Week 1 recap

Wow, what an awesome first week of the 2009 College Football season! 5 days of games capped off with a phenomenal offensive battle between FSU (Not Frostburg) and Miami on Monday night.

Welcome back to the gridiron Greg Paulus! Impressive showing after 5 years away. Rich Rod, Charlie Weiss and Lane Kiffin all had critical wins for the embattled coaches association (ECA). Navy, you could have dropped anchor in the horse Shoe but you let one sail away. Many other great games such as Iowa and NIU , OK State putting a whoopin on the dawgs, Colorado/Colorado State and the big BYU upset over OU. Who will shoulder the Sooner load now with slinging Sammy out?

All in all it was a great weekend of football. However, the weekend will mostly be remembered for one ugly incident after the Boise State/Oregon game. Did the punishment fit the crime? Some say yes and some no. WHAT WAS HE THINKING?

The Tailgate traveled to Bezerkley to watch the Terps take on Cal. Pre game festivities were held at Manny's Tap Room (formerly known as Raleigh's) on Telegraph avenue. Wearing Terrapin red, I was only slightly heckled by the Bear Faithful. The game was not suspenseful to say the least.

The Tailgate is heading over to Europe the next three Saturdays to promote American College Football (and for business and leisure with Amy for a week in Italy). Nonetheless, the Tailgate will tune in via ESPN 360 for many of the games.

A "Blount" Instrument - WOW!!!

Cut and paste in your browser

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtPoC8jJzRA

Are you ready for some football!!!

The final countdown has begun....first games will kickoff on Thursday with games each day all the way through Monday....5 days of College Football in a row!!!

In addition to the games mentioned in my last post, I will be attending a game at Fresno State with my daughter on a trip there to look at the school for her. She will learn the art of tailgating with pops.

Some tips for in home tailgating:

Get up early and put on ESPN Game Day ( west coast it is 7 AM!)
Make Sure you down load ESPN 360 on your lap top (Free in most places). This way you can have multiple games going with your prime game on your big screen.
Check this site each week for a Tailgate recipe provided my good friend an TV star Feasty Jon Mayer of the Feasty Boys! And of course an occasional cocktail concoction brought to you by me.
I will periodically set up polls to vote on on this site so stay tuned.
Fire up your grill early and tell your spouse and kids you are busy for the next 15 hours.
Any good pictures from your tailgating activity, send them to me and I will post them.
Make sure you sign up as a Tailgater follower to get these weekly posts.
You can also follow my football tweets and political rants on Twitter at http://twitter.com/danbdonn

Last, get out and see a few games and partake in Tailgating. There is no better way to spend a Saturday in the fall!

I'd like to hear everyone's thoughts on who you are predicting to be in the BCS "Ship" this year.

5 Weeks To Kickoff 09!!!!

The college football season is a mere 5 weeks away! I am in mid season form all ready with summer consumption of BBQ and Beverages. Labor day weekend will find the Tailgate traveling to Bezerkley, CA To cheer on the mighty Terps as they visit Strawberry Canyon. The Tailgate will engage in pre game festivities at Raleigh's on Telegraph Avenue.

The Tailgate will then travel abroad for 3 weeks spreading the proper techniques and attitudes of American tailgating. First stop will be an Amsterdam Coffeehouse...(This may bring a new twist to the Tailgate pre game festivities). Second stop will be day one of Oktoberfest in Munich..I will be holding a class on singing the Notre Dame Fight Song with a remix of Ein Prosit and roll out the barrel. Last stop will be in Venice as I rock a private Gondola on the Grand Canal with stops at the American Sports bars.

The Laurelglen group will be attending it's annual San Jose State Tailgate on October 9th versus the Idaho Vandals. Tailgate starts at noon, keg stands start at 3 PM sharp. No Jaeger bombs!

Radio (Brother Brian) and I are still up in the air for the annual Donnelly brother junket. Stay tuned.

Last live game of the year for the Tailgate will be Notre Dame at Stanford Thanksgiving weekend.

