Minnesota 11.10.12

Solitude.....
Just a man and his thoughts.

For a while this Saturday, I was Creepy Old Guy in a short bus parked in a college stadium parking lot without a friend in the world.

But that changed:

 Tagged on the fraternity's Dad's Day tailgate 'till some pals from home showed up.  Turned out to be a pretty good sized little get-together.

 

 I take full credit for the turnout.

 

This was a nice touch.  Well done Paul.

 

Thanks to the House for making me (and all the real Dads) feel welcome.  Too bad that putrid team on the field can't have the same execution.  Looking forward to the last game of the year this weekend and the cold months of bitching before the eternal optimism sets in again next August.  Will we ever learn?

 



Homecoming 10.27.12

Homecoming ain't what it used to be. 

The tailgating scene was deader than our football team's chances of a bowl game.  Standard crew on a chilly day in late October.  Still wouldn't trade it for anything.

Chilly 2 year old in a Yak Hat.

Did have a gent stop by in the middle of reliving his glory years of playing trombone for the Marching Illini.  Ahhhh Homecoming.  He was kind enough to let the kids contaminate his horn. 

 

The product on the field is miserable.  Better writers than me have provided full autopsy of this team, so I'll just simply say that I miss the excitement, the buzz, the electricity of both the tailgating and the football when this team is good (or even mediocre).  For better or for worse, I am an absolute die hard and its tough to get up early and wrangle the family down there for these.  

Penn State 09.29.12

Big tailgate crowd today.  Great weather - lots of kids (and Sam) playing better football in the lot than we saw on the field - to be sure.

 Finally had a decent crowd.

 

 Chow time.

 

We don't do a whole lot, do we?

 

After that performance, gotta wonder 'bout the rest of this season.  And now, three crappy BigTen teams at home the rest of the year.  Hope the weather holds and we get some folks down for these games.  Plenty of good seats available.....



La Tech 09.22.12

Exciting night game in Champaign against a team we ought to beat with our dominant defense. 

Just Tam and I today. Rolling with the Reesers.
Smoked a turkey breast in my 7 hours of tailgaiting and had a ball.

Good looking tailgate decor.

 

 

Ouch.  Got drilled.  Don't like to leave early, but that was horrible and the incessant bitching by those old turds in our section drives me absolutely nuts.  I told Scotty "I can be home by midnight if we leave now".  I was right...  Well, I would've been had I not stopped at Buffalo Wild Wings to watch real football.  I was home by 2.



Charleston Southern 09.15.12

Ah, got taken to the woodshed in Tempe, but hey - just a hiccup.  New coach, gonna take a little time to iron out the wrinkles.  Got some injuries, just need to get healthy.  Great time for Charleston Southern.  Crush them, and the season is back on track.....

Brought the whole clan on a beautiful day in Champaign.

 Chill'n at the tailgate.

 Morgan and Marty

Might not have the "spirit" thing down, quite yet.

Western Michigan 09.01.12

Optimism...

Had some brake work done on the 'ole shortbus over the summer.  Found a new mechanic that not only seems to know what he's doing, but with whom I can communicate sans translator.  Approaching the 2012 shortbus season with great optimism.

We've got a new coach with a plan.  Got some veteran talent on both sides of the ball.  Approaching the football season full of renewed optimism.

But then...

Got a call 44 hours before kickoff that the bus had a flat tire.  Oh, and we're supposed to get 5-6 inches of rain in Champaign on Saturday. 

The fellas at Goodyear on Neil St. in Champaign were a God-send.  Got me fixed up by 8:20 AM and I didn't miss a beat..... until about half way from the TI to the lot.  Had a gasoline smell and engine seems to need fuel.  Hmmmmmm

Bit of a leak.  Sorry for the stink nice family we pulled up next to.  And thank you for not smoking.

And my genius tent idea was, well, stupid.  Not a great start to the tailgating season.

But we won the game and ole' Jer fixed me up after the game.  $10 for a new fuel filter and we were back in the groove.  Bus fixed.  1-0.  Plenty of optimism.

Welcome Coach Beckman!

Ruh-ro!

2011 Season Re-cap

Well. 
I got busy and simply didn't post last season. 

I set this blog up for the sole purpose of sharing pictures of the bus project.  I can't believe that was four years ago.  That was interesting.  My thoughts on Illini football are not.  If you want to read about the Illini, go here:  www.alioneye.com.  That's really all ya need.  Atta boy Bobby!

But, Illini FB tailgating is my most favoritist hobby and I think I may feel bad if my stupid little blog ended with a silly picture of Zook.  Although that post was pretty prophetic, huh?    I just need to make sure the bar is set sufficiently low that I don't feel bad if it's 6 posts full of pictures of kids with grown men drinking in the background.  I guess it got me this far.

So let's re-cap last year with the help of the stat book:

• Arkansas State:  Had bus trouble all summer, but got it fixed up for the opener.  Our offense looked good - we have good receivers.  We might not suck.
• South Dakota State:  My son thought it was funny that we played the Jackrabbits.  We looked really good.  We don't suck.
• Arizona State - Top tailgate of the season - huge turnout.  Stuck around and pretended it was 1993 that night.  We didn't have Blue Guys in 1993.  I still have a headache. We won a game we normally lose.  We might be ok.
• Western Michigan - too close for comfort- a harbinger of things to come.
• Northwestern - this game was fun.  I share Robert's distaste for all thing's Fitzgerald and I enjoyed this.  Holy crap - we may be good.
• Ohio State - What's that noise?  Oh, I think a wheel fell off.
• Michigan - There went another.
• Wisconsin - Season in full free-fall, we had a very nice tailgate with some new friends from Madison.  In full disclosure, I also matriculated (they teach those words there) at UW, so I donned the red and white for this one, in protest.  2nd best tailgate of the season.  The UW shortbus parked next to us.  They outdrank us - to be sure.  But nobody from my tailgate passed out in his own vomit.  I'm not sure any of them didn't.

If I took any pictures, they aren't good enough to warrant me trying to find them and/or they could be used in a custody hearing, so this little recap will have to do.  I closed the book on the 2011 season a long time ago - we'll not dwell on it here.

For this season.  Hmmm.  Again, if you're looking for real analysis, go see Bobby's blog.  My gut says we go 6-6 and we have some great tailgates this year.  Please join us.