It really has been a hell of a year.  Tiger football went from horrible to fantastic to just-ok, the tailgating went from over-the-top to ridiculous, and all of our marriages survived another football season (barely).

  Even though the BCTS has come to a close, the tailgating and grilling will continue.   Half of our crew will be tailgating incorrectly (ie, on asphalt) and keeping warm down in Tampa to watch the Tigers win the ACCCG, while the other half will be freezing their nuts off and grilling on the BKG in the woods for our annual "Bucks, Bullets, and Bourbon" trip.  

  The Tampa contingent will no doubt be dining on Chick~Fil~A nuggets, veggies with ranch dip, and cold beer.  Those of us going hunting, however, will be feasting like kings, grilling bacon wrapped venison, oysters, shrimp, a turkey, and, of course, the obligatory assorted sausages.  We'll also be trying a few desserts out on the BKG, like grilled cinnamon-cream cheese stuffed bananas.  And don't worry about the campers missing the ACCCG or SECCG, as we are bringing the generator, dish, and projection LCD out into the woods with us.  We just can't stop tailgating...

  I would like to thank all of those that voted for the Clemson Tailgaters; our wives for being the enablers of our tailgating addiction; the Clemson Tigers for giving us a great football season; and last, but certainly not least,  Bubba Keg for allowing us to showcase our limitless talents and for supplying the best grill any of us have ever used!  See you in 276 days!!

  This week will be our final home tailgate of the season, which is disheartening, but we'll have a great away tailgate over the Thanksgiving holiday down in Columbia, SC, when we once again beat the hell out of the U of SC Gamecocks.  Well, I'm shouldn't get ahead of myself, because this weekend's game is against the UVA Cavaliers, and is very important for the Tigers.  When we win it, we will punch our ticket for the ACC championship and head down to Tampa to once again compete against the GT Yellow Jackets (knock on wood, salt over the shoulder, spit on a dog, and whatever else I have to do not to jinx it).

  The menu this week is a good one:  Chicken Bog, Steamed and Grilled Oysters, Grilled Wings, Kielbasa, of course, and in honor of our opponent, we will be grilling up some Wahoo! ('wahoos' is the Cavaliers nickname)  We're also trying to find someone to bring some good grillin' vegetables.  Veggies will be a new addition to our tailgate this week, not to mention my everyday diet.

  To any and all of you, feel free to drop by before or after the game for some cold beer, hot women, loud kids, cheap bourbon, and fat men (if your into that kind of thing).  We'll be there by 6 am, rain or...well rain, I guess.  Happy Tailgating and VOTE CLEMSON TAILGATERS!

 The Clemson Tailgaters traveled down to Camden, SC on November 13th to lend a hand in raising money for an awesome young boy, Tripp Mederos, who needed a life saving surgery. The good folks down there pulled together a great event that fed almost 1000 people, they had a poker run for the bikers, a band, and a charity auction.  

  We cooked 45 Boston butts, many got smoked on the Bubba Keg, 100+ lbs of hash in a 100 year old cast iron cauldron, and had a blast both the night before and the day of the event! We found a little time to hunt, and a lot of time to drink beer.   The cherry on top was that they were able to raise ~$10,000 to help a very deserving kid!

The Clemson Tailgaters and the Bubba Keg Competitive Tailgating Series have made the news, not once, but twice in the last week.  Check out our local CBS affiliate covering the FSU game tailgate here:  http://bit.ly/4m4b7s  and then take a look at the article written in the Greenville News Link below.  (you may need to break out the bifocals, but the gist of it is "the Clemson Tailgaters are awesome, and go to www.bubbakegtailgate.com and vote for them!" ) 

Birthday cake. Individual layers built upside down in a bunt pan: 12 Pancakes, 8 scrambled eggs, 1/2 lb bacon, 1/2 lb sharp cheddar,1 lb hash browns, 1 lb sausage, 1/2 lb Havarti cheese, 1/2 lb chopped country ham,4 scrambled eggs, 5 buttered biscuits. Baked it to brown the biscuits, finish the eggs, and melt the cheese. Turned it onto serving dish, and poured maple syrup on the pancakes, which are now on top. Then used the bunt pan to shape and cook another 1/2 lb of bacon to lay over the top of the cake. Topped with sausage gravy. Serves thousands.

  This past weekend the Clemson Tigers hosted the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers, which is evidently a chicken.  Who knew.  The tailgate started about 6am, in the rain as usual, to prepare for a very unusual 1:30pm kickoff.  Nothing too fancy on the menu as many of us had to make a fast exit from the game to get home for Trick or Treating with the kids.  The Bubba Keg grill was lit early to smoke up some of the best burgers, sliders,and miscellany any grill man has ever set eyes on.

