Tuesday, August 24, 2010

The Tailgate Plan to Win: The Arkansas State Edition

Oh yea, it's that time again.

A quick update: This year has been a strange one, as I noted back in July. For much of the past four or so weeks, I had been waiting on word from Fayetteville, Ark., as to whether or not I would be able to rejoin my old boss Zack Higbee at his new digs in the University of Arkansas Sports Information Department. I was a finalist for the second football contact at UofA, but I did not get the job. Don't worry, I'm not torn up at all about this. I'm very happy for the guy who did (Rookie), and it's someone I considered my Padawan learner back during my reign as an SID student worker and intern.

During that span, I had a hard time getting too excited about the season. Would I be in the stands with those I consider the closest friends and my family? Or, would I be in a suit and tie when I'd finally get to go to a game at Jordan-Hare Stadium in mid-October as a traveling member of Bobby Petrino's Razorback support personnel?

Now, I have gone no-holds-barred into planning our tailgates and am honored to return to my position as the tailgate leader as we enter year three at University Station RV Resort. Yet more aesthetically pleasing changes have been made to the camper, and I implore you tailgaters to thank All Auburn, All Orange, All Facebook, All Kirk when you get the chance. He put in a ton of sweat and tears throughout our trips to/from the Loveliest Village over the past six months to gear up for a home schedule-heavy 2010 season.

The Arkansas State weekend offers a bevy of positives: a long weekend made longer by all of us taking Friday off; a great opportunity to hang out with Robert and Andrew (although sadly without Jennifer and the girls); a 6 p.m. CST kickoff to allow a full day of tailgating to knock off the rust and fully re-enter gameday mode; as well as plenty of tales from Andy Shores as he approaches fatherhood for the first time.

Yep, there's a feeling in the air just like a Friday afternoon. I'm going to go there cause I want. ($1 to Better than Ezra)

Who is going to return kickoffs? Who is going to return punts? Which one of the three guys battling it out right now will earn first-team duties at right tackle? None of those questions are up to me to answer. Instead, I'm fully focused on tackling inquiries such as, "How can we alleviate some of the cooking duties from Super Rita?" or "Are we going to have enough ice this weekend to keep all the drinks cold and out of the fridge?"

The menu was finalized over this past weekend for the opening tailgate, and I can assure you that it will be up to standards with our other ventures. This year, we will get started with a burger bar due in part to Andrew's appearance. We will provide the hamburger meat and trimmings, but I will assign out other items such as buns (hamburger and hot dog) as well as chips and other side dishes.

The confirmed guest list as of Aug. 24 is as follows:

Chris, Super Rita, AAAOAFAK, Robert "ThunderCat" Boully, Andrew Monroe, Andy Shores, Brad Gregg, Amber Gregg, Jarrod Gregg.

Come one, come all, but please let us know ahead of time that you plan to stop by. Of course, that seems like it's always understood this time of year.

WDE. I'm thoroughly looking forward to the first of many family reunions over the next four months.

(Assignments will be posted and e-mailed no later than Wednesday, Sept. 1. Please RSVP by then by either commenting here or e-mailing Chris at rushicw@gmail.com.)

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