Parent's Weekend Tailgating

Tailgating is one of the many traditions that any college has. The most memorable tailgating of my freshman year at ISU was the football game for parent’s weekend against Western Illinois. My family and friends all woke up around 6 in the morning just to get a parking spot right next to the football field. Once that was all done we all crawled right back into bed because no one could even remotely function at that early on a Saturday. Once I woke up again my family and my family friends had already been down to the parking lot by our car and started to make food and started to do activities around our car such as soccer or volleyball. The food was your typical bratwurst, hotdogs, and hamburgers. All of the parents were of course drinking and having a good time while I personally was looking after my little cousin, which needless to say wasn’t the highlight of my day. Looking around I saw so many other families doing the same thing. People were throwing around footballs, playing baseball, and even dancing to music coming from their cars, while also cooking as much food as they possibly could for everyone to eat. Everyone there was extremely friendly and would share their food with complete strangers that were around their cars.  The whole point of tailgating is so that people get to eat, drink, and get pumped up for the game. Unfortunately in my case, my family and I didn’t make it to the game, along with a handful of other families in the parking lot.  I personally didn’t mind not going to the game because I was just happy to be with my family and friends. For the people who didn’t go into the game however, were getting warnings by the cops that we had to leave. Tailgating had a specific time in which people had to pack up and leave. Which is reasonable, but I wasn’t ready to leave yet. So once the cops left we just continued to eat and play games. After all of the cars left, if you looked at the parking lots that were designated for tailgating, it was as if it was like a giant trash pit. There was food everywhere along with cups and other trash.  I felt pretty bad for whoever had to clean that up. All together I would say that tailgating before the games especially parent’s weekend is such a great time for anyone who is participating. You get to be with your family while also eating great food by your parents that college kids miss so much and spending time with your family.