Tailgating

In a bold move, Houston, affectionately known as Barbecue Town, positions itself to leverage the tailgating and barbecue elements associated with football when the city hosts the 2011 NCAA basketball tournament.

barbecue ribs at tailgate event

This shouldn’t come as a total surprise. After all, just last year, Forbes (of all publications) named Houston among the Top 10 Tailgating Cities in America.

According to CultureMap, “Final Four ticket holders will be encouraged to show up to both the April 2 national semifinal games and the April 4 championship game early to partake in some of the fun that in many ways really helped build Reliant Stadium‘s reputation”

Tailgating and barbecue. Your heartrate quickens and mouth is already watering, huh?

Continuing, the article states “…a large majority of the Final Four-ticket holders will be coming in from out of town and will not be able to lug tailgating equipment to the game”

Disappointing to some, but don’t worry, it gets better.

“So the barbecue will be cooked by professionals. The plan is to create an almost festival-like pregame atmosphere, the type of thing that’s never really been associated with the Final Four before.”

All we can say is Damn! Well, after giving it some careful thought, all we can say is, Gawd Damn!

“Barbecue Town fits into the NCAA’s vision of building up the events around the Final Four and making it more of a happening rather than just the three biggest games of every college basketball season. The Final Four may never morph into the Super Bowl where a good chunk of people fly in for a week of partying and then fly out right before kickoff (and the NCAA probably wouldn’t even want it to), but college basketball’s governing body still sees room for growth.”

“The Final Four seems to get bigger every year,” NCAA’s associate director for the Division I Men’s Basketball Championship David Worlock said during a Houston visit. “Just when you start to think there can’t possibly be any more interest than there already is, a new milestone or record is set.”

“Sometimes it’s even something as simple as barbecue. What was one thing college basketball’s biggest event was missing? Tailgating?”

“Houston will take care of that.”

We love you Houston.

So for our Backyard Olympians March is the start of something fierce. Grilling and backyard games like cornhole, ladderball, washers, beer pong, beirut, wiffle ball, horseshoes, bacci and lawn darts. In March the snow starts to recede from even the Northern most states and while the grilling faithful dust off and prep their grills, the cooks helpers and other backyard enthusiasts ready the games. So how do you make your own cornhole or bags setup? Check out the video link below

First consider that cornhole is safer and arguably more portable than horse shoes. It’s no lawn darts (jarts for the old school cats), but those are tough to come by these days and technically illegal to purchase. The safety ninnies won, but at least we have good ol’ cornhole for backyard and tailgating fun. If you’re going to make your own you’re going to need the right materials. We recommend:
3/8″ plywood
2x4s
Deck Screws
Gloss paint (better if its all weather)

DIY Cornhole Construction:
Video from Make Magazine

The rules:
Check out the Wiki entry for rules and more info on cornhole

I can’t help but admit it. There is something about the burgers that the BBQ Pit Boys cooked up that speaks to us. These are some BullyLife-sized burgers for sure! We chuckle when these 2XL size sandwhiches are shown in comparison to chain offerings. Nice work boys – we approve!!!