"Why are Southerners so serious about tailgating?" my friend from Pennsylvania asked when he visited on his first trip to the South.
Growing up around the tailgating, and never really thinking about this question before, I couldn't give him an answer.
In other parts of the country, sports fans tailgate, but Southerners take it to a whole different level.
Southerners have a couple important reasons to take tailgating seriously: tradition and fun.
Our deep attachment to college football in Alabama is partly because of the lack of a professional team in the state, but we take the tailgating as far as we do because it is an honored sports tradition, and we really enjoy doing it.
Nothing gets you ready better for Saturday games at home than pop-up tents spread throughout the campus, food on the grill and coolers packed full with beer.
Surrounded in tradition and the college town atmosphere, tailgates give fans the energy that translates into the passionate cheering for the home team inside the stadium.
Tailgating and the game go hand-in-hand.
Every school has its own way of sprucing up the game day experience.
I know in Auburn, Gus Malzahn and the Auburn Tigers are not the only ones showing off their skills Saturdays. Tiger tailgaters are too.
For some of the more serious tailgaters, it has become a competition to see who can have the best tailgate--the one everybody talks about.
The amount of effort you put into your tailgate can reflect how much you love your team for some passionate fans.
While some fans take extreme pride in their team-themed tailgate spot, others can consist of a couple fold-up chairs and a cooler.
Experiences vary for everyone, but they all add a unique element to the experience.
While tradition is a reason college football fans in the south are so big on participating in tailgates, having fun is why many campuses are covered in party and tailgate tents just before the game.
There is not a better pre-game party than a tailgate, if you do it right.
Drinking games, signature drinks, the outdoors and giving the opposing teams' fans a hard time are all part of the festive outdoor celebration.
There will not be a shortage of food, music, beer and fun. I know people that say they enjoy the tailgate way more than watching the actual game.
There is not a better way to celebrate the anticipation building up to the showdown, and to escape a hard week of classes, than to go to have a tailgate. It's all about food, fun and company.
College football game days are about more than just the actual game, they are about the experience.
You can't get a better experience than you will get tailgating, and Southerners know this.
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