It was a chilly Sunday morning and I was awoken by the quiet murmur of the alarm clock radio clicking on. It was only 4:30am. Almost on auto-pilot, I pulled myself out of bed and made coffee to bring me into consciousness. After a cup of java and a quick shower I was ready for the big day. My friend Joe picked me up at my house about fifteen minutes after 5:00am. I could tell he was just as excited about the day as I was. We flew down the interstate as the sun crept into the sky. After a little over three hours of driving I could see it, Mcfee Stadium, which is the home to the Oakland Raiders.

It was my first time attending a professional football game. My friend and I had planned this trip months ago and counted the days. We were both long time Raiders fans and Joe had been to many games over the years, but never took me along. Excitement was in the air as we drove into the stadium. We were one car in a swarm of vehicles that methodically surrounded the stadium, each car eventually coming to their appointed spots. We were assigned a spot and we parked. As soon as we were in park Joe sprang from the car and began setting up his tail-gating equipment. As I looked around I realized that we were surrounded by people with some of the finest parking lot amenities. Everyone had at least one BBQ, but all sorts of luxuries were there too, like satellite TV’s, video games, personal port-a-potties, the list goes on and on. Joe fired up the BBQ and handed me a cold beer. Keep in mind it was 9:00 in the morning.

We ate some sausages and drank a few beers before deciding to take a walk. On our walk we enjoyed marveling at all the amazing Raider paraphernalia that fellow fans had on display. After wondering for about an hour we found our way back to the car for a few more beers and sausages. As high noon drew closer we packed up our stuff and chugged what was left of our beers. It was time to go find our seats.

I’ve been to many baseball games over the years, but those couldn’t compare to the majesty of the football field that day. Seeing the enormous players on the field and the roar of the passionate crowd made that stadium so much more powerful than a baseball game. We were seated in the famous ‘Black Hole’ and only ten rows back from the field. Before I knew it the game was underway and the first quarter turned into the second. We were screaming and cheering so much I thought the people around us were scared of us, but in the second half everyone around us was completely absorbed in the game. By the third quarter all of us in the section were high-fiving each other and going on and on about how great the Raiders were. Three minutes into the fourth quarter we made our escape. We headed to the car so we’d beat the mad rush of people exiting the stadium. When we reached the car I conked out in the passenger seat for what would be almost the entire ride home.

The Raiders ended up winning the game with a decent lead. The whole thing was an amazing experience that I would gladly do again. I thought at first that getting up early in the morning, to get to the stadium four hours early for tailgating, was sort of stupid. But that’s part of the football culture. Getting to the game early and hanging out with your fellow fans is the part of the game only the real football fans appreciate. It was a long day that definitely took its toll on me, but just because I ended up leaving early and passing out for the whole ride home doesn’t mean I couldn’t take it. It just means I need to work on my tailgating skills. That means practice, practice, practice.

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