A Taste of Titans Tailgating !
For a young franchise Tennessee already has what promises to be an impressive tailgating tradition.
Though parking spots at the stadium are tough to come by (we partied with some folks who've been season ticket holders since 2 years before the Titans came to town and they still haven't scored one of the prized passes) we set-up and had some fun in the Main Event parking lot just down the road.
There we met some great fans, including these brothers who were enjoying their first Titans tailgate out of the back of their Volkswagen. They were cooking on a grill they'd had to modify just to fit in the back of the car!
All around them were big groups of season ticket holders who had hauled out the trailers and grills and tables and chairs and canopies...
It was a perfect picture of just what it is that makes tailgating such an amazing experience. Whether it's your first game or your 500th, everyone's at home in the tailgating lot and your new friends are whoever you just happened to park next to.
And after we made friends with all the tailgaters in our lot (and tasted some great grub from their grills), we just had to make our way down to the stadium where we were told the really big tailgating would be happening.
So we hopped on the Cruzin Cooler and took our party on down to A Lot, where we were not disappointed.
Trailers were the tailgating toy of choice, whether smoker/cooker or party deck built out with bars and benches. The Titans fans just backed them right up onto the grass medians around the lot and partied right through the game!
And there was no mistaking you were in the South. We tasted lots of "comfort food" as we wandered from tailgate to tailgate, grits, macaroni and cheese, country sausage, and pork, all followed up with, of course, plenty of that local favorite that's known around here as simply "Jack".
We awarded prizes to our favorite dishes, and drew names for some of our sponsors' awesome SWAG.
All the time we marvelled at the weather in Nashville on this Sunday afternoon just one week before Christmas , where the sun shined bright and the tempertures peaked in the 70's. The locals assured us it was highly unusual, and we counted it as a blessing, knowing that the week ahead held for us a drive to Denver, where shorts and shirt sleeves were probably not going to be the dress for our Christmas Eve tailgate.
Tailgate Memories !
We've seen some amazing things in the tailgating lots. Stuff that really makes you stop, step back, and say, "Wow, that's cool." We've seen guys propose, we've seen couples exchange vows, and we've seen new Dads bring their babies out for their first game.
And this weekend, in Tennessee, we saw Titans fans gather in memory of one terrific tailgating couple. Friends and family of Steve and Norma Graham came together to celebrate and remember the couple who were both killed in a car accident in Kentucky last month.
On the very trailer that the Grