As of this morning, we're less than three weeks away from the start of college football season. Nationally, this means we're three weeks away from Alabama vs. Virginia Tech, Georgia vs. Oklahoma State and Florida girls vs. Tim Tebow's virginity.
Locally, I'm more excited for four things:
1. Pauluspalooza 2009! I don't think most people realize how big a deal it is that the second-best Paulus brother ever to play quarterback for Christian Brothers Academy is returning to central New York to strap on the pads. Honestly, I'm not sure whether I realize how big a deal this is. But some guy made a shirt, so it must be a pretty momentous ocassion. To answer your questions: Yes, I bought the t-shirt. Yes, it was an impulse purchase. No, it probably was not the best $16.49 I have ever spent. No, I don't regret my decision at all. Yes, my man-crush on Greg Paulus embarrasses me a little bit, too.
2. Swine flu! Some of you may have seen the news that a substantial number of Duke Football players have already experienced flu-like symptoms. Some of them were quarantined to prevent the spread of swine flu to uninfected team members. Head coach David Cutcliffe is on the record saying he washes his hands 38 times per day, minimum. Actually, I'm less excited for this than scared. Let's move on.
3. Duke Football! And I'm only kidding a little bit. Every year, my friends and I set some absurdly low over-under for Duke Football's total wins. Usually, it's like 0.5 or 1.5 (depending on whether or not Duke had an FCS subdivision team on the schedule), but this year we went with 4.5. Partly, this is due to the fact that the schedule includes not one, but two, FCS teams-Richmond and N.C. Central. But Duke should be favored in at least one other game this year-Army, on Sept. 12-and well, Cutcliffe's hands are very clean.
4. Tailgate! As the Nick Horvath of sports columnists, I've basically been here forever. And as someone who's been here forever, I can tell you that the administration has been talking about changing or eliminating Tailgate almost since it first started. The complaint has always been that the event centered too much around alcohol and not enough around football.
Three years ago, Towerview ran a story subtitled "How students tried to save Tailgate and came up empty." Of course, Tailgate has existed essentially unchanged since then. If anything, it has become more booze-fueled, more messy, more dangerous. Recently in The Chronicle, Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta called Tailgate "an unsightly, irresponsible, unseemly environment."
I find myself agreeing-and it's not only because I've watched Dr. Moneta swing and miss an unfortunate number of times while playing stickball. I went to Tailgate last year, and it did strike me as unsightly, irresponsible and unseemly. (I also enjoyed myself immensely, but that's neither here nor there.) Call me an old man, but maybe some things need to change.
Now I'm not talking about changing the essence of Tailgate. I'm not talking about splitting up students, spreading them all over the Blue Zone.
What I'm talking about is more food, and more responsibility. What I'm talking about is more grills.
Picture this: Tailgate on the main quad. It's a sunny October day, 64 degrees. Groups of undergrads, grad students, faculty and alumni gather around grills that the University has provided. They're wearing polo shirts, button-downs or Duke t-shirts. The quad smells like burgers and hot dogs. Fans mill around on the quad, drinking beers and sodas out of cans and Solo cups. No one throws beer; no one vomits; no one drives drunk; no one yells at police; no one does coke off of the hood of a car. Fifteen minutes before kick-off, everyone starts to leave the quad and head into the stadium to cheer on the Blue Devils, who will probably lose, but at least they'll be competitive.
Out in the back corner of the Blue Zone, the group of students that clings to Old Tailgate gets drunk, vomits, throws beer at each other. They are not provided with grills, water, popcorn or any official support from the University. As far as everyone on campus is concerned, they don't really exist. As far as they're concerned, they get to do what they want. Everyone's a winner.
When I was an undergrad, there were a number of students who just wanted to tailgate, hang out and drink beers prior to football games. These students did not want to vomit, fight, or create an unseemly environment. There was a minority of students who created the environment that Dr. Moneta justly criticizes. I'm pretty sure that's still the case. If you could separate these groups of students, then maybe you would have all of the fun, community-building aspects of Tailgate and none of the dangerous ones.
It's that, or just hope for a swine flu outbreak every Saturday during football season.
Alex Fanaroff, Trinity '06, is a third-year medical student.
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