Are You Ready For Some Football

Are You Ready for Some Football?

A football stadium excursion these days is about much more than just the game. It's about the total game day experience... Football games are huge events, they are parties. Where else are we able to indulge our refined inner self while at the same time unleashing our animalistic passion and fanatical desire for victory? A trip to the football stadium is like no other. Everyone should go to a football game.

Each weekend from early fall through mid-winter, thousands of people flock to their hometown stadium to bear witness to the magic of the gridiron. What makes the game day experience so unique? There is a sense of a common purpose, a common celebration in being part of a football crowd. We are not just spectators. We are celebrating and the celebration begins long before the game starts and continues well after it ends. We are active participants of a magnificent seasonal ritual.

This ritual we call football can be likened to a gladiator spectacle. People sit out in all kinds of weather and behave like raving lunatics to watch a bunch of 300 pound brawny warriors bang each other around for the next three hours. No one gets killed at the end, but near the conclusion of the game when the outcome has usually been decided, you can look toward the owner's booth, where with a little imagination, it's not difficult to picture the owner giving a thumbs up or down to determine the losers fate.

Still, the outcome of the game is not the most important characteristic of the ritual. A football game also brings an understood camaraderie between people of all ages regardless of whether they are best friends or perfect strangers. We will become instant friends with whoever is attending the game, especially if they are cheering for the same team. And if our team wins, we are one big happy family sitting on cloud nine for hours! The game reminds one of a movie from the Lifetime Channel. There are the good guys and the bad guys. With the voice of one, thousands of new friends scream for triumph while experiencing the drama of the ups and downs throughout the course of the match. The game winds to its conclusion, and if it's really a good production, it will come down to the 'two minute warning', where the home team pulls the game out at the very end. Just like our heroes in the movie. Usually the good guys win, but not always. If that proverbial sign of thumbs down is directed at our home team we can take some comfort in the fact that at least we have new found family to help us through our tumultuous adventure. However, the adventure is not limited to inside the stadium or even the game itself. It begins long before the game with the infamous tailgate party in the parking lot. This is where hordes of fans, busily prepare their food while drinking ice-cold Samuel Adams as though it were the middle of the summer. Any kind of food and drink you can think of is welcome here. No fancy party rules apply. For instance a typical game day will start with steak & eggs with coffee and Mimosa at breakfast, then plenty of chili, chicken wings, sausages, beer and Bloody