The 2018 Tailgating Season is over

For the final tailgate of the year, our usual black lot adventures have several dramatic highlights:

Basil and Shane contemplate what to do next 

Andrea finds an alternate grill with our engineering Class of  '86 neighbors

Grill Plate Saviors: 
The A&E production team quickly sprang quickly into action when it was determined our grill was useless without the grill plates. Our tailgating neighbors generously allowed us access to their grill to cook up  Andrea’s Eric's awesome Sloppy Joes! 

Let me explain - I got one car and two passes.... 
and I have no idea who Adam is

Parking Lot Drama: 
Members of the local precinct patrolled the black lot looking for offenders, finding someone to bother who was taking up an additional parking spot on a day when the stadium was half full. That group had an extra unused parking pass that upon appeal to the roving lieutenant of parking security was found acceptable to let them keep their space.  Tough to have a good tailgate time when you are getting hassled by the man.

Look! Fourth Quarter!

Not this week Buddy!

DENIED!: 
Rejected in his attempt to gain Audi Club Access, Three Quarters Eric actually stayed to see the fourth quarter.

Wail until the French aupairs
see the new 2019 Basil look  

Looking Sharp!

The Game:
It was another entertaining battle that ended up with RU on the wrong side of a 20-7 loss for an easy cover. If only Gio could have caught that double reverse touchdown pass, we could have had our play of the year! Also the red mac looks to be a new style choice heading into 2019!

In closing: As this year could be called The Season of the Big Heads, who knows what next year's trend will be. Wait until we get behind the backboard in the student section at a basketball game with all four heads!!! 
All I can say is I'm sure someone in the group will come up with something great! 

Long live BREPNation.com!

Tailgaters pledge:
Thank you very much for the 2018 season BREPNation.com tailgaters! You have inspired us for the last magnificent 7 tailgates. You have excelled in your corn hole competitions. You have shared your emotions with us and the whole RU world. You have celebrated our lone victory with dignity, and accepted numerous defeats with dignity. I declare the 2018 Rutgers tailgating season closed. In accordance with tradition, I call upon the youth of the world (and BREPNation.com) to assemble 9 months from now in the Black parking lot of Piscataway to celebrate with us the 2019 Rutgers football season!

See you next year!

State Penn, Rutgers Horseplay

Well, we're back to the noon kick-off for our home finale vs. Penn State.

The Hobo clan's going to be light (likely just Bill and Shane; no Kaitlyn) and lacking in energy both for the game itself, and for running a tailgate.

If the group wants to tailgate, I'm happy to bring all of the stuff but someone else will have to run the show as I've got a really chaotic week and am using my normal Friday-night prep to attend our hoops tilt vs. St. John's.

The Saturday forecast is mid-40s and sunny, so if the group wants to meet at our usual spot please someone lead the charge. Otherwise, if we're looking at a pregame diner meet-up or other, same deal.

If folks wanna congregate in Tinton Falls, I can facilitate that too. Very open to ideas.

RU-Michigan Wrap up

The cook getting ready with
RU red gloves - always in spirit

The BrepNation crew assembled in the the depths of the main black lot for our sixth tailgate of the season on a windy, cold, afternoon for our first late afternoon home start of the season. Down a few key members of the Witkowski clan, Sharon Head and a Labue, the hardy tailgaters braved the gale force winds that made Cornhole nearly unplayable. Luckily for us, Bill stepped up in difficult conditions to prepare awesome cheese steaks. He deserves a big hand from BREP Nation for the effort he makes to put these tailgates together, as well as handling all the ticket related headaches that comes with a group of about 20 every year. Long Live the BRES father! 

Getting the grill up and running in hurricane like wind conditions under the watchful eye of BRES 

Making sure the meat is done to perfection

As for the game itself, Rutgers got off to a good start to be tied at 7-7 later in the first quarter after a long run by the Fight Doctor, Isiah Pacheco.  As things got colder and Michigan ran up the score, the BREP Nation crew dwindled down to two by the end of the third quarter. As lest Audi Club Eric was able to keep his club crashing steak going.

