Football season is here … for better or worse. I’m joking. I enjoy it just as much as the next person. I also know that football season is a marathon and not a sprint and that depending on your team’s performance – be it high school, college, NFL or fantasy – it can sometimes be a slog and not quite as enjoyable as you would like. And that’s all the more reason for a good tailgate.
We completed the drafts for our fantasy football teams and have high hopes. Although Hubby’s been playing Fantasy Football forever, this will only be my 17th year to field a team or two. I started off in one of his leagues that we call “the cocktail league.” Several years later we joined an additional league. We call this one “the church league.”
This is our 20th consecutive year as season ticket-holders for the Livingston Lions. Although we missed the first game, the Lions came out of the gate with guns blazing, achieving a 51-36 victory against a 6A team, effectively ending a 673-day win drought.
Throughout our marriage, we’ve actively supported Hubby’s Sam Houston State Bearkats and my Baylor Bears. However, the football excitement level in our home ratcheted up a few notches last year when Daughter went off to The University of Texas at Austin and we added the Texas Longhorns to our stable of teams.
And with football season comes tailgating – something that’s always fun, whether you’re doing it in the stadium parking lot or from the comfort of your living room couch.
For many years, we hosted a big tailgate at NRG Stadium back when longstanding rivals Sam Houston State University and Stephen F. Austin State University met annually in what was dubbed the “Battle of the Pineywoods.”
Somewhat resembling the Beverly Hillbillies, we’d load up and haul the ez-ups, the grill, tables, chairs, large plastic tubs filled with paper goods and assorted tailgate gear and numerous coolers full of groceries, drinks and fresh ice. The tailgate grew each year, much to our delight, and the menu changed and evolved as well. We’d do something and enjoy it and do it again a second year, but then decide to change it up. We didn’t want our guests to get bored. We prepared a variety of things over the years – hamburgers, bratwurst, hot dogs, fajitas, gumbo, boiled shrimp, a taco bar.
To make it a little easier and to avoid forgetting things, I typed up a “tailgate checklist” several years ago that has come in handy. This is by no means a comprehensive checklist but just some of the things I would recommend you pack aside from your food and drinks: sun screen, duct tape, pocket knife, hand sanitizer, tooth picks, trash bags, paper towels, handy wipes, bottle opener, cork screw, bungee cords, first aid kit, rain gear, antacid, aluminum foil, zip top bags, tongs, knife, cutting board and storage containers for leftovers.
I’m definitely open to new ideas for tailgate menus this season so I’d love to hear your suggestions. Please email them to me at editor@polkenterprise.com.
