Bucket Game

The Boilers come into the Bucket Game riding a 2 game winning streak that they will try to run to 3 games against hated “Bloomington Tech.”  I really thought that the momentum from last year's bowl game would carryover and lead us to a New Year's Day bowl in 2012......that alone should prove that there is such a thing as blind optimism…..but a win in a win and the Bucket has to stay home!

A win on Saturday and the Bucket will stay at home and Purdue goes “bowling.”  (I use quotes because let’s face it, we’re likely headed to Detroit again.)  I would love to say that a bowl game fixes everything, but in reality I am hoping that Saturday will be the last time we watch Danny Hope on the Purdue sidelines. 

We will be having our traditional Bucket Game pregame meal of chili and ham and cheese.  Hopefully we will be celebrating another Bucket Game tradition: a Boilermaker victory!  (Purdue is 57-27-3 in the Bucket Game.) 

We are doing a charity event for "Toys for Tots" so if you can donate a new toy we would appreciate it!

We have the large flagpole that extends to 20 feet and an ambulance so hopefully you will be able to locate us easily.  We will be sporting our custom flag this year which sports our “Old School Boilermakers” motif similar to our cups.

Saturday November 24, 2012

8:00 a.m.     Depart the House

8:15 a.m.     Arrive W Lot

11:15 a.m.   Depart for Game

12:00 p.m.   Kickoff

 
Eric and his parents will be departing from the house at 8:00 to ensure that we have two adjacent spots.  If anyone else would like to meet at the house they are welcome to but it is not necessary.  We have room to transport up to 7 people from the house in the ambulance and Element.

State Penn

So much for 0ctober, that’s zero not O as in the number of wins our Boilers managed in the tenth month of 2012.  This week the disgraced but not humbled Lions of State Penn come into Ross Ade looking to rebound after losing to OSU last week.  We on the other hand try and get our first Big Ten win and more importantly try and stay within one game of IU in the Leaders division……yes you read that right.  If nothing else we can all at least leave the game knowing that our administration didn’t cover up a scandal the magnitude of Jerry Sandusky right?

Danny Hope said that he felt that his team had not given up.  I guess I will believe it when I see it in the performance on the field.  They looked competitive at OSU but just flat STUNK in Minnesota.  I want to believe that the decision to start Marve on Saturday will provide a spark but he is playing on one leg after all.

Our charity event this week will be collecting canned goods for the St. Lawrence food pantry.  Please bring non-perishible items to donate if you can?  Everyone that makes a donation will get to take home one of our newly minted Stone Cold Tailgating Cups.

We will be doing make your own pizza for the tailgate this weekend.  It will be a little cool so we will have the heaters to make things a bit more comfortable.  I will also plan to mix up a batch of mulled apple cider that will act nicely as the base for all manner of hot toddy.

We will plan on meeting in the W lot on Saturday morning.  We have been able to secure spots at the back of the lot the last few weeks and will plan to be in the same place this week.

We have the large flagpole that extends to 20 feet and an ambulance so hopefully you will be able to locate us easily.  We will be sporting our custom flag this year which sports our “Old School Boilermakers” motif similar to our cups.

Saturday November 3, 2012
10:45 a.m.       Depart for the W Lot
11:00 a.m.       Arrive W Lot/Set Up Tailgate
2:45 p.m.         Depart for Stadium
3:30 p.m.         Kick Off
7:30 p.m.         Dinner at 1814 Vinton
9:30 p.m.         Meet at Harry’s
 
We will have dinner cooking while we are at the game so we’ll plan to clean up, grab some dinner, and head back to Harry’s after the game.

One Giant Leap.....

The step up from MAC to Big Ten level competition proved to be a giant leap for our Boilers last weekend and they failed pretty miserably.  If they are to harbor any further hopes of playing on New Year’s Day they will need to get a victory against the Badgers this weekend. I look forward to seeing everyone visiting and hope to cheer on a Homecoming victory.

“One Giant Leap” also represents our tailgate theme for Homecoming 2013: A Salute to Neil Armstrong. Neil was one of the greatest Boilers of all time and we felt that homecoming would be a great time to honor his memory.

We will be recreating part of Neil’s favorite meal from his Apollo 11 flight in his honor. (Meal C on Day 2 in the photocopy of the “Armstrong Menu” below.) We will be mixing up a Spaghetti Casserole for our main and pairing it with some Italian style snack foods and of course wine.

As you can see from the drinks listed on the menu (note the lack of any Tang) it is clear that Neil also had a strong affinity for citrus fruit drinks. With that in mind and knowing that Neil was a Naval aviator we’ll mix up a batch of tropical Navy Grog for all to share.

Copy of Apollo 11 Menu

Saturday has been designated a Gold and Black game.  Fans with tickets in sections 101 through 105 - the primary area for visitor seating - are asked to wear gold, while the Purdue student sections, 106 through 115, wear black. Sections 116 through 124 will don gold and sections 125 through 134 go with black.

 

Who	Tickets	Section	Color
Maureen	1	115	Black
Lara	1	115	Black
Tim	1	115	Black
Timmy	1	115	Black
Paula	1	120	Gold
Eric	1	120	Gold
Sue	1	120	Gold
Jim	1	120	Gold
Greg	1	120	Gold
Brendan	1	120	Gold
Dawn	1	120	Gold
Joel	1	120	Gold
Julie	1	120	Gold
Grady	1	120	Gold
Anna	1	120	Gold
Keith	1	120	Gold
Laurel	1	120	Gold
Chris	1	120	Gold
Eileen	1	120	Gold
Ahearns	3	120	Gold
Zenors	3	120	Gold

 

We will plan on meeting in the W lot on Saturday morning, though it is hard telling where in the lot. We have had significant issues thus far with the parking situation and I don’t expect it to be much better for the rest of the year. This last week we were at the back of the lot and I expect the same for this weekend.

We have the large flagpole that extends to 20 feet and an ambulance so hopefully you will be able to locate us easily.  We will be sporting our flag that sports our “Old School Boilermakers” motif similar to our cups.

Friday October 12, 2011
9:00 p.m. Arrival (Eric) from Chicago

My parents are now fully retired and will be home all day on Friday so feel free to arrive any time after 12:00 if you’re staying at the Stone Cold Lodge 1814. Paula will be the earliest arrival from our family as I have staff meeting in Des Plaines that day and likely won’t get out of Chicago until dinner time.

There are no set plans for the night, we’ll probably just hang out at the house and catch up. I am thinking about opening up the poker table for games.

Saturday October 13, 2012
8:00 a.m. Depart for the W Lot
8:30 a.m. Tailgate Begins
11:30 a.m. Leave for Game
12:00 p.m. Kickoff
6:00 p.m. Dinner at 1814 Vinton

Eric and his parents will be departing from the house at 8:00 to ensure that we have two adjacent spots. If anyone else would like to meet at the house they are welcome to but it is not necessary. We have room to transport up to 7 people from the house in the ambulance and Element.

We will plan to eat at the house as there will be such a large group and securing a spot on campus would be nearly impossible. The plan is to stay at the house on Saturday night as it has proven to be nearly impossible to make our way back from the on campus bars in years past.

Sunday October 14, 2012
No specific plans for Sunday other than nursing various degrees of “hangover.”

Oktoberfest Tailgate 2012: Prost!

Good win for the Boilers against Marshall in the first of three straight home games.  Michigan rolls in for the sandwich game of our three game homestand and it couldn’t be more important for the Boilermakers to score a victory to open Big Ten play.

I know I’m excited to see what the Boiler D can do against Denard “Antwaan Randle-El” Robinson after seeing them struggle a bit with the athletic Marshall QB.  While Denard is a great athlete I have seen nothing over the last four years to indicate that he’s a great QB and I hope to see our Boiler D exploit that this coming Saturday.   A win this Saturday would be a great start to the Big Ten season, I know I can’t wait to cheer on the Boilermakers so bring your "outdoor voices!!"

We will be celebrating our annual Oktoberfest this weekend complete with German beer, Bratwurst, deep fried Kraut Balls, and of course men in leather pants! I’m excited to see everyone, including special guest in Chris Coons who will be joining us to tailgate on Saturday before heading to a wedding in Indy!  (Dude, it's not too late to just get a ticket for the game.  You know my policy on fall weddings, I would encourage you to adopt it.)

We will plan on meeting in the W lot on Saturday morning, though it is hard telling where in the lot. We have had significant issues thus far with the parking situation and I don’t expect it to be much better for the rest of the year. This last week we were at the back of the lot and I expect the same for this weekend.

We have the large flagpole that extends to 20 feet and an ambulance so hopefully you will be able to locate us easily. We will be sporting our custom flag this year which sports our “Old School Boilermakers” motif similar to our cups.

