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2008 Newsletters: tOSU Homecoming for the Holidays Beaver-Fest BWW08 Dirty Alumni Tailgating Newsletter Volume V Issue 4 Mini Buckeye Blast10-25-2008![]()
Official quote:
"We can't win awards every time we go out"The Knoxville chapter of the Penn State Alumni association got tickets for the Penn State at Ohio State game this year as part of the ticket lottery. Because I read the email from our chapter president, I was able to get a handful of tickets. The first thing I did was to call Mandy. It made her day to find out that I could get her tickets. I also talked to a coworker, Ohio State Rob, and asked if he wanted to go. He also had family in Columbus, so this gave us a place to stay. He also offered to drive, which was awesome, since I had driven to State College the week before. It was time to take our show on the road. Friday's departure from Knoxville was stormy for all but half an hour. We finally arrived in Columbus amidst a continuing downpour and decided to stay in for the evening. SaturdayMandy and Lisa got to the lot first and saved us a spot. The morning was still very overcast, but dry. Rob, Pete and I had to do a little bit of shopping in the morning, as the rain the night before slowed our travel. Our day started at just before 9. We parked near the Fawcett Center, which was the home of the alumni association tent. Our mini tailgate consisted of two cars, the award winning BBQ grill and the small Penn State table and a few chairs. After last week's award winning tailgate, it was nice to relax a little bit. The sun even broke through the clouds. OSU Rob and Pete headed over to the St. John's center to check out ESPN College Gameday. It was already packed by the time they got there. Carter got into town about 1000 and the parking attendants wouldn't let him into our lot. I met him on the street and we waited to get into the next open lot. The parking lot attendants are just as disorganize and rude as the day lot attendants at Penn State. It's nice to know that things are the same everywhere. I helped Carter carry his stuff over to our mini tailgate. After we arrived, I grilled some bratwurst and heated up some chili on the award winning grill.
We decided to take a walk around to visit the RV lot across the seat. It was surprising to see so many empty spaces for such a big game. But we were welcomed in to the few tailgates that we stopped at. We visited a RV that was painted by the art department with green carpeting throughout. We also visited a customized decked-out conversion van pulling a custom trailer. The van had leather seats and 4 LCD TV's, including one that was visible through an acrylic panel on the outside. I talked with the owner for a bit. He said that their tailgate was known for its Margaritas. When we head back to our tailgate, we were joined by Matt and his uncle. Rob's friend Cramer and his wife stopped by to max out our headcount at 10. Next, we made the short walk to the alumni tent to get fired up for the game. As we were waiting near the entrance to the tent, our small pep band began to form up. The first bass drummer seemed a bit different. He was Penn State President, Graham Spanier. The pep band played, PJ Maierhoffer twirled, the cheerleaders lead some cheers. We grabbed some pom-poms and buttons and headed into the stadium. An OSU alum at the tailgate next to us suggested getting to our seats early to watch the band. We crossed the Olentangy and headed towards the horseshoe as the sun continued its decent below the horizon. The crowds teamed with Red. We made our way through the stadium to find our seats in the upper deck north end zone. The stadium feels much smaller than it should be for the 3rd largest stadium the country (just behind Michigan at 102,329 seats). The band played and honored OSU's homecoming court. Once the game began, it was quickly shown that this game would be a defensive struggle. Neither team managed to get it in the end zone in the first half as the ball moved back and forth near the middle of the field. Penn State was first to take the board with the field goal, but Ohio was able to answer back before half time. During halftime, we were entertained by the OSU band as they performed the script "Ohio" formation.
