Minnesota Vikings !

Paul Thielman
Hoss' Ribs

Tailgating is serious business for some Minnesota fans, and Paul "Hoss" Thielman is one of them.

He cooked up his ribs in his tailgating rig, a delivery truck built out with a bar/lounge. The whole thing is painted purple, with the Vikings logo and jerseys with the names of Hoss and his buddies. And behind it, a complete kitchen trailer with everything an extreme tailgater needs to feed the big crowd that's sure to gather around a killer set-up like this!

Though Hoss and his girlfriend both swear that his entry is just something he threw together, the man obviously knows what he's doing. One bite of his ribs and all three judges called out in unison, "Oh, this is it!"

The Story

The Shots

A little rain never stopped a Viking....

After a sleepless night of trying to ignore elephant-sized raindrops, roaring thunder and relentless lightning flashing all around us, we woke to more rain and plenty of doubts about how much (if any) tailgating we would find going on an hour North in downtown Minneapolis.

But as we drove the storm cleared, and by the time we started surveying the many private parking lots scattered throughout the area surrounding the Metrodome, purple busses and horned heads were already beginning to gather.

We found a couple of lots off Washington where some groups of die-hard Vikings fans gather before every game, and staked out a spot between them next to the 93X location.

Jay and Nick made the rounds, taking photos of some awesome tailgating rigs and letting their noses and their taste-buds help them locate contestants for our taste-off.

Remy, Patrick and the rest of the crew at 93X were kind enough to lend us a few interns to act as our distinguished "Panel of Judges," and in the end Paul "Hoss" Thielman took the title of "Blacktop's Best" with his amazing rib recipe prepared in his very own kitchen on wheels. It was truly something to see!

Jay answered a trivia question and won a pair of (killer!!!) tickets to the game. He and Nick had the honor of sitting with (and getting spoiled by) everyone from the station, as well as Minnesota's biggest superfans, Super Vman and the Spiking Viking! Thanks, guys!

Friend of the Tour!

We all remembered 93X's DJ Remy from his days at our favorite L.A. station, 95.5 KLOS!