USC Football Gameday Check List

This list is based upon my time-tested method of maximizing the fan experience of attending football games at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, dating back to when John McKay roamed the sidelines.

Friday Night:

Preparation is everything as any coach worth his salt is willing to tell you. To properly prepare for attending a game, you need to throw down a quality BBQ the night before. Dinner for Friday is nice and all, but the main reason to do this is for the tailgate lunch. 

Not many places are BBQ friendly around the Coliseum. Even if you do find such a spot, do you really want to deal with working the Q and the cleanup; or would you rather roll up and start with the eating, drinking, & being merry right away? That’s what I thought you’d say. 

Menu is flexible, though I like the connected leg & thigh chicken. Grills up better than breast and much easier to munch holding the end of the leg. Ribs are fine, but messier and steak or chops aren’t quite as nice served cold compared to a bird. Chips and salads make for best side dishes, especially with disposable containers.

Beverages? If you need me to tell you with what you like to drink, you’ve got bigger issues than what can be solved by reading any column. Just bring a couple extra since you never know whom you might meet.

Saturday Morning:

Get up.  Remind everybody in the house it’s GAMEDAY and if they expect something from you not related to football, best get set for disappointment.

Watch pregame show over light breakfast. Ask how an idiot such as (fill in the blank) got hired as an analyst in the first place. Scrub your hide, then you are ready to suit up. Select jersey to wear. Do you go old school with the Marcus Allen?  How about one of the recent Heisman winners like Matt Leinart? Or do you bust out the new Cushing (and no you big dummy, that’s NOT a Booty jersey).

Break out your lucky hat, t-shirt, and/or underwear and dress for victory. Pack up the tailgate—don’t forget the paper towels—grab your tix and binocs and hit the road, figuring for arrival four hours before game time.

Approach to Campus:

Decide if traffic seems light enough for on-campus parking. If not, pull into one of the preferred off campus snake spots (I could tell ya, but then I’d have to kill ya), remembering each new year some disappear and others take their place.

Fall out onto a grassy patch on the outer rim of campus. Bust out the feast and partake. Observe a bit of the human parade; the hotties and the notties, the tall and the small, from 3 to 93 and everything in between. 

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