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You Know This Is A Reserved Lot!
So we arrive in Stillwater and locate our parking lot. No we are not in the visitor lot. And no, not in general public parking. For a couple of weeks I spent some time watching the parking passes available on Stub Hub. Plenty of Golden Spur parking passes available. However I had some people coming to look for us and with all of the different Golden Spur lots, I would not be able to guarantee what lot I would end up in. Also, a number of these lots were not that close to the stadium. So I watched and waited. I kept holding out. Waiting for one of “the” passes. You know the one. So close to the stadium that you can hear the players warming up. So close you can smell the hot dogs cooking. So close fans of OSU would be saying WTF!
Of course, these spots are reserved for their top tier boosters. The boosters that donate thousands of dollars a year to the athletic department. The boosters that don’t need the money, so why would they ever try to recoup the price of a parking pass. But as they say: even a blind squirrel can find an acorn. And one day a parking pass was added to my watch screen. A spot that could not have been much better. This parking pass was in the South Maverick parking lot. Next to the area where the buses drop off the players. Right next to the stadium. Next to the entrances and next to what turned out to be a great group of OSU tailgaters! This was the spot I was hoping for. A place where we could setup our tent and chairs. Where Rowdy could be proudly displayed. Where we could raise our flags high and proud…. Ok.. enough of that drivel. Let’s just say it was a really good spot and I was looking forward to it.
Linda and I arrive in Stillwater a bit later than planned but before the lots opened. We found our way to the correct lot and waited for the security guard to come remove the chain. After verifying with the guard the spaces available for me to park (we were the first people in that particular lot) I picked the only spot that had a good space for a tent next to it. The lot, you see, had drive lanes that were too narrow to put your tent behind your car, so all that was left were a couple of places with striped markings and a little grass before a sidewalk. This also happened to be right next to a few OSU tents in what I later learned were spots that are rented out by the Church on the property that comes up to the lot I was in. These church spots are apparently difficult to get and reserved for the entire year. I was later told that in the four plus years that our neighbors had tailgated there, they had never seen an opposing fan put up anything in the area. Oh darn! I guess I was about to ruin that record….
As I stepped out and started setting up the tent, the looks started. Maybe it was all of the stuff we were starting to pull out of the car. Or maybe it was the realization that we were not OSU fans. Or maybe, just maybe, it was those overbearing neon orange long pants and blue Rowdy shirt i was wearing. Either way you could tell they were thinking; Who are these people? Will they be cool or jerks? What cool pants but hate the top {this was actually told to me, LOL}. What is a roadrunner anyway?
As we continued to pull stuff out of our car, Linda and I decided to go it slow and not pull out our best stuff. Keep it simple and not too in their face until we got to know each other. We got our tent up and a few chairs before one of the students came over to test my “coolness.” He had an odd shaped bottle of what turned out to be very smooth Tequila. He informed me that I needed to have a shot with him since I was a visitor to their campus. So what the hell. He took a swig and then passed it by me. I did the same. Good stuff for straight Tequila. The proverbial ice had been broken and from that point forward, more of the OSU group came over and introduced themselves.
I am probably the worst person when it comes to remembering names. So for those that I met and don’t reference by name, please understand that it was the combination of me just being bad with names, meeting a large number of people and having a few drinks throughout the day. But directly next to us was a a nice couple that had just one major flaw: They are kidnappers. Or maybe the correct term would be “birdnappers.” We had not uncovered our metal Rowdy for one minute before they came up and asked if they could borrow it to take a picture. The next thing we know it is displayed next to their OSU Cowboy cut-out. Lassoed! The nerve.
Actually, it was pretty funny and we left it there the rest of the afternoon. Numerous fans from both teams stopped by and took pictures. Even Fox Sports Network dropped by and videotaped them. This was used in the introduction bumper for the telecast! So all in all a pretty cool thing. And I think it helped to set the tone for the day. Yes, we are UTSA fans. Yes we have come with a lot of UTSA garb and plan on proudly displaying it. And yes, this is all about good natured fun by fans from both schools.
The rest of the afternoon went pretty much smooth after this. We spent way too much time setting up, like usual. But ended up with a nice setup of food, UTSA displays, “George” and Minion. Our new banner and new RowdyTalk flag. And too much other stuff. When we were just about done with the setup, one of the OSU fans came by and had an interesting conversation with me that went something like this:
OSU Fan: You know I have not been to the circus in quite a while.
Me: OK… me neither.
OSU Fan: I had seen those clown cars at the circus but never got to see one up close.
Me: (silence… where is this going)
OSU Fan: Each time I look over here you are pulling something else out of your car. How in the hell did you get all of this stuff in that one car?
Me: I used a CAD program to determine how to load it up.
OSU Fan: Well.. I can’t wait to see you pack all of this stuff back into it.
Now that I think about it, calling our small SUV a clown car is probably about right. The amount of stuff that I have packed into it is over the top. One of our conversations on the trip home from Stillwater was what can we do to reduce the amount of time it takes for us to setup and tear down without cutting too much into our Rowdy flair? Don’t have the answer yet, in case you were wondering.
One of the other OSU fans we met had, in my wife’s opinion, the best food we have yet to see in our couple years of tailgating. His company has decided to sponsor him in his tailgate efforts this year. They are flying in, on game day, fresh seafood from the East Coast! Shrimp. Clams. Lobster. They made a clam chowder that Linda went nuts over. And I’ll let you in on a not-so-much secret: I don’t like seafood. I eat very little if any seafood. The fishy taste just does not do it for me and I’ve had a few bad experiences stomach-wise with some seafood. So white fish I’ll do on occassion. But never lobster, crab, shrimp, etc. However, when I went over by their tent, one of the guys just jumped up and fixed me up a few shrimp and sauce in a bowl. I did not want to be rude and say no thank you, I don’t eat shrimp. So I took it and continued talking with the folks around me. Eventually I went ahead and ate one of the shrimp. I must say, it was the best shrimp I have ever had! So, dang it, I might have to try it again sometime, but will probably be disappointed due to it not being as fresh as this was.
Another OSU fan had setup a great BBQ layout. He had a custom trailer with TV and such and had made the typical BBQ with one added twist: BBQ Boloney. Never tried this before. I didn’t actually find out about this until too late, but Linda tried it and was really surprised with the deep flavor and smoke. The sausage and chicken I had was great.
There were others that we met also but all were nice, generous and proud of their team. We talked about the game. About our players. About tailgating. The usual conversations of strangers with a common interest and mutual respect. I can’t say anything but good about the way we were treated at OSU.
As the afternoon went on, we noticed more UTSA player parents hanging around than we normally have come visit us. As it turns out, they were all coming by to see the team arrive for the game. So the really cool part was that our tent became a kind of safe-island of UTSA friends among the large swath of OSU tents. The OSU folks we had met continued to drop by and offered the parents their hospitality and I think it all turned out to be a really nice turn of events for us and the families.
One of the other nice stories that came about that morning was an elderly gentleman that dropped by and starting talking to us. He had on a ZEBRAS cap and was talking all about coach Coker. As it turns out, he gave Coker his very first coaching job! He was so proud of Coker and where he has ended up. He loved that Coker had come to UTSA and built a program from the ground up. As he talked about him, you could see a little bit of his youth sparkle in his eyes.
While talking with this gentleman, he noticed that I had a number of UTSA caps laying around. He offered to purchase one of these from me so that he would have something with UTSA on it that he could get Coker to sign for him. I couldn’t sell it to him though. There was no way that I could put a price on a memory like that. I gave him the cap instead. It was a nice unexpected story that I was able to be a part of.
I never heard or saw if he got the signature. I hope to ask Coker about it the next time I see him. If he didn’t get it, I’ll try to get it for him.
As the afternoon wound down, the task of tear-down started to hit me. It has taken me about 90 minutes to do a full tear-down and load of the car. And it was already one hour before game time. Luckily as we started to break down some of the stuff, one of the OSU folks came by and informed me that a number of them don’t go to the games and instead stay out and tailgate through the game. They would be more than happy to watch my stuff for me. I had a fair amount of comfort with the hospitality at this point so I took them up on their offer. I did a partial tear-down of some of the stuff but left our tent up and flags flying. I also left our food and drinks out and offered them to those that were staying behind.
Then on to the game…