Tailgatin' 2012: Miami (OH) | Our Honor Defend

Tailgatin' 2012 - vs. Miami (OH)

Welcome to one of our new OHD features for the 2012 football season. Each week, we?ll give you the lowdown on the most appropriate things to ingest during pregame.

Your tailgating can be just as important, if not more so, than the game itself. The first thing you?ll want to do is to familiarize yourself with Adam Kramer?s excellent rules of tailgating (trust the pros). Once you have these down, everything else gets much, much easier. The first thing I should note is that you definitely don?t want to enter this weekly tailgating feature thinking like a ?foodie.? This is not going to be fine dining and we?re not going to give you wine pairings, although we may sometimes suggest a wine for a given opponent (Cal, for example). The second thing I must impart on you is that if you consider yourself a ?foodie,? you should just go ahead and hang yourself because you?re a pretentious bastard who uses stupid, trendy words like ?foodie.? But I digress.

The key thing here is to give you some ideas that are fun and fitting for each week?s opponent. We?ll take a look at snacks, main courses and, of course, what to drink. Note, if you don?t drink alcohol, you?re probably ok to skip the drink section. If you try our suggestions, feel free to show us pictures of your finished product, along with a few words on how your tailgate went, and we might use them as a ?look-back? in a future edition. Without further ado, let?s get to how we?re tailgating for Miami:

Starters:

Snacking before the Miami game should be as easy as beating a MAC team usually is, although it should be said I don?t think this game will be easy. It?s early in the season and we don?t want to over-complicate things. You?ll want something you can throw in a bowl and grab on the go while you?re tossing around the pigskin or playing corn hole. Our opponents this week are from Southwest Ohio, which is also the home of Mike-sell?s products?potato chips, pretzels, cheese curls and more. Pretzels work best for me in pregame. Potato chips and cheese curls will coat your fingers with flavored dust or grease (or both). Pretzels typically will not make you lose your grip on the football. I like the mini twists, because they?re easy to grab, have no sharp edges to impale the roof of your mouth, are easy to scoop by the handful, and you can still dip them. If you do go with chips, try the mesquite smoked bacon flavor because, ?bacon.? Honor your opponent by picking up some of these regional snacks if you can. Mike-sell?s also makes a French onion dip that will go nicely on those pretzels/chips and you?ll find it refreshing in the September heat. If you don?t have access to Mike-sell?s products (Note: you can buy online in advance to be ready for next time), at least try to find another Ohio product, like Ballreich?s. If you?re like me, and well out of range of Ohio products, or if you didn?t plan ahead, you may substitute your favorite chips/pretzels. Just pour them into a bowl and pretend they?re Mike-sell?s. Buy plenty. It?s not fancy, but hey, this is Miami of Ohio.

Star:

If you?re grilling at your tailgate or watching at home (and therefore you have access to your own grill or kitchen), your menu for this week should include chicken wings. The Buckeyes are taking on the RedHawks, after all, so it?s fitting to eat a bird of some sort. You could also go with chicken or turkey legs if you prefer, or even something more creative, but wings seem most apropos and they?re readily available. After grilling or frying, you?ll want to sauce them simply. Frank?s RedHot should suffice because ?RedHot? sounds a lot like ?RedHawks? and both are two words pushed together with a capital letter in the middle of it to make it seem like one word. Kind of a dumb reason, I know, but it has a simple logic to it. If your team is heavily favored, it pays to keep it simple. In addition to their regular original sauce, which is perfectly acceptable, Frank?s also has a specific sauce for wings, and a ?hot buffalo? version. I go with hot buffalo because I like spicy food, but not everyone can handle it. It?s not very chill bro to burn someone?s tongue off just because you like it hotter. You can always add more sauce to yours. Or go ahead and buy both and let everyone choose their own heat level.

Note: If you?re one of those people who have to give their tailgate foods cheesy names, you can call them ?RedHot RedHawk wings.? Your friends will not be impressed, however, because they will secretly think of you as the guy who gives his tailgate food cheesy names.

Some people are reluctant to cook their wings on the grill. Trust me, if this is done right, it?s absolutely the best way to cook them. It?s also healthier than deep frying. Because the grates on many grills have wide openings that could swallow some wings during the turning process, I usually go with a vegetable grilling basket. You don?t get the nice grill marks on your wings that way, but it beats having a couple of them fall into the bottom of the grill and become utterly inedible. Grill baskets/pans come in all shapes and sizes and you can get one almost anywhere. I think mine was four dollars at Walmart and I use it a lot. Better yet, go see your butcher in advance and get some nice, plump wings. Those skinny Tyson drumettes don?t have enough meat to satisfy you anyway, and this is your main pregame course, which must sustain you through a three-hour football game.

For best results, brush the wings lightly with extra virgin olive oil before seasoning them. Keep the seasoning simple?salt and pepper and maybe a few red pepper flakes should do it. Buy way more than you think you?ll need, because you always need more wings than you think. If you have some left over by the time you have to walk to the stadium, you can wrap the leftovers in foil and eat them later (or nibble them throughout the game if you?re watching from home). No need to baste. Just pour the RedHot directly on the wings after grilling, or toss them with the sauce in a bowl if you prefer a more uniform coating.

