Adventures in Atlanta: My first football game

Posted: November 11th, 2009 at 11:10 am | Tags: food, georgia tech, sports, waffle house

There is no use in denying that I am an elitist liberal who prefers living in the big city somewhere in the Northeast or on the West Coast and drinks Frappicinos. If I drove, I would probably drive a hybrid.
That said, I thought it would be interesting to go to a football game. Also, the concept of “tailgating” was intriguing. I am always up for free food and beer.
So two Saturdays ago, I dragged myself out of bed on a Saturday to meet up with Bryan and Fred for their tailgating thing. Walking through Frat Row¹, on a beautiful November afternoon, 80’s rock blasting, people grilling and drinking beer, I FELT SO AMERICAN.
Bryan put a bacon cheddar burger o² on the grill. I was also offered Bud Lite and a 24 oz can of PBR. I chose to drink the PBR because I don’t think my fellow beer snobs would ever forgive me for drinking a Bud (no offense to anyone who does like Bud Lite).
The actual game was okay. I didn’t really know what was going on.³ It just looked like the players were running back and forth every few yards. Fred and Rob told me it was a very exciting game against Wake Forest because it was a very close game. I knew it was a close game (Yes, I do know how to read a scoreboard) but I guess I haven’t developed an emotional attachment to the home team⁴.
I did like the spectacle of it all though: the cheerleaders, the game songs, big screens with flashy b-roll and animations, chants⁵, and other fan rituals. I didn’t grow up with this stuff like most of America did, so it’s all very fascinating to me.
I am looking forward to the Georgia Tech vs. Georgia State game, which is going to be intense because there supposedly a huge rivalry. I’m probably going to go to that. Also, Tech is going to the Orange Bowl⁶ , so that’s kinda cool…

1. Georgia Tech has a Greek system, which is an object of curiosity to me because Vassar never had any one. I watched tv and movies, so frats were kinda like a myth to me [↩]
2. that is a beef pattie with cheddar and bacon chunks mixed into it. It was alright but it needed more bacon flavor. As I chewed, I felt the bacon bits but I didn’t taste the bacon [↩]
3. During tailgating I joked I would be able to fake football knowledge after two more games because I’m good at absorbing buzz words. [↩]
4. The Jackets btw [↩]
5. people stand up and sing the Budweiser jingle between the 3rd and 4th quarter for some reason [↩]
6. the one before the Rose Bowl, which is the Superbowl of college football, I think… [↩]