Tailgate update
- Business delivered the Tailgate to the
Great Salt Lake State, the land of Big Love and the Angel “Boney” Maroni affording me the opportunity to have multiple wives,……..errrrr I mean
multiple games in a 24 hour span. Realistically, most of us can barely handle
one wife, why would you want to be nagged at by more than that? In all
seriousness, the Mormons are a very good group of folks that show respect to other
people and the game of college football. I am just not very well versed in
political correctness. Joining me Thursday night was UCLA Alum, Touchdown Tailgate
Tony at the Yard (http://tonyattheyard.blogspot.com/) for the Bruins versus The Utah Utes matchup in
Salt Lake City. You ask what in the hell is a Ute? Let Vinny answer that for you:
Pre game festivities for the Tailgate
were a first for me as we participated in a dash – gate, where all necessary
elements of a tailgate are placed on the dashboard of your rental car. With
hail and snowflakes falling we pulled into our parking stall and were joined by
James son. James son provided the necessary warmth and comfort one would need
to brave the elements that were in the air for the evening. With lots of laughs
and TUI (Tailgating Under the Influence) dialing colleagues and friends, it was
reminiscent of our High School days of cruising and boozing from the cozy
confines of our automobile. Except we were parked and not operating a vehicle
under the influence. We did get the opportunity to wander through the
designated Tailgate Party lot and let me tell you, although limited in size the
Ute Nation was partaking in traditional Tailgate rituals and were quite
spirited and amped up for the big match.
 |
| Dashgating |
 |
| Fired up at the fire truck. |
Rice Eccles Stadium on the Campus of
the University of Utah was built in 1998 and has a capacity of 45,000. The
stadium was sold out and the Ute Faithful were pulling a blackout wearing all
blacks. Our seats were in the sliver of the UCLA section in the far southwest
sideline. The freak winter storm blew in just for us and made the playing
conditions a little rough for the California boys. Many were saying that the Prophet Joseph Smith
had ordered up the wind and the rain to give his descendants a slight edge. Snow
dusting the Wasatch range, the cold temperatures, the wind, and periodic
drizzle would surely favor the homeboyz. The fan base was loud and passionate
about their Utes. The student section, 6,000 strong known as MUSS (Mighty Utah
Student Section) were eager in anticipation of an upset win. The match was
tight throughout with neither team truly establishing themselves offensively. The Utah QB Travis Wilson threw a horrendous six
picks (not pick six) and the UCLA star QB Brett “Hot Rod” Hundley was not in
Heisman throwing form either. With 3:30 to go in the game, Hundley ran it in
from the 35 for a UCLA 10 point lead. Utah closed the gap with a field goal and
nearly tied the game with a catch just outside the pylon in the end zone. Final
score UCLA 34 -27.
 |
| Tony Soprano and Pauley Walnuts |
|
 |
| The black out at Rice Eccles |
On Friday afternoon, I was scheduled
to make the solo trek up to Logan, UT to watch the host Utah State Aggies take
on perennial in state rival BYU. This would be another Tailgate first going
solo to a game. Unfortunately, this blogger woke up with the sniffles and
called an audible and flew back home Friday afternoon. Yes, I can hear the
chatter now from the DFT audience, and well deserved I must concede. The
deciding factor was that the next two weekends are too important to me to be on
the IR and void the Clemson and Ole Miss home games due to my sniffles. So, I
went home to Tailgate HQ and ordered chicken soup from Mrs. Tailgate and slipped
into my Snuggie to wrap up in on the couch and act like a pathetic man with a
cold. It was a good game to miss as BYU lambasted the Aggies and knocked their
talented QB Chucky Keeton out for the season.
 |
| Me on Friday |
Saturday morning, now feeling remarkably
better, I veered over to the People’s Republic of Bezerkeley with K Squared and “Downtown”
Gil Brown for a Deck Gate at the Paragon club of the historic Claremont Hotel
to enjoy a few pre game IVs and vitamins. I think Lovey and Thurston Howell III
and Mitt and Anne Romney were at the table next to us. I am told I don’t always
have to be Danimal From the Tailgate, and partaking in more refined outings is
good for my well roundedness. The view from the deck of the Paragon spanning
the San Francisco Bay was spectacular with temps in the mid 70’s and not a
cloud in the sky. People travel from around the world to get this postcard
picture. This is highly recommended for a pre-game option at a Cal game. In
fact, we were enjoying our festivities so much we missed the first
quarter.
