And so here we are...another season starting with very high expectations.  We have SEC championship dreams, and are making plans for the BCS championship in Miami.  I'm getting ahead of myself again.  Let's talk about this week.

 

Well not much has changed on the bus, not that it needs to.  The bus was good enough to bring us a national championship as is.  But, in an effort to always try and improve, we did do a few things.  First off, we upgraded thekegerator.  The old one was a conversion I did on a mini fridge, and as suc it only accomodated pony kegs.  That's fine, except the selection in the ponies is somewhat lacking.  So the new one is a little larger and, while it was full of bottles this week, will serve up its first few kegs next week against Miami.  It should also look more "Gator-ified" next week...stay tuned for that.

 

The next big upgrade came to the video setup.  The TV from the past couple of seasons took a beating, thanks especially to the constant in and out of the component video cables.  So this year Vince added a new high strength HDMI cable as well as a new 42" 1080p LCD. Take a look at it in action in the pictures.

 

So, with the bus all sparkling clean, we headed out for the first tailgate (oh, and game too). The only thing hotter than a football game in August in Florida is a football game at noon in August in Florida.  But for once, the opposing team is usedto the heat and humidity.  But I'm sure they at least get a sea breeze in Hawaii.  So with the early start time, we made an early entrance just after 10am.  Setup was a snap and we enjoyed College Gameday and a little of the hurricane-rescheduled LSU game before kickoff of our season opener. 

 

After a quick downpour, the game got underway.  After a slow first quarter, the gators got it rolling with a strong defense and an even stronger running game; two things that have been lacking the past year.  Sure, this isn't the Hawaii of last year, but it was a better test than a Western Kentucky (which is turns out isn't even a state!).

 

Due to the heat and rain, most people showed back up to the bus around the third quarter.  And to our delight, Raycom sports now broadcasts the games in HD!  Very nice.  We enjoyed the end of the game there.  But even more entertaining was watching Cam disect the pig he'd been smoking since the evening before.  Typically you face the knife away from yourself when slicing, but Cam's method worked too.  Though not all of the blood belonged to the pig at serving time, I unfortunatly did not find a championship ring in my pulled pork.  Oh well.

 

We played some chase quarters and then some beer pong before calling it quits.  All in all it was a great tailgate.  It's nice to have some lower-key tailgates mixed in with the big time blowouts, the likes of which we'll see next week when Miami comes to town.  I'm not sure which type of hurricane annoys me more: the tropical ones or the fair weather ones (the UM fans).  At least this game is early in their season, so Miami will still have fans.  They only stick around all year if the canes are in contention, which hasn't happened since they lost to the championship game whipping dogs of the SEC, also known as the Ohio State Buckeyes.  I forgot they actually knew how to win a big game (even if it did take more than four quarters).

 

So that's all.  I'll try to give some details for next week's party beforehand so you can plan your day.  Go Gators!