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!

RU-IU Weather Good, at Least

Dana and John's
reaction to question:
"Does RU have a shot to
upset Indiana?"

Alright, so the breakfast burrito idea really seems to have taken off, since Indiana isn't known for pig-out joints and such and, hence, no great original Hoosier themes.

For people bringing supplies or those who've yet to say what they're contributing (besides money), here's the roster:

• Bill, Kaitlyn and Erin (3): Four-dozen eggs, chorizo, Schaefer
• Tom and Dad (2): Soft tortillas for tacos, beer
• Andrea, Eric and John the Swede (3): chopped peppers, onions, hash browns
• John (Dana iffy): shredded cheese, salsa, hot sauce
• Basil (5): see if your friends might bring donuts or something else to contribute toward breakfast
• Larry (1): Yuengling, presumably
• Dave (2): based on Jennifer last week saying it's be him and Jason
• Kyle, Ryan (2-3): 50-50; will probably show up, though
• EVERYONE bring your usual condiments, tables, grill, tools, etc.

Sunny and low-70s is the forecast, so at least we'll have that and good food on our side!

See ya Saturday in the Wal-Mart lot!

Rutgers a 16.5-point home underdog, BTW.

Heads of the Tailgate Additional Photos

See Bill's post below for the RU-Buffalo tailgate run down as well as to comment on next week's proposed tailgate spread 

Emotional presentation of the Shanehead (aka Low Res BRES) to the real deal 

Shanehead meets the RU cheerleaders!

Davidhead takes a well deserved rest 

The Witkowski family portrait 

While not at the tailgate, Bacon makes an appearance later
and was upset he was not invited

Car No. 3 voice their displeasure! 

Shanehead causing seating problems by blocking Dana's view

Thanks To Buffalo For Not Running Up The Score

Beef on Weck with
au jus, horseradish
and caraway seed

B-REP Nation's homage to food
loved by the people of a town where
it's already winter

If there's a constant in B-REP Nation it's that we're going to have a nice time and enjoy each other's friendship and company because, candidly, there's nothing on the football field worth watching at this point as we clearly roll to a 1-11 record.

It has gotten to the point where all of the best things for us happen before kick-off.

Sleeping on it for a night, it's clear that we're back to Shea-era ineptitude, with inconsistency at the quarterback spot, lines that can't seem to block or rush the passer, passivity on offense and defense, and as John alluded to, zero tolerance for risk; Flood at least gambled from time to time.

Ash is entirely vanilla, unless you like 1-yard out routes and never sending the kitchen sink at the opposing quarterback.

But, hey, on the bright side of things...

Saturday came with tasty buffalo wings as an appetizer, followed by the beef with weck that seemed to go off pretty well and was an easy prep.

Who's who?!

Not nearly as
pretty as the officially
licensed "Sharon"
version, though

Pete and Larry did an outstanding job flattering our youth with the ceremonial presentation of the Shane and David heads. B-REP did his best to get on the jumbo-tron and ESPN 8 coverage with slick dance moves, though we learned from yesterday that we'll have to get more people involved to get attention in the elbow-to-elbow crowd of 2,252 loyal fans who stayed until the fourth quarter.

As I sure Jennifer and Dave can attest, as parents it's awesome when your kids are embraced so much by our friends that they're eager to suck it up and give up sleeping in on a Saturday just to sit through awful football, yet still come away with a great experience and added confidence.

Touching the statue
on our way in was
no help

With that in mind, we face another beat-down this coming Saturday vs. Indiana on another noon kickoff.

The Indiana fare is sorta "meh" -- corned beef and cinnamon pancakes being the sorta "pig-out" foods that are big on the IU campus. If y'all wanna do one or the other that's fine, but I'm not wed to those ideas and wonder what folks are thinking.

Pat's subs -- an easy order and pickup? Burgers?

Let's get the banter going and see what folks have in mind.

And by all means drop in your best photos here from Saturday.

Great Friends and Food, REALLY Awful Football

Not much to say after getting our doors blown off by Kansas, other than it's gonna be a LONG season for us and I'm glad I spent Saturday on the beach instead, though on the bright side Nick's vulgarity meter is likely to explode next game, which should create some fun.

Courtesy: Tom Labue, who we're
figuring is likeliest among us to have
driven thru a Kansas-like tornado to watch
an RU sports team get pulverized

Yesterday is a good reason why, personally, I'm looking forward more to a return to the tailgating environment than the actual football game, which this week pits our Scarlet Knights against the Buffalo Bulls.

They're 3-0 and probably better than the NFL's Bills at this point, having beaten Delaware State, Eastern Michigan and Temple, which by the way dismantled B1G colleague Maryland, showing just how poor the lower-echelon teams in our league are to start the 2018 season and how nothing is going to be a gimme for RU the rest of the way.

Probably a good thing we got our one win out of the way this season.

Anyway, maybe this week the coaching staff's going to discover that the Big Kielbasa is color-blind and hook him up with special eye wear, preventing him from being so generous to the other team; or increasingly clueless-looking Chris "Can't Spell SHeA Without" A-S-H will scour the parking lot tailgate pregame to find a guy that can get open and catch a football, or tackle.

In the preseason email I had proposed a few buffalo-themed ideas for a tailgate. These work?

• Beef on Weck, basically roast beef with au jus and horse radish on a special German bread. I can serve up the roast beef, maybe Basil can whip up some homemade horse radish from his garden, and Chris can locate us some German bread? (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beef_on_weck). If not, we can always do onion roll or the like.
• Buffalo Wings -- with a group of 20+, chime in on the message board below with what kind you can bring; maybe mix it up with different varieties; or if someone wants to make 'em please speak up.
• Sponge Cake -- can take or leave this one, but do we have a baker of pound cake/breakfast cakes and the like?

We're looking at a noon kick-off again, so how's about we meet at 8:45 a.m. in the Costco lot.

Three Hobos (and Kaitlyn's friend Erin, if we've got an extra ticket) are looking forward to seeing the crew again on Saturday!

BREP NATION returns for the 2019 season to enjoy a Scarlet Knights win!

BREP Nation 2018 crew assembled! 

Chris inspecting the meat prior to cooking

After a long offseason and an exhausting pre-tailgate Friday afternoon addressing parking pass allocations, Car Number designations/occupents and late breakfast cooking options, BREP Nation reconvened in the supplemental black lot to start the 2019 season. Down the BRES family, Basil, and a few key LaBues, Chris stepped up to get us organized, as well as taking on the grill chores to get the cooking done.    

Renegades cooking previously
unsanctioned breakfast foods

Welcome to Dana partaking in his first tailgate as an official BREP Nation member. Cousin Bob, Glen, Donna, nephew Indy, (not Southside) John Lyon, all aptly stepped in to fill out our crew. The fierce corn hole action returned in a Sayreville alum brawl with the Twins taking down Bob & Glen.   

John Lyon steps up with a needed red tent!

John added to the morning event by buying a red tailgate tent. This will be his last RU game before going to Sweden for work, cheap unassembled furniture, and the meatballs.  A Rutgers car magnet was presented for use in Sweden to remember BREP Nation.

Facelicking as requested!

First Labue sack of the season !

             Game day anticipation was high in the tailgate for the debut of the local kid at QB, Old Bridge's true freshman 18 year old Artur Sitkowski (some how not related to any of our  many BREP Nation members of Polish ancestry). Not lost in this excitement was also the start at left guard of South Amboy's own Nick Krimin opening holes for the ground game. Rutgers did not disappoint with RBs Raheem Blackshear and Jonathan Hilliman each scoring two touchdowns to defeat Texas State 35-7 in the season opener.    

Car No. 5 occupants (and student son Steve)

The next home game is set for Saturday 9/22 against the Buffalo Bulls at 12 PM noon. Check back next week for the tailgate discussion.

The crew enjoying the game (Car No 1 and No. 2 occupants) 

Nephew Indy loading up on the sugar 

The moving magnet presentation 

Another shot from the seats