National Tailgating Day (It was the first Saturday of September, a day I will always remember.)

Too much burnt orange can cause CTE

To finish off my whirlwind 12-day adventure consisting of tailgating, football, family and work, I landed in Austin, Texas on 9/7 to celebrate National Tailgating Day. My “side hustle” (as my #1 daughter calls it) Tailgate Connect®, in conjunction with Horn–Ball Tailgate, reached out to Luke Lorick from Tailgating Challenge (Http://www.tailgating-challenge.com) on a grand idea we had. Luke is also the founder of National Tailgating Day and happens to live a mere two hours from Austin. So, with that in mind we invited Luke to join us for the Tailgate of the year in Austin as the ESPN College Gameday crew and the LSU Tigers were invading the city of electric scooters that weekend. Ryan Lepper, the proprietor of the notorious Horn-Ball tailgate was expecting a record crowd for this epic matchup. His expectations were exceeded as everything truly is bigger in Texas.

Guess who's name is Sketchy?

Despite the 103 degree heat with high humidity, the crowd at the tailgate was epic, breaking all attendance records for Horn-Ball. Ryan telecasted the event to all the Twin Peaks restaurants in the Austin area. Luke and his side kick “Sketchy”(love that name) grabbed the mic and set up a few drinking games and awarded the winners with some amazing tailgating related products including a Tailgate Connect package for two to a Texas tailgate in the future. A great mix of LSU and Long Horn fans filled the massive tents creating a sea of purple and burnt orange. One of our hosts from LSU, USMC James Roy and his crew were in attendance as well. Last I saw James, he was feeding from the ice luge. The famed Austin Anthony Felder spun the discs (well, not really actually spinning anymore), the beer and cocktails flowed and the food from Blue Top food truck consisting of brisket and fried shrimp tacos, boudin, jambalaya, catfish and sausages were served at a record pace. I was their personal taste tester throughout the day. Games were played and the infamous ice luge races were run all day. Twin Peaks girls served up shots of Fireball and the envious walked by the affair and wished they could partake. Tailgate Connect hired two San Antonio Spurs Dancers to be our Game Day Ambassadors and sign people up on the street while wearing our logo’d tank tops. I had prior approval from Mrs. Tailgate as she is all about the Benjamíns! In all, Horn-Ball Tailgate set a record with over 3,000 guests. Tailgate Connect also enjoyed its largest ticket sales to date. After a day of too much fun, I departed Austin. 

Texas Rose and Boots, Tailgate Connect has come a long way and the chug off

Tia Maria's salsa up but ...horns still down!

Opting not to pay the hijacked rates for the  LSU/UT game, I instead headed 30 miles south to San Marcos, TX to watch the Wyoming Cowboys take on the Texas State Bobcats. Another new venue checked off the list as Texas State only became D1 A within the last five years after being a D1 AA power for a number of years. The problem with my goal of going to a game at all D1 A stadiums is that they keep moving the goalposts back. When I started, the number was 117 schools. That number has now swelled to 130. It would be like the summit of Mount Everest growing another 1,000 feet after you started the climb. Regardless, Bobcat Stadium is a great recently refurbished stadium that seats around 30,000.  However, it was less than half full as I am sure many people stayed home to watch the Texas/LSU game on TV.  The concession stands served legit brisket, pulled pork and smoked sausage on a stick. As far as traditions go, when the song the Eyes of Texas was played by the band, after the word Texas, the crowd in unison yelled STATE.  Also, there was some sort of an attempt of a Texas yell that sounded more like an ISIS jihad calling. 

Taking in the sights and sounds of Bobcat Stadium

Wyoming coming off a major upset of Mizou the previous week were the heavy favorites. The Bobcats dominated the first half action while leading 14-10 going into halftime. the Cowboys coming down from the high altitude in Laramie found their sea legs and the second half by shutting Texas State down and scoring 13 more points themselves. Final score Wyoming 23, TX State 14. I returned home this AM on a 0600 flight from San Antonio. My dog was at least glad to see me.

Around the Country – The battle in Austin lived up to its hype and Lee Corso’s prediction of a Tiger triumph would come to fruition. Despite Sam Ehlingher throwing for 400 yards, the Longhorn defense had no answer for the Tiger offense and their trio of receivers and stud QB Joe Burrow. All right all right all right! 

This kid will be bullied for the rest of the second grade!

