The Fine Art of Tailgating

[MUSIC]

TARIRO MZEZEWA, HOST: From WHYY in Philadelphia, welcome to season two of Peak Travel, the show about how tourism affects people who live in popular destinations. I’m Tariro Mzezewa. We’re kicking off this season at home in the U.S., talking about something very American, the Super Bowl, which is just a few days away. And I swear we didn’t plan this, but our hometown Philadelphia Eagles are going.

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

We start where so many journeys set off, a parking lot.

MICHAEL OLCOTT, PRODUCER: I got there at around sunrise, and there were plenty of people there. I wanted to get there well before anyone else, and I did not do that.
TM: It’s an unseasonably warm fall day in Philadelphia, and producer Michael Olcott is trying to beat the early birds to Lincoln Financial Field for the Eagles tailgate.

MO: It is quarter of eight in the morning, and there is Journey blasting on some speakers.

[MAN SINGING “DON’T STOP BELIEVIN’”]

And people are, you know, have a solo cup in their hand. They’re ready to go.

[MUSIC]

TM: Right away, he saw evidence of eager fans who had fought their way into the parking lot over the years.

MO: It’s fenced off with these steel bars, and right in the corner of the parking lot, and this is actually how I got in, something, someone bent two of these steel bars. They are crooked such that you can get through, and that’s now the entry point to get into the tailgate.

TM: Tailgating, named for the picnic setup at the back of a pickup truck, is a huge part of football fandom. According to one study, 240 million Americans attend a football tailgate every year. That’s over 70% of the population. So yeah, it’s a big deal. And no tailgate gets more hype than the Super Bowl, happening this coming weekend at the Superdome in New Orleans.

[MUSIC]

NEWSCASTER: New Orleans can be a wild place even on a slow day, and I speak from a measure of experience here. So you can only imagine what it’s like on this weekend with the Super Bowl and Mardi Gras is right around the corner.

MARK ROMIG: It’s the 11th time that New Orleans will host the big game.

TM: Mark Romig, like his dad before him, is the Superdome announcer. He’s also involved with the planning around the Super Bowl and considers it his job to roll out the red carpet for anyone attending. City and NFL officials are anticipating a flood of over 100,000 visitors traveling from all corners of the world.

MR: It is the paramount event. It’s what we all dream of and work toward. You know, it’s like the ultimate tailgate.

TM: Now, tailgating has a bit of a reputation. Beers are shotgunned, tables are smashed, people are fired up.

[MUSIC]

TM: And it can be a bit bro-ey.

[CHEERING]

PERSON 1: A-le-jan-dro!
PERSON 2: And I’m 44 years old.
PERSON 3: How do you make it to kickoff and through the game with that kind of pace? PERSON 2: Four beers every one water. [Laughter]

TM: So it can be seen as frivolous, like just a party near a game. But Mark says there’s more to it than that.

MR: To me, tailgating is important because it sets the tone for the game. It helps get everybody on the same page. Everyone becomes emotional together. You’re sharing food and drink. You feel like one with each other. Different political spectrums, different faiths, old and young. It’s the great equalizer.

TM: In this episode of Peak Travel, we’re going to fire up the grill and explore the art and joy of the tailgate. We’ll learn why this practice has become something of an American institution, how these rituals were practiced in ancient times, and why some people are willing to travel across the country to celebrate their favorite team.

DEB GERBER: Today’s October 13th, Sunday morning. We’re playing the Browns at one ‘o’ clock. And this is a tailgate that’s been going on, I believe since 2003.

TM: The sun is still coming up and Deb Gerber is standing in the parking lot of Lincoln Financial Field, waiting for the rest of her party to arrive. She was sent out early to claim the perfect spot for today’s tailgate.

DG: We’re a group of seven families whose children are all friends in one way or another. They all went to either high school together, played sports together, and it just became this bonding experience every week.

TM: This tailgate has a stylized, custom centerpiece.

[MUSIC]

MO: They found this school bus, like, from the ‘70s, and they painted it green. It is a legend in Philadelphia. You cannot miss it.

[BUS ENGINE]

TM: After the bus rumbles into its spot, 10 to 15 friends of all ages, decked out in Eagles gear, promptly spill off. The first person Michael meets is the driver.

BONEL MERES: My name is Bonel. I’ve been working here for the past 17 years with these folks. So they’re basically like family, you know. We do Christmas dinners, we do Thanksgiving dinners, party together, birthdays, weddings, all that.

TM: A big part of every tailgate is the food, and this one is no different. Nancy Frandsen is kind of the matriarch of the crew. She said the first thing they unload off the bus is an especially Philly-styled spread.

NANCY FRANDSEN: We have some steak breads, and steak breads are famous breads made in Manayunk, Pennsylvania at Marciano’s. And there’s broccoli and cheese, and pepperoni and cheese, and of course cheesesteak, chicken cheesesteak, so we have all kinds of steak breads.

TM: Then it was time to tour the bus.

NF: Come on board!

