GOE Tailgating Excellence

Several weeks ago a group of the Gentlemen of Excellence were together and the topic of college football came up, which is always a popular topic when Lange is involved.  I asked the seemingly innocent question (I was trying to contribute because I don't know much about college football) - did you guys ever think about getting together to watch a college football game?  As with most things associated with the GOE it quickly turned into an event or even an EVENT (although I am trying to ignore the call for resurrecting the chicken wings eating competition, which is the definitive GOE EVENT).  The decision was made that yes, definitely, the GOE should attend a college football game and tailgate (a concept that I had to explain to my girlfriend Laura, who was mystified by the language and proposed that I needed to express it in British English).  Now the issue became where.  Vermont is known for many things, but major college athletics, especially football, is definitely not one of them.  The University of Vermont nor Champlain College (more on this later) do not play football, and, for that matter, Champlain doesn't have any teams beyond the intermural or club level at all (something which I really like about us).  We finally decided to attend Middlebury College's final game of the season versus Tufts, which turned out to be a fantastic day.  Middlebury is about an hour south of us and it's a beautiful drive down with some stunning views of the lake.  We set up our grill and Kevin Andrews, grillmaster, cooked up some delicious brats, sausages and hot dogs.  I was charged with the less complicated items such as buns and chips and donuts - and adult beverages (who knew that Blue Moon Harvest Pumpkin Ale would be so good - I don't normally get a craving for pumpkin in my beer, but I may have to stock up since it's a seasonal selection and will be gone soon).  The weather was beautiful, the game was great, and the conviviality was typically extraordinary.  At a certain point I suggested that we should do this at least once every football season because tailgating at Middlebury was a blast.  Further, I proposed that since Champlain doesn't play football we should essentially invent an imaginary football team for the school with an imaginary schedule (featuring games against Notre Dame and Ohio State and the University of Cincinnati [all alma maters] and, for some reason, the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League and a loser leaves town [or at least loses their school name] game against Canada's Champlain College).  This would allow us tailgate at Champlain every other week when the imaginary team was playing an imaginary home game (sort of).  My suggestion was that we should tailgate in front of Aiken Hall, where most of our offices are located, although I really liked the idea of tailgating in President Finney's backyard (although we'd have to run when he came out and found us there).  As is often the case with the GOE this has completely taken on a life of its own, featuring discussions relating to posters and documentaries and, my personal favorite, Andy Burkhardt's suggestion that the Beavers (Champlain's team name for our non-teams, which is actually true) should play in a floating stadium on Lake Champlain called the Beaver Lodge.  Obviously, much more on this later.  It feels great to be home.

The beautiful field of the Middlebury College Panthers.  This shot doesn't do it justice because there are mountains in the background.  It was a great game, including a crazy long fumble recovery and pitchback return for a touchdown.  The Panthers won the game and thus their league.  Go Panthers!

Kevin Andrews, Grill Master and Man About Town.

Classic tailgating fare.  So delicious.

Steve Wehmeyer and his daugther Daria playing football, an essential part of any successful tailgating.  One of my favorite moments of the day was my conversation with Daria where I tried to talk her into attending Middlebury, and she said she might although it would have to have a good art program (she's in 5th grade).  Daria rules!

Laura tells me that I only tend to post pictures of myself on my blog when I'm happy.  I'm happy.

The Gentlemen of Excellence tailgating.  An epic day, which ended up at the St. John's Social Club for games of chance.  What amazing friends I have.