This post by Bitter reminds me of this past college football season. As a season ticket holder, I go to a lot of Virginia Tech football games. I usually load the car up and drive down Friday night so we can get an early start Saturday morning.

For tailgating, earlier is better. The global warming machine (aka SUV) is usually packed pretty tight with the tent, grill, tables, chairs, coolers, more food than you could ever possibly eat, and other assorted tailgate gear. I've got so much crap I've actually considered getting a trailer or RV. We get out there early to get a good spot and set up. Setting up can take up to an hour.

So during the VT-FSU tailgate this year, I'm slaving over the grill when a pickup truck pulls in to park beside us. There's three people in the cab, three in the back, and about four or five more walking up behind. The oldest looks about 23. For all those people, they brought exactly three items; a keg of beer, a box of cheap wine (sans box), and bail of hay. The girls took turns standing on the hay bail and holding the wine up in the air so other girls could drink from the spigot. For some inexplicable reason, they would slap the side of the plastic wine skin after drinking from it. The guys were doing inverted keg stands.

Now for those of you who've never seen an inverted keg stand, it works like this. You (and by you I mean me*) grab hold of the keg handles while a few burly guys lift your legs up into the air. Another guy opens the tap and sticks it in your mouth. You guzzle beer while doing a hand stand for as long as you can take it, while everyone in the crowd yells something like "GO! GO! GO!"

Maybe I'm over-thinking these tailgates.

* The only saving grace was that I was able to complete my keg stand before my sister and friends could get over there with the camera.