MO: They have absolutely tricked this thing out. They removed all the seats inside and added booths. I mean, this thing is so well-loved. It has all of these signatures of former Eagles players and Philadelphia personalities.

NF: People ask us why we have mannequin heads on board, and we say, why not? At one point, we thought we had a little memorial service for it because it wasn’t coming back, but the thing just keeps coming back.

TM: The tailgate has been a reliable way for these families to stay connected as their kids have grown up.

KELSEY FRANDSEN: I’m Kelsey Frandsen, and I have very early memories of growing up with these people since I was probably around like eight years old, even earlier than that. And they’ve seen me in all phases of life, and all my moves, and all my jobs, and all my relationships.

TM: Kelsey is Nancy’s daughter. She traveled across the country for the tailgate, just for the weekend, something she does three or four times every season.

KF: So I got here by flight because I flew from Denver. So I got in on Friday night and made it for the tailgate today.

TM: Later, she’ll hop on a plane back to Denver. She says the weekly Eagles tailgate is one of the most consistent rituals of her life.

KF: We got the bus, and I always call it my church, so we never really went to church on Sundays, but this is again like where we gather with our family and our friends, and it’s a standing thing that we know every Sunday, we’re either tailgating or we’re watching the games together at home. I know when I step onto a plane and I make these travel plans like I know exactly what I’m going to get, and it’s going to fill my heart, fill my cup, and you know give me a lot of joy and happiness.

[MUSIC]

JENNA DRENTEN: Maybe people are less involved in some other institutions like churches, religion, where we really rely on being able to see each other consistently. So tailgating is really unique.

TM: Jenna Drenten is a professor at Loyola University Chicago. She’s done a lot of research on tailgating.

JD: A misconception is it’s just fun and frivolity, and in fact it draws on a lot of our existing human nature to build connections and be in community with others. That we’re sitting around, you know, the campfire of our ancestors, and now the campfire is the tailgate table with the chicken wings and the casserole and the brownies and the beer.

TM: She says these days there are so few chances to connect with people face to face, but tailgating is one of them.

JD: Tailgating at its core is social, and so much of travel is about connecting with the people who make that place what it is. And so it’s not as much about the location, but about the people who are almost ambassadors for their culture, bringing that with them.

[MUSIC ON LOUDSPEAKERS]

TM: Back at the Eagles tailgate, Michael set out to get the lay of the land in the parking lot.

MO: It’s a little bit out of control by design. One thing that really bears that out is everybody’s got their own set of loudspeakers, and it runs the gamut, but the volume is the same. Like it’s all, it’s just this cacophony. At one point I heard the song “Shots” coming from three or four different sets of speakers.

TM: He found that the visiting fans have a lot of pride in their own traditions, like this family from Cleveland.

FAN 1: I’m Quinn from Cleveland, Ohio!
FAN 2: Marla from Cleveland, Ohio!
FAN 3: Charlotte from Ohio.
FAN 4: Oh and I’m Brian from King of Prussia, by way of…
ALL: Cleveland, Ohio! [Laughter]

TM: They came prepared to rep their local cuisine.

FAN 4: It’s called a Polish boy. It’s a Polish sausage, deep fried, with french fries, coleslaw, and barbecue sauce.
FAN 2: On a hot dog bun.
FAN 4: On a hot dog bun. They call it a Polish boy. Cleveland’s very own.

TM: Fans who travel also get an intense immersion in the culture of the other team’s city.

JD: So they get sort of on steroids a taste of what that region is like, what are the foods that people like to bring, what are the sayings and chants and mottos that are popular in the area, what are sort of the customs and rituals that are related to growing up in that location.

[MUSIC]

JD: It gives them the impetus and the reason to go to this location that they normally wouldn’t.

TM: This was a big reason a different group of Cleveland fans made the trip.

FAN 5: Being able to see how different fans, what they do at their tailgates, what the culture’s like, just around the teams. That’s what I like the most. And yeah, you’re going to get harassed wherever you go. But for the most part, if you show love to those fans, they’re going to end up showing love back to you.

TM: All the cheering, playing catch, and especially the cooking, is ultimately just a sort of sports-themed love language.

FAN 6: I don’t want to feed your tongue. I don’t want to feed your palate. I don’t even want to feed your tonsils. I want to feed your soul because your soul is where it’s at.
FAN 4: Yeah, he’s alright.

TM: Coming up on Peak Travel, the surprising origins of the modern tailgate, and the art this beloved tradition has inspired.

[MIDROLL]

TM: Welcome back to Peak Travel. I’m Tariro Mzezewa. The history of tailgating is a bit disputed, prior to the invention of the pickup truck. Some say the original tailgate occurred when families brought picnic baskets to watch the first Battle at Bull Run in 1861.

[SOUND OF A FIFE PLAYING]

TM: Others point to a few years later when an army colonel served roving cowboys in the American West with the world’s first chuck wagon. But professor Tonya Bradford says the tailgate has roots even older than that, dating back to the Colosseum in ancient Rome.

