Dan From The Tailgate

 

Zero Week Special Edition

 

I know I said I would not write again until after Labor Day, but I am so excited to have college football back, I couldn’t wait.

 First of all, I would like to thank Tailgater Magazine for including me as one of the four national judges to rank the top 25 college tailgates. Additionally, they gave me my own section featuring my personal top 25 with the criteria I use to rate a great tailgating scene. Here is the link, and be sure to sign up for this great magazine as there are informative articles and amazing products featured!

 https://cloud.3dissue.com/96043/96462/113567/TailgaterFall2021/index.html 

 The Tailgate was back for the first time since Thanksgiving weekend of 2019. We reemerged on the familiar confines of the south campus of San Jose State in the Spartan Village for an incredible afternoon of tailgating with the usual lineup of suspects from Danville. The tents were erected, the new DFT Blackstone grill (courtesy of Heavens Hill Distillery) was fired up, the inaugural appearance of the Bumper Bar (https://www.bumperbar.com/) was laid out and stocked, games were staged and music was played. 

 

Mike working the Bumper Bar

Braving the hot temperatures and the smokey air, 25 strong from Danville gathered for a celebration of freedom, fun, friendship and football (The 4 Fs of tailgating). The menu was incredible with all parties contributing to the spread: bacon wrapped, cheese-stuffed jalapeno poppers, pulled pork sandwiches, sausage and peppers, Italian meatballs, pasta salad, deviled eggs, brownies, chips and other assortments of sweet ‘n salty snacks. The new hit drink from the bar yesterday was a peanut butter whiskey car bomb. We had several, and it was so delicious it tasted like a dessert. Fireball is now being mothballed at my tailgates and replaced with this new delicious creation. This is not blasphemy, this is growth! We had a great group of tailgaters, including my grandson, Maclan, who at nine months enjoyed his first Tailgate like a Boss! We were also visited by scavengers who we shooed off as they tried to snag free grub and booze. Lastly, we were treated to a private performance by the marching band, cheerleaders and dance team.

 We raffled off two Tailgate Connect ® t-shirts, raising $250 that will be donated to the Sentinels of Freedom Foundation (SoF) (https://sentinelsoffreedom.org/). SoF raises money for severely wounded Veterans to continue their education. It is an incredible organization based in Danville, CA, and is also the winner of this week’s GINGER AWARD for all they do for our veterans.

 

My Grandson Maclan enjoying his first Tailgate Toast with the fellas

Lil Mac getting attention from the ladies!

Our Queen Kim and her court, Dan Luciano n Lil Mac, Brett Farve with his winning shirt

One of them did have a hangover on Sunday!

San Jose State meets Boise State!

Spawns of Lou throwing down with the 2 Mikes and Flake!

Who's yo daddy?

CEFCU Spartan stadium is in the third year of a massive renovation. The East side of the field is barren of bleachers and is essentially a dirt lot right now. The North end zone unveiled a brand new plaza deck and grand jumbotron. This will be a spectacular venue when the final nail is hammered in 2023. The reigning Mountain West Champs of San Jose State hosted a gritty Southern Utah Thunderbird team out of the FCS. The game was basically over as soon as it started as the veteran spartan team led by future NFLer QB Nick Starckle scored early and often taking a 21-0 first quarter lead. Starckle would end up with 394 yards passing, 4 TDs and 1 rushing TD as the Spartans scored a 45-14 victory in front of 16,200 pumped up fans.

 

CEFCU Stadium construction underway

The crew was well primed for the game!

Around the country - As there were only a handful of games in what has now become known as Zero Week, the recap will be brief. We saw Curley from the Three Stooges (AKA Brett Bielema) coach the Fighting Illini to a victory over Scott Frost and the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Danville’s own Jake Haener QBd the Fresno State Bulldogs to a trouncing over the Huskies from UCAN’t. UCLA put up impressive numbers over the Rainbow Warriors from Hawaii as they prepare to host the mighty LSU Tigers next week. 

Hey Mo!!

 Bieber Award -

Co-winners this week go to me and my Wingman for the ride to and from the stadium, Mikey Rabago. The menu I mentioned above was missing one main protein that I was responsible for. I cooked up 120 Old Bay chicken wings Saturday morning, put them in covered foiled pans, and stuck them in the refrigerator. I proceeded to load the F150 with all the gear for a successful tailgate, putting check marks on my OCD list. Fast forward to 3:15 p.m. where we now have the Tailgate set up when I finally realized I left the fowl appendages right where I last mentioned them above: 40 miles away in my refrigerator doing us no good for the day. Mrs. Tailgate also slaved away all morning on her world-renowned deviled eggs. They were put in a covered pan, laid flat in a cooler bag and placed on the floor of my truck. Upon arriving at the tailgate dropoff point, Mikey in his eagerness to help unload the thousand pounds of gear, grabbed the cooler bag,turned it vertical and carried it to our tailgate spot. Upon opening the bag and removing the lid, the formerly beautiful deviled eggs looked more like the aftermath of a natural disaster. So, the two of us get to share the joy of the season’s first Bieber hardware.

 Next up - Week one has me linking up with my annual Labor Day Co-pilot Tubby Devine. Due to Hurricane Ida, we called an audible and canceled our trip to Tulane and Florida and will be attending games at Kansas and Mizzou this weekend.

 

 

Happy Tailgating!