 |
| Lovey and Thurston being seated |
|
 |
| What game? |
|
The Cal bears were hosting the much
improved Wazoo Cougars from the Palouse of Eastern Washington. It has been
reported that Coach Leach is not allowed to have an equipment shed near the
practice facilities for “teaching purposes”. Craig James should be quite
smitten with that 411. Memorial stadium
was at 60% capacity as students and alumni chose to be elsewhere on this Chamber
of Commerce day in in the Bay Area. We opted to not sit on the sunny side of
the stadium in our assigned seats and poached more choice seats on the West
side in the shade. The Cougs Junior QB Connor Halliday and Cal True Freshman QB
Jarred Goff threw for almost ¾ of a mile
in an offensive explosion. Cal’s Hardy
Nickerson Jr. seemed to make every defensive play for the Bears in an otherwise
lackluster performance. Cal’s youth, injuries and lack of effort led to another
disappointing loss for the Bears as the Cougs left the PRB with a 42 – 22 win.
 |
| Cal Memorial half empty. |
Around the Country: Now there is nothing funny in the eyes of the Bama faithful about starting
DB Ha- Ha Clinton Dix (real name) being suspended for accepting a loan over the
summer from a strength coach. However, I find his name hilarious and he joins
my all name team along with Munchie, Barkavious, Baccari, Rantavious, Pig and
Pork Chop, and the 300 guys named Shack playing CFB. In a live look in at this
week’s soap opera As the Longhorns
Turn, Mack gets help from the zebras in Ames to keep his job, his Bestie
and boss, AD Deloss Dodds announces he is resigning leaving Mack with no backup,
Earl “skoal brother” Campbell sez Mack must go and former Texas great James
Street heads for the big stockade in the sky. ESPN College Gameday nestled
itself on the picturesque lake front Evanston, IL campus of Northwestern, Just
a mere 10 miles from the murder capital of the world. Well-deserved for NW, as
Coach Fitzgerald does things right much like Coaches Shaw at Stanford and
Franklin at Vanderbilt. These are all highly prestigious academic institutions
that are playing incredible football at the highest level even with their
strict academic entrance requirements. The game of the week on the high turf in
Evanston lived up to its billing. The smarty cats had the Buckeyes on the ropes
throughout the game only to lose in the end by a final of 40 - 30. However, the final 6 points scored by Urban’s
boyz were on the last play of the game and were only to satisfy the odds makers
in Vegas who had the Buckeyes by double digits. Stanford - Washington was an
epic match of two West Coast heavyweights punching and counter punching all night with the Cardinal being 3 points
better. Is the SEC having a down year? You tell me. With lowly Tennessee and
Pig Williams wearing their smoky gray unis nearly knocking off the mighty
Georgia Bull Dawgs, one must question the legitimacy of their claim to the top conference
title. After all didn’t that Duck team from the inferior Pac 12 put up 60 on
Rocky Top? Didn’t Clemson from the dreadful ACC knock off the Dawgs when they
were ‘fully healthy”? Inferior Miami chomping down on the Mighty Gators? Now to
my SEC friends, don’t go all Fienbaum on me and declare jihad and have me
checking the under carriage of my car with a mirror each morning. It is a
legitimate question. This writer tends to think that the top 4 teams of the PAC
12 and ACC are every bit as good as the top SEC teams at this point. Please comment below with your thoughts.
Another misguided Irishman Kevin O’Connor came out on the wrong side of a bet with
me when his Sun Devils flamed out against the Fighting Irish in Jerry World in
the Big D. The other game in Dallas with the Brother’s Manor in attendance had
Rutgers pulling out a triple OT win over the SMU Stangs. Randy Edsall proved
that you need more than good politician hair to win against the Seminoles. Losing
to Famous Jameis and the Noles is no dishonor. Losing 63 - 0 when you are a top 25 team is an
absolute disgrace! Recall Edsall now. Never mind, the Ford Motor Company already
did that in 59 with their Edsel. I have to give props to Al Golden and the
Canes for knocking off a good Georgia Tech team yesterday and going 5 - 0 for
the first time since they took those fancy escort cruises with Nevin Shapiro
aka “Captain Stubing” and the boyz last decade. Boomer Sooner kissed the Horn
Frogs goodbye in Norman going to 5-0 and OK State gets back on track with a
narrow win over K State in Stillwater. In the Military Academies, Navy sinks
Air Force in Annapolis and Army is outgunned by BC in Chestnut Hill. No
flyovers due to sequestration but it is comforting to know that Congress and the
Senate keep their pensions intact. In Grand Rapids Michigan, Grand Valley State
trounces Michigan Tech 49 - 3. Why did I post that random score you ask? Sis
and her brats cooked some braaaaaaats and had a family tailgate at GVSU. Two of
her little tailgaters attended these two schools.
 |
| Brainwashing is a crime |
|
 |
| The Dork and the Doak at SMU. |
|
 |
| Sis and her lil tailgaters |
This week’s Beiber Award - Beiber at
the wall, I need not say anything. Just watch and enjoy.
