not want to play golf with a cheater. He was as believable as Nasty Nancy Pelosi telling us that we must feel good about giving to the less fortunate that did not earn what we worked for (Sorry no politics on this forum, but she is a loony moron regardless). Sorry to my USC fans (He is no longer a Trojan so he is fair game) but he showed his true colors again just like when the rat left the sinking ship down in South Central 3 years ago when they were slapped with probation and fines. What a leader, huh? At least Lane Kiffin would never run out on a team….oops, never mind. Here is a little musical tribute to you cheaty boy put together by the Tailgate Nation:


Miscellaneous - Sorry to hear that the Michigan Notre Dame rivalry has been cancelled after next year. The Tailgate travels to the banks of the Hudson next Saturday to watch the Black Knights of Army take on the Eagles of Boston College. Looking forward to all the traditions at West Point such as the flyover, the Cadets marching in, the pomp and circumstance, the history and of course probably another loss.

Happy Tailgating!