We’re very excited with our #21 Michigan State Spartan football team, 7-2 overall, 4-1 in the Big Ten and firmly entrenched in the race to Pasadena. We have something to root for with earnest, a football team REAL goals, a football team that is FUN to watch – mean and ornery like an old Archie Bunker episode. And, those Stinking Badgers come to town this weekend, who play a similar type of football but are having a rocky, Spartan-esque type ho-hum, underachieving year. Should be a damn good football game, another reason to light up those grills and fill up your coolers for the sixth time this year in East Lansing to TAILGATE TAILGATE TAILGATE.

And, that time is ticking away. Here in East Lansing, this year we had two games scheduled for 3:30 p.m. kickoffs – that is a rare sight in these parts given the historical performance of our gridders. Considering the “tailgating rules” at Michigan State University, the extra time allows for massive extendo-gates. The 7-9-1 rule (7 am tailgate for 12 noon games, 9 am tailgate for 3:30 pm games, 1 pm tailgate for 8 pm games) means 6 ½ hours of tailgating beginning at 9 am on campus – an extra 90 minutes. Of course, if you are off-campus you can begin tailgating anytime you want and have a major extendo-gate... but it would only be “tailgating” if you parked your car, opened your trunk or dropped your tailgate and partied as such. And, that is one helluva lot longer walk to the stadium.

But the next two games, including tomorrow vs Bucky Badger, are 12 noon kickoffs, which means you can crack your first beer on campus at 7 am, and that is gives you five hours to booze up before kickoff. Gives me a headache thinking about it that early, but in my day I recall cracking my first beer at 7 am for tailgates.

However, YOU’VE been an incredibly lucky Spartan tailgater if you were able to travel to away games, as I have (to Cal). Our season opener at California was a 5 pm West Coast kickoff, and we had 3:30 pm kickoffs in Ann Arbor (vs Michigan) and Chicago (vs Northwestern). My God – that means half of our games this year have been PRIME TIME for television, and PRIME TIME for tailgating.

Time is ticking away. You have 10 more hours of pre-game tailgating left in East Lansing for 2008. Be safe, party hard, SPARTY HARD, and enjoy. Of course, say a good prayer to the football gods for success on the gridiron the next few weeks... and we can likely add a few more tailgating hours on NEW YEARS DAY in a warm climate.

God, I love tailgating: beer + football = FUN.