You can't stop me, you can only hope to contain me!

We apologize the content this week is a little light due to the loss of the official BREP camera during the game. 

See everyone next week for the final home game of the season for a noon time start against Penn State. 

Michigan Game, SMH

We'll refrain this year from re-posting the picture of us stepping on the Univ. of Michigan pillow at the bongo house on our last trip to Ann Arbor, in hopes that the #4 Wolverines don't stomp on us too bad this coming Saturday at Low Point/No Solutions Stadium.

The schedule makers must have had a 2+ blood-alcohol content when they decided to make our game a 3:40 p.m. kick-off, but at the least we don't have to get up super early to meet. Weather's supposed to be OK -- on the chilly side, but dry after rain on Friday.

Assuming our standard operating procedure, let's meet at noon at the Walmart lot.

Food-wise, I'm an open book but will offer to either dust off the Maize and Blue Awning sandwich idea that we did a few years back, or go simple cheese-steaks.

Either way, cast your vote below in the comments. The latter's less work, but I'm fine w/either or something different y'all wanna do instead.

Separately, if anyone has two available tickets please let me know. Asking for a friend.

Rundown for the RU-Northwestern Homecoming - Part 2 - Audi Club Eric

No trek into the game is complete without stopping to see Dana's Brick

The stamp to the heaven above 

Sauerbraten as far as the eye can see

After the morning tailgate festivities, BREP-Nation went into the stadium ready for the game. Little did we know that Audi Club Eric would be able to work his magic to get several of us into his new personal playground.

Have another cream puff!

Drinks are on Eric!

As usual the BREP nation crew tried to push the limits of the RU service staff to the brink by passing the food and drinks down the remaining members at the seats below, getting Adam his second stern warning of the day from the RU police.

The peasants down below
 fend for their scraps 

The king and queen of the Audi Club look down
 from their lofty perch

               

How did that get down here? 

Three cheers for Audi Club Eric! 

 












Next home game is against Michigan on November with a time yest to be announced.

Rundown for the RU-Northwestern Homecoming - Part 1

Can you spot all the big heads in the picture? 

Oktoberfest feast!

Facing the music for no ID 

The Brepnation crew assembled yet again in the black lot for the fifth time this year with limited hope of a Scarlet Knights victory on Homecoming. To our surprise, Rutgers gave their best effort of the year on defense with Chris Ash handling the play calls, leading to a rare safety and a 12-7 halftime lead. Unfortunately the offense again wasn't able to do much in the second half, and didn't record a first down for the final 25 minutes, leading to a 18-15 Northwestern win. While the game was entertaining, there was an unusual amount of tailgate shenanigans to report on. Our annual Oktoberfest feat was its usual great success with many chipping in the different dishes and beers.

Welcome newcomer Jess! (in happier times)

 

Backup called in the handle the situation 

 Adam learned the hard way what not to do to impress Jess, attending her first tailgate, running into trouble with the local precinct. Only the desperate pleadings of his mother allowed Adam to not be carted away for lack of identification, even though he is 23. Eric even offered the cops $20 to get a picture of the perp in cuffs. (Note to BRES: In the future make sure to ask for proper ID before serving!)

Have you seen this man in the 4th quarter?

The Eric-head presentation 

In typical BREPnation crew fashion, the tailgate was only slightly sidetracked for this week's presentation of the latest head. "Three Quarters Eric" took his turn in the spotlight, receiving this major award. Known for his great generosity and making sure all have a good time, it was an award that was long overdue. In informal polling, the website 538.com has indicated that the ERIC-Head has edge out Sharon-Head as the most popular head.  In the immortal words of BRES, missing for the tailgate, but available via Skype, it was an "instant classic".