Ohio made another field goal to take the lead. Kevin Kelly's kick was wide right to the dismay of Penn State fans. The game changed when Mark Rubin forced an OSU fumble the ball on their 38 yard line. Penn State began driving with the ball and a face-mask penalty helped seal Ohio State's fate. Penn State drove in for the touchdown and our fans went wild. Ohio State threatened to tie the game up on their last drive, but an interception by PSU in the end zone was all that was needed to end the game. Final score Penn State 13, Ohio State 6. Our fans stayed, sang, cheered and generally lingered around the stadium to soak in the victory. It was our first victory in Ohio Stadium since 1978. We slowly made our way down to the lower level, were the fans had congregated to watch Game Day. Matt, who had sat in a different section, met us there. Our fans cheered "put the helmet on" to Lee Corso, who had predicted an OSU victory earlier in the day. We cheered and song for about an hour after the game was over. When Corso finally put on the PSU helmet, we left for our tailgate. Once back at our tailgate, the traffic was still bumper to bumper. We pulled out the award winning grill and had some more bratwurst with blue ketchup. It was about 1:30 AM before the traffic cleared and we headed home. Overall, the OSU fans were much better than I had expected. While there was some normal amount of heckling, no one was utterly disrespectful, vulgar or wanted to fight. Many OSU fans said that they're now rooting for us to win it all. For the Glory,
Post-game thoughts:I don't know if y'all heard, or if they mentioned on TV, but apparently, we had a miniature S-zone in the 'shoe' on Saturday. It was just above where I was sitting. I am delighted that I went to a school that can plan and execute like this.
This game was also the largest crowd in Ohio Stadium history at 105,711. http://www.blackshoediaries.com/2008/10/28/647090/it-wouldn’t-have-been-an-i Awesome, -Rob Dirty Alumni Tailgating Newsletter Volume V Issue 3 Homecoming for the holidays10-18-2008![]()
Official quote:
"Ohmygoodness We FINALLY Won!"After a very successful and award winning Oregon St Tailgate, it was time to win some more awards. The planning for this tailgate went back a long way. Friday:Team TN showed up at noon and Chad, Dave, and Chris had already parked the campers. We had an excellent spot in the 4th row in the overnight RV lot. By the time we got there, everybody scurried out to empty the truck bed, 2 wagon-fulls of additional stuff. We are not here to make friends. Tim grilled some striped bass while everyone was setting up. The kitchen was organized "island style". Several grills were in a semi-circle for easy access. Everyone was excited to see all the new toys from the Coleman competition. Madeline and Suzanne showed up and the beginnings for tomorrow's competition were set up. This included several chandeliers and the living room area was designated from the buffet area. A few beers were enjoyed as more people showed up. After much of the set up was complete, it was time to go to Shortlidge Ave to watch the parade.
Corey noticed that most of the parade vehicles were Ford Trucks. Some of the fan favorite floats included: Super Mario, Scooby Doo and the Octocycle. The Blue Band surprised everyone by not appearing towards the end, not their usual time in the parade. Some band members approached us playing their instruments and Rich even got a great video. After the parade, some of us had a quick bite for dinner at VNS Sandwiches. After dinner, Chad and Rob went back to the campers to turn on the heat and to let Mocha out. The others headed to the Gaff. Later, Chad and Rob met up with the crew at the Gaff, but not much was remembered, except for several Yager Bombs….which means a good time must have been had by all. Florida/Maryland Chad even made an appearance. On the way home, a pit stop was made at the pig statue for some "extreme PBR" pictures where one injury was sustained… Saturday:Everyone woke up around 8 and Madeline and Suzanne showed up to finish preparing decorations for the competition. Chris grilled up breakfast which consisted of sausage, bacon French toast sticks and pancakes. The new Coleman oven was used to make southern-style Food City Biscuits! Throughout the morning, Carter worked on the audio and video set up. There was Christmas music playing during the morning and a projection screen for game time. The competition was approaching so the entire team worked fast and furious to get the area ready for the judging. Even as we were setting up, we were already drawing a lot of attention and second glances. I guess that will happen when you see Santa, stocking, and Christmas trees in October. Dena arrived with a "fireplace mural" scene to cover up the Scamper and finish the living room.