Saturday October 6, 2012
10:30 a.m. Depart for the W Lot
11:00 a.m. Arrive W lot/Set up Tailgate
3:15 p.m. Depart for Stadium
4:00 p.m. Kick Off

Eric and his parents will be departing from the house at 10:30 to ensure that we have two adjacent spots. If anyone else would like to meet at the house they are welcome to but it is not necessary. We have room to transport up to 7 people from the house in the ambulance and Element.

Michigan Game Charity Event

Guest Blogger Vincent the Pooch sitting in for Master this week. Thank goodness he can type for me as I still have not developed opposable thumbs and hunting and pecking with my nose would take forever! First let me say big thanks to Master and Paula for adopting me several years ago.  I mean I’m a good lookin’ pooch so I probably would have been OK but having a nice home is the best, much better than shelter life!

There are still a lot of dogs and cats out there for whom the animal shelter is their home. This week the Stone Cold Tailgating Club reaches out to those animals by asking for donations for the Almost Home Animal Shelter in Lafayette. Any help is greatly appreciated!  Just bring your donation to the tailgate and Master will handle the rest.

For the animals

• Dog and cat treats. No colored biscuits, please.
• Cat and pocket pet litter. Any brand, clay, corncob or paper litter only, please. We do not use scoopable litter. Special Kitty Cat Litter from Wal-Mart is great!
• Esbilac, KMR and puppy and kitten nursing bottles and nipples
• Advantage or Frontline topical flea preventatives
• Dog toys. Kong toys, hard rubber bones (Nylabone, etc.), tennis balls, rope bones
• Cat toys. Balls with bells, catnip toys, fur mice, etc. Nothing with strings, please.
• Food and water bowls, all sizes (metal only; no plastic bowls please)
• Pet carriers and cages, all sizes
• Rabbit pellets and alfalfa hay
• Hamster food and treats
• Peanut butter
• Heating pads
• Chew sticks, exercise balls, wheels, and small cardboard boxes for pocket pets
• Towels, blankets or rugs, any size, new or used

Cleaning Items

• Household bleach and laundry detergent
• Sponges, scrub brushes, gloves, spray bottles, dustpans with brushes and other cleaning supplies
• Anti-bacterial hand sanitizer Air freshener

Marshall, Marshall, Marshall!

Welcome back Boilermaker fans after a week off let’s hope the boys are ready to get after it against a good Marshall squad.  Marshall is coming off an OT win against our nemesis from last year: Rice.  Marshall has two losses, but they are to #9 West Virginia (I believe that they play for the “Redneck Cup”) and the Ohio University (#29) team that beat Penn State in (not so) Happy Valley.  In other words this will be a good test for us heading into Big Ten play.

In honor of this being Family Day at Purdue we will be doing a meal of hamburgers and fries since without those staples of the American teenage diet my parents would not have met.  (I’ll probably break out the mason jars to drink from as well to “honor” our guests from West Virginia.) 

We will plan on meeting in the W lot on Saturday morning, though it is hard telling where in the lot.  We have had significant issues thus far with the parking situation and I don’t expect it to be much better for the rest of the year.  I have spoken with the John Purdue Club and it looks like it will be difficult (though not impossible) for us to move to the D lot this year.

We have the large flagpole that extends to 20 feet and an ambulance so hopefully you will be able to locate us easily.  We will be sporting our custom flag this year which sports our “Old School Boilermakers” motif similar to our cups.

Saturday Septmeber 29, 2012

10:30 a.m.     Depart for W Lot

11:00 a.m.     Arrive W, Tailgate begins

2:15 p.m.       Tailgate Breakdown, depart from the stadium.

3:15 p.m.         Kick Off

Eric and his parents will be departing from the house at 10:30 to ensure that we have two adjacent spots.  If anyone else would like to meet at the house they are welcome to but it is not necessary.  We have room to transport up to 7 people from the house in the ambulance and Element.

A New Hope

A good effort last weekend in ND, the offense wasn’t as impressive as you would like but I thought that Marve did a great job of moving them up and down the field. Unfortunately it looks like we have seen the end of Robert Marve in a Purdue football uniform as he appears to have torn his ACL…..again. The 2 QB system was destined to fail in my opinion but I really assumed that Marve would be the one to win out.

