The Drunken Tailgate

Gameday iPhone Apps

Because the stress of following your team on gameday already feels like Terrance Cody sitting on your shoulders, it makes perfect sense to add another heaping ton of stress by laying money down on a few other games. Or so I’ve convinced myself over the last decade. As a betting man who is tailgating or inside the stadium, the iPhone has become a necessity. There are two main apps that I’ve relied on the past couple of seasons to keep me updated and level headed. The first is Score Mobile and it’s free. There are a lot of apps out there that will give you a scoreboard. What’s great about Score Mobile is that the college football lines are included in the days overview schedule along with the times. You can get the line and the over/under and if you click on each game you’ll also get updated with injury reports and other previews.

The second app is also free and called College Football Live. What I like about this app is the quick ability to create a list of your favorite teams. Which we all know is who you bet on that Saturday. So instead of sifting through the top 25 and then trying to remember what conference UTEP is in, you can just create a list of the 5-6 games you’ve got action on. This is the fastest way to check only the scores you care about once you get inside the stadium. Which is an issue since most of the stadiums I’ve been to have significantly slower than usual connections.

College Logo Jack-o-Lanterns

Trying to carve a pumpkin with your college football team’s logo for Halloween tailgating on Saturday? Spookmaster has stencils of your school’s logo that you can use. They charge $5.95 a year and you have access to all of their jack o lantern designs. The stencils are printed from your home computer and include directions on drawing the stencil onto the pumpkin and what tools you should use for carving the design. Seems like a pretty good decoration for your tailgate.

Grilled Krispy Kremes & Hanging TVs

I just stumbled across the Team Tailgate blog. This group of Kansas fans have a serious tailgate. Apparently “Mike the Bartender” takes care of everyone and another dude wears a Jayhawk emblazoned chef’s coat while doing things like grilling Krispy Kreme Donuts for a breakfast tailgate. Their method of hanging a flat screen mount from the top of the tent is also commendable. That would be the advantage of having a tent frame made out of PVC pipe. So check out their site for other menu and tailgating ideas.

Need a place to stay near campus?

At this point CollegeWeekends.com is a better concept than a service. The idea is that you can rent apartments or houses near college campuses for a single game weekend. Often times it would be cheaper than hotel rooms for bigger groups and usually more roomy. They have the service set up for 17 different schools but not a ton of listings yet. The first school to be listed was the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. It seems like this rental setup will thrive at schools in small towns where there might only be a limited number of hotels within miles of campus. You can check out their FAQ for the particulars.

No need for a designated driver when you’ve got a bus

The Tailgater has a review of VIP PDX which is a bus service in Portland, OR that takes people up to Eugene for each home game. For $260/hour you get the use of:

I’m gonna just assume that VIP Host refers to either a stripper or an escort. I’ve been trying to find something like this to take from Atlanta to Athens for the Auburn/UGA game every other year. The problem is that a solid tailgate and travel is gonna last around 10 hours. So it gets a little pricey depending on what the going rate for a hotel in the area is.

View more pictures of the bus

Iphone Tailgating App: Score Mobile

So the best of the sports scores apps that I’ve found is Score Mobile (iTunes link). It lists all of the scores by either top 25 or conference, with start times, and most importantly the current betting lines. You can also see a matchup screen (performance against the spread, team record, etc) and written preview for each game. Check out the web based version for a preview or an alternative to ESPN.

An Illustrated Guide to Ole Miss Tailgating

From user dickens453 on flickr. Click here or on the image to see it in full size. Personally I saw more bow ties in the Grove than a meeting of the Tucker Carlson fan club.

And for a non-illustrated look at the Grove check out this photo of the tents. I’ve compared the Grove to the largest outdoor bar/club on earth. It’s not even tailgating. There are so many people slammed in there it’s like your inside a bar that happens to have trees, grass, and it’s b.y.o.b.

Tailgating Guide: The Georgia Dome

There are few times a year when college football takes center stage at the Georgia Dome in downtown Atlanta, GA. This Saturday August 30th happens to be just such an occasion. Clemson and bama will square off in an season opening showdown. When tailgating for Georgia Dome games you have to make a choice. Do you wanna have a traditional vehicle based tailgate or do you wanna try your hand at the urban tailgate?

Urban Tailgate: Stay at hotel near a Marta rail station. The hotels in Buckhead near the Buckhead or Lenox stations are ideal. When your at the hotel there are plenty of bars and restaurants within walking or short cab distance. Take the train down with a small disposable cooler, a flask, or a wad of cash. You can get off at the Peachtree Center station and grab your first beer at Hooters, Sidebar, or Ted’s Montana Grill or you can just walk through Centennial Park on your way over to the CNN Center and the festivities. You can also get off at the Five Points Station and transfer to the west line and get off at the Dome Exit. The CNN Center will be your home base for the pregame. This a large food court where several fast food restaurants serve 32oz beers for $5. Your welcome to drink them wherever you want inside the food court but taking them outside is beyond risky.

The CNN center also houses some more traditional sports bars and restaurants. Jocks n Jills and the newly opened Taco Mac are your traditional televisions everywhere sports bars. The other restaurants have televisions but I wouldn’t expect them to have ESPN Gameplan.

Also near the CNN Center is the newly opened Stats Sports Bar (sound) which is ginormous. It’s about the size of a ESPN Zone but without any space being wasted for non-television entertainment. They also have a couple of booths where you have a beer tap in your table and can serve yourself.

For past SEC Championship games there have been various beer stands outside of the stadium on the North Side between the Dome and the World Congress Center and on the East Lawn between the Dome and Philips Arena.

Traditional Tailgate: For the bama/Clemson weekend there will be major paving delays on I-75-85. So you’re best bet is to take Northside Dr exit on 75 (which is north of the delays) and follow that South directly to the Dome. Which is convenient because that’s where you want to park. Along the right side of Northside Dr. extending about a mile north of the dome are several private parking lots which are more than suitable. Personally I like to using the Yellow Lot on Jones Ave (click on campus .pdf) which is just on the north side of the Congress Center. It’s a big asphalt lot and I’ve used it about 20 times for Falcons and SEC Champ/Peach Bowl games.

Once tailgating, do whatever you want. You may want to pour your beers into a cup in the parking lot but I wouldn’t say it necessary. I would load all of your belongings back into your car before entering the game though.

If you have other questions please leave them in the comments.