Can you spot me? Just kidding; I've never sat in the student section.
This Saturday might as well be the beginning of the calendar year, for my husband. It’s college football time. Actually, it’s University of Michigan football time.
Early this Saturday, we will wake up, pack up the car with cold beverages, meat and dogs (actual canines, although there might be hot dogs, too), and drive to the city of Ann Arbor. We will do silly things like grill sausages and drink beer before noon. We will throw the football into the street. We will boo people we’ve never met and have no problem with in real life, but who happen to be wearing the wrong colored shirt. We will trash talk. We will reminisce. We will scream at the television.
I was never much of a football fan until I met my husband, whose family is full of rabid fans. His sister has since moved to San Francisco and the first thing she did was scout out the only UM bar in the area. His brother has given himself a maize and blue spiked mohawk. So yeah, you could say they like football occasionally.
It took some time to get used to the football scene. Waking up early just to stand outside? Drinking beer and eating sausage before noon? Football on television for 16 hours? Yes, it’s all happened, and I’ve rolled with the punches. I’ve also done fun things like taunted an Ohio State fan, bartered for beer, and gotten free food because my dog was wearing a UM bandanna. Last year, I missed out on a lot of the excitement because I was training for a marathon and doing my long runs on Saturday mornings. This year, however, I have a stress fracture, so no marathon training for me — it’s been replaced with tailgating, tailgating, and more tailgating.
I’d like to share some tailgating recipes, but honestly, we eat mostly grilled meats and chips on game days. But I can give you some other advice: Bring a cooler. It won’t kill you to bring some healthy food, like veggies; you’ll be eating garbage for most of the day, anyway. Dress for the weather, and bring layers. Don’t plan on doing anything later that night — you’ll be exhausted.
Any other tips you can give to tailgaters, or a favorite recipe?
This post is brought to you by the fine folks at Paragon Apartments, offering apartments across Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky, and the Paragon Patio, where residents connect. We’d love to talk with you on Facebook and Twitter!
Photo by Kristin Lukowski
This post is brought to you by the fine folks at Paragon Apartments, offering apartments across Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky, and the Paragon Patio, where residents connect. We’d love to talk with you on Facebook and Twitter!
I might be in that picture
I’m an ’09 alum.
The good thing is (assuming you’re not sitting in the student section, LOL) you get to sit for the game! In the student section we stand for the whole 3.5 hours!
Now that’s a true fan — standing the whole game!