Shannon’s tailgating tips:
1. Dress in team colors. Show your team spirit; tailgaters are always the
best fans!
2. Plan your experience a day or two before the game. This insures that
one can recover after the game.
3. Make a list of everything you have on you. You’re going to get totally
trashed and could potentially lose something!
4. Plan to arrive 3 to 4 hours early as this ritual tends to get crowded
at a very fast rate.
5. Fly a flag on a very tall pole so that friends and fellows can find
you.
6. Decorate your site with team memorabilia.
7. Break out the coolers; it is now time to get drunk before the game.
(No matter what time the game starts.)
8. Socialize and drink with friends, throw the football around or bong a
beer, which ever meets your needs.
9. Those who are not in attendance can pull out the grill. Make it a
backyard event with your neighbors.
10. Lastly, if one desires, they can resort back to the tailgating after
the game, but this almost always be accompanied with a victory.
While experiencing tailgating I have realized that the involvement with this
ritual is mostly consisting of alcoholics who thrive on football at a college
level. There are tailgaters who do not drink at these events but these people
would not be included into the student aspect of this folkloric ritual.
The texture of this text is pretty straightforward. Shannon has compiled a list of ten tips to keep in mind before going tailgating. This list appears to be for people who are complexly new to the concept of tailgating which is the activity done before a sporting event where you meet up with a group of friends in the parking lot of the stadium and eat, drink, and party before the game. I say this list is for newcomers because of things like tip eight where she says to “Socialize and drink with friends,…” that is a tip that is not meant for a seasoned pro. On a personal note, I grew up next to Notre Dame so football Saturdays were very much a part of my childhood meaning I am no stranger to tailgating. Given this, I find Shannon’s list very cool as it is geared towards college students and is so much different to my introduction to tailgating where the only thing I was drinking was root beer. Overall, this example of IU folklore is an introduction to tailgating for college students in list form.
The context this piece is likely to appear as a guide for the confused. I can see a situation where someone tries to help a friend who is tailgating for the first time understand the rules so breaks out this list. It reminds me of a Wikihow article or a YouTube tutorial video. This is the folklore equivalent of a “tailgating for dummies” book. This article of folklore would not be very helpful for anyone above entry level tailgating, but it is perfect for beginners.
I will have to go with tradition again for this piece of folklore. Performance is also relevant to this work as it is instructions on how to party and parties are very performative, but since this is a list of rules, I think tradition fits best. This work is a manual on tailgating and uses tailgating history and customs to help the reader understand what to expect and how to prepare for their experience. Pulling from history and norms to predict future outcomes is a huge part of tradition so I think it is appropriate to assign it to this work.