An epic season by all accounts for the DFT Nation. Let’s
take a peak back at a year that consisted of tailgating, sailgating,
railgating, failgating, a shootout and a weekend trifecta in an RV. My season kicked off in the dust at San Jose
State in week zero with friends from Danville. Labor Day weekend was the RV extravaganza
hosted by Cousin Eddie with stops in Bloomington, Dekalb and Iowa City. Only a
fool would continue a season of tailgating after that outing. Lucky for you
all, I am just that fool. A game at Cal Berkley with Mrs. Tailgate against
Weber State was the low-key outing required after Labor Day. The following
weekend had me connecting with my brother Brian for a stop in Athens Ohio to
watch the Bobcats dismantle Kansas followed by an evening game at Marshall
University. The next three weekends were spent at Cal, Stanford and San Jose
State with family and friends. Mid October had me officially attending the “Red
River Shootout” at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas between OU and Texas with #2 and
her Sooner crew. A weekend off was followed by the incredible “Sailgating”
experience at the University of Washington with the Dons of Danville and the
Snowflake Brigade. Another weekend of recharging was in store as it was
followed by “Railgating” with my high school crew and the Deutchkis on a
Cockaboose at the University of South Carolina.
As the end of the season was nearing, we landed in
Sacramento for the Causeway Classic between Sac State and UC Davis for an
amazing FCS contest. Mrs. Tailgate and I celebrated our anniversary in San
Diego by watching the Aztecs destroy New Mexico at The Murph. On December 8,
with over 100 family and friends in attendance, we braved the snowy elements of
Philadelphia to watch one of the most exciting Army Navy games in recent
history. The annual trip to Santa Clara for the Foster Farms Bowl was followed
by perhaps the most exciting Rose bowl of all time as we sadly watched our
Oklahoma Sooners go down in defeat at the paws of the Georgia Bulldogs. Season
over for us.
·
17 D1 A games attended
·
1 D1 AA game
·
9 new cathedrals added to the quest (I still
have many more to hit)
·
6 JV High School games
·
1 Varsity High School game
DFTer of the year goes to Mrs. Tailgate as she attended a
record 6 games with me. She even improved her in-game questions and commentary
to sound slightly knowledgeable.
Enjoy the brief slide show:
We also launched a new business called Tailgate connect, a
service that connects visiting tailgaters with host tailgates. We will need all
of your help in getting the word out before next season as we are seeking more
hosts and more guests: https://www.tailgateconnect.com/
Congratulations to the Dynasty that is the Alabama Crimson
Tide for winning another FBS Natty by taking down the Dawgs in a thriller in
Atlanta.
Next year’s planned
road trips:
·
Labor Day Trifecta at Purdue, Illinois and TBD
·
Kansas & Kansas State or Minnesota and Saint
John’s double header.
·
Utah State Thursday night game
·
Ohio State at Penn State
·
Columbia Home game with the Donnelly Brothers in
honor of our Dad
·
Texas A&M at Mississippi State
·
South Carolina at Florida
·
Army v Navy
·
National Championship game in Santa Clara
Final Bieber –
STOP TRYING TO MAKE DILLY DILLY HAPPEN! It aint happening. It’s stupid. It’s
weak. It’s annoying and I am going to make the next person who sez it or writes
it a Bieber HOFer. Got it? You have all been warned!
In recognition of the passing of the late great Keith
Jackson, I will sign off with his words:
Goodbye to all of you, God bless and good night!
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