If you're not tailgating before a Bucs or Bulls game at Raymond James Stadium, you're missing out. For $15 to $25 parking fees you might as well get your money's worth. Frankly, they better be thankful we're not bringing in farm animals and plowing the land for next to our parking spots for those kinds of prices, but I digress. Any good tailgate needs a number of things to be great and not just some boring time broiling in the sun waiting for the game to start. We have also shared parking tips for Buccaneers and Bulls games that you can check out. Here are a few tailgating essentials we recommend:
A Grill - Yeah you can pack sandwiches like it's your first day of the third grade or something, but nothing fits a time of grown men tackling and beating the life out of each other on the gridiron like a bunch of animal flesh roasting over the coals. Which brings us to...
MEAT - Football is a war, a primal game at its very core, so nothing but the finest of fired meats will do for pre-battle festivities. Burgers, steaks, ribs, a whole pig, we don't care, eating like a warrior (or, warrior-ette?) will get you in the mindset of accepting nothing short of pure destruction from the likes of your beloved team. Show some love with Boca burgers or Morningstar sausages for the veg-heads in the troupe if you've got em.
Beer - For a million reasons, but most importantly because paying $10 for one inside the stadium is a complete and utter travesty. Just be 21, please. Drunk kids blacked out in the middle of the parking lawn are why we can't have nice things, Tampa.
The Boring Stuff - After a beer or twelve, picking the meat off the grill with your bare hands might seem like a perfectly acceptable move, but you might want to bring some tongs, plates, utensils, etc. you know, just in case no else is keen on a pleasant ride to the E.R. Buns are probably good too. Oh, and condiments, we almost forgot.....so you don't have to.
Shade - Ugh, it gets hot out there, especially in those vast, open pastures of parking spaces on each side of the stadium. Don't be the dude or dudette with pit stains the size of pancakes and a face redder than the Bucs logo before even setting foot in the stadium. Grab an E-Z Up Canopy (typically less than 100 bucks) and get some much-needed pre-game shade.
Company - Because one person under their own tent, grilling their own meat and drinking their own beer might be one of the saddest things we've ever seen.
Music - Ted Nugent, AC/DC, Hank Williams, Justin Beiber...whatever gets you on the moon to root for the home team. Just don't uh, play that Beiber too loud...for everyone's sake.
Trash Bags - As resentful as you may be for those exorbitant parking prices, just don't leave your stuff strewn across the grass. Someone has to pick it up eventually and, if it isn't painfully obvious, they probably won't have a grand ol' time doing it.
Football, Frisbee, Fun Projectile Objects - Burn off the beer belly tossing some pigskin or frisbee around for a bit. This might be a little better for the colder months or night games because, as we said before, pancake pit stains...yeah.
A Truck, Large Vehicle, SUV - There's just something inherently wrong with a tailgate party out of the trunk of a Honda Civic or worse, a Prius. Find a friend with something big to hold all the supplies and not stick out like a sore thumb amongst all the other tailgating pros.
