March 26th 4:30 Kickoff... The Revs HomeOpener... Survival Tips...

Get your grills and coolers ready, the Revolution's first home game is March, 26th vs. DC at 4:30pm.  That means, unless you make other arrangements, the tailgate lots open at 2:30.  So this must be something unique to American soccer... the tailgate... please let me know if I am wrong.  For those of you who a) aren't from the US or b) have lived under a rock your entire life, since many soccer stadiums aren't in neighborhoods like they are in other parts of the world there aren't really bars/pubs for supporters to go to before the match.  Now for us in New England our stadium is in the middle of absolutely nowhere and requires you to drive, since we drive we bring the party to the parking lots, beer food and all.

So many of you are used to this by now but we're going to give some suggestions...



1) As much as I love Hank Hill and as much as I know that butane is a bastard gas I just can't bring myself to cook with propane.  Sorry Hank but I'm going charcoal, especially if you add in some wood chips it's just way better than propane.  And a charcoal grill can double as a fire pit if it's cold as a witches tit which it's likely to be at the early spring and late fall games.

2) I must admit I am lazy about doing this when tailgating however it really is a great way  to make a hot dog, boil it in beer.  I usually prefer heavier beers because it puts a better flavor into it.  Beers I have used to boil hot dogs before and have worked well include Guiness, Sam Adams, Sam Adams Winter, Boddingtons and Narragansett.  Honestly I usually just use whatever is old and been sitting around for a while... why waste fresh beer? Boil them for just a few minutes and then throw it on the grill, be careful when boiling because the beer will foam up pretty heavily and it can get messy... Oh and we always use Fenway Franks...

3) One must have beer and plenty of it... and remember sharing is caring... that being said we have our share beers and our keeper beers.... Our suggestions:

SHARING
Narragansett (Support your local... PBR is for hipsters)
Red Stripe Tall Boys
Newcastle (It now comes in a mini-keg... need we say more...)

KEEPERS
La Fin du Monde
Delerium Tremens (I mean c'mon there are purple elephants on the label...)
Corsendonk Brown Ale (A name only a mother could love...)

4) A pop-up tent, not needed but you will make friends when it's raining or if you are like one of my fellow TDIF writers and are paler than an Alaskan ghost, it will be good to protect you from the sun on those hot summer day...

So there you have it a quick primer to those of you knew to this whole idea and hopefully a suggestion to those of you used to it.  I must say I love the tailgate but I much rather us have our own stadium in the city one day... oh well we can dream...