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Tailgating is a beloved American pastime that brings communities together and satisfies the need for comradery through a shared allegiance to a team or event, good food, great friends and maybe a drink or two. Join the All About The Car Podcast team in this week’s episode where they talk about one of their favorite topics and take a trip to Lambeau Field!

You can read the blog here and listen to the full podcast episode below. 

 

Rob:

Welcome to our podcast. All About the Car brought to you by Schierl Tire and Service. I'm your host, Rob Hoffman an auto service specialist with over 44 years of industry experience. Back with me today, our regular guests, Bryan Call a veteran in the automotive industry with over 40 years of experience. Hello Bryan.

Bryan:

Hey Rob on the road again today.

Rob:

Here we go. And Bill Schierl, a guy that's been driving a long time, keeps us on track and always has a lot of great questions. Hello Bill.

Bill:

Hello, Rob. Glad to be here.

Rob:

Glad to have you back. Well, let's hop in, buckle up and hit the road . Today, one of my favorite subjects, we're talking about tailgating,

Bill:

Tailgating.

Rob:

I'm picturing the back end of a pickup truck, but that's not really what it's about is it.

Bill:

I'm also picturing driving too close to another vehicle is that the topic that we're going down here?

Rob:

Get off my butt type of thing yeah.

Bill:

Road traffic safety.

Rob:

Well, I think it's a little bit more fun than that. You know, I think that most of us would agree that tailgating is a beloved American tradition. What I'm talking about is sporting events for sure. Good friends, great food and a drink or two. For me, it's one of my favorite parts of a football game, but it's not just for football anymore. Did you ever wonder where it all began? Well, we did. So I did some research like I usually do. And according to national geographic, yeah. Where do they come into play? But national geographic tailgating dates back to the late 1800's and their picnic baskets were filled with minced meat, apple pies, and plum pudding.

Bill:

It's something sweet.

Rob:

I'm glad it's changed in this day and age, but you know, it's rumored and here's the good part, it's rumored that they also celebrated with aged whiskey and wine. So now we're starting to talk my language. History drug, the tailgating idea through the chuck wagon stage and into the first college football game in 1869, where beer began to replace whiskey. Now that's what I'm talking about. It wasn't until 1919 that the Green Bay Packers coined the term tailgating. Packers fans could park their pickup trucks around the field, drop the tailgates and sit on them. And what was their typical menu? Ham potatoes and custard. So yeah, we might've progressed a little bit there. So what does tailgating look like today? So, yeah, right here in the parking lot, eating, drinking, and celebrating with friends. That's really what, that's the three big parts of when I think of tailgating,

Bill:

But the most important thing is you have a vehicle. Yeah. I don't know if you can tailgate without at least any form of a vehicle, then it's called a picnic.

Rob:

Yeah, absolutely. I don't think a picnic table or a card table or just a chair. We'll do you got to have a vehicle there

Speaker 2:

Right out of a trunk is fine. There's got to be a vehicle.

Rob:

Absolutely. You know, it's, it's not always just about the food, cause it's about good friends and sporting event that's about to happen, or a currently happening. Food is a good place to start for sure.

New Speaker:

Or music too. I have tailgated at Jimmy buffet.

Rob:

Oh, okay. So concertsa bsolutely and I've even heard weddings.

Speaker 2:

Yes. Yep.

Rob:

It seems kind of that's different.

Bill:

The party before the party.

Rob:

Absolutely. And maybe a little bit afterwards as well. So it makes you wonder food seems to be one of the main things of this tailgating thing we're talking about. So what is the most popular tailgate type food these days? What would you think that would be.

Bryan:

Burger and brats.

Rob:

Oh, that's me all over for sure. I like a good bar burger. I always call them barbers, but a good burger. And I like the green and gold brats. You can find those out there. Just in the green and gold is green peppers and cheese and brats. Oh man. That's Wisconsin. What else is hot out there right now?

Bryan:

Have you ever had chicken and waffle skewers?

Rob:

I have not, but they say that's one of the hottest things right now.

Bryan:

They look really good. I've had chicken and waffles. So just a variation of that.

Rob:

That makes sense. Turkey and pepper Jack roll-ups. Now I'm trying to picture that, but that was on my list of the top five or six items.

Bryan:

That'd be good.

Rob:

It sounds good.

Bryan:

Crescent rolls and roll your meat and cheese up in there. Oh baby.

Rob:

Sounds parking lot bound for me. For sure. And potato tacos now that's something I haven't had and I know you can do tacos just about anywhere. That sounds really good.

Bill:

Yeah and chili. Have we gotten into anything with chili?

Rob:

Well chili, chili cheese dog.

Bill:

Okay.

New Speaker:

Yeah. That would be really, you can, you can't load up a chili cheese dog too much. There's all kinds of stuff you can put on those

Bryan:

And then you get into those December games at Lambeau field. You might want some just chili.

