Football!

and i don't mean REAL football, which people here call "soccer". i mean American football.
(did you know, that the word "soccer" is an alteration of assoc., abbreviation of "association football" ?!?!? i bet you didn't!!)

anyway, it's a big american pass-time activity. not playing, no, just any form of activity that involves being in some interaction of a football game. it can be sitting at home drinking beer and watching it on tv; or meeting your friends at a sports bar, to watch THE game; or just owning a jersey with the number of your favorite player (or just some random number that was used by a guy that nobody remembers and was cheap); and at the top, there's the tailgating.

"Tailgating is the practice of driving on a road too closely behind another vehicle"

alternatively,

"Tailgating is a social event held on and around the open tailgate of a vehicle. Tailgating often involves alcoholic beverages and barbecuing. Tailgate parties usually occur in the parking lots at stadiums and arenas before, and occasionally after or during, sporting events & rock concerts. People attending such a party are said to be tailgating. Many people participate even if their vehicles do not have tailgates."

(thanks, wikipedia)

being new to american culture, i often find myself confused when things aren't exactly what i imagine them to be after years and years of watching american television and movies. like football. the players aren't the cutest guys in the class (most of them are as big as a refrigerator, and it's not a pleasant sight to see them bend over, when looking from behind. they often look like this guy (just a random picture from the internet...)


and i didn't even start talking about the band. there's a band.


anyway, last weekend i got to do all that for the first time.
Ben and his collage friends Pat and Karin (pronounced exactly like my name!) took me to my first ever tailgate followed by a Michigan vs. Purdue game. tailgating was fun (esp since i didn't have to do anything.. just sit there and drink my (nonalcoholic) beer. the game was also fun, though i found it hard to understand most of the time, at least at the beginning. towards the end i was screaming and shouting with the rest of them. there were some parts that were confusing (the game doesn't stop when the seconds on the clock run out, for instance!), and eventually we lost. (we=Michigan).


and here are some pictures that Karin took :)