30 Things to Do Before I Turn 30

Date of Completion: September 2009

Confession: In my four years as a student at a state university, I had never gone tailgating. Well – I went to a pseudo-tailgate when I was 19, but that hardly counts, because, well, it just doesn’t. It was lame and not fun and I’m pretty sure one of the main components of a successful tailgate is beer, of which we couldn’t have, because we were too young. And, really, if you drink underage at a tailgate, you’re pretty much asking for an MIP. No thanks.

By the time I was old enough to Actually Tailgate, I was too busy to even go to any of the football games. And I moved away and then moved back and every home game, I regretted missing out on this life experience.

Well as it just so happens to turn out, you can tailgate when you’re old too, so all was not lost.

It was everything I’d hoped it would be, and more. Naturally, I couldn’t just “sorta” tailgate – I really tailgated. I drug myself out of bed at 8:30 (on a Saturday! Voluntarily!), which is “late” by morning-game standards, but, well, anything sooner just wasn’t happening. It also just wasn’t any old football game – it was the big in-state rivalry game. This is like, A-game tailgating. It. was. awesome. The thing is, when you suspect your team is probably going to lose anyway, it doesn’t really matter how the game goes… your time is much better spent drinking in the parking lot all afternoon. And, that, my friends, is what I did. I acquired a lot of free beer (which is what happens when you are ticketless and forced to “guard” the cooler while the rest of the gang is in the stadium)…. and I learned to play Flippy Cup* – which, by the by, I am awesome at. Who knew?

*(and no, I didn’t learn in college… I was apparently busy doing other things. Like not tailgating.)

It was a gorgeous day, it was a ton of fun… and while my team did, in fact, lose, it didn’t really matter because it was still an awesome day. I unfortunately was out o’ town for the next few games (yeah, I still live in my college town, WHAT OF IT) so I haven’t been back, but, I’m glad I finally did it, and I will for sure be back.