The first set of canopies had a homemade Penn State Santa made by Nancy. A decorated tailgating wagon held the donations for Toys for Tots. Several fans not affiliated with the tailgate went downtown to buy toys and contribute, as well as over $100.00 in monetary donations. Back to the canopies…The two on the left were set up as the "living room" area with a Penn State rug, a white Christmas tree and blue lights. The tree was decorated in various ornaments, mostly hand-painted in blue and white by Madeline and Suzanne. These included ones with the Nittany Lion and ones made to resemble footballs. A table in the middle was reserved for desserts, including a cupcake tree, a gingerbread party RV, rum balls and much more. The two new Coleman chairs and decorative topiaries surrounding the stuffed Nittany Lion warming by the Dena's hand painted "fireplace" completed the scene. The second set of canopies included the buffet. One chandelier centerpiece was a wreath decorated with several homemade ornaments and a giant snowflake decorating the center. The other chandelier resembles an upside down Christmas tree made out of silver garland. Blue pom-poms also hung from the ceiling. A collection of homemade wreaths were hung on the back wall. On the tables, among the decorations of snowmen, ornament trees and garland, was the wonderful spread of food. These included: Chicken rolls stuffed with spinach, crown roast and stuffing ( with paper hats to boot), fresh cranberry sauce, twice baked mashed potatoes, asparagus wrapped in prosciutto, chicken wings with a cranberry glaze, hamburger pockets, mashed sweet potatoes with marshmallows, spinach dip in a bread bowl, bacon and cheese pinwheels and much more. Tim heated up a batch of hot spiked cider.
Jessie's sister, Caitlyn and husband Danny showed up right around the time "Santa" had to put on his suit and bike over to the registration area at the Bryce Jordan Center. A pillow from the camper helped perfect the "bowlful of jelly" appearance. Lots of stunned looks and funny comments were enjoyed, including: "Hey Santa, can I get a pair of tickets today?" The judges were impressed with Santa's getup and said they would make our tailgate one of the first they visited. Once Santa was back, Matt heated up the deep fryer. There were cheese sticks, pizza rolls, jalapeno poppers, breaded shrimp, French toast sticks, freedom fries, etc. Little kids lined up to take their picture with Santa. The judges soon arrived and dined on the Christmas dinner and stayed for a long time - at least 10 minutes. A reporter and photographer from the Philly Inquirer came with the judges and wrote up a piece to be included in Monday's paper. After the judges left it was time to fully enjoy the tailgate that we worked on so hard to put together. Scott graciously accepted to deliver the Toys for Tots to the proper location, which was greatly appreciated. Santa changed from his traditional attire to a blue and white jersey fitting for the upcoming game. A neighbor was kind enough to climb to the top of his trailer and take a group picture for us. Only a couple moments later was the good news received - the judges awarded us with BEST DECORATIONS. The prizes included a large banner, and a gift basket with lots of Penn State goodies - a bendy Joe Pa, a commemorative football, a slate picture of the Nittany Lion, among other things. Suzanne said she and Madeline would take turns sleeping wrapped up in the banner. Everybody was excited that the hard work of the last two tailgates had certainly paid off. Rich and Janelle brought Eddie, a little Toy Fox Terrier to his first tailgate. He was ready to go in his PSU jersey and hooded sweatshirt. It was quite cold for him. Bill grilled up some bacon cheeseburgers and Rich made a pot of tortellini soup right before the game. Jamie passed out her amazing blue and white Jell-o shots. People who had tickets slowly made their way to the stadium, while those who didn't settled in by the projection screen. Towards the end of the game more people came to join the group and celebrate. It was getting quite chilly so it was time to heat up the propane fire pit. Post-Game: Matt heated up the deep fryer and fried a turkey. More burgers were made, as well as sausages and cheddar brats. We ran out of buns so people had to get creative….many burgers were enjoyed "Atkins style". A cloud of smoke was noticed a few RVs down, so a few people went to investigate. A group of people started a bonfire with a log and a household door - complete with doorknob. They were playing Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire. Why they started the bonfire, nobody knows. Pictures were taken and we left before the police could show up. The rest of the night was spent hanging out, drinking and dancing to music. Tim even grilled up some sausage, which was enjoyed by most. The police showed up and politely asked for the music to be turned down. Rob crashed for the night at 1:00 but people stayed until nearly 2:00 in the morning.