  Burger flavors included Grappo's BBQ cheddar burgers, Pelham Falls Organic Jalapeno Sliders, Thai Beef Sliders with Coconut-Basil Cream Sauce, and Barnes' Venison Bacon Burgers.  We also grilled up a couple Mesquite smoked pork tenderloins.  And once again, we over did it with the sides: fresh cut fries, baked beans, several types of sausage, Halloween candy out the wazoo, and plenty of cold beer and bourbon for the adults and BellyWasher drinks for the kids.  

  The rain couldn't stop the grilling, the eating, the drinking, the trick r treating or any of the other gluttony that shall not be mentioned.  The kids had plenty of mud puddles to jump in, while the slightly wiser adults huddled under our "tent city" to stay dry.  

  Even though the Tigers came out a little sluggish early in the first half, they put the game away in the second quarter allowing us to head home and get into Halloween mode.  Oh, and our tailgating skills also came in handy while trick r treating in the rain...

Southern deer, I should say.  We don't grow 'em as big as they do in Minnesota.

Combine in no particular order:

2 cups brown sugar

2 Tblsp white vinegar

1/4 C water

2 tsp liquid smoke

1/4 C crushed garlic

1/4 C lemon juice

2 Tblsp kosher salt

2 Tblsp fresh ground pepper

6 C olive oil (not evoo, just oo)

1/4 C minced onion

whisk until you have a good emulsion.  Should take about 10 minutes of NON STOP whisking.  

Let venison marinate in it for at least 36 hours, turning occasionally.  Grill, fry, or wrap in bacon and smoke.

  Two away games and a bye week have slowed the tailgating season some, but we are coming back with a vengeance this week.  We have the Demon Deacons of Wake Forest coming to town.  Looks like they are in the drivers seat for the Atlantic division of the ACC, but the Tigers will try to put a stop to that.  

  We are finally going to get a fairly dry tailgate this week, so we are gonna do it up right.  I couldn't get a deacon, demon or not, to volunteer to be cooked, so we'll have some venison for the grill from last weeks' hunt.  Also, we'll be frying and grilling up an alligator that we caught last month.  No shortage of Bubba Keg grillin' going on this Saturday.  For those not interested in wild game, we'll have a 6 foot sub (otherwise known as a grinder, hero, hoagie, po' boy, torpedo, or Dagwood, depending on your region of the country.)

  Should be a good one.  We're taking the young ones down with us early.  It's only an hour drive from here, so we should be there by 5:30 am to get ready for the damned noon kickoff.  Maybe if we won a few, we could get a decent start time, like 3:30.  Then we could sleep in and get there at 6:00.  Happy tailgating, and VOTE CLEMSON TAILGATERS.

Bubba and a group of the ClemsonTailgaters made the trip to College Park to tailgate at the Clemson/Maryland game this weekend.  Got into town late due to a late flight and an accident on the beltway.  Had a couple of beer before heading in for the night.

Saturday morning the alarm went off at 5:45.  Bubba made a quick run to the grocery store to stock up on some of the last minute tailgate supplies, grabbed some breakfast and was set up in Lot 11B by 7am.  Not many Md tailgaters out at 7am.  The Turtle Soup was started by 8am since the kickoff was in only 4 hours.  10am we cooked the first of the sausages on the grill.  10:45am the Turtle Soup was ready.  Bubba had never had Turtle before but its not too bad.  Surprisingly, it didn't cause anyone to rush to the port-a-jons.  11am more sausage and beer.  By Noon, we were full and ready for kickoff.  Unfortunately, the football players weren't.  One of the most pitiful games Bubba can remember watching.  Maryland kept trying to lose the game, and Clemson refused to accept it. 

After the game the ClemsonTailgaters were ready to drown our sorrows at the tailgate with some more beer, only to find out another reason to why tailgating is better in Clemson.  The police won't let you open a beer after a game.  With no postgame tailgating, you'd think the bars and restaurants would be full.  They weren't.  Bubba's not sure where everyone goes after the game in Maryland.

Clemson gets a week off before we're back in Clemson against Wake Forest.  Anyone know where we can find a Demon Deacon to cook?

  That's right, we were chosen as the Tailgater of the week, once again, for the Clemson/TCU game! We had a good time doing a radio interview that aired live across the great state of South Carolina. You can see video of that spot here: http://www.daboshow.com/tailgaters 

  We couldn't mention how fantastic the Bubba Keg grill was because of those pesky radio advertising rules, but we asked everyone listening to visit our website, http://www.clemsontailgaters.com , to find a not-so-subtle link to the Bubba Keg Competitive Tailgating Series. Enjoy the video, and vote CLEMSON TAILGATERS!!