So, this blog has been a long time coming. I've wanted to write a book for a few years now, detailing the prep and fun that we get out of putting on the Official Unofficial Tailgate for Cal Football. In a nutshell, the tailgate is named the "2328 and Friends" after a group of friends who lived together in Berkeley while going to Cal. 2328, of course, was their address.
Every year for the Big Game, Cal v. Stanfurd (purposefully misspelled, forever), they would get together and do a tailgate party, no different from any other. Gas grill, beer, good times, and a football game...and for many years in a row, a loss.
Around 2000, the group added a party the night BEFORE Big Game, and decided that the only way to do it right was to have a themed costume party, with a theme related to the current woes of the football team. For example, in 2001 the team was winless going into Big Game. Thus, the theme "O." We had people dressed as Orgasms, OJ, you name it. The themes were simple, and allowed us Cal fans the opportunity to do what we do best, be creative.
Around that time, I was an attendee at the parties, but had no official role in the tailgate party itself, other than to go and numb myself before the annual beat down took place. (We lost 7 in a row starting in my freshman year in 1995) But it was around 2002 that this all changed...
It started as a simple request...Chris, grill master by necessity, nonchalantly asked me a question. "Hey man, can you watch the grill for a minute, I'm going to take a leak." He has yet to return to the grill.
I flipped a lot of burgers that day at the Foothill Parking lot in Berkeley. Cal won its first Big Game in recent memory, and Jeff Tedford was the new coach that was going to rescue Cal football. Everything was good. I even remember the great sunset. Now, the exact evolution from, "please hold my spatula" guy to "Executive Chef of the most fantastic Cal football tailgate party" took a little time. The "Captain" of the tailgate, as we'll call him, still runs the show and is the Tsar. However, over time his general fatigue from his 54 extra ciricular activities has taken its toll, and he has ceded much of the planning...and generally all control over the food, to the two Matts. Me, and DBo. As you'll come to find out through the course of this blog (and my book once I decide to put that ball in motion), is that I (and DBo) spend an obsessive amount of time planning, plotting, prepping and sometimes procrastinating...but always prognosticating about how the next year's event is going to be the best tailgate we've ever thrown. The food has gotten tastier, the recipes more diverse, and the menus more plentiful.
So here we are in 2013. Cal football starts in a week. Our first event is the Cal/Ohio St. game on Sept. 14th. And what are we doing? Test kitchen. DBo comes to my house and we cook, and test recipes, and generally figure out logistics on how to make the Official Unofficial Tailgate (aka The 2328) the best possible event.
The basics
$20 per person - covers all you can eat and all you can drink...usually pre-game AND post game (except late night games)
The equipment
Much more will be written about our workhorse. The 6 foot Coleman Event Grill. Many a better grill have probably been made, but none has treated us as kindly as this monster of a grill. Purchased, used, and sold in Tennessee, and repurchased when we returned...this puppy is going on its 8th year in service, and will host its 9th and 10th parties this fall. That may not sound like a lot, but with the amount of abuse this thing takes, its impressive that it's still around.
Coming next...
You'll meet the players, you'll hear some stories, and you'll of course see pictures of, and get way too much detail about, THE FOOD!
So thanks for reading. And thanks to Chris Kelly for taking the longest pee in history.
I hope you enjoy.
Go Bears!
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