Check back soon for our second post next week for the happenings in the stadium during the game.

Coming soon...The Adventures of Audi Club Eric 

"His head is bigger than mine!"

Homecoming Tailgate

Scarlet Knights either ready for
some football, or a big team dump

Well, after a much-needed week away from great tailgating yet grim gridiron activity, B-REP Nation will re-rally on Saturday as Rutgers hosts Northwestern for homecoming.

Nothing like a soft opponent to start the easy part of our B1G schedule.

Alright, so the Wildcats are leaders of the West division with a 3-1 league record and we're unlikely to win another game until September 2019, but let's not facts stand in the way of a good yarn.

If nothing else, the weather looks half decent for Saturday (low 60s, cloudy) and we'll likely reunite with Festmeister Skurat, returning from a two-game hiatus, several cross country meets, Oktoberfest celebrations, road-tripping with Judas Priest and excessive work travel.

Festmeister Skurat gearing up for a return to the
Black Lot, though a week late with the RU blackout

On the latter point, Chris has been away a ton and will be so again until Friday, so let's get everyone in the group to pitch in on a proposed Oktoberfest-style tailgate.

Los Hobos (Bill, Kaitlyn and Erin) have a Costco-size bag of potatoes at the ready for potato pancakes, and if memory serves the Burks have some unopened packages of brats from our prior tailgate. So if everyone can pitch in with something, we can get this going if all are on board.

Potential things we could use to make it happen:

• bratwurst and rolls
• garnishes for the brats (mustard, sauteed onions)
• red cabbage or cucumber salad
• sauerbraten (if someone wants to get aggressive)
• sour cream and apple sauce (for potato pancakes)
• Jagerbombs

RSVP in the comments field with headcount and contributions.

Well, At Least We Have Each Other -- Illinois Recap

The winners from noon until about 3:30 p.m. at Low Point dot com Stadium were, in no specific order...JC, Basil, Tinton Falls and not-West Paterson Scott and Festmeister Skurat, who had better things to do on Saturday as Rutgers hosted the Illinois squad and its 63 fans on hand.

While Chris was watching Evan run over the river and through the woods to Grandma's house, and rumor has it that Basil and the Angels were tied up with another case involving the Italian radical group "Patriots for a Free Society," the rest of B-REP Nation suffered through Rutgers Football's latest step to a 1-11 season.

Again, there's more than three letters (A-S-H) that make Coach Chris look more like former debacle-of-a-head coach Terry S-H-E-A each day in how this team is performing, all the way down to kicking a field goal to cut the deficit to Illinois to 14 points with five minutes to go...because why in a completely lost season would we want to try and show some trust in a young offense that got to the opponent's two yard line. One of the few times we recall audible boos from a Rutgers football crowd that is completely deflated. But, hey, Chris won the post-game presser, responding to the journalist's question on the topic as if the person had four heads. His response was along the lines of like...we needed three scores to win.

Ugh.

The question through season's end is whether we can be competitive with the upper-echelon teams of the B1G; but, hey, a LOT of us were winners again before noon. The missing clearly missed out.

Sharon-Head wins as B-REP
Nation favorite by slimmest of margin
(also pictured: No-Show D-Labs II)

LOW-Res warms
up vs. minor league
foes

The Nation arrived in the parking lot by 9 a.m., procuring a spot close to the Knightengale service, more so for Eric than his injured wife, though she did succumb to his pressure to get the golf-cart lift to Low Point Stadium. One guy on the cart before theirs was so hurt that he had a bottle of beer in each hand. Fortunately, Expat Johnnie turned down a ride this week and walked, saving face.

B-REP shows the
proper ratios of
condiments

The reason we do what we do

B-REP was large and in charge on the grill, doing a bang-up job of catering burgers and dogs to not only the core members of the group, but Tom's friends and their bright orange clothing. It was nice to meet their son, a junior transfer to the Environmental Sciences school over on Cook, though unfortunately he's not big enough to help the team's woeful offensive line.