Post Bowl Season

Final Blog of the Season

The Bowl season proved to be as unpredictable as ever. With many teams having five to six weeks off between their last game and the bowl game, you have a box of chocolates. You don’t know what you are going to get. With all my expertise in couch potation (yeah it’s a real word and sounds like what I do) and tailgating I only hit on 50% out of the 34 games…needless to say I did poorly. You have some teams ecstatic that they made any bowl and they play the role of world beaters. And others who are pissed off they didn’t get a BCS game or the BCS “Ship” game and show up in body only and lay the proverbial turd on the field. All that being said, there were a few gems. The Fiesta Bowl turned out to be one of the better games as Colt McCoy led another heroic drive to beat the snake bitten BCS buckeyes. TCU over Boise proved to be a great match that showcased two teams better than half of the BCS teams, the Ship game was interesting for 3 quarters. Rose Bowl…snoozer, . Big 12 defense was exposed in several key matchups. Still think Sam Bradford is the real deal. Three good quarters can’t be erased entirely by 1 poor play call by Stoops and I bobbled pass for an INT. No, he looked composed against the best speed in the country. Good choice for Heisman, great pro! Good bye to Mr. Stafford and Know Show Moreno from Ugaland, Graham Harrell, Pat White, LB(0-3 in bcs) Lauranitis, Mark “You are not ready for the NFL” Sanchez, Jeremy Maclin and Michael Crabtree as well. We will see all of you on Sundays. Would also like to say goodbye to Todd Reesing, Nate Longshore and Chase Daniels…have a great career in the CFL!

Can’t wait for next year. Bradford, Tebow, Colt McCoy, and Gerald McCoy already announced they are coming back. Radio and I will be seeking a Mountain West triple header if the stars align. Planning on the Buckeye/Navy matchup at the Horseshoe in September. Just got a tour last week from the head groundskeeper (he was no Carl Spackler)at UT Austin…very impressive facility. They are adding 10,000 seats in the south end zone as we speak. Would love to see a game there someday.

Post Bowl Season

Final Blog of the Season

The Bowl season proved to be as unpredictable as ever. With many teams having five to six weeks off between their last game and the bowl game, you have a box of chocolates. You don’t know what you are going to get. With all my expertise in couch potation (yeah it’s a real word and sounds like what I do) and tailgating I only hit on 50% out of the 34 games…needless to say I did poorly. You have some teams ecstatic that they made any bowl and they play the role of world beaters. And others who are pissed off they didn’t get a BCS game or the BCS “Ship” game and show up in body only and lay the proverbial turd on the field. All that being said, there were a few gems. The Fiesta Bowl turned out to be one of the better games as Colt McCoy led another heroic drive to beat the snake bitten BCS buckeyes. TCU over Boise proved to be a great match that showcased two teams better than half of the BCS teams, the Ship game was interesting for 3 quarters. Rose Bowl…snoozer, . Big 12 defense was exposed in several key matchups. Still think Sam Bradford is the real deal. Three good quarters can’t be erased entirely by 1 poor play call by Stoops and I bobbled pass for an INT. No, he looked composed against the best speed in the country. Good choice for Heisman, great pro! Good bye to Mr. Stafford and Know Show Moreno from Ugaland, Graham Harrell, Pat White, LB(0-3 in bcs) Lauranitis, Mark “You are not ready for the NFL” Sanchez, Jeremy Maclin and Michael Crabtree as well. We will see all of you on Sundays. Would also like to say goodbye to Todd Reesing, Nate Longshore and Chase Daniels…have a great career in the CFL!

Can’t wait for next year. Bradford, Tebow, Colt McCoy, and Gerald McCoy already announced they are coming back. Radio and I will be seeking a Mountain West triple header if the stars align. Planning on the Buckeye/Navy matchup at the Horseshoe in September. Just got a tour last week from the head groundskeeper (he was no Carl Spackler)at UT Austin…very impressive facility. They are adding 10,000 seats in the south end zone as we speak. Would love to see a game there someday.

Final Week of the Season

Bye Bye Ball St. and David Letterman...Coach price can still be heard saying "Roll tide roll!" more like roll over and submit to the more game gators and Tim teabag...Sam Bradford may be the best college quarterback ever....Did the BCS get it right this year for the title game? Sorry Trojan fans, not PAC 10's year...what the hell is Ohio State doing in another BCS game? Go Horns...from the great classic movie Dumb and Dumber one Horn fan can be heard saying " Kick his ass Seabass!!" And so Ohio State will embarrass the Buckeye state once again.....In perhaps the best game of the day, most of us were asleep when the mighty Bearcats of Cincy mounted a big 4th quarter comeback and knocked off the the long hairs of Hawaii....Why is Charlie Weiss still employed?

