Tailgate Review - The "We were treated like royalty" and "We beat Ole Miss" Edition

Sorry for the delay. It's been a little touch and go with the website articles. It's pretty good that I don't write everyday for a living. I am finding myself facing writer's block more and more with those articles (but the pay is too good to quit, so you're stuck reading me there haha).

I just wanted to touch on the last two weeks rather quickly. First, we had a BLAST in Baton Rouge (sans the game, of course). I've said it before and I'll say it again: LSU writes the book on tailgating. There's not a better campus environment in the country than LSU for a Saturday night conference game. None.

I'm sure some of you have heard the old proverb concerning LSU fans, you know, that if you listen to a bunch of people scream "TIGER BAIT" at you and you don't come back at them, they'll stop you and offer you jambalaya and gumbo? I'm here to tell you that it is 100 percent accurate, and it happened to dad and me. We were walking through the parking lot adjacent to the tennis center and the P-Mac when an older gentleman in a fedora stopped us. He asked us to have some jambalaya with him and his crew. We politely declined at first, but his insisting led to us turning around to two bowls held by his wife.

We were told that this was award-winning jambalaya, and I'm not going to argue with whoever bestowed the honors on this recipe. We ended up spending an hour and a half with these strangers who could not have been better hosts. The hospitality shown by almost everyone outside the stadium was incredible, and as I say in the title of this article, we were treated like royalty there. I can't wait to get back down there in a couple of years.

Besides our tailgate friends, dad and I spent some time with his vendor Vince, who also had a pretty good tailgate with some of the best ribs I've had in awhile. I met up with Josh and Katie Jackson on the lawn in front of Memorial Tower, where we reunited with Brooke Patterson and her crew. Inside the stadium, Dennis Hodges (the SEC's top photographer) got some pictures of dad and I together in our front-row seats and visited with us for awhile. I'm hoping Dennis will come up for the LSU-Ole Miss game later this month to reciprocate the hospitality shown to us.

We stayed at the new Spring Hill Suites by Marriott out by the airport, and it was one of the best hotel rooms I've ever had. I like the design and layout even better than that of the Courtyard (it's great to be an adult and stay at real hotels and not worry about Motel 6 leaving the light on for us).

Overall, it was a great trip, but I could have done with a little better showing on the field. Tiger Stadium is one of only three stadiums in the SEC that I have yet to see Auburn win. Hopefully, that trend will end in 2011.

Then, there was last weekend. My patience for most of the Ole Miss fans I know is dwindling every week. After a three-game losing skid and their two-game winning streak following the beat-down they received from Bama, I was just ready to get to the game and let the chips fall where they may. Bowl eligibility was all but guaranteed with a win remaining on the schedule against Furman, so I just hoped for the best.

We had a pretty good showing at the tailgate prior to the game, but I can't say the same for the crowd on campus. Sure, it was an early game, but 20 minutes prior to kickoff, there were still PLENTY of empty seats. I'm not sure I've heard a softer "WAR EAGLE" during the eagle flight. While the student section never got full, the ones that were there were boisterous and helped liven things up for the players during warmups.

Making the trip for the game was Chris Purser, the only Ole Miss representative in our group. Purser has been a great friend over the years and has helped secure countless tickets to Ole Miss sporting events for us, so it was nice to be able to repay those favors ever so slightly. He ran away with Tailgater of the Week for all his help during pre-game and post-game set-up/break-down as well as bringing plenty of drinks for us to get us through the last two home games.

Despite the small crowd and an ominous start from Ole Miss' offense, the Auburn defense rose to the occasion the rest of the afternoon. I couldn't be happier with this win, trust me. I hate it for the Monroes that Arkansas got the best of us, but I'll take W's over Ole Miss and Miss. State every year over all but one opponent (which goes without saying).

We got mom a Big Green Egg for the camper as her birthday present, and we assembled the Egg following the game. By "we" I mean All Auburn, All Orange, All Facebook, All Kirk and Purser. I helped as much as I could, but I'm the furtherest thing from being a handyman you can get, and I tried my best to spend time with the rest of the gang at the camper.

The visitor list included: Katy Braden and her friend Alexandria Cole; Andy Shores; Jeanie and Robert; Brad, Amber and Jarrod in addition to the three of us and Purser. Not a bad group, and we had some stragglers here and there stop by to discuss AU football and whatnot. The steaks off the Egg were phenomenal, and the BGE just takes our tailgating to yet another new level.

Also making its debut was the five-man tent we have outside the front door to sleep additional tailgaters and overnight guests. It sleeps pretty good (when you have air mattresses in addition to the usual sleeping bags, and it beats the alternatives, in my opinion.

Sure, this isn't a long-winded update, but there's your last two weeks. As for this weekend's homecoming affair with Furman, it's becoming more and more likely that I will be trekking solo to the Plains Friday afternoon with everyone meeting up outside the stadium prior to kickoff. Therefore, there will be no pre-game tailgate and probably just some take-out for those who want to come back to the camper post-game to watch other contests (such as Bammer-LSU).

We got back to doing what we did, so that was good. War Eagle. See you on the Plains for (hopefully) a November to Remember.

Chris