I must admit I am not a ‘regular tailgater’! I have been to two this fall, one at my daughter’s college (small Division III school) and then one (on a much larger scale) at Penn State University this past weekend. Before that, it had been quite a while. That’s in contrast with probably millions of people across the country who do this ‘tailgate thing’ on a regular basis. Both of my recent experiences were lots of fun and even though the football teams I favored did not win either game, great times were had by all who I observed.
I was amazed at the amount of people (all ages), cars, tents, rv’s and overall spirit at PSU. About 110,000 people attended the game, many were there for hours before, and there were lots of people who came only to tailgate, with no intention of purchasing a ticket to watch the game. If you think about all of the big schools and small schools across the country, the numbers of people who attend really add up.
Friendships, conversations, having a catch with a football, alumni reminiscing about their college days, games set up at individual tailgates like beer pong or cornhole, singing, and even dancing all make for good times and happy memories. Social networks like these can reduce stress, and psychological well-being can promote good physical health – both providing positive reinforcement for an anti-aging lifestyle.
Here’s a short video of some sites we saw on Saturday at University Park, State College, PA as well as some personal fun at the end 🙂