“It’s kind of hard to rally around a math class.”

— Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant, Alabama football coach (1958-1982)

Alligator meat sizzles on the grill, patrons quaff ‘Hatred’ craft beer, while counting down to kickoff at Miami’s J. Wakefield Brewing Company — it is August 24, 2019, and the University of Miami Canes play rival University of Florida Gators. It is also the 150th season of American or gridiron football, rooted in the sports of rugby and soccer, the game debuted on November 6, 1869, when Rutgers defeated Princeton. The object of the sport, gaining and defending territory by tactical force, appealed to a nation that had just experienced regional rivalry.

As populations moved westward, institutions of higher education were created, many with the assistance of the Morrill Act of 1862 supporting land-grant colleges. Recognizing the success of football in the schools in the east, many formed teams. Players risking injury in a team effort to reach a goal will always draw attention, but today the tradition of tailgating — eating and drinking, in association with a game, commonly out of a vehicle, sustains interest.

The Battle of Bull Run, in Manassas, Va., in 1861, is often cited as the first tailgate event. Known as the “picnic” battle, spectators came with picnic baskets, beverages, and opera glasses to watch from afar. Bull Run was more picnic in attitude than reality — the Union expected easy victory but were defeated and a protracted civil war began. Each season of college football is greeted with optimism, a chance to avenge losses of the past.

In 1866, cattleman Charles Goodknight converted a Studebaker wagon into a full-service kitchen, the “chuckwagon,” to feed the cowboys that drove herds of longhorns from the grasslands of Texas to the stockyards of Nebraska. The most fervent fans of today will follow their team in motorhomes, equipped with barbeques, well-stocked bars, and satellite hook-ups for big screen TV. A majority will be content with a cooler of beer and bratwurst grilled on a smoky joe.

Like the Boomers and Sooners of the Oklahoma land rushes of 1889 and 1893, people amass waiting for the signal to advance to their favorite tailgating location. At the University of Mississippi, “Ole Miss,” tailgating is restricted to the “Grove,” a 10-acre area of oak and magnolia trees, that will become a city of 2,500 tents on game day. Locals call it “puttin’ on the dog.” Southern hospitality is evident, as some tents have chandeliers and candelabra, serving fried chicken, drinking mimosas and old fashioneds. The university pays area nonprofits to clean-up — it takes 185 volunteers three hours to collect up to 90 tons of trash.

Attending a college football game and tailgating is more substantive than the typical social gathering, loyalty to the team and university extends through generations of family and decades of friendship. The kindred spirit is evident in colors, chants, and fight song, that unites tens of thousands who gather in stadiums such the University of Michigan’s “Big House” (115,109), and Clemson’s “Death Valley” (86,092). John Sherry, anthropologist, Notre Dame, says that people are attracted by a sense of community like harvest festivals of early agrarian societies — we’re here, we made it, we belong.

Living in Alpena makes it difficult to attend major college football games, but that doesn’t dampen the rivalry or enthusiasm — the coffee table will be the tailgate, sofas and recliners the bleachers, with a big screen TV the football field!

“A school without football is in danger of deteriorating into a medieval study hall.” — Frank Leahy, Notre Dame football player and coach