Week 4 – City by the Bay

As we are prone to make changes each season to our proposed schedule, we called a last minute audible and bailed on our trip to New Orleans for the Tulane/LSU doubleheader (more on that below under Bieber). Our student body left, put us back in the heart of The People’s Republic of Bezerkely for the Cal USC game. As is customary, pre-gaming started at the historic Claremont Hotel deck bar over-looking the bay. It was truly a chamber of commerce moment. We were joined by our honeymooning friends Steve and Carrie Dawson from Danville, PA. After fueling on bacon infused Bloody Mary’s we linked up with the Chris & Paula Kenny Tailgate off Bancroft Ave. A beautiful day by all accounts in the PRB as the town was buzzing with excitement with the hated Trojans riding into town. Pre-gaming was taking place in every nook and cranny in the crazy town with a third of the revelers being Trojans and Trojan gang banger wannabees.

Big day in Berkeley!

The game was competitive as Cal jumped out to an early lead. USC capitalized on a few crucial Cal mistakes allowing them to pull away with a win over the improved Bears 30-20. Sam Darnold has still not looked his best yet this year. Most importantly, the new beer garden experiment inside the stadium is a not so funny joke. Who runs out of beer after 15 minutes? That should be a 15-yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct. I have volunteered my expertise on taking over this operation.

DFT's first family the Gervolinos enjoying the UNH Tailgate

Around the Country -  Post Berkeley exfil, we landed back at DFT world HQ in the outside man cave for the late game action. Did anyone catch the San Diego State game at Air Force? Apparently, there was a lengthy weather delay. By the time the game restarted there were less than 100 people remaining to watch in which SDSU eked out a victory after a hard-fought battle. On the Blue in Boise, the Wahoos extracted revenge from the massacre at UVA two years ago at UVA with their own annihilation of the Broncos. In the games we were slated to see, Tulane edged out Army 20 -17 and LSU squeezed one out against the Orange from Cuze 35-26 in Baton Rouge. Bama hung up fiddy nine against Vandy’s goose egg in Music City. In the Dawg fight between the hedges, UGA’s Dawgs chewed up the Dogs from Stark Vegas. TCU Horned Frogs leapt into Stillwater and walked out with a resounding win against the OSU Cow Pokes. In Waco, the #3 ranked Sooners took the lowly Bears lightly and escaped with an ugly win. Baker and the running backs played great nonetheless. The Fighting Irish took it to Sparty in East Lansing. Iowa nearly pulled off another major upset only to lose to Penn State on a last second touchdown. Saquon Barkley is a beast. A much improved Purdue team gave Michigan a game but ultimately fell short. NC State knocks FSU out of the top 20 and the playoff picture with a win in Tally. Out west, UW smoked the Buffaloes from Boulder in a rematch of last year’s P12 ship. UCLA and Josh “Jay Cutler” Rosen lose again at Stanford. The Ducks were shot down in Tempe by the Sun Devils. Frostburg State improved to 4-0 with a win over Rowan.

The DFT East Coast crew at the Navy game.

Eagle Tailgaters invading Clemson for a day in Death Valley

 

The Pifer/Cole Clan pre-gaming at the legendary ESSO club at Clemson

Patti and Brad Phillips supporting the Boilermakers

The conflicted parents at CU v UW game with kids at both schools

Bieber- goes to me and my crew for bailing on a great boy’s weekend in New Orleans. No excuse and we kicked ourselves and felt self-humiliation and shame all weekend over the decision we collectively made Thursday. To add insult to injury, we called out part of our crew last week as Biebers for not joining us in NOLA. We are shamed and hang our heads in disgust. What can we do to shed this horrid label? As of now, we are all looking into the witness protection program so we can avoid the constant insults. We might even be turning into snowflakes.

Next Week – Mrs. Tailgate and I will be hosting a breakfast tailgate at Stanford as the Sun Devils come to town along with Head Devil hisself, Kevin ”OC” O’Connor and his crew.