Fall Means Football and Football Means Tailgating
A few years ago, I decided to join a fantasy football league so that I would be more interested while watching the football games that my husband loves to watch on Sunday. But, another big draw for me with football is the tailgating tradition. According to the Sacramento Bee’s Gwen Schoen, tailgate parties are taking on a life of their own.
Gone are the days of a little Weber Grill and some hot dogs. According to Schoen, these days tailgaters bring generators to power their blenders and flat screen televisions. The grills are still there, but people have, as Emeril would say, kicked it up a notch: “everywhere you look, smoking grills are loaded with fare that ranges from stuffed portobello mushrooms and prawns to carne asada, hot wings and a tri-tip so big it takes two people to flip it over.”
The creativity of some people never cease to amaze me. Like these folks, for example:
“We always theme our meat depending on who the Niners are playing,” says Darroll Newton of Scotts Valley. Newton has had season tickets for 26 years. “We do Philly cheese steaks when we’re playing Philadelphia, jambalaya when we play New Orleans and chicken when we play the Seahawks. Today? Ram (lamb) chops, of course.”
At a typical 49ers game, 75 percent of the 7,000 cars in the parking lot are tailgating. To encourage this community of the faithful, the 49ers awards a “tailgater-of-the-game flag” for tailgaters to fly over their party. Surprisingly, the 49ers say that despite all the beer and cocktails consumed, problems are rare:
“They are all very respectful of the ritual,” he says. “About the biggest problem that ever comes up is an errant pass that hits someone’s hamburger. And even if that happens, everyone jumps up and offers a replacement.
You can even find tailgating recipe critiques on www.tailgating.com, run by Joe Cahn, who travels around the country visiting tailgating parties with his cat. And I go to work every day? Where did I go wrong? Cahn offers some insight that only a professional tailgater could:
“The most over-the-top, decadent tailgate party I’ve ever seen was at a USC game,” Cahn says. “These folks pulled up in a big Mercedes. They set up an elaborate table of food and had a string quartet playing the fight song while they ate dinner.”
The most unusual tailgate party he’s ever attended was a wedding before a Bills game in Buffalo.
“How smart is that?” Cahn asks. “You’ve got all your friends there, you don’t have to worry about parking and you save a ton of money on the reception because everyone shares their food.”
Since the 49ers are in San Francisco, someone has to make sourdough bread, right? One fan has been using the same sourdough starter since 1994. Sourdough bowls are also used to hold dips for these fans. Other dishes prepared include teriyaki steak, shrimp scampi, carne asada, and, of course, the traditional burgers and hot links. Wanna meet me there?
