Week 6 - The calm before the storm

With Mother Billy and his son Joey in town we patronized the incomparable grounds of San Jose State once more. Since Tailgating has been relegated to a John Steinbeck like dust bowl with only a few hardy fans partaking, we opted to pre-game at Stanley’s sports bar across from the stadium.  A brilliant blue California sky and the golden hills of San Jose formed the perfect backdrop for yet another late afternoon picturesque South Bay game. The Spartans would take on their in-state rival from the (559) Central Valley, the Fresno Bulldogs.  Two of CFB’s bottom dwellers put on an entertaining contest that kept us in the stadium until late in the fourth quarter. Although San Jose woke up and played a spirited second half, they fell to the Jeff Tedford led Dogs 27-10. The halftime show had the Spartan band dressed in hippy attire performing a tribute to the counter culture movement in California from the 1960s.

Around the country - I have begun filing the paperwork for my #2 to leave the plains of Oklahoma after the Sooner's demise against the Cyclones Saturday. I am looking into Alabama and Clemson as my top two choices. She has let me down for the last time. In Annapolis, the mighty Midshipmen won a thriller in the last seconds against the Falcons from Air Force Academy. It was reported that not one person was caught kneeling in the stadium during the National Anthem. In Ann Arbor in front of 112,000 fans, Harbaugh stained his mom pants once again by being bested by the Spartans from East Lansing. On Thursday night, NC State knocked out Louisville from ACC title contention and Lamar from repeating as the Heisman winner. Coach Ogre got back on the winning track with the Bayou Bengals taking a bite out of the Florida Gators. Coach O was part of a hit song last week after his LSU team lost to Troy. Take a listen and enjoy:

In Fort Worth, the Horned Frogs shot down the Mountaineers by 7 points in a hard fought contest. Down South Beach way, the Hurricanes chopped down the Seminoles 24-20. The Crimson Tide had their hands full in College Station but were able to leave victorious. Bryce Love and the Stannerd Cardinal continued their winning ways in the Wasatch range by taking down the Utes. In FCS news, My Dad’s Columbia Lions improved to 4-0 for the first time since Christ was a Corporal. I would be remiss in my duties if I did not mention that the Monte Vista High School Junior Varsity advanced to 5-0 by winning their homecoming game against Dougherty Valley.

 

The Rogers Clan at Kentucky and the Maddalons in Boulder

The Millings and friends in Jordan Hare

Carlucci Jr and Pals in Miami and the Deutchkis at South Carolina

The Donnelly siblings and friends in Annapolis

The Bodners at College Gameday in Fort Worth

Bieber – I have bit my tongue long enough on this one, but the “Idiot Brother” Mike Stoops, Oklahoma’s Defenseless Coordinator takes this week’s accolades. Now with the air cover of brother Bob gone, “Screaming Mike” has been left to his own devices, and let’s just say they aren’t functioning correctly. It was bad enough two weeks ago when the Sooners gave up 500 yards to lowly Baylor and almost lost. Now with the loss to the Cyclones, Magic Mike has been exposed like a flasher on the world stage. His pass defense schemes look like something out of Pop Warner at best as his DB’s get burned more times than 2 AM toast at a Waffle House. As Mike’s men continue to get embarrassed on the field, he proceeds to scream the entire time in his coach’s box from up above. If you don’t prepare your troops for battle before the action occurs, you have no right to scream at your soldiers. To add insult to injury, OU kept him instead of Brent Venables, Clemson’s DC and the best one in the country. Screaming Mike, you will lose your position but you have new Bieber hardware to scream at.

Next Week – “The Tailgate will take its talents to the Cotton Bowl” for the Red River shootout. This will be the first of three road games in a row and four out of the next five weeks. The Tailgate is tanned, rested and ready for the challenge.

Happy Tailgating!

Week 5 - Down on "The Farm"

The first couple of Tailgate on another romantic date

A third of the season is already over and I just completed my 9th Division 1A game of the year not to mention 4 high school JV games! So much for dialing it back like I planned. Mrs. Tailgate and I loaded up the F150 (Ford Tough) and headed over to “The Farm” in Palo Alto, AKA Stanford University. This was her third game this season with me, so I am clearly racking up some serious hall passage. It was a beautiful California early autumn day with blue skies and temps in the high 70s.  We linked up for the tailgate with Kevin and Beth O’Connor of ASU Sun Devil fame and their friends Billy, Kathy and Brittany Roberts. Bloody Marys were mixed and Mrs. Tailgate made “man candy”, beef smokies, wrapped in bacon, caramelized in a brown sugar glaze. Brats, brew and other treats were served up as well. Beer imbibing contests were held live on Facebook for pure entertainment purposes. The Tailgater Dish was up and running as we watched other live action on the tele. Of course, no tailgate is complete without that parting shot of Fireball. 

