THINK about it, Keith. A. Leon Polhill, Gator Friends are the family that we choose for ourselves.
________________________________ From: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> To: gatortalk googlegroups <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, October 25, 2009 10:27:45 AM Subject: [gatortalk] RE: [gatornews] The Assault on Tailgating Silly me. All I was worried about is the media blackout. Oh that's right. The NFL did that a long time ago. Now they are trying to cut out everything else they can't charge for. -------- Original Message -------- >Subject: [gatornews] The Assault on Tailgating >From: Helen Huntley <[email protected]> >Date: Sun, October 25, 2009 9:16 am >To: [email protected] > >________________________________ By Rick Reilly >ESPN The Magazine > > > >Outside Soldier Field in Chicago, Bears fans are being forced out of the >parking lot after kickoff. This column appears in the Nov. 2 issue of ESPN The >Magazine. >Of all the gates -- Watergate, Monicagate, Spygate -- there is only one gate >this country can be proud of: the tailgate. >A parking-lot spiral, a cheese brat whispering sweet nitrates and a decent >ticket in your pocket. Buddy, that's more American than deficits. So why is >America trying to kill tailgating? >Look around: Outside Soldier Field -- home of the Chicago Bears -- fans are >getting kicked out of the parking lot once the game starts. Heresy! A lot of >Bears fans can't afford tickets ($245 for a nosebleed), but they love pulling >into the south lot (for which they pay $46), opening up the camper van, >putting one satellite dish on the tailgate and one on the roof and living and >dying for their Bears. Tailgaiting is a tradition that's been in place for 90 >years, and now it's forbidden? Why don't they just clean our Weber grills with >the American flag! >In Arizona, the Cardinals did the same thing. And this coming off a Super Bowl >year! These are Cards fans who stuck with a toothless team through a barren >21-year wasteland until it finally made the Super Bowl last season. Now >they're getting the bum's rush? Blasphemy! And the Cards have banned postgame >tailgating, too. So waiting in lawn chairs by your car with your friends while >the traffic clears is now forbidden. Get in line and waste gas like everybody >else! >Grab a spatula and rise up! >This crap is going on everywhere. In Dallas, the Cowboys moved tailgaters to >the far back outreaches of their lots. What are we, contagious? This kills one >of the most fun tailgating traditions of all: mooching. Get an outlying >parking spot and wander through tailgaters on the way to your gate. If you're >not offered a brew, a burger or a brownie in the first 100 yards, you need to >try smiling. >But it's in the state of Michigan that tailgating is dying the fastest. >Imagine! The state where the first tailgate came off the assembly line! >What they're doing at Central Michigan should be investigated by Congress. >Tailgategate. The geniuses there banned external sound systems. What? Think >about our lives. It's just us at the computer. Just us and our CrackBerries. >Tailgating is one of the few experiences we have together. We listen to the >game together. We sing Queen together. On one set of speakers! >Worse, CMU isn't letting any cars leave the parking lot until the third >quarter. Reduces congestion, the school says. Isn't that kidnapping? >Terrified mom: "Please let me go! My baby's climbed out onto the roof of my >house!" >Cop: "Sorry, ma'am. Still 1:48 left in the half." >At Western Michigan, tailgating is permitted to begin no earlier than three >hours before the game and must end at kickoff. Hell, I know guys who need that >much time to set up their radar ranges -- forget moving the Barcalounger out >of the truck. >Not only that, but vehicles that take up two parking spots aren't allowed at >WMU either. No Winnebagos? No Airstreams? What is this, Sweden? >The bosses will tell you it has to do with curbing alcohol-fueled rowdies >inside the stadium. But a guy can sit in a bar 100 yards away and drink enough >to drown a Carnival cruise ship, and they don't stop that. If it's drinking >you want to stop, have a guy with a Breathalyzer at every gate. If a fan blows >more than .08, he doesn't get to enter. >These are families getting screwed here. >If you've ever loved the smell of chili and exhaust together, if you've ever >worn a beer helmet, if you've ever made a diving catch onto the hood of a >Buick, grab a spatula and rise up! Lock yourself in your Explorer! Grill up >liver and send it to the university dean until he relents just from the smell! >Because if you let them take your Winnebagos now, they will take your cornhole >game next. If you let them take your sound systems now, they will take your >football-field green shag next. If you let them take your tailgate party now, >they will take your political party next. >It's already working at CMU. The students were so torqued off at these >jackbooted rules that they formed a committee, protested to officials and got >the idiotic speakers rule reversed. Solidarity! >I saw the wimps and the lawyers and the insurance companies kill dodgeball and >diving boards, but I never thought they'd get tailgating. >Over my cold, dead kielbasa. > >> > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions 2008 National Football Champions | Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