[MUSIC]

TONYA BRADFORD: Each section was for different people in different parts of the city. And people would come to these contests and they’d kind of go up their stairs and sit in their spots. But they would be there all day. And, you know, there would be foodstuffs that would be available, that they would have to partake in. And then after the contest was over, they would leave. I can see so much of what we do in modern-day tailgating, tying back to that period of time.
TM: Jenna agrees. She says aspects of tailgating look like secret acts from the past.

JD: There’s all these sort of practices, the preparation of what you’re going to wear, knowing what the chants are. And we could probably compare that to religious pilgrimage in a lot of ways where there is a preparedness phase that goes into the performance of that pilgrimage.

TM: One of the kids in the Eagles tailgate, Matt Quinn, grew up to form a successful band called Mt. Joy. And he brought his experiences in the parking lot into his writing.

[“CARDINAL” BY MT. JOY]

MO: They have a song called “Cardinal.” And the second verse of this song is all about this tailgate.

“CARDINAL” BY MT. JOY: So we bought a broke-down bus, and painted it green. And we danced in the parking lot, under the shadow of 95, and all of my favorite people, they don’t march to the beat of your drum.

MO: I think it just, it really speaks to how important to, sort of, coming of age and to the identity of these families this tailgate has been, and continues to be, that it made it into this song.

JD: Even if you’re someone who’s never been to a tailgate, I give you the challenge of walking up to one and saying, “Hey, I’ve never been here before. Can you show me around?” And in that way, the sort of people who’ve been tailgating for years, the native citizens of tailgating, become the ambassadors, the tour guides of tailgating culture, and invite people into the fold to make those human connections, make those feelings of belonging really come through in ways that we maybe aren’t afforded in our everyday life.

TM: The sense of belonging is real. And despite the drama, the stakes actually stay pretty low.

BM: Win, lose or draw, the tailgate is always a winner. The fun in the bus is always a winner. You know what I mean? So even when we lose, get right back to it, having fun. Enjoying going back home. You know what I mean? Next game, we’ll get them next game. [Laughter]

TM: Ultimately, the tailgate represents a different kind of travel.

MO: In this show, when we’ve talked about travel, we’ve thought about it as going out and having an adventure and what it is to be in a place that’s unfamiliar. But I also realized that one very important reason why we travel is actually to come home, to return to what is familiar, and not to explore anything at all, but to come back into what we know and what we love.

TM: On Sunday, more than 100 million people will tune in to watch the Super Bowl from home. What they won’t see during the game is the thousands of fans tailgating outside the Superdome. Many of them are traveling to New Orleans from all over the world to eat good food, drink some beer, and cheer on their favorite team with their loved ones beside them. In some ways, it might be more important than the game.

Coming up on the second season of Peak Travel.

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TM: We’re traveling the world again, to ask questions about the industry. Like, what happens when tourism overtakes a small town like Salem, Massachusetts at Halloween?

[SOUND OF WITCH CACKLING]

RACHEL CHRIST-DOANE: It’s kind of like Taylor Swift tickets now. It’s unbelievable.

TM: And how can tourism help change the narrative of a country?

ARIELLA KAGERUKA: Rwanda was, for a long time known for, the tragedy of the genocide. That past overshadowed everything else that we’re doing. Our country needed to rebrand itself.

TM: From the sea ice that surrounds Antarctica to ancient caves in Jordan, how does travel help — or hurt — the preservation of important sites?

MARILYN RAPHAEL: So it’s a fragile environment. And tourism in fragile environments is fraught with problems.

REEM KIWAN: Heritage isn’t just about preserving the past. It’s about sustaining a future for the people in it.

TM: Travel is changing.

C.B. RAMKUMAR: Earlier, luxury meant Persian carpets, Italian marble, champagne and caviar. Today, luxury is, “Give me an experience I cannot get where I live.”

TM: We’re gonna find out why. That’s this season, on Peak Travel.

[MUSIC]

TM: This is Peak Travel. I’m your host, Tariro Mzezewa.
Our executive producer is Tom Grahsler.
Our senior producer is Michael Olcott. Our producer is Michaela Winberg. And our associate producer is Bibiana Correa.
Our editor is Meg Driscoll. Original music by Catherine Anderson. Mixing and sound design by Emma Munger. Engineering by Al Banks, Charlie Kaier, and Diana Martinez. Our tile art was created by Nick Rogacki.
Peak Travel is a production of WHYY, distributed by PRX and part of the NPR Podcast Network. Find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, the iHeartRadio app, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Executive Producer: Tom Grahsler
Senior Producer: Michael Olcott
Producer: Michaela Winberg
Associate Producer: Bibiana Correa
Editor: Meg Driscoll
Original Music: Catherine Anderson
Mixing, and Sound Design: Emma Munger
Engineers: Al Banks, Charlie Kaier, Diana Martinez,
Tile Art: Nick Rogacki

Peak Travel is a production of WHYY, distributed by PRX, and part of the NPR podcast network.