Week 1 Recap 2010!

What a great start to the season with 78 D-1 games (Yes I know there are only 120 D-1 teams, yet many scheduled Bowl Sub Division opponents or even lesser!) over 5 days. There will never be this many games on a weekend the rest of the Season. Dan's Tailgate wandered no further than the backyard all weekend. Many great games to weigh in on but of note here are a few of my highlights: Utah over Pittsburgh on Thursday night and SC's defense looking like Belgium in WWI & II giving up 600 yards of O and spotting 36 to the rainbow Warriors of Hawaii??? And we would all like to thank Reggie Bush for safe guarding the Heisman statue the last 5 years for Vince Young (He got you again Reg, he was 2nd in voting in 05). Not that I am enjoying watching SC fall on hard times...too much :)

LSU, come on for real? You were lucky to win over a depleted UNC squad..let's pick it up down in the Bayou or Les may be no more there! TCU strong win over a quality Oregon State team. Urban, I believe your chest pains returned watching your Tebowless offense sputter against the mighty Redhawks of Miami, OH. Looks like BAMA amongst others will be eating Gator meat this year. Has Brian Kelly righted the Irish ship? Only time will tell but the Defense does look improved already versus the Weiss era. Good luck on Saturday versus Rich Rod and his band of cry babies. Mark Herzlich, its good to see you back on the gridiron where you belong. BC needs it's leader. Does anyone think Jeremiah Masoli wishes he hadn't been such an idiot in Eugene? When his former teams rolls up 72 points without him against a D-1 team, and his current team loses to a 1 AA school, I think regrets, he has a few...

East Carolina's win over Tulsa may have been one of the most exciting games of the weekend for the 5 people who actually watched it. And Maryland, you were lucky to beat Navy, but nice stick at the goal line to win the game. Last but not least, the Boise/VT game lived up to it's hype as game of the week. Yes Brent Musburger and the rest of the doubters in the East will have to make up excuses for why BSU won and how they don't deserve a shot at the title. Well hey, since I am now part owner of the team (Via my daughter's tuition) I am proud of them winning in a hostile environment 3,000 miles from home. What is a weak schedule anyway? They will play as many ranked teams as most of the power schools from power conferences by years end. So let's see how things play out before we judge.

The Tailgate received an unexpected detour for this Saturday and will be live at the Horseshoe in Columbus, OH for the OSU/Miami game. West Point Rob will be my cohort on this one and possibly the oldest Donnelly, Chuck may be released from the nursing home and make the the 3 hour trek for the weekend. Will send live tweets from the tailgate area and stadium!

Cathedrals Attended for games

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
T Boone Pickens Field - Oklahoma State
North Texas Stadium
The Horseshoe -Ohio State University

On deck for 2010
The Horseshoe - Ohio State University
Boise State
University of Washington
BYU - Lavelle Edwards field
Army -Navy in Philly

2010 Season almost here!

The 2010 season is almost here. Lot's of new faces in new places around the country. I have my oldest daughter heading to Boise State as a Freshman this fall. Will my allegiances be altered? Possibly, but I will never turn my back on the fighting Irish. Riding the Boise bandwagon will be easy as I have been enamored with the smurf turf and have actually rolled around on it like a dog with a back itch.

The Tailgate will view many games from the newly renovated backyard now named Dan's Sports bar and grill equipped with a flat screen, kegerator and a killer sound system. The road show will have me in Boise on October 9th for Parents weekend. The Laurelglen annual tailgate will be October 16 at San Jose State (vs. Boise). The big junket with brother Brian aka "Radio" will be a pre Thanksgiving trifecta. 3 Cities, 3 games, 3 days. UCLA at Washington - Thursday night, Fresno at Boise State - Friday night, then BYU at home Saturday afternoon. We will also catch a local game Saturday after Thanksgiving in the Bay Area (3 to choose from). Last year's junket was equally exciting; Oklahoma State home game, Army at North Texas, Redskins at Dallas, Jim Thorpe House, OU Football Hall of Fame, and last Notre Dame at Stanford. The 2009 season was capped off for me by attending the Emerald Bowl in SFO and the crown jewel of NCAAF...the BCS National Championship between Bama and Texas at the Rose Bow;. Expensive ticket but another bucket list item checked off!

