The Friday Night Massacre -or- Tailgate Training Camp

Holy hell, we've got some work to do if we're going to be in tailgating shape by Saturday!  Got the Crew together Friday night for dinner & drinks, and to hang with the Kingpin, who was in town for the weekend.  We had a blast, but I'm pretty sure none of us were functional the next day. 

Ouch.

It went something like this: Happy hour.  Then dinner (the General's new creation: grilled quesadillas = YUM).  Then more drinks, sitting around the dining room table while the kiddos ran around like a pack of monkeys.  And then it happened...we migrated to the dock.  Somehow, the backyard always makes the drinks go down faster. 

The OG may have split his chin open (apparently he's not as fragile as I've advertised him to be - no need for medical intervention), and the General took an unplanned swim in the canal.  The blues playlist was replaced by the Kingpin's iPod (JT?  Really?), which seriously betrayed him and turned the dock into Club Kingpin for a short while.  Then the drinking games commenced.  By that point (and probably long before then) I was useless, but I gave it a go.  Good thing I'd already switched to water, or I'd probably still be hurting - it turns out my skills are seriously lacking. 

We had such a great time, but I'm amazed how much longer it takes to bounce back these days.  When did this happen?  Hopefully our tailgate training camp did the trick and got us back into shape for the first "live" tailgate this weekend.  If not, it could be a season of painful Sundays (because, obviously, we're not going to go easy on our tailgating - I mean, come on!).

Friday!

I have such a hard time getting dressed on Fridays when it's not football season.  Fridays are supposed to be easy mornings - it's dress-down day at the salt mine, right?  But I seriously have to restrain myself from wearing the Orange & Blue on non-football Fridays.  Lucky, lucky me - this is the last Friday I'll have to exercise that kind of restraint for a while! 

I know I'm crazy (the General is reading this and nodding vigorously in agreement - aren't you, honey?) - but I can't be the only one fighting the urge to wear team colors today, can I?  Drop me a line and let me know I'm not alone...or just confirm my craziness...

A Gift from the General

The General gave me a little gift this morning, and I bet he didn't even know it. We switched cars yesterday because I had to cart a ton of kid crap across town, and the General's Tank was the only way that was going to happen. This morning, I got in my car to go to the salt mine, turned the key, and heard the sweet sounds of College Football talk. Swoon!

I had given up on sports radio for the offseason. I really did try to keep listening - I know that every now and then there's some nugget of college football gold buried in all the soccer/baseball/golf nonsense. I was still listening up until about two months ago. But I just couldn't take it anymore. I switched back to NPR and the iPod to bide my time until my boys had something worthwhile to tell me. Apparently, today was the day!

We're in the home stretch now!

Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we....???

Yes, my Football-loving friends - we are almost there! The emails have started flying (among the gems I've seen so far: Will's Mom sent this one around earlier this week, and I nearly peed my pants right there in my office), and we're all lining up the babysitters (thanks Millie & Pops!) and dusting off the tailgate gear. I'm pretty sure that when I check on the munchkins before bed every night, the General is checking on our season tickets to make sure they're safe and sound, dreaming of touchdowns and extra points.

I have such fervent fall fever that I'm actually expecting to feel crisp, cool fall air every time I walk outside. That's ludicrous. I live in Florida, and being outside in August in Florida is like walking in a bowl of hot soup. But, honey, it's time for football - and football fever makes every good Southerner more than a little crazy! Me and my fall weather hallucinations are evidently no exception.

This isn't really a "Florida fan" blog, but there's no hiding my allegiance, so I might as well just get it out there from the start. I bleed Orange and Blue, y'all. The season might technically start before the boys from old Florda take the field, but as far as I'm concerned, that's all just the college preseason. For me, it isn't really official until we're headed to Gainesville with a truck full of bourbon and bbq.


So...less than two weeks 'til kickoff, and it's time to get serious about our tailgating plans. Heeeere come the (tail)Gators!