Fun down on the Farm

Kickoff was 1 PM pacific so onward into Stanford Stadium we went. As is typical at Stanford when they play someone other than Notre Dame or USC, the crowd was paltry. No excuse when you have a good program, a beautiful campus for tailgating and an outstanding stadium. Regardless, we witnessed one of the best single game efforts by a running back as Stanford’s Bryce Love ran like Forest Gump over ASU over and over again. He set a Stanford record with 301 yards rushing. The game was competitive but Stanford controlled the tempo and were never really threatened. Stanford emerged as the victor with a score of 34-24. We did have to endure the joke of a so-called band during their geek infused halftime non-performance along with their insensitive mascot, the Tree. Personally, I was triggered by the mascot as they are clearly disrespecting trees. These are living creatures for crying out loud! I expect better from the smart people of Stanford to not be so politically incorrect! 

Some people refuse to grow up

Around the country – Perhaps the biggest upset of the year so far was witnessing the mighty Men of Troy (Not USC, really Troy University) take down the Tigers at Death Valley in Baton Rouge. Couldn’t really understand the mumbling of Coach O’s baritone musings in his post-game presser this week. See more below in the award section on this. Staying in the SEC, Bama punished another victim for the second week in a row showing they are one of the nation’s best teams. Georgia looks to be for real as they hung 41 on the Vols in Knoxville who responded with zip, zero, nada, nothing. Butchy boy is in deep caca. Bama has their toughest challenger in the SEC West just down the road and in state at Auburn where the Cats whipped the Dogs from Mississippi State 49-10. Out west on Friday night in the Palouse, we saw Mike the Pirate Leach take down the other mighty Men of Troy (not from Troy, but from USC) 30-27.  In the battle of two of the best group of 5 teams, the Aztecs of  San Diego State bested the Huskies from Northern Illinois. In the Big 12 Oklahoma State bounced back from last week’s loss to TCU by outgunning the Red Raiders in Lubbock. In the Big 10, Wisconsin outsmarted the Nerdwestern Wildcats with a 9-point win. However, I lost an expensive bet as the Badgers did not cover the spread. Michigan State might be back as they took down a tough Hawkeye team in East Lansing. In the game of the week in Blacksburg, VA, the Sandman did not fully enter the venue as Clemson looked strong in taking down the Hokies. Nonetheless, the atmosphere was electric and the “Enter Sandman” tradition was epic.

DFTers Brian and Laurie and friends at ECU v USF game

John "legend" Deutchki having a happy moment in happy valley

Cowboy Chris Peters rooting on the Pokes in Lubbock.

Bieber – LSU gets consideration for paying Troy one meeeeeelion dollars as a guarantee game and losing. However, as a Veteran with many family members who served in combat, I am disheartened by what several players on New Mexico did. New Mexico was hosting the Air Force Academy Saturday night. The young men and women from AFA will go on to put their lives on the line after they graduate. Apparently, the New Mexico team captain had the bright idea to play “me too” along with a few other morons and drop to a knee during the anthem. We won’t get into the overall debate about the why’s of this protest, however I will state strongly that the “where” was the absolute wrong place to do it. You knuckleheads did this as the Cadets in fatigues and players in uniform stood saluting or holding their hands over their hearts. Real nice gratitude to these future patriots. What are you going to do for your country? Join Antifa and live in your parent’s basements when you don’t make the NFL? Whatever your grievance is, what you just did is inconceivable to me. Karma in the form of me is coming to watch you play in 3 weeks. I will be easy to spot in the stands as I plan on being vocal and I know your numbers. Oh, I will also be at your game in San Diego in November. Last time I checked there are a lot of active duty and retired Military personnel in the 619. I will be sure to let them know you are coming.

Next week will be my third week in a row in the Bay Area as I will be joined by mother Billy at the San Jose State Fresno game.

Happy Tailgating!

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.