I will try my best to update weekly this year. Feasty John will be providing Tailgate recipes that I will be posting periodically.

Mid Season Review

It does not appear that good things happened for Sammy, Timmy and Colt for spurning the millions the NFL would have awarded them...2 shoulder injuries, a concussion and an inept offense is all they got out of it. To boot, none of them improved their draft positions for next year. Sometimes you have to look at the big picture......very closely and make a tough choice.

So who are the contenders and who are the pretenders at this point? Bama, TCU and Cincy are all playing tough and consistent. I will not be surprised to see Texas, Florida and Iowa each lose a regular season game. Boise will go undefeated but will drop in the polls. Several 1 loss teams will be ahead of them at the end. SC is tough but young, they will lose again. Miami appears to be getting back on track however they will lose again. Lets go around the conferences for trendy picks to be on top at the end of the year:

ACC - Miami
Big East - Cincy
Big 10 - Iowa
Big 12 - OSU
Conference USA - Tulsa
Mid America - CMU
Mountain West - TCU
Pac 10 - Oregon
SEC - Bama
Sun Belt - LMU
WAC - Boise
Indy - Notre Dame

Great games this weekend. Be sure to watch at least 3 or 4 of them!

Week 5

Several really great games last week of note: Notre Dame versus UW featured 2 of the top pro QB prospects in the nation. Yeah that's right, get over it ND haters, Clausen will make a nice paycheck at the next level! The outcome makes the pending SC game that much more interesting. Navy & Ar Force into OT in a battle of the Service Academies. In the late late game if you did not see the Idaho Vandals upset the Colorado State Rams in the Kibbie Dome you missed a great game and a stud QB for I duh Ho! The Badgers and the Gophers in the new "real" stadium in Minnesota. The Spartans laying one on Rich Rod and the wolverines in the battle of Stimulus State. LSU's big win of the Dawgs and Auburn staying perfect for now. Cal, sorry but you suck and you should expect Stanford to whoop you this year. OU, thank you for participating this year, but your season is over. Does anyone think it was a good idea for Bradford, Teabag and the real McCoy to come back this year? It is not looking like it so far. Does Bobby Bowden know what day of the week it is?

The Tailgate enjoyed the games from the famous worn out couch in my family room. After missing the three previous weeks the games were that much more enjoyable.

Radio (Brian)and have the CFB + junket all planned out now:

Colorado @ Oklahoma State Thursday 11/19
Visiting OU, SMU and TCU stadiums on Friday the 11/20 for tours
Army @ North Texas Saturday 11/21
Redskins @ Dallas Sunday 11/22
Notre Dame @ Stanford 11/28

September in the Mirror

I am back on the continent after missing three weeks of college football in Europe. I was able to keep up on scores and managed to watch parts of several games in Amsterdam. So my observations from abroad: Who are the contenders and who are the pretenders? The next two weeks will tell allot. USC/Cal, LSU/GA, Ok/Miami and Notre Dame/UW will all be intriguing match ups on Saturday. We miss you Sam Bradford and get well Tim Tebow. Will Mr. Best be at his best tomorrow? Colt McCoy the Heisman is yours to lose. I actually declined a free ticket to the SC/Cal game due to some scheduling conflicts. The tailgate will be in full action from the couch most of Saturday. Cant wait!!

Here is a tailgating recipe from Feasty John of the world famous Feasty Boys:

Feasty BBQ Bacon Wrapped Shrimp
1 lb. Extra Large Shrimp, peeled/deveined
1 lb . Hickory Smoked Bacon
1 can Water Chesnuts
Old Bay Seasoning
Barbeque Sauce
Toothpicks

Over medium heat, slowly fry bacon to the point it begins to turn brown. Remove from grease and drain on a paper towel. Peel and de-vein shrimp. Wrap each shrimp around a piece of water chestnut and wrap each with a slice of pre-cooked bacon. Secure bacon around shrimp with toothpicks. Place toothpicked shrimp on a plate and liberally sprinkle with Old Bay Seasoning. Top generously with your favorite commercial bbq sauce and allow to rest for 1/2 hour prior to grilling. Grill shrimp over medium high heat or placed in the oven at 400 degrees (no turning necessary) for 10 minutes.

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.