Our “new hope” though is on the defensive side of the ball, where the boys looked good at ND in shutting down an offense that put up 50 points against Navy the week before. They were one blown delay of game call from getting off the field with under 2:00 to go. I think that the defense will make us competitive and will keep us in games the rest of the year. In honor of this “new hope” we will be having Star Wars themed pancakes at our kegs ‘n eggs breakfast tailgate this weekend. (All right, it’s a stretch but Paula got me these AWESOME Star Wars pancake molds and I have to find a way to use them at a tailgate.)

The opponent this week should present little challenge as they dropped their home opener to Brock Spack’s I-AA Illinois State team. What is it with Michigan teams losing to I-AA teams at home? (NEVER miss a chance to rib Michigan about losing to Appalachian State.) I suspect that we will see a lot of Rob Henry by the second half on Saturday.

As mentioned above we are doing Kegs ‘n Eggs breakfast tailgate this weekend. We will have eggs, sausage, and pancakes along with a Bloody Mary bar and mimosas. I expect the tailgate to be a low key affair as attendance is going to be sparse for this titanic struggle.

We will plan on meeting in the W lot on Saturday morning, hopefully towards the front of the lot just like last year. The W lot is across from the Slater Hill and the Stone Cold Tailgating Club spot is marked by the gold square. We will be sporting our custom flag this year which sports our “Old School Boilermakers” motif similar to our cups.

Saturday September 15, 2012
8:00 a.m. Depart for the W Lot
8:15 a.m. Arrive W lot/Set up Tailgate
11:15 p.m. Depart for Stadium
12:00 p.m. Kick Off

Eric and his parents will be departing from the house at 8:00 to ensure that we have two adjacent spots. If anyone else would like to meet at the house they are welcome to but it is not necessary. We have room to transport up to 7 people from the house in the ambulance and Element.

Family Reunion

We kick off the 2012 season with FCS school and former Danny Hope coaching stop Eastern Kentucky. I would like to say that I’m highly confident in us getting a win this year against the I-AA (yes I know it’s not called that anymore but I don’t care) team, but this EKU team took Kansas State to the wire last year and we have a tendency to let teams like this hang around. In my mind this will be a true test of whether or not this team has finally grown up (as well as the coaching staff) in Danny Hope's 4th season in West Lafayette.

Please note below that the game time for this game is 3:30 p.m.  I’m not sure why they did that, but I’m not complainingas our seats in Section 120 should be in the shade by kickoff! That will obviously be helpful if the temperature is in its customary 90’s for the first game of the year.

This game will be a family reunion of sorts as Danny Hope’s son plays for the Colonels. Given that fact and the fact that the first game is a chance to renew acquaintances with our own tailgating family we will be going with a “family reunion” themed menu for the first game. We will be serving up fresh fried chicken with all the fixings and drinking our lemonade from mason jars.

We will plan on meeting in the W lot on Saturday morning, hopefully towards the front of the lot just like last year. The W lot is across from the Slater Hill and the Stone Cold Tailgating Club spot is marked by the gold square.

For those of you parking in the IM Gold Lot it is only a 5 minute walk to the W lot, just think of us being on the way to the stadium. We have the large flagpole that extends to 20 feet and an ambulance so hopefully you will be able to locate us easily. We will be sporting our custom flag this year which sports our “Old School Boilermakers” motif similar to our cups.

Saturday September 1, 2012
11:00 a.m. Depart for the W Lot
11:15 a.m. Arrive W lot/Set up Tailgate
2:45 p.m. Depart for Stadium
3:30 p.m. Kick Off

Eric and his parents will be departing from the house at 8:00 to ensure that we have two adjacent spots. If anyone else would like to meet at the house they are welcome to but it is not necessary. We have room to transport up to 7 people from the house in the ambulance and Element.

Purdue Football 2012

Football season 2012 is upon us and this Boilermaker squad looks like they could build on the 7 wins that they brought home last year. We have 19 returning starters and for the first time in several years it looks like all of our QBs are healthy! If Ralph Bolden is back and healthy off of his ACL injury suffered in last year’s bucket game we could have an offense to reckon with.

Ticket sales are down mostly on the complaint that we “don’t play anyone good” at home this year. The home slate features no less than five teams that appeared in the post season in 2011/12 (EKU (FCS), Marshall, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Penn State) so the competition will be good this year. The Boilers look like they will be up to the challenge and hope to improve on the 5-2 mark at home in 2011.

I currently still have 4 seats for each of the following games priced at $12.50 per person so please contact me if you’re interested?

