Tailgating: The new way!

Fans take tailgating to next level on sunny fall afternoon

Jon Meyer jmeyer@idahopress.com

Updated 36 minutes ago

BOISE — As the players don their pads, cleats and uniforms, another kind of preparation is going on in the parking lot of Bronco Stadium before each Boise State University home game. Hours before kickoff, grills are lit, face paint is applied and the sea of orange and blue begins to grow.

Tailgating has become a sport of its own for many of the alumni, students and supporters who flood the pavement, surrounding parks and sidewalks in truck beds, campers and lawn chairs to get pumped up for the Broncos to take the field. And the fact that it’s a Sunday makes no difference.

Two hours before the game begins, it becomes impossible to park within three blocks of the stadium — and anyone brave enough to tread the sidewalks and breezeways through campus wearing anything but blue and orange is sure to draw a judgmental eye.In the core of the celebration, the stadium parking lot, hot dogs and hamburgers, not to mention chicken in many forms, has become so commonplace that most fans have developed new ways to enjoy their pre-game festivities.

Jason Ames and the growing group surrounding his vehicle were enjoying the environment cast by a television hooked to a portable satellite dish in the back of a pickup. In the other endless rows of tailgaters, people had even larger plasma sets and surround-sound speakers, completing a home theater-esque experience.“We got a pretty good setup, try to make it to most of them,” Ames said, waiting to cheer the Broncos to a victory over New Mexico State. “I expect they’ll run the table until they get to Hawaii, that’ll be a tough game.”

Many of the alumni make it out to every game at home and follow the team for big games on the road when it is possible, all in the hope of an elusive big bowl game in the team’s future.

“I think they can win it out. ... We’re looking for the real bowl game,” BSU alumnus Jerry Hitesman said. “We’ve been out here for every single game and it’s been excellent.”

The optimism ran high for the five-time defending Western Athletic Conference Champions going into the New Mexico game. A loss this season coming in a non-league game to the University of Washington Huskies has left some Broncos fans bitter, but still full of hope.

“It’s better that they lost to someone who was doing well,” alumnus Tracy Neptune said with a flurry of blue and orange dreadlocks swinging from her head, whipping her husband, Chad Neptune, in the face. “It’s been an awesome season so far, we’re loving it, we always do.”

As the time for the first drive inched closer, the party of fans didn’t begin to disperse, but relocated into the long line to enter Bronco Stadium and make their way to their seats. The sea of blue and orange temporarily became a river, pouring toward the cherished blue turf.