R Lee Ermey Rant of the week “Backs
against the wall”
Commentary – Declaring
a National Champion
One of the obstacles that defenders
of the status quo will throw at you when you state you want to get rid of the
current bowl system or the hybrid +1 for next year is that it is tradition.
They believe that a National Champion was always decided after New Year’s Day
prior to the BCS “Shamogarchy”. Well they are just plain dead wrong and ill informed.
Prior to 1965, all National Champions were determined by the competing AP &
UPI polls after the regular season. The
Bowls including the then Big Four of the Rose, Sugar, Cotton and Orange were
more ceremonial and celebratory to reward teams for having a good season. They
did not determine the subjective crowning of a National champion. Yes, there
were some obscure math systems that waited until after the Bowls to coronate
their Kings, but they were not viewed as legitimate. In 1965 the AP (Associated
Press) poll voted after the bowls crowning Alabama while the UPI (Coaches)
voted at the close of the regular season tapping Michigan State and Bubba Smith
as their Champ. The AP went back to the old way for 2 years until 1968 when
they permanently went with a post Bowl game decision. The UPI finally got on
board in 1974 and waited until after New Year’s day to pull their dangling
chads for a tally. So from 1974 until 1995 when the BCS was rolled out, you had
your post Bowl Game champions decided. Hell
I have been around a lot longer than 20 years,
which is a mere cow’s belch in a stockyard in the big scheme of Father
Time.
After the BCS was created there still
was no single BCS Championship game. For the first 12 years, on a rotating
basis one of the four BCS Bowl venues (Rose, Sugar, Orange and Fiesta) would
get the Championship game. They would
not have a separate bowl on top of that as it is today. It was not until 2007
when the current system went into place. So hopefully, the investigative reporting
from the crack DFT team has enlightened you and will allow you to think a
little differently.
Next weekend the Tailgate will be in
Clemson South Carolina joining the Matriarch of the Tailgate family Patricia,
BC Barney, Brother Brian and BC Pops and his crew for the BC- Clemson game. The
Tailgate is very much looking forward to this experience as Death Valley, SC
has been on the bucket list for a long time.
Happy tailgating !
POINT COUNTER POINT!!!
FLAME
OUT? I think not. The Sun Devils put on a very entertaining show at the
Jerry Dome and had they not come out in the 3rd quarter failing to
compete with the Frightin Irish they would have won the game. The
statistics favored the Devils as they outgained the Irish 427-424. While
Captain Tailgate was getting over his "sniffles" Lot 11 in Jerryville
was packed with hardy ASU Alums, battling the 52 degree mist outside the
spaceship built by Jerry (and I suspect Sir Richard Branson). We
enjoyed Texas sized staples of "Babes" Fried Chicken, Frito Pies, and
lots of Shiner Bock (thats manly beer for the Californians that have
never enjoyed real beer). Joining us at our tailgate was non other than
the self proclaimed "Mayor" of Casa Grande Arizona, Barrister Red
Fitzgibbons and his son that could be John Belushi's twin. We also were
treated to a visit by some strange looking Leprechauns appeared to have a
wee bit of a crush on my nephews.
The
Mayor has offered to host a tailgate at Sun Devil stadium next season.
Perhaps November 8th, 2014 when the Sun Devils will get their revenge
against the Irish?
Once
inside the "toasty" Jerry Dome, we were treated to a terrific game by
both the Irish and the Sun Devils. The game was
back and forth until Notre Dame's Dan Fox picked off an ill advised
Taylor Kelly pass from deep in Sun Devil territory putting the Irish up
by 10 with 1:08 to go. Any of you that have not been to AT&T stadium
should get there at least once. It is truly an amazing place to watch a
ballgame. As for the Sun Devil fans, we will be ready for Notre Dame
next year and perhaps after that DFT will put the Sun Devils into the
"vote for your favorite team" along with the mighty Frostburg
State.....WHAT????
Kevin O'Connor