In the much-anticipated rematch of last year’s battle in College Station, the Texas A&M Aggies traveled to Death Valley, SC to face the #1 ranked Clemson Tigers. The final score of 24-10 for Clemson was not indicative of the sound beating imposed upon the Aggies. In what would have been the second biggest upset in Big House history, the Army Black Knights took the Michigan Wolverines to double OT before finally succumbing to them. You could hear Harbaugh’s sigh of relief all the way in Columbus, OH. In a classic Big 8 battle (See who get’s that one) Colorado out pointed the resurgent Nebraska Cornhuskers in Boulder. But why rush the field when you beat Nebraska, the 2019 edition? Is Maryland back after scoring more points in their first 2 games than probably all games combined last year? With a resounding thumping of Syracuse yesterday, will the Turtles be taken seriously this year. And dare I ask if USC has found their next great QB after storming back last night to thoroughly dominate Stanford in a 45-20 win? Also, in the PAC 12, the conference’s hope of a college football playoff may have been already placed in jeopardy as 14^th ranked UW lost to Cal by 1 in Seattle. Utah remains as it’s only hope if they can run the table. 

Bieber Award – I know he is in the NFL and not relevant to college football (he did play at Central Michigan though), but how can I ignore the drama that is Antonio Brown? I will be short in my recap. First of all, he burned all bridges to Pittsburgh with his shenanigans there last year and his bad mouthing of anyone and everyone in the Steelers organization. Then he comes to the Oakland Raiders amidst much fanfare. By the start of training camp, it was determined he could not play because he had essentially burned the bottom of his feet off in an Austin Powers Cryogenics machine in France over the summer. Once his feet healed, he then used the excuse of not wanting to adhere to the NFL’s assigned helmets which were created to mitigate severe head trauma. His Divaness demanded that he wear his tried and true favorite helmet from his days gone by or he wasn’t playing. Raiders GM Mike Mayock finally tiring of his delay tactics and Snowflake mentality, decided to fine him in a private manner. AB as he is known, which I think stands for Ass Backwards, decided to take the letter showing his fine and post it on social media and bitch about it. After this failed attempt to get the public on his side, it was rumored he would finally be suspended, and we were all pleased with the decision. However, super douche Agent Dru Rosenhaus intervened and got AB unsuspended and indicated all was good and he would allegedly play Monday night. No apology from AB. Only a clearly scripted statement he mumbled in an indiscernible language saying he was looking forward to rejoining his teammates. The next thing we know, the Raiders cut AB Saturday morning after having enough of his distractions. Sure enough, the Bill Belicheck Outward Bound Program in New England signed him to a one-year deal so he could hang with the NFL’s other poster boy Josh Gordon. Along with your fine, stupidity, firing and selfishness MR. AB, you have some nice Bieber hardware to comfort you for the rest of your life.  And please stop texting me to hang out and get to work, would ya?


Ginger Award (Badass) – As I mentioned last week, I attended the Collision Course Crew tailgate prior to the Louisville v Notre Dame game. After the haze of the moonshine has finally worn off, I have retraced my steps and pieced my memory back together. I got to meet and spend a good amount of time with one of the founders of Collision Course, Craig Pennington. A mere two weeks prior, Craig lost his wife Sallie to a 14-year battle with that awful cancer. She was 44 years young. There was a memorial board for Sallie inside the trailer with pictures of her, full of life and smiling. Sallie too had been a very big part of the Collision Crew Tailgate. Craig, knowing Sallie wanted him to be at the tailgate and to live his life to its fullest, braved the situation and joined his brethren and many friends to celebrate Sallie and kick off the season. Clearly a very difficult day for Craig, he stood tall like a man and greeted guests and did his best to enjoy the moment. As difficult as the situation was, all his friends would not have wanted it any other way and needed Craig there. For that my new friend, you are this week’s awardee of our heralded Ginger award, that goes to someone for doing something extremely badass, courageous or brave. You checked off all three boxes. Continued prayers for you brother.


Next Week – We will be heading South on Interstate 5 to Pasadena to host a sold-out tailgate and watch the Oklahoma Sooners take on the UCLA Bruins. If you didn’t buy a ticket to the tailgate you can either stand 20 yards away from us and watch us have fun or donate a half a keg for entry. You know who I am talking to. Otherwise, keep moving. We have a bartender, a Deep Eddy bar and ample vodkas, kegs and other spirits, a Chef with an incredible menu, a J Riley Bourbon Distillery pouring bourbons, a ton of tailgate games, Satellite TV theater, raffling off prizes and a tailgate King and Queen award. We have tailgate hosts all over the country in both college and the NFL so go to www.tailgateconnect.com and sign up. If you are on my blog distribution list, use the code FFAN for a discount. Get off the couch and live the tailgating life friends!

Happy Tailgating!