It's Game Day!

Football season has started and tailgating is underway! We are season ticket holders for the Oakland Raiders and attend the majority of the home games. I think we'll be skipping their Christmas Eve game again this year but besides that we are at the games. We don't just attend them we tailgate at them and have a lot pass to do so. Our typical home game day timeline...

The night before we load up the car. We put our tent, grill, ice chest, chairs, charcoal, utensils, food that doesn't need refrigerated, paper towels etc. If we need it for the game it goes into the car the night before.

Game day...
5:15 a.m.- Wake up and get ready.
6:00 a.m.- Leave the house.
8:00 a.m.- In the line of traffic at the gates of the Oakland Coliseum.
8:15 a.m.- Park in our spot and immediately get the tent up.
8:30 a.m.- Get the grill heating up.
We grill out, eat some food. I people watch hardcore. Have you ever been to a Raiders game? These people are crazy! They come in costumes, they sell items in the parking lot, your tailgating neighbor asks for forks or foil etc. Anything goes during this time.

So what do we grill? Well hot dogs are a must. I love eating hot dogs off the grill. We will also do either chicken or a tri-tip. Sometimes we will do all three. It just depends on if we are expecting to see anyone we know during tailgating. First game of the season we did hot dogs and chicken.

If it's a 1:30 p.m. start time we have the tent and dismantlement done by 12:15. You've got to walk from the lot to the security lines and then fight the crowds to get into your seats. If you've ever been to an Oakland game then you know walking and maneuvering through the crowds can be tough! The lines for the concessions go out in to the walkway making it extremely difficult to make your way through the crowds.

Once we are in our seats, I try to stay there! We do love getting a Round Top pizza for the 3rd quarter. So one of us will face the crowds or we will get lucky and one of the guys walking around selling items will come near us with the Pizza. We usually get the cotton candy guy or the lemonade guy always coming down our row. During this time I'm people watching yet again. You never know what can happen in the crowd. Last week I watched two Raider fans actually get in an argument about them winning. After a touchdown one man ran down the isle and acted like he was going to punch the guy but ended up giving him a hug.

You just never know what you'll see at a Raiders Game!

Weekend Review

We had a very busy weekend! On Friday, I got a nasty stomach bug and didn't think I was going to leave the house all weekend. Then thankfully by Saturday afternoon, I was able to leave the house. On Saturday we hit up our first Sacramento Kings game of the season. The game was against Portland and it was their second pre-season game. The Kings will always have a special place in my heart since that's where Beezy and I first started hanging out a lot.

We didn't keep our season tickets this year for the Kings since we are paying for our wedding but we are thinking about them for the new arena that will be done in 2016. Incase you missed our Kings engagement photos...

 

On Sunday, we headed to Oakland for the Raiders game against Denver. Remember a few weeks ago when I posted about how I thought they were threatening to climb out of the cellar? Well... just disregard it because they aren't. They've shut the cellar door and thrown away the key. They are now 2-3 and it's not looking pretty. They just need to win! We did have fun tailgating though...

 

Beezy made tri-tip and hot dogs. I'm pretty for sure we will be eating tri-tip for the next few days. It was yummy!

 

 

Luckily our seats are in the shade the majority of the game.

 

Now it's back to reality and back to work. We have another long week of work and then another busy weekend of Wedding planning coming!

Threatening to Climb Out of the Cellar

On Sunday, the Raiders finally pulled out a win.

The way the team played on Sunday showed their loyal fans that they were serious about trying to turn the beginning of the season around. If you watched last week then you know that the Raiders were schooled by a far worse team and lost big. This week though, the team showed up to win and win they did.

We got up at 5:30 a.m. to head over to Oakland. When the parking lot opened we were ready to tailgate. We grilled tri-tip, chicken, hot dogs and had tons of snacks. This game we had special passes and were able to hang out on the field. We also were able to sit on the field for the game. Beezy even got to smack hands with a player and talk to some of the Ravens players. We also saw our favorite guy from Hard Knocks Charles James. He had on boring black socks so clearly his sock game wasn't on point Sunday.

We had a great time at the game and were very excited that the team pulled out a win. However, it was in the high 90s with no breeze so we were sweating hard core. I think I drank 10 bottles of water in the 5 hour span of being there. This was also my first at home win that I've been in attendance. Every game we've went to they lost last season. It was exciting to finally see their dedicated fans happy while leaving the stadium. So maybe it's going to happen. Maybe the Raiders are finally going to climb out of the cellar and win this season. In Al's immortal words... Just win baby!

