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[ Originally posted 08.04.03 ]
UConn pours cold water on sizzling
tradition
By Danny Whitford
©2003 Bonesville.net
'Watergate' started it all. 'Monica-gate' was
more recent. In a country which likes to apply warmly-fitting labels to its hottest
scandals, there's a flickering fracas a few hours north of the capital of
turpitude that could flair into full-fledged flames.
When word gets around about the breach of
norms in East Hartford, this one might heat up into a searing
spectacle.
No doubt, it will be called
'Tailgate-gate.'
Connecticut, which will begin Big East
football competition in 2004, graduated to the Division I-A football ranks
three years ago. But the school is still learning its way
around the kitchen when it comes to the finer subtleties of tailgating
culture.
When the Huskies play their first game at
Rentschler Field, their shiny-new 40,000-seat stadium, athletic department bureaucrats will try to enforce a set
of tailgating restrictions that would probably cause fans to stage an
insurrection at East Carolina and other schools more steeped in the parking lot culinary traditions
of football Saturdays.
As UConn's August 30 grand-opener against
Big Ten visitor Indiana approaches, according to the Hartford Courant, the
Huskies athletic department has issued written guidelines to season ticket
holders banning charcoal grills, large gas grills, overnight RV parking and
beer kegs, and urging parking lot patrons to refrain from "ball playing or
Frisbee tossing."
Once the game begins, reported the paper,
the tailgating shall cease. Fans will not be allowed to remain in the parking
lots after the kickoff and when the final whistle blows tailgaters will be
forbidden from picking up their menu gymnastics where they left off.
Fire and environmental concerns were reasons cited by UConn athletic department officials for the rigid
picnicking rules, noted the Courant.
Apparently, the requisite tailgating
accessories for Huskies fans will be barebones — small gas grills and
gingerly-tossed Nerf
balls.
Copyright 2003 Bonesville.net. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
02/23/2007 11:02:34 AM
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