SUNDAY:The campers woke up around 8:00 to find a coating of frost on everything. People worked quickly to get everything ready to go. Everything was packed and ready to go by 10:30. Everyone said their goodbyes and hit the road. For the Glory,
Dirty Alumni Tailgating Newsletter Volume V Issue 2 Beaver-fest9-6-2008![]()
Official quote:
"Stick it to the Beavers"The beginning of this great tailgate started with just an email. It was from an Oregon State Fan and said, "We have the airline tickets, the hotel tickets, we will have the game tickets, but the one thing we don't have is a place to tailgate. I have researched the Internet over and over and looked at numerous tailgating sites, but your group just stood out the most." During the spring and summer, we worked together to coordinate this massive, multi-day bash for the fans of both teams. Thursday Night:Rob and Matt met up with their campers at the State college Walmart around 5:00. Madeline and Suzanne showed up to put stuff in the RVs to be transported to the lot. We arrived at the RV lot at 5:45. There was no line at Orchard St. The overflow parking was put at Unnamed Road. When we found the right street we realized we were the 5th and 6th RVs in line. We were short one RV because Chad was unable to make it. They did manage to make friends with all the neighbors while waiting in line. One camper was drinking a beer while Friday:Everyone woke up the next morning with a hangover from the night before. We had a spread of fruit and muffins for breakfast, while the neighbors provided bacon and English muffins. Carter showed up and began setting up the televisions. We were joined by Oregon St. fans that contacted us in January and asked to join the tailgate. They had plane tickets and game tickets, but nowhere to hang out. They found the tailgate by searching on the internet. They read old tailgating newsletters and specifically requested to drink with "the guy who was wearing the homemade pumpkin helmet." John and the Oregon St. contingent ballooned from 6 to 40 delegates. Later we grilled u Saturday:The weather looked bleak when we woke up. It rained for about 15 minutes, but then it was clear skies from then on out. Chris made breakfast which consisted of: sausage, eggs, English muffins, and bacon. We also had college football printed Pop Tarts and the first package was Penn State! Unfortunately Erica wasn't around to appreciate the two packages that turned out to be Michigan. :-P
Tim and Carter brought over a wagon load of beer from the trucks since we didn't have the space of Chad's Camper. There was at least 16 pounds of pulled pork BBQ, 10 pounds of fried chicken, 8 pounds of grilled sausage etc. We also debuted the "Bacon Cheddar jalapeno burger"- they came out very tasty and were enjoyed by all. Several menu items were served on sticks - beef kabobs and chicken on a stick. If it could have been put on a stick, we put it there. Rob set up the "Nick B. Art Corner", the wedding beer pong table and PSU hand-painted graffiti banner were on display for all to enjoy. Jessi made T-shirts for the group as well. They had our list of tailgating "rules" that we've learned during our first 5 years of tailgating. There was a large bar setup as well. Mad and Suz made a cooler full of mixed drinks.
As the day continued, it got quite hot and sunny so we had to plan for a mid-day ice run. Josh and his girlfriend Tracey used the wagon and brought 100 extra pounds of ice. More people started showing up. Rob started the cooking and even the Oregon State guests were helping out. Laurie helped by passing out things. Carter got up on top of and RV across the way and took the group picture. After the picture it was game time. Oregon State fans were a little disappointed but still came back to enjoy the tailgate. Lily spent the entire day enjoying the food just as much as all the other tailgaters. She frequently got her leash wrapped around chairs and ate everything in sight. As a consequence, she was extremely bloated come Sunday.
Madeline and Suzanne decorated the stadium cake with a special orange and black section for Oregon State, and the band was on the field performing the floating lions formation. Rob took several picture of this cake, one of which was submitted to a tailgating competition for RV magazine. The cake (and picture) won Most Unusual Tailgating Display, with a prize of $700.00 worth of Coleman accessories and a mention in the October issue of RV Magazine. We had the chance to have a "planners" meeting for the Homecoming tailgate, which allowed even more people to participate, including Mandy and Dena. More food after the game included multiple beer can chickens and 28 cases of Miller Lite. It looked like the party was dying down, but nearly 50 people had settled in to watch the big evening game on the four televisions.
