You guys got go in or Go home NOW!

What is up all you amazing baseball fans out there!!!!!

Everyone has got to be pretty psyched because America's past time is back in action. Every fan's hopes are raised that this might be the year their team lives up to expectations, or matures into a winner or is the dark horse that no one expected to be as good as they are.

At least that is what most baseball fans are thinking right now.. not me so much. I personally happen to believe that baseball like nascar is best watched via ESPN SportsCenter highlights. I think for 3 to 4 hours people sit around watching a game when to be honest there is only 3 to 4 mins worth of action.. very different from football and basketball where the percentage of playing time to action time is much much greater.

So I go for what I believe most people go for but just refuse to admit... Tailgating! Tailgating might very well rank as one of my favorite things to do.. Not just tailgating for baseball games, you can tail gate for football, basketball, band concerts, volunteer events, graduations, and even the occasionally wedding.. what you think I have crossed the line.. I think you could even tailgate for a funeral although I don't think I would participate in that activity.. I got respect for the dead. But more seriously.. tailgating is an important part of what baseball and sporting events are. Its the part before and after the action, its the togetherness time that watching sports isn't. Its acceptable during tailgating to cheer for whatever and whomever you feel, its your chance to show how much you love your team or hate the opposing team. Its your chance to show how manly or not-manly you are by competing in games, drinking contests and overall non-important contests of stupidity.. No wonder I love it.

There are too many tailgating stories to tell, but I will share one of my favorites. It took me 5 years to graduate from college because I decided to do some internships rather then go to school straight (best decision I could ever have made).. but at then end of my 4th year of school when half of my buddies were graduating, while the other 4 of us were hanging out for one more year, we decided to go to a brewers game. This game happened to be the same game that my school was going to for Senior Week (basically a party week with all kinds of activities planned). So we loaded up my MPV with all the necessary stuff.. the four b's - brats, burgers, beer and a bat.

So we had ourselves 20 lbs of meat, a barrel, and on TPS aluminum bat. We also thought ahead and brought a grill, and a couple stacks of cups for those who walked by. Game time was at 7 pm.. we showed up at 2 pm to start the festivities. The beer was cold, the brats and burgers were warm and the day was progressing nicely. When I hear my name.. I looked over and it was my girlfriend at the time walking over. It was at the moment I realized where exactly we had parked. We got there so early, they put us in with the groups and the professional tailgaters .. you know the people who pay others to provide their food and beverages. But right next to us.. I mean the next car spot over was the Marquette Tailgate for Senior Week.. we had managed to park right next to our friends.. pretty dumb luck if you ask me. Let me tell one thing I have learned about all throughout college, college students (freshmen through seniors) are drawn toward beer. Because the Marquette tailgate had a limit of one beer per person, all of a sudden our barrel became the most popular thing in the parking lot. Which was good for us, because we controlled the cups.

So the day progressed quite nicely, more beer and meat was consumed and our party grew from 5 of us to a around 20..that was when we decided to break out the bat. The bat game as my friends and I affectionately call it was invited the Winter of 2003, one Saturday pre-gaming for a big Marquette Cincinnati showdown at the Bradley center. It involves spinning around a bat (much like the childhood game) as many times as you can.. minimum of 10 times.. and then running an undetermined length to a cup of your beverage choice and then drinking the entire thing. This is a timed event where the best time plus bat spins wins. As you can imagine there has been many injuries, I have skinned my toes and feet more times then I can count playing this game. I went through a door as well. Fortunately we have not had any serious injuries while participating in the bat game. So we start playing, I of course, usually am volunteered to go first, and I set the bar about average.. going for 13 times around the bat and a total time of somewhere close to 1 minute which included taking two of my buddies into the front end of a Dodge Ram pickup truck.

We proceed to play, while numerous on lookers start to gather and even more adventurous souls start to participate. At one point I have to guess the crowded number 50 people watching this hilarious stupidity outside Miller Park. I remember vividly at one point a 12 year old kid want to participate, but his dad wouldn’t let him. And even a police officer watched for a few minutes before deciding to break up the action because we were getting a little bit to rowdy. At this point, the crowd and our friends started to disperse. It ended up being myself, and 4 of my roommates attempting vainly to finish the barrel. Its about 7 pm and we here the crowd roaring at the first pitch. At about 9 pm we are still fighting the good fight and a police officer walks up...

"You guys got go in or Go home NOW!"

We quickly realize that we are not going to be driving, pack up and head into the game. However, we realize.. we never bought tickets.. we hadn't planned on staying this long anyway. The ticket window is closed, but we happen to run into a scalper who sells us 4 tickets for 4 dollars. We think major steal even for the 6th inning. As we walk in, we realize that all 4 tickets had been used.. but through the grace of the ticket lady she lets us in.. I think she might have been worried about us to be honest. Well to bring the short to a quick close the game when 18 innings and the Brewers won.. so we got a full 9 innings and then some in even after we arrived at the 6th inning.

I LOVE TAILGATING.