Cheese Curds and Old Fashioneds

 

On Wisconsin!

No college football journey is complete until you have made the pilgrimage to the top rated college town of Madison, WI, home of the Wisconsin Badgers. With the reputation of being a sports crazed, festive hard partying town, it’s easy to see why this is a must go to place. As an added bonus, the Wisconsin Badgers would be playing The Ohio State Buckeyes, the #2 team in the country and ESPN College Game day would broadcast live from Campus. I was joined on the trip by 13 loyal DFTers, consisting of the Dons of Danville, the Byom Crew and Frostburgers. We chose this as the *“Anchor Game” for 2017 because we could also catch a Green Bay Packers game on Sunday at historic Lambeau Field.

*My entire schedule each year starts with setting the Anchor game first.

After arriving at our hotel in Madison, we all assembled around 8:30 PM Friday night for roll call inspection, and an Old Fashioned Brandy Alexander (it’s a Wisconsin thing). Then it was off to see all that Madison AKA Mad Town had to offer. First stop was the famous State Street district for chow at Hop Cat, followed by Paul’s, Genna’s and the Cigar Bar. Next thing you know, the clock struck 3:00 and it was time to go nighty night and prepare for game day as the town was closing down.

 

The evil spirits appeared out of nowhere

Wisconsin has a student population of 42,000 total and sits on an urban campus of approximately 1,000 acres. The Badgers are part of the historic Big Ten Conference (with 14 teams) and play their home games at Camp Randall. Camp Randall was once used as a Military training camp for the Yankees during the “not so Civil” War. It has been around in some form since 1895 and its current capacity is a little over 80,000. The fans are known to be some of the rowdiest (in a good way) in the nation. During the course of the game you will hear all 80,000 sing Build Me Up Buttercup and bounce to the Jump Around prior to the start of the 4^th quarter. 

Saturday morning arrived and only half of our crew made it to College Gameday to raise the DFT banner. The other half was still getting their beauty rest. A subset of our posse was back on State Street at Whiskey Jacks Saloon by noon for cheese curds, old fashioned concoctions and Bloody Marys. What better way to enjoy Wisconsin?

The DFT crew that made Gameday and new friends

 

And those of us that chose other activities

By 4 PM we all reassembled at the Byom Family Tailgate on Regent Street for brats, beer and other food sources and liquid concoctions. In order to get in the full swing of the Big ten atmosphere, the fearless wing of our troupe were attired in red and white striped overalls appearing like creepy clowns. There was even a Drubaca sighting at the tailgate. Regent Street is a scene that is hard to describe without seeing it for yourself. Bar after bar with outdoor beer gardens for a ½ mile leading into the Stadium. Thousands of fans that probably never made it into the game were occupying every safe zone drinking spot one could find. It was reminiscent of Fort Lauderdale circa early 1980s. However this time I did not enter wet t- shirt or belly flop contests, I think. Word of caution, do not walk around town with a roadie, it is a great revenue source for the Po Po.

Tom Byom and Dad

Say Cheeze Curds!

The authorities were on hand at the Tailgate

Camp Randall stadium is an iconic venue right on campus backing up to the old Field House. If you give the Wisconsinites all day to prepare for a night game, you can expect an electrifying experience. The scene getting into the stadium looked like passengers congregating on the deck of the Titanic. Complete chaos. Once inside, we had excellent seats in the lower bowl end zone area. However, one negative for the stadium was that the bathrooms on our level were port a potties with long ques. The Wisconsin Marching Band entertained the crowd pre-game. As the Badgers took the field, Ohio State pulled a Bieberesque move and exited their tunnel at virtually the same time turning cheers into jeers.

Magic Mike, 40 years after playing in the Field House

The Badgers were fired up and up to the task in taking on the mighty Buckeyes. The Badgers scored first on a field goal, followed up by 10 more points to the Buckeyes two field goals. The Badger Defense was as stout as advertised keeping Buckeye All American JT Barrett in check. During the second quarter the whole stadium erupted in song to the tune of Build Me Up Buttercup by the Foundations. It’s amazing how we all thought we knew the words.  Wisconsin Running Back Corey Clement ran at will against the vaunted Ohio State Defense. Just before half, the Badgers scored an apparent touchdown only to have it nullified on a holding call. They settled for a field goal and took a 16- 6 lead into halftime. 

 

Tom giving us some pointers

The halftime performance by the Band was only mediocre as they played songs from the Lion King accompanied by an interpretive dance team. I was really looking forward to one of their patented performances. At the start of the 3^rd quarter the entire student section turned on their phone flash lights and lit up their area of the stadium. Apparently this is another Camp Randall tradition. As the on field action commenced, the momentum began to shift as the deeper Ohio State squad started dictating the offensive flow of the game. By the end of the 3^rd quarter the Buckeyes had scored a touchdown and narrowed the gap to 3 points. And now for the highlight of the night: 80,000 cheese heads doing the Jump Around. It was all that it was built up to be.

