Hail to the Tailgate!

It was a beautiful day for tailgating on Saturday, even though the football game itself was not at all beautiful. Still, a good time was had by all, and it's always fun to be together.

 I was able to see the band march around and into the stadium, and took a quick photo of the world's largest drum.

David welcomed Dr. Dave McMillin again this week. The picture even shows the State Farm flag in the background, so we know the Rickes weren't far away. Hey to the Rickes!

Shylah's brother, Joe, and his girlfriend came by to visit before the game.

Jennifer was off on a photo shoot, so Bryan posed as if she had been there with us.

Adam and Jon.

Adam and Andrew, with David photo-bombing in the background.

Brothers.

And brotherly love. Didn't we have this same picture last week?

Adam and Jon made friends with some neighboring tailgaters, and challenged them to a game of cornhole.

I hope they let the girls win!

Darci and Andrew.

Another brother pose.

Adam's friend Kyle.

And even one of the parents. :)

Photographer fail for not getting a photo of Shylah. I will have to do better next week!
So, just for fun, I pulled one out of the archives, circa 2006. Awwww.
Thanks to Shy, and her Outback connection, we enjoyed dinner with no waiting after the game. Score!

The pre-game show includes the poem, I Am An American, which has been a Purdue tradition since 1966. It reads, in part:

"They are plain words, those four. 

You could write them on your thumbnail, 

or you could sweep them across this bright October sky...

I am an American."

One of these Saturdays, I'll actually get to see the pre-game. It's one of my favorite parts of the game, and I especially like it because the announcer changes the line to match the sky and the month. I used to always try to guess what adjective he would use to describe the sky.

The halftime show featured a guitar-playing soldier on top of the drum.

And leading shout? Olympic gold-medalist and Boilermaker, David Boudia! Too bad the scoreboard was not so shout-worthy for the Boiler faithful. There's always next week....