The Tale of Two Tailgates

I don't get to tailgate much.

My favorite teams are a five hour trip away from my house so loading up the car with food and beverage and schlepping to a stadium is something that I am not going to do that often.  I did get the chance earlier this year to see my Syracuse Orange take on Notre Dame at Metlife stadium, but that really is a once every few years sort of thing.

I really wish I had the chance to do it more often.  It sucks when your alma mater is so far away and they don't visit your area more than they do.  I really wish I liked a team like Rutgers which is only about 20 minutes away.  Then I could take the kids all the time and tailgating would be something that we do every weekend.  But I hate Rutgers, I hate everything about them, and I really can't stand their bandwagon fans.  These red "Rs" I see on everyone's cars when I live really gets my blood boiling.

So it was surprising that the first tailgate party that I would take Carter to was a Rutgers game in New Brunswick, New Jersey.  I swore I would never visit the place unless Syracuse was playing them, but when your son loves football and his Mighty Mites team is going as a whole, then you have to make exceptions.

You will notice though that Carter is the only one not wearing some form of red.  Taking him to the game was one thing, actually cheering for the home team was another.  I will say though, that while I dislike Rutgers, that Carter had a great time playing with his friends and the food and beverage made the whole day a lot easier to swallow.  This day was not my typical tailgate.

My usual form of "tailgating" now involves me sitting on my couch with a six pack of beer and easy access to my refrigerator.  Since my Syracuse Orange Men's Basketball team is on TV quite often, this type of tailgate is commonplace.  Just last weekend they had a game against Holy Cross.  Since it wasn't THAT big of a game, it was relegated to ESPN 3 which of course you can only watch on your phone or by streaming it to your television.  It's not the easiest way to watch a game, but it's better than not using it at all.

I had an issue though.  While the picture was OK, I wasn't getting any sound.  Rather than fiddling with the TV I decided to fire up my TuneIn Radio App that I downloaded onto my iPhone.  Browsing through different categories I was able to find the Syracuse University radio call of the game.  I was able to sync up the sound with the video on my TV and instead of sitting in silence for two hours, thanks to the TuneIn Radio App I had audio to match my video.  Not living in the Syracuse area, without this App I would not have been able to listen to the game, and it couldn't have been any easier.

So while the rest of the family and friends were busy with their board games, I was busy with my six pack and my beloved Syracuse Orange, who won by the way.  It would have been nice to watch them in person... but this was the next best way.  You too can #TurnTheGameUp this winter with your favorite team and TuneIn Radio.

Disclosure: I have partnered and was compensated by Life of Dad, LLC and TuneIn for this promotion.

John Willey - Daddy's in Charge?

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