Tailgate is always a rowdy party, but if history is any indication, this Saturday morning will be wilder than ever.
That's because tomorrow's festivities come before the Duke-Navy football game, when hundreds of straight-laced Naval Academy midshipmen descend on the University to cheer on their team-and also to experience something closer to a traditional college social scene.
From a Navy-themed sorority bash to free lodging in a residence hall, students are opening their arms to welcome the boys from Annapolis, Md.-where the rigorous four-year service academy is located.
More than 500 midshipmen have volunteered to attend Saturday's game, said Judy Campbell, a Naval Academy spokesperson.
Last year, students reported seeing midshipmen enjoying the good life alongside Duke students at on-campus section parties and off-campus clubs.
Sophomore Teague Allston said when he hosted a friend from the Naval Academy last year, it was culture shock at first for his guest.
"We went to two parties and drank the usual," Allston said with a laugh. "He said it wasn't what he was used to."
Allston's friend is coming back this weekend, but not just for the booze.
"He said there were a lot more girls here," Allston said. The U.S. Naval Academy Class of 2009 is 79.7 percent male.
It's a two-way street, though. Sophomore Sarah Opper said she is happy to be hosting five midshipmen-all juniors-overnight in her Few Quadrangle room.
Although she knows one of them from high school, Opper said the others are less familiar.
"I hung with some of them last year but I didn't really know them," she explained.
Still, Opper has her priorities in order.
"They seem like really fun guys-plus they have really cute uniforms," she said.
Sororities are poised to salute the incoming midshipmen, as well.
Last year, Alpha Phi sorority had a Navy-themed party at Chamas Brazilian Steakhouse, but current President Hali Cooperman-Dix, a senior, declined to comment about the sorority's social plans for this year, citing national guidelines.
The torch has been passed this year to Alpha Omicron Pi sorority, which is hosting "Welcome Sailors!" at Durham nightclub Shooters II.
The tagline is "Sexy Sailors and Mad Hot Midshipmen... Let's Show the Naval Academy How Duke Gets Down."
Sophomore Grace Reilly, the sorority's public relations chair and organizer of the event, said she is happy to carry on the tradition.
"It's just kind of to show them a good time since they don't really have so much freedom at the academy," Reilly said. "It should be fun."
Midshipmen are expected to conduct themselves properly at all times whether they are on-campus or away, Campbell said in a statement.
"These standards of conduct apply both on and off duty, in personal behavior, and in relations with others in the civilian and military communities," Campbell said.
"All midshipmen are held strictly accountable for their behavior," she added.
Katherine MacIlwaine contributed to this story.
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