The Two-Deep:

This is a B1G-MAC match-up, so naturally if you?re going cheap, make sure you drive through McDonald?s on your way to your favorite game day watch party (or on your way to the stadium if you?re lucky enough to be attending the game in person) and grab a couple of Big Macs. It?s not ideal from a quality standpoint, but it?s inexpensive and the burgers will sufficiently line your stomach for the debauchery ahead. That?s an important role for any tailgate food, and one that should not be underestimated.
Liquids:

I love you OSU cup, let's have a party.

The Bourbon Meyer is sure to be a popular new drink at Ohio State for the foreseeable future. It?s completely OK to use this drink as a fall-back plan every week, but it is particularly appropriate for Urban?s first game as OSU coach. Any drink involving Buckeye Vodka is also universally acceptable for any Ohio State game. Consider Bourbon Meyers and Buckeye Vodka as your evergreen tailgating selections.

Specifically for Miami, If possible, get your beer from the Rivertown Brewing Company in Lockland, Ohio, just a hop, skip and a jump from the Miami campus in Oxford. RBC has a nice selection of beers for retail and, if you?re in Columbus, you don?t have to drive to Lockland to get them. In Columbus, you can get RBC products through Superior Beverage Group. Call them at (614) 294-3555. Because this is an early kickoff, go with the Oatmeal Stout. It?ll give you that extra bit of carbtastic filling in your belly to see you through four quarters of B1G-on-MAC football. From their website:

Our Oatmeal Stout first hits your nose with an aromatic blend of raw oats, chocolate, and roasted malts. A black ruby hue and thick creamy off white head make this stout one you will never forget.

[/goosebumps.] If oatmeal stout isn?t your thing, lager is always a good choice for tailgating and it pairs nicely with chicken wings. Lighter beers are also good, but don?t go with one of those nouveau, low-carb beers. Beer is supposed to have carbohydrates and you?re supposed to drink them.

It?s probable that we haven?t given you enough notice for you to get your hands on something from Rivertown Brewing. That?s fine; you can always substitute with beer because there are so many to choose from. But please try to stick with Southwest Ohio brews to honor our opponents. There are multiple breweries to choose from?Christian Moerlein, Hudepohl-Schoenling, etc. If you?re a glutton for punishment, go with Little Kings Cream Ale, the White Castle of brews. If you can still get your hands on some specialty summer beers, by all means do. The September games are almost always played under summer conditions anyway, although we may get wet tomorrow.

Not a beer drinker? No problem. Although originally intended for the more famous Miami which lies further south, the Hennessy Miami is a fine cocktail and we?ll allow it during these warm weather games. If bourbon is your thing, Ramzy suggests a refreshing Mint Julep, and you should trust him. Ramzy has forgotten more about bourbon than you and I will ever know, because too much bourbon makes you forget things.

Sound advice:

[Disclaimer: you?ll get no rap, hip-hop, country or death metal suggestions here, because that?s not how I roll.] Please note that TBDBITL, the Black Keys, and The Ohio Players are evergreen options.

The first game of the season always feels a little nostalgic, doesn?t it? Every season opener reminds me of my first game as a student at The Ohio State University. It was Sept. 14, 1985?my 19th birthday?and my pregame preparations took place at a dive on Lane Avenue called the Thirsty I, which is long gone now. Although I had been to two previous games, this was my first as a student on the main OSU campus (after a year at the Newark branch). I celebrated reaching legal drinking age with my roommates?you could legally drink beer and malt-based ?coolers? at age 19 back then?then I walked down to the stadium to watch the first night game in the Horseshoe against Pittsburgh. We won, although the game was a 10-7 stinker, but I?m always reminded of that when opening day approaches.

In May of that year, English rockers Dire Straits released a wonderfully eclectic album called Brothers in Arms, which became the first record to sell more than a million copies in the CD format (remember CDs? Yeah, I?m old.). Brothers in Arms went platinum nine times over and was No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for nine straight weeks, yielding three Top 20 hits?Mtv parody anthem ?Money for Nothing,? ?Walk of Life,? and ?So Far Away.? The songs varied from riff-driven rock grooves, to sparsely-arranged folk, to horn-infused blues, to infectious pop. Stylistically, it?s as inconsistent as an early-season offense. The variety is nice, and the mellower tracks will keep you from overheating. My favorite song on the album is the seven-minute title track. ?Brothers in Arms? is an anti-war song, which is incongruous with college football, however, Mark Knopfler?s guitar solo, unusually on a Gibson Les Paul (he normally preferred a Stratocaster), is sublime. Give Brothers a spin and just see if you can keep yourself from singing along to ?Walk of Life? [spoiler: you can?t]. You may recall the song?s video was football themed (see below).

Your fallback selection this week is Neon Bible by Canadian indie rockers Arcade Fire, a much more modern choice if that?s your preference. Crank up ?No Cars Go? and you?ll be instantly ready for kickoff. If you?re into harder sounds, go with the first hard rock or heavy metal album you ever purchased, which for me would be AC/DC?s Back in Black (always a classic) and Piece of Mind by Iron Maiden, respectively.

Enjoy the game and savor the history of seeing Urban Meyer?s first game as head coach. I?d tell you to tailgate responsibly, but you won?t, so?yeah.

Walk of Life video primer:

To me, the walk from the tailgate to the stadium always represented the ?walk of life.?

Source: http://www.ourhonordefend.com/2012/08/tailgatin-2012-miami-oh.php

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