Commitment to Excellence

On Sunday, the Oakland Raiders had their season opening.

The coliseum was packed with their loyal fans sporting their silver and black. Faces were painted black, die hard fans in costumes and every other person wearing their favorite player's name on their back. The three large parking lots were packed to capacity before 9:30 a.m. for tailgating and since the game didn't start till 1:30 p.m. that gave everyone time to enjoy themselves. Some people may have enjoyed themselves too much (like the guy who was sitting in front of us who proceeded to vomit on himself the first minute in the game and then sleep through the next three quarters).

The pre-season brought a lot of build up. New head coach, new defensive coach, new players and most importantly old players committing to bring greatness this season. In all three pre-season games, the team was showing promise. They were making plays and working together as a team. You could see they wanted it. They want to be a contender. The die hard fans and the old fans that have been around to see them win championships in the past had a good feeling going into the game. The game began and quickly those hopes were hosed.

Now one thing you have to understand about Oakland Raider fans is that they are die hard. They've been with this team for years. They've followed them from Oakland to Los Angeles and then back to Oakland. Thousands of them making the 5 hour drive to L.A. for the game and then driving it right back to northern California. During off season, the threat of the team relocating to Los Angeles loomed over their heads causing everyone to hold their breath. It was closest threat the Raiders have came to actually moving back to L.A. in years. When news of the team staying hit the airwaves the fans collectively took a deep breath. These fans are generations deep. They come to the games win or lose. So on Sunday, when the game started to take a turn for the worse, the fans let their team know that.

Oh, you think these die hard and loyal fans won't turn on their own? You got another thing coming! I heard loyal fans screaming Raiders you suck! Booing their own. That's the thing about Raider fans. They'll tell it like it is. They want their team to get better. It's the same principle behind not giving everyone a trophy at soccer games. If you don't win, you don't get a trophy. Raider fans won't tell their team,  "Great job! Keep trying! You did great!" etc when they really haven't. Instead they cuss and throw things and boo. They'll get up and leave their seats. They want them to play hard.

 

The Raiders may have been schooled by the Cincinnati Bengals but the fans showed up and they'll keep showing up. Come on Raiders, honor Al and show us that Commitment to Excellence that he would preach about to the press, the fans and the team. However, we want to see some winning. Give back to the fans. Give them the season they've been hoping and longing to have for the last few seasons. In the mean time though, we'll keep eating bbq in the parking lot...



Pre-Season Started

On Friday, the Oakland Raiders began their season by taking on the Detroit Lions in a pre-season game. This was my first game at the Oakland coliseum but Beezy has been going for years. Since he's a season ticket holder that means we'll be going to all of the games together. If you live in Sacramento there is two ways to go to a game. You can either ride a game bus which is kind of like a large party bus filled with fans. Not only do they give you food and drinks but a ride to and from. Then there's the way we decided to go, you can drive. We chose to drive over to Oakland and tailgate.

 

The game didn't start until 7:00p.m. but we loaded up the car at noon and made our way over to Oakland. Once we got there, we set up the tent to block out the sun, got the food ready and plopped down in some chairs. We also set up our new grill! Beezy saw this online a few weeks ago and said he had to have it. He saved up his winnings from Caveman Keno at Thunder Valley and there you have it...

This was my first time really tailgating. In college, I twirled for Marshall so there wasn't really any time for tailgating because we had things that we had to do on game days. Once I finished college, I moved away. So this was a new experience to say the least. There was definitely some characters in the crowds. I saw some of these guys...

They also had a marching band! Um that's right up my alley. I told Beezy next time I should bust out a baton and start twirling. Judging from his facial expression, I don't think he agreed. Haha! He's just never seen me in action. That's all! Once night fell it was time to get in to the stadium. After being chose by a Lake Tahoe resort for a discount night at their resort and a free two night trip to Cabo including airfare, we got to our seats!

 

I decided not to take my dslr to the game but next time I will for sure! I got to see the stadium field which is the only NFL one to share with a baseball team so the diamond is still on the turf. We also saw the famous Oakland Cheerleaders. It was a good game and the Raiders won! So pre-season is 1-1.

Fun fact... we had to turn around twice for things that we forgot at the house. We never thought we were going to make it to the highway. Haha!