Rob:

Yeah, that's true. Absolutely. And sweet potato chips and blue cheese. Now that I'm not a blue cheese fan, but it does sound really good together.

Bill:

True.

Rob:

As a matter of fact, a lot of the real hot items right now for tailgate food, you can find on a link that we've put on our website, all about the car podcast.com. So make sure you check that out called tailgating food recipes. So get out there and check that out. But you know, it's not all about the food. There's also drinks involved here, which you tend to wonder how much you want to mix with a tailgate of a truck or parking lot driving in and drinking. But I think if we just kind of hold it back, be careful we can...

Bill:

Responsible drinking.

New Speaker:

There you go. Perfect. That's a Wisconsin icon for sure. So some of the popular beverages that we see when we're tailgating, especially when we're over at Lambeau, their hard seltzers have really come into play lately. And I've only had a few of those myself. So I can't speak a lot for those. I know they're refreshing. Any insight on the hard seltzers at all from either of you,

Bryan:

None whatsoever,

Rob:

None whatsoever.

Bill:

Not a lot. They're not high in alcohol, so you can drink more of them.

Rob:

That might be the value right there, for sure.

Bill:

Enjoy them throughout the day for those people who want to do that.

Rob:

So take it as our invite to give that a try when you're tailgating, bring some hard seltzers along and maybe it'll be the crowd favorite when you bring those, you never know, but you know, beer still reigns supreme at Lambeau. They say that is the number one and you know, there's so many different kinds of beers, Wisconsin does a really good job in all of our breweries and different kinds of beer. So that reigns supreme, for sure,

Bill:

Have we ever done a travel, Wisconsin road trip to any of the breweries? That will be a.

Bryan:

Personally I have.

Bill:

But I think that that would be a good add on a little research. So the micro brewery population is exploded and just would be really interesting.

Rob:

I got a better idea. Let's do that one on site.

Bill:

Yes, that would be very good.

Rob:

I'm sure there's a couple of breweries that would love to have us in for that one

Bill:

With taste testings,

Rob:

Six of them in the Stevens point area, we don't even have to travel far. Right. And of course you can always mix up your own creations as you walk through or throwing a football through the parking lot at Lambeau field, you'll see all kinds of creations being made there for drinks, for sure. As with every all about the car podcast, we always break away halfway through our podcast and do a Wisconsin road trip. And what would not be more fitting than to visit Green Bay specifically the title town district Titletown park. It's located just west of Lambeau field and oh my gosh, it's a regular little, it's everything. They have a sledding hill. It's open to everybody. They have an ice skating rink tubing down that sledding hill.

Bill:

Brewery,

Rob:

Brewery,

Bill:

Restaurant, hotel.

New Speaker:

A couple restaurants. Absolutely. They have everything a full. So what I really like with my grandkids and myself, as well is a full sized football field, it's the real deal. So you can actually go out there and really act like you're a superstar and throw the football around. They've got a unique playground, a lot outdoor games, fitness activities. They also have a time sprint lanes. So you can, yeah, it's really cool. It's actually timed and it gets very competitive.

Bryan:

I'm not doing a 4.4 40.

Rob:

I'm not either, but I sure love my grandson doing it. It was really cool. As a matter of fact, when we don't have tickets to the game itself, it's still a destination for us. So we've gone there and spent the tailgating time ahead of the game there. And we've pretty much stayed for most of the rest of the game and just had a lot of fun there. And there's actually some, a lot of future development that's going to be happening. There's some retail there now, but they're continually building on, I think to the west where there'll be some more retail and commercial and residential elements for sure.

Bill:

I'm assuming when you're there on game day, you'll probably be able to see the game televised somewhere on some screen.

New Speaker:

Pretty much. I think you've got a couple opportunities when you're in that area of seeing what's going on inside. And what's really exciting about it. You can hear all the cheering, you can hear all the noise that Lambo puts out where you are there. So if you're not actually going into the game, you really feel like you're a part of something.

Bill:

That's awesome.

New Speaker:

It typically prior to the game, they'll have a couple outdoor bands playing as well. So I mean, there's a lot of activity. It actually gets pretty crowded. It's a great place to spend your tailgating time if you're not actually in the parking lot, I'll make sure you check out our link at all about the car podcast and for Titletown. So we've got a link out there. So go out and check it out. You can get more information on it. I know they're open year round and open daily from 7:00 AM to 10:00 PM. So it gives you a lot of time. There's good ample parking around there. So make sure you get there and enjoy Titletown

Bill:

And if nothing else, the gift shop at Lambeau field is amazing. I think it's like two floors of stuff all with around green bay and the Packers,

Rob:

So right, or right within Lambeau stadium, Concourse area

Bill:

Is a gift shop. Pretty impressive.