Pete, Sharon and the ever-demanding Sharon-Head -- winner of Saturday's three-head challenge -- brought some cool friends, including one who brought Basil Hayden bourbon yet forgot to mention that to a certain member of the Nation. That's why from now on out she'll be referred to as Maria.

We've yet to get the final tally, but figure LOW-Res earned a solid $15 as the Nation's black lot beer-delivery technician. He later contributed to back-to-back cornhole victories, first drubbing Tom and Eric, then scoring five late to eek out a 21-20 win over Expat Johnnie and Frankie Ribs.

Pete relegated to
the naughty chair
for improper use of
burger pickles

It was another great morning of tailgating and laughter with the crew, but after three straight weeks we get a home BYE next week, which should give the Burks extra time to put 43,000 tiny spiders on their roof and heading west to Pennsyltucky to buy super-firepower pyrotechnics and an actual body for the big Halloween shindig. 

We learned that "Illini" is Algonquin
for "Tom's neighbors who also like
Dad Bod Lager

Everyone have a good weekend away from the lot next weekend!

We'll be back at it vs. Northwestern on Oct. 20 for, you got it, ANOTHER noon start. Oktoberfest is likely to be a prominent theme, whether Festmeister is in charge or we ship someone in from Berlin to handle matters.

Rare opportunity to be photo'd with
Mayor McHillsborough and the
lovely Renee Delcore

Dr. Dana's precision operating on...
a hamburger roll

Sharon-Head and Sharon enjoying a drink 

B-Repnation before we left early......

Behind the scenes look at BREP Nation staff at work

Bill, BRES and Dana working hard to get the shot perfect

The finished product after a little work from the B-REP NATION special effects department. 

We get questions from time to time in the B-REP Nation newsroom about what goes on weekly behind the scenes to keep the blog up and running. Above is an example of the hard work put in by our field technicians and special effects crew required to get the right shot to magically paste the ShaneHead on the 1869 football season memorial statue. GREAT WORK TEAM! 

Even Basil's Angels Couldn't Help RU Win

Once upon a time there were three little girls who went on to become au pairs, and they were each assigned very hazardous duties. But I took them away from all that this Saturday.  My name is Basil.

Sun shines brightly on a
cloudless September day

Cooking up the breakfast

As is usual for this time of September, the B-Rep Nation crew descended on the student center black lot for a fun morning of tailgating.  Although missing our faithful servant and second in command, ShaneHead (a.k.a. low res BRES) stepped in to full the gap nicely.

Trying to get in a pregame bet on
Rutgers at plus 16.5 

Lowres BRES sticking it
in corn hole

ShaneHead fulfilling
his obligation 

ShaneHead cooks!

Thanks to Bill for his usual diligent effort of preparing the breakfast tacos of chorizo and eggs, and to BRES head for doing the cooking and dishing out the drinks. Kudos to Andrea for braving a severe foot injury that had her listed as doubtful for the game, but probable for the tailgate, and gutting out the pre-game festivities. 

Eric in deep thought - Will I ever
master tailgate parking?

Basil teaching corn hole

          Basil took time out of his busy schedule to host his au pair friends and teach them all about corn hole and American football as "Basil's Angels" enjoyed the day. Please don't follow his advice on football betting.

Au pairs make their way to
end zone more easily than
RU football team  

Andrea guts out the tailgate with Basil's Angels
special guest star Swede John Lyon  

David and DavidHead chillin'

Eric made his way to the Audi club again this week to treat us to ice cream and cupcakes. Next week Bill wants toasted coconut on his vanilla cup.

Eric looks down on us with pity 

See everyone next week for a noon time start against Illinois. Remember to wear black to the game. Please start the discussion for next weeks tailgate below.

A new low - stealing a ride on the Nightengale from the disabled

    Thanks to all for your help and enthusiasm creating yet another great tailgate!