So the BCS is all set, make sure to sign up for my Yahoo College Bowl Pickem in the lower left.

Out! Dan from the tailgate

Week 15

The Tailgate was in late season form watching the action from the comfort of my couch..The OU/OSU Bedlam proved worthy of it's hyped billing as two potent offenses shot it out for supremacy of the great state of Oklahoma ....as Coach Gundy was heard after the game yelling at Reporters, "Hell I am a man, pick on me I scored forty (one)!!!!....So long Charlie "Front Butt" Weiss from the Irish faithful...it was nice knowing you...not really..now somebody please wake those damn echoes! Oregon helps clear up the Rose bowl picture with a emphatic butt thumping of the "quizless" beavers... good thing we don't have college players shooting themselves in the thigh...oops sorry if I offended all 2 of you U of Miami grads...by the way nice finish against the pack...the bees stung the dawg "tween the hedges" (overrated) and Boise makes a strong case for a BCS bowl (Please Ohio State has shown what they do in BCS games lately, no more)

Next week...last week of the regular season tune in for the Army/Navy battle and the SEC and Big 12 ships! In my humble opinion (IMHO) the ACC and Big East do not deserve auto births to the BCS bowls...what's that? Yes Coach Mora, we know, we heard you two weeks ago...Playoffs... The Mountain West has 2 teams that can play with anyone this year.

Out for now!

Cathedrals Attended for games

Criteria for a great stadium:

• On Campus
• Outdoor
• Natural grass
• Good tailgating or pre-game festivities

Criteria for a sub par stadium:

• Not on or near Campus
• Shared with an NFL Team
  
• Dome
• Track around the field
  
• Turf
• No tailgating

Cathedrals I have attended over the years

Byrd Stadium, University of Maryland
Mountaineer Field, University of West Virginia
Owen Field, Oklahoma University
Skelly Stadium, Tulsa University
Bobby Dodd Stadium, Georgia Tech
College football Kickoff classic 1991 - Meadowlands PSU v Ga Tech
Memorial Stadium, University of California
Stanford Stadium, Stanford (old & New)
The Rose Bowl, UCLA
Falcon Field, Air Force Academy
War Memorial Stadium, University of Wyoming
Sonny Lubick Field, Colorado State University
Bulldog Stadium, Fresno State
Spartan Stadium, San Jose State
Notre Dame Stadium
The Big House, University of Michigan
The Rubber Bowl, Akron
Death valley -Tiger Stadium - LSU

On deck for 2009
The Horseshoe at The Ohio State University

Week 14 Recap (Blowout Saturday)

Another amazing week of College football! Amazing in the way that most of the anticipated match ups were blowouts. The exceptions were Ball St. staying undefeated by eeking out a win over CMOOOOOOOOOO...does anyone really care or even notice? And in the game of the day on Saturday Wisconsin needing 2 OT's to beat Appalachian State....I mean the mighty Mustangs of Cal Poly (Neighbor Dru's Alma Matter). Utah beats BYU soundly in the holy war to secure a BCS bowl. Notre Dame is HUMILIATED by one of the worst teams in college football....the AXE returns to its rightful place in strawberry canyon...my friends in the bayou were outflanked by the Rebs....Wasu wins the basket of rotten apples... Maryland lays a turtle egg against San Quentin U...Joe Pa bites a rose stem....and oh yeah the much anticipated match up of the 2 best offenses in the country turned into a one sided good ole fashion Red State drubbing in Norman. Does OU move up to #2? No other movement in the top 10 this week...Check out the new poll on BCS vs. Playoffs on the left sid eof the page..

The tailgate traveled to Raleighs (Highly recommend for game day festivities)on Telegraph Ave in Bezerkeley serving outstanding bloody's, Guiness and pub grub...followed by the big game in Strawberry Canyon. Aside from threating to decapitate a "little man" on the BART, it was a relatively mild day.

Out Dan!