Rob:

This road trip is completely fitting for what we're talking about with tailgating. So now we're back to tailgating. So we're going to go from Titletown and going back to the parking lot. And we're going to take this packer party on the road. So does the vehicle need a tailgate to tailgate?

Bryan:

No.

Bill:

No

Rob:

Throw out the stupid question, right?

Bryan:

Needs a cooler and a grill.

New Speaker:

And probably a vehicle, right?

Bryan:

Some type of vehicle.

Bill:

Then it's a picnic if you don't have a vehicle involved and you have something attached to it's a picnic

Rob:

You know, it's really interesting is to see some of the tailgating vehicles that people put together. A lot of times there's limousines pulling in, you'll see RVs old RV's that are painted up and set up really nice when I was doing some research. And I remember seeing this when I was in the parking lot there at Lambeau field, but one of the most frequent things that I would see would be an old ambulance is really the best way to set up, you know, for a good tailgate packer party.

Bryan:

Oh, there's a lot of room there.

Rob:

There's a lot of room there, extra wide and they're just a big box and they really set them up. Nice. They paint them. So they don't look like ambulances anymore. Of course they have all the flashing lights and they'll use them in the parking lot. But thought that was a great idea.

Bill:

This reminds me of the food truck world. So like you can convert it. Maybe they have a food truck and a tailgating all in one.

Rob:

You know, it almost has to be a food truck. Doesn't it? Absolutely. But you know what? Even the trunk of a Honda will do for sure. Anything on wheels like we talked about earlier, but we got to make sure that you're preparing your ride. Well, for example, I live just outside of Stevens Point. Trip to Lambeau field is about a little over two hours. I've got to make sure I'm going to get there because I don't want to miss that game or that tailgating for sure. So we also have another link on our [email protected]. You can check out just kind of preparing to make sure that your game day is a success when it comes to making that trip and your time spent in the parking lot, you can check that out at packers.com.

Bill:

Do you actually have to have a ticket to the game to go into the parking lot?

Rob:

You don't.

Bryan:

No

Bryan:

You can go into the Packer pro shop like you were talking without.

Rob:

You can get that far, huh?

Bryan:

Yup. There's an entrance from the outside.

Bill:

So then you can then go to the pro shop parking lot and tailgate in it.

Bryan:

Probably not. The parking lot itself will be full, but you can walk over to it.

Bill:

Got it. All right. Cause I wonder how many people, my question really stems is everybody in the parking lot. Who's tailgating have a ticket to the game.

Rob:

No, they say 35% of tailgaters never go inside the stadium.

Speaker 2:

That;S The 35% I'm talking about or asking you about.

Rob:

Yeah, absolutely. And 18% of the fans tailgate before the game. That number seems a little bit low to me, but then 35% of the tailgaters don't go inside. So on the average of fans going to spend about 200, I thought this was low to $200 on a tailgate party. It seems low.

New Speaker:

Well maybe it's per person. Was that a per person?

Bryan:

Whoa goodness that's a party if it's per person.

Rob:

Absolutely. You know, and tailgating too is really just primarily a U.S. And Canada thing. I didn't even think about Canada, but it really doesn't go outside of this continental U.S. And it's not just football anymore.

Bill:

No.

New Speaker:

What else do you think they would have tailgating at? We talked about a little bit about that.

Bill:

Well, I can say two years ago, because here in Stevens point we have an event called Trivia Unplugged and that it happens in a facility and that there's a tailgate before Trivia Unplugged, which is very popular. So you could have any event and have a tailgate beforehand, as long as you have this space in a parking lot,

Rob:

You know, that's, I, I see that just continuing to grow. It's just a great time. Yeah.

Bill:

Music events, for sure. You know, sporting events, also soccer, anytime your family gets together and you're going to spend a period of time there. Why wouldn't you tailgate?

Rob:

Absolutely. Just as long as you can do it responsibly, like you said, so, you know, tailgating gives people a deeper sense of community and allegiance to a sports team helps fulfill the need of comradery that we all need. And being in the shadow of an iconic stadium, like Lambeau makes us feel even more secure and powerful. And of course the anticipation of what's to come. Well, we covered a lot today about a very favorite subject of mine and and ours I should say is tailgating an American tradition. We talked about all the good food. That is the latest and the greatest when you are tailgating. And also those beverages that got to go along with it. And we took a side trip to Titletown district, which is a really fun recreational area, just next to Lambeau field in green bay. And we came back and talked about what kind of vehicle we would need or not to tailgate successfully. And we also talked about where tailgating is hot in the world right now. So ride along with this next time, when we talk about more than just a tire where it's all about the car and listen to previous episodes, find additional resources or to send us a message head to all about tthe car pohe car podcast.com. We'll see you next time.