Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Tale of tailgating

Every time the football team suits up and heads onto Jim Wacker field, it happens. Hours (sometimes days) before games begin, parking lot nomads set up temporary homes and fuel their bodies for the oncoming sporting event (by gorging on beer and food). The name of the game is tailgating, and if you're not at Bobcat Stadium parking lot pre-game, you're not a true football fan.

The Texas State vs. McNeese State matchup featured both usual and unusual sights for a San Marcos game day.

The staples of cops issuing MIPs, drunken barbecue "artists," (whose equally drunk friends ate what can best be described as E. Coli and Salmonella-infested meats) insane lines for the portable toilets and footballs sailing through the air and into crowds of people were all present Saturday.

However, everything was not the same. During my four and a half years as a Bobcat, I have never seen such a presence of a visiting team's fans. The Cowboys' traveling fans were just as visible as the Bobcats', leading to some humorous and sometimes tense showdowns. Both parking lots were near capacity, and the crowd was quenching its thirst (caused by the hellish heat).
Two RVs were parked within 50 feet of each other, and opposing fans drove them. Thankfully, the competition was kept friendly and the pre-game celebrations went off smoothly. I actually had a few interactions with Cowboys fans, and they proved to be polite people.

The game ended up being pretty lopsided, with the Cowboys decimating Texas State in front of the home crowd, 41 — 20. Here's to the next home game, where we all can go out, drink some beer and eat delicious (hopefully fully-cooked) food.

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