Cardinals 2013-2014 Season: Of Birds and Beers

It was only a matter of time before Philip's two favorite things would be combined.  No, not vodka and cranberry juice.  No, not bicycling and texting.  It's the CARDINALS and the LUCKY CHARM!

Philip and his buddy Jim Miller have had Cardinals tickets since 1993, in the days when rooting for a losing team also required sweating your ass off in metal bleachers in Sun Devil Stadium.  It was a joyous move to Cardinals Stadium in Glendale.

And although tailgating on their "Great Lawn" is fun, it is also a tremendous amount of work.  Once you have jammed your tents, chairs, tables, awnings, BBQ grill, coolers, boxes and everything else into your car, THEN you have to unpack all that stuff when you arrive in your parking lot, load it all onto a dolly, haul it over searing hot asphalt and non-dolly friendly curbs, arrive at the Great Lawn, set everything up .... and then do the whole thing in reverse when you are done. Whew!

Enter the tailgating method of choice for lazy middle-agers .... 

roll up in the RV and avoid all that manual labor!

Within moments, you are on your way to having fun .... like these crazy critters!

But before we could start Lucky Charm tailgating, Philip screwed up his courage and found the guts to have "THE TALK" with me.  The talk about how the RV bedroom was decorated in such a way that it was a bit of an embarrassment to manly-men who pound their chests and do shots of tequila to hydrate themselves.

I immediately saw the error of my ways, and now the bedroom is much more acceptable:

But tailgating is all about FOOD.  We have a lot of variety in our tailgating menus, which this season has included such delicacies as marinated lamb chops, teriyaki tri-tip steak sandwiches, BBQ baby back ribs, and jumbo bacon-wrapped hot dogs; with sides like pesto tortellini salad, corn on the cob, deviled eggs, cheese potatoes, and much more yumminess!

But the one item that MUST be included at EVERY tailgate party, is my famous lucky coleslaw.  Did you notice how the Cardinals are having a winning season this year?  That is because of the lucky coleslaw!!!  Here is how you make it!

1 large package prepared shredded cabbage/carrot mix (approx. 8 cups/16 oz)
             **I sometimes add extra shredded carrot or purple cabbage if the prepared 
                 mix is mostly green cabbage**

Chopped cilantro to taste – about 1/4 volume of cabbage

Chopped peanuts or cashews to taste

Couple handsful of Craisins (dried cranberries) to taste

Fresh corn cut off the cob to taste (optional)

1 jar Lighthouse brand coleslaw dressing – in refrigerated produce section of grocery store
MIX IT ALL UP AND CHOW DOWN!

The RV has a TV on the outside so nobody misses a single sports moment.  We were 

very happy to discover that we get great game reception simply from the rooftop antenna, 

and did not need to buy a satellite dish or any other special fancy equipment!  Hip hip hurray!

There is lots of fun to be had in the RV Parking Lot or the grassy-green field right next door.

For one thing, the RV Lot has lots of rowdy groups that show up.  For instance, this past

week a trolley proudly advertising "Cheetahs Gentlemen's Strip Club" rolled in, filled with 

scantily clad women in high heels!  I am quite certain that those girls had a deep working 

knowledge of football and a dedicated interest in the National Football League!  Right?

But for more innocent fun, you can throw a football or a frisbee or just hang out with fun people.

Like these dudes.

Or these chicks.

The RV Lot is located to the south and east of the stadium .... lower right starred green area on this map.

Even if you park in another lot, it is a short and easy walk to get there! 

We have only one more tailgating party planned for the 2013 regular Cardinals season, 

on Sunday December 29 (vs. the San Francisco 49'ers).  We will be tailgating from 12:00-1:45'ish 

and would love to see you out there, because after all ... THE GOAL IS FUN!