Eastern Kentucky
Eastern Michigan
Marshall

While I expect improved performance from the team we will still have some fun tailgates planned to ensure that your game day experience is good regardless of what happens on the field. We will be having a great time before and after each game in our normal spot in the W lot across from Slayter Center.

We will be featuring the return of some of our tried and true favorites including Make Your Own Pizza for Penn State, Kegs and Eggs for Eastern Michigan, and Oktoberfest which returns for the 4 p.m. kickoff against Michigan on 10/6/12.

We will also be doing our Stone Cold Tailgating Club charity events this year. I really do appreciate everyone that has supported our Charity endeavors over the last three years, I think it is great that our tailgating “family” is giving back. The events will be as follows:

10/6 Michigan – Almost Home Pet Rescue
10/13 Wisconsin – Coats for Kids
11/3 Penn State – St. Lawrence Food Pantry
11/24 Bucket – Toys for Tots

The Stone Cold Tailgating Club is in effect again this year; pay one price and it covers you for the season! The membership levels and costs are listed in the table below. There have been no changes to the pricing from last year.

In addition to the Stone Cold Tailgating Package you can see that there is also a lodging package available. With two locations I am going to leave it up to everyone to arrange their lodging each weekend by contacting Brendan and Dawn (goboilerz@yahoo.com) or Susan Franklin (susanfranklin_1814@comcast.net). The revenues from the Stone Cold Lodging package will be put towards house upkeep, utilities, and improvement work. Each location has a “bucket” for you to make your donations. I look forward to seeing everyone this fall!

Indy in The Month of May!

As an Indianapolis native the 500 has always held a special place in my heart and I enjoy my opportunity to experience the race and all of the pre-race pageantry once every few years. (Thanks for the floater ticket Andy!)

This year will be an extra special experience as for the first time I’m going to try camping across from the track the night before the race. I know what you’re thinking: “Franklin camping?” I’m just looking at it as an overnight tailgate otherwise I would never attempt this. Let’s face it, at this point in my life “roughing it” means Standard Def TV in the room and a domestic only beer and wine list.

Below you will have a general timeline for each day and some very base information on what the thinking behind the plan is. I look forward to seeing everyone this weekend.

Saturday May 26, 2012
12:00 p.m. Eric Arrives at Bacon’s from Chicago
12:30 p.m. Depart for Lot 1A
2:30 p.m. Return to Bacon’s
9:00 p.m. Camp Set Up?

I will attempt to be there before noon, but it will be noon at the latest. We will have to be heading south on Georgetown to make the turn into the lot so I propose we head up Lynhurst to 30th, then over to Georgetown Road. I was planning on just running the cars up to secure spaces then head back to Bacon’s to enjoy his fabulous pre-race day hospitality.

After a few hours at Bacon’s I am planning to hoof it back up to the lot to get things set up and to enjoy a little bit of the “night before the race” atmosphere. I have some friends that are going to be camping over in the 1C lot and I plan to head over to see them at some point in the evening. Beyond that I hope to call it a relatively early night as the next day will be quite long.

Once we have established our campsite location I will mark it using the GPS technology on my iPhone and will blast that out to everyone. If you are using a smartphone you should be able to use the mapping function to come right to us.

Sunday May 27, 2012
5:33 a.m. Cannon sounding at the track will be the first wakeup call
7:00 a.m. Tailgate open for business
10:00 a.m. Depart for Track
12:00 p.m. Green Flag
4:00 p.m. Approximate return to the Tailgate for post-race meal

I am planning to bring along our 20 foot flagpole to help mark our campsite so that those coming in to tailgate can find us. I will have an American Flag and likely a Purdue flag on the flagpole. This will serve as a secondary marker for those of you not using smartphone guidance.

We will be serving breakfast burritos before the race. I know this is a break with the traditional biscuits and gravy but what can I say, I’ve always been a Josele Garza fan. We will have an assortment of beers and alcohols for imbibing should you choose and should have enough beer to throw in a carry in cooler.

Jim will be hosting a “during the race” tailgate while those of us with tickets disappear into the sea of humanity pouring through the gates at 16th and Georgetown. After the checkered flag drops we will plan to return to the tailgate for a bite to eat while traffic clears. Andy will be roasting a pork loin and we can rehash all of the race goings on. I believe that we need to be out of the lot by 7:00 p.m. though, so keep that in mind.