Sunday:We cleaned up and stored the camper in Jeremy's driveway, so we wouldn't have to tote it back down for the homecoming game. Even though the Beavers had a rough night at Beaver Stadium, they went on to conquer bigger and better things!! For the Glory, PS. Mad and Suz's Stadium cake won the Coleman/Camping World All Star Tailgate Team Photo Contest. See the Email I recieved. -Rob I am pleased to announce that your entry has been selected as the winner of the Most Unusual Tailgating Display category in the Coleman/Camping World All Star Tailgate Team Photo Contest! You have won a Coleman Tailgating Kit consisting of a RoadTrip LXE Grill, Frywell Portable Fryer, Heat N' Serve Slow Cooker, 54 qt. Steel Belted Cooler and two Portable Deck Chairs, all by Coleman and valued at $700. A Coleman representative will be in contact with you soon to arrange shipping of your prize package. Thank you for entering the contest and for being a member of the Camping World President's Club. We appreciate the opportunity to provide you with top quality outdoor and RV accessories so that you may better enjoy the RV lifestyle. We extend our congratulations to you and hope you enjoy tailgating with your new Coleman outdoor accessories! Cindy McCaleb Managing Editor RV View Camping World Oregon St ![]() ![]() Dirty Alumni Tailgating Newsletter Volume V Issue 1 BWW084-19-2008![]()
Official quote:
"This isn't my first time"It was yet another great sunny blue white weekend for 2008. One can only conclude that our beer master "Duck" brought the sun shine with him from Florida. ThursdayThe weekend started with extensive travel for many of the diesel tailgaters. Duck left Florida for DC on Thursday morning, where he met up with Jessi and her sister Caitlyn for a 4 hour drive to State College. Caitlyn will be off the market in just a few weeks. All the girl tailgaters celebrated with her on Friday for little back dress night (LBDN).
Team Tennessee left Knoxville on Thursday night drove late in to the night. We caught a few winks in the truck and arrived in state collage at about noon and ready to start drinking. Of course, Team CT arrived late Thursday and hit the Darkhorse for Yuengs and wings. It is almost unbelievable that Johnny managed to deliver the yet-unnamed-penn-state-camper without any catastrophes. He did tell me about a close call where the wind coming off a big rig almost tossed his little shortbed and the camper into the ditch while coming around a bend on I-80, just one more reason to get a super duty. FridayRedneck Chad, back for this second time after a two years hiatus, met us at the cafe. The weather was warm and there were "skirts and tank tops as far as the eye can see". Team Vinyard made a late arrival to round out the all the big players. Cafe teas were not the only drink of choice this Friday. The miller lite girls and friends tuned us on the fantastic Miami vice (half pina colada, half dacori). I must say that they were the best table neighbors. The Big D gave up our second table to them early in the day because our crowd was lagging behind. He didn't sell out cheap, because they hooked them up with a round beer only to be repeated several time as we rotated in and out of the cafe all day. We also ran in to Denise at the cafe where she also greeted us with a round of shots.
Team TN headed back to our host location (Casa da la Jeremy) to get cleaned up for LBDN. Jessi and Girls got ready quickly at the IMI and headed to the Rathskellar. The pre-party at Jeremy's was roaring. His out of town guests were getting in the spirit of the weekend. With the night all ready in progress and no cabs to be found, Kevin picked our drunk-asses up (all 7 of us) in his friend's Pontiac G6. We meet up with the LBDN crowd at the saloon. Velveeta was playing and monkey boy was flowing. The girls pushed their way up to the stage to dance and celebrate Caitlyn's last Penn State weekend as a batchorlette. No specific details were remembered, therefore, it was must have been a good time.
SaturdaySaturday morning started with enthusiasm. The gang again met up at Nittany Lion Inn at what should have been 7:30 but was closer to 8am and headed to Beaver Stadium. The bitter nasty parking Gestapo forced us to park several rows back for our traditional BWW spot, however we were still directly in line with the water tower. This separated us from Smitty and Al, who were parked in anticipation of witnessed our antics from a safe distance. Set up began and all 6 flagpoles were up in moments and breakfast was on the grill. Redneck Chad, our breakfast guy, blessed us with eggs, bacon, freedom toast sticks and much more. Duck was all ready "passing out little bits of happiness" as team TN whipped up some good ole biscuits and sausage gravy on the grill (just like the cowboys make 'em). Suz also made some stuffin' muffins for hungry tailgaters. Some highlights from the day:
SundayThe few campers that were left in the parking lot awoke to a cloudy morning and the roar of the track vacs sucking up the millions of empties. Luckily, we were able to pack up before the rain started and head on home. For the Glory, BWW 2008 ![]() ![]() As promised in the BWW eVite, a Tribute-to-BLB scavenger hunt list worthy of the ages and some possible jail time..... -BLB
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