The Buckeyes would score 10 more points and the Badgers 7 for a 23- 23 score at the end of regulation. In over time, Ohio State scored first and prevented the Badgers from scoring to eke out a 30-23 win. Another great game with an OT finish for the DFT crew this year. The 5^th quarter Band performance was cancelled due to the Thunder storm that was just beginning as the game ended. Some of us headed back to the hotel like good boys while others continued to visit the sites of Regent and State Street representing the DFT crew strongly. The Mad Town experience ranks up there in my all-time Top 10 College Football weekends. I described it as a city wide tailgate party.

Sunday morning the Griswold family truckster was loaded up and on its way to Green Bay to watch the Packers take on the Cowboys in NFL action. Lambeau field is the only NFL Cathedral that was on my bucket list, thus the DFT crew had to go outside their comfort zone to watch the professionals. We convened at Krohl’s West for pre-game chow, libations and football tossing contests. The stadium was amazing, the Packers were not as they were schooled by rookie sensation Dak Prescott and the Cowboys. Halftime was special as they honored Packer great Brett Favre in the Green Bay ring of honor. They could have used him for the game as Aaron Rogers was not himself.  Final score was Dallas 30, Green Bay 16.

The iconic Lambeau Field

Ospreys flying over Lambeau

 Around the Country – Clemson almost Clemsoned it against a spirited NC State team by luckily making it to OT and winning it. Bama slobber- knocked the overrated Tennessee Vols in Knoxville by a score of 48-10. Oklahoma kept up it’s Big 12 streak by downing the Fighting Bill Snyders of Kansas State. We won’t talk about Notre Dame this week or for the rest of the season. Nebraska improves to 6-0 after fending off a pesky Indiana squad. Can anyone tell me why Ole Miss is still in the top 25 after losing again to a mediocre Arkansas team? Boise State almost let victory evade them as they gave up a huge lead to CSU in the final minutes but held on for a close win.  Did anyone notice that Western Michigan is 7-0 and ranked #20 in the Coaches poll?

 

The Iorios and mates rooting on the Irish

#2 and friends in their sweet suite at OU game

No fireball at the Samford Tailgate

Bieber Award – Our old friend and Bieber HOFer Scam Newton’s post game performance reigned supreme this week. As he did after the Super Bowl press conference, the usually smile happy talkative Scamster went into sulk mode in the post-game presser. Outfitted in his stylish pimp hat with his head down he mumbled one and two word answers to the media as they asked questions. Now where is that million dollar smile and golden personality that you allegedly have Scamster? Perhaps it disappeared along with your on field performance leading last year’s super bowl runner up to a 1-5 start. You can take comfort in the fact that as a Pro you are still not out of contention to periodically win the Bieber award.

Next up – The Tailgate will be taking a respite next weekend being fanned and fed grapes by his adoring family whilst horizontal on the couch.

Happy Tailgating!

Camp Randall all lit up

 

Green Bay Marketing at its best

Ozark Thirty

The Flab Four at Farrells in Fayetteville

It is said that every man has his own Mount Everest to climb. For some it is completing a marathon, triathlon or breaking 70 on a golf course and others may want to visit all 50 states or all seven continents. For me it is to see a game and tailgate at all 128 Division 1A (FBS) venues. On Thursday night in Memphis, I met up with another writer from Stadium Journey who has attended games at 121 of the 128 stadiums. He will only have 3 to go after this season. Thus when I finally summit my Mount Everest, there will be someone there waiting on my arrival. The impressive part of the story is that the writer, Aaron Terry looks to be about 35 years old.

Young Aaron at stadium #121

Upon arriving in Memphis for the bonus game of my trip, I checked into my FEMA camp, uh uh I mean hotel. My initial encounter had me walking through a maze of meth heads and the Orkin bug man. I would be sleeping with my shoes on that night. Off to the Liberty Bowl via Uber to watch the Memphis Tigers take on the Temple Owls in an AAC battle. The main tailgate place outside the stadium is an area called Tiger Lane. For a Thursday night game there appeared to be a decent amount of tailgates up and running but probably nowhere near what it would look like on a Saturday. We were treated to the Sound of the South marching band and cheer squad as the team did their Tiger walk into the Bowl. I also got up close and personal with the live mascot, Tom the Tiger and of course a photo op with the cheerleaders.

 

The Liberty Bowl was constructed in 1965, seats approximately 57,000 fans and sits about 2.5 miles from campus in the south end of town. The North side of the stadium looks like a giant sombrero with luxury suites at the very top. If you get altitude sickness, I would suggest not sitting up there. The Tigers were coming off of one of their best years behind Coach Justin Fuentes and current NFL QB Paxton Lynch. Fuentes has since departed for Virginia Tech but along with AD Tom Bowen laid the groundwork for a successful program. Temple also had a great season last year helping make the AAC a conference to be reckoned with. The Liberty Bowl is one of a handful of college stadiums that serves beer inside. So, it was appropriate for me to get in there as the gates opened so I could properly hydrate on this 90 degree evening. Along with hydrating, they served some pretty decent pulled pork sandwiches at one of the vendor windows. We were treated to the Fedex flyover prior to kickoff.  After meeting up with my fellow writer from Stadium Journey, the National Anthem was played and the teams took the field.  The memo went out that everyone was to wear white in an attempt to pull off a white out. The Sound of the South band belted out song after song with Eye of the Tiger being one of their favorites.

The Liberty Bowl getting fired up

Temple dominated action in the first half taking a 13-3 lead into the locker room. However, the Tigers found their groove in the second half and went on to win 34-27. No Beall St. celebration for me as I had to stay fit for the main event of the weekend, Alabama at Arkansas on Saturday.

Vehicle of the week

I was joined by three of my high school buddies for the weekend: Alabama Al, Tennessee Tony and Maryland Mayer, AKA Feasty John. We rented a killer house in Fayetteville owned by Ryan Hardin who would also be our tailgate host the next day. The house was equipped with several master suites, high tech electronics and a 100 inch projection screen. It was  tempting to not leave the house for the whole weekend. We ventured out Friday night to the famous Herman’s Rib house for some baby back ribs and garlic chicken. Todd Blackledge once featured this place on his Taste of the Town segment on ESPN.  

 

Herman's Rib House

On Saturday, a picturesque Ozark hills, blue sky day, we made our way down to the legendary Dickson Street for a liquid lunch at Farrells. After ensuring the quality of their libations were indeed satisfactory, we linked up with our host Ryan and his tailgate of many near the North end of the stadium. Great BBQ pork and Mac N Cheese amongst other things were the lead punches on the menu. For the first time ever, we were introduced to fireball out of a box, like boxed wine. Mr. Hyde would soon appear and greatly resemble me. I was blown away at the amount of on campus tailgating taking place in all directions of the stadium on the beautiful and hilly campus. 

Planting the flag with our host Ryan and friends

A very serious Alabama Al

Alabama came in to the game as the #1 team in the nation and a heavy favorite. The fans attempted to pull off a stadium striping but didn’t get that quite right. The Arkansas Band was big, loud and awesome as they played song after song throughout the match. Parachutists dove into the stadium to the cheers of hog nation. Our seats were as high as you can get on the Arkansas sideline. Our charming personalities afforded us the opportunity to make many new friends in our section whether they wanted to or not. Donald W. Reynolds Razorback stadium opened in 1938 and after a series of upgrades seats 72,000 fans. The fans are passionate, well informed and courteous. We learned the “Wooooo Pig Sooie” chant when the faithful call out to fire up their beloved Hogs.

God bless America!

It took Alabama very little time to establish their dominance as they outplayed Arky in all facets of the game from the opening kick- off until the game was well in hand through three quarters. IMHO, Alabama and Ohio State are the two deepest most talented teams in the Nation. Although Fayetteville, gave a spirited effort, they were no match for the reigning national champs and head cheese Lil Nicky. Final score Bama 49 – Piglets 30. Back to Dickson street for more revelry. After 23,000 hilly steps on the fit bit we retired to the Hardin house and the 100 inch TV for the late games. We were totally impressed with the whole vibe in Fayetteville for the weekend. This ranks up there as one of DFT’s top CFB weekends.

The majestic Razorback Stadium

Around the Country – In perhaps the biggest upset of the weekend, Navy took down the mighty Houston Cougars in Nap Town in a driving rain storm. Oklahoma pulls off the win over Texas and beleagured coach Charlie “formerly” Strong at the Texas State Fair. In double overtime T Knight and his newly minted biceps knocked off the Tennessee Volunteers 45-38. For once it was Miami’s turn to kick wide right and lose by 1 to Florida State. Look who’s sneaking back up the polls in Blacksburg, VA. The Hokies coached by Justin Fuentes kicked the Tar out of the Heels 34 -3.  Michigan, Ohio State and Washington all rolled to continue their drive to the final four. Stanford, Notre Dame and Oregon continue their respective slides in a disastrous season.

Dr. Natty Bo's Navy Tailgate

Lil Tailgate and her Mates at the Cotton Bowl

Feasty John's gourmet Breakfast

Chef Big Chuck doing his thing at Ravens and Redskins

Tennessee Tony at Battle of Bristol last month

Bieber Award – honors this week go to TCU coach Gary Patterson for sounding off after last week’s loss to Oklahoma.  First it was the referees that didn’t perform according to his standards. Then he went after OU QB Baker Mayfield in a personal attack. Apparently, Gary  did not like it last year when Mayfield stated he was most disappointed in TCU for not offering him a scholarship when they strung him along. The portly purple Patterson disagreed with Bake’s recollection and basically insinuated he was a liar. He said, she said, etc...So Gary, too bad you lost the game, your composure, and probably some more recruits, but you did win Bieber!

Next Week – A large DFT contingent will be invading the state of Wisconsin for the Ohio State game followed by the Cowboys at Green Bay on Sunday. ESPN College Gameday will be in Mad Town Saturday. Look for our banner. This is Anchor Game 2016.

Happy Tailgating