The Seattle Outrage

How do you fire up Cougar Alum?

You tell them that they cannot tailgate party in the big parking lot next to the stadium. This year we were greeted with the large parking lot having lawn chairs, awnings, BBQ grills, beer, or any other such activity would not be allowed.

I spoke to one Cougar faithful who is connected to those in the athletic department as well as known in the tailgating circles. He was very upset about the change. Calls were put into the local media outlets as well the Cougar Athletic Director where direct statements were made that future lack of tailgatting will lead to future boycotts of the Seattle game. The statement was made we should go back to Joe Albi stadium in Spokane.

In this case they could another parking lot a couple blocks away where they were able to tailgate. It was a replacement, but not an ideal location for the Cougar Faithful to help bring the festivities to the game day, by having BBQ's, and Cougar pride.

While wondering around I also found a second tailgating spot. For those who go to Cougar games one can easily tell which side is full of students and which side as the alum. In this case it was easy to tell by the size of the activity of the tailgate party I found it was a young crowd.

The were West of the stadium with the shipyards in sight. There was a long run down building blocking the party from being able to see the stadium. Anyone who went to WSU in the late 90's or early 2000's knows what the CCN Courtyard party is. If you have been to one, then you can visualize the kind of party taking place behind this building. As my friend and I *slowly* made our way from one side to the other, easily stretching the length of a football field, we were surrounded by tailgating and lots of Cougar fans... far away from the stadium and where they should have been celebrating the Cougar Gridiron Classic.

I will be interested to see what, if any, changes come out of the phone calls being made to the athletic director. One thing I do know game day was not the same without being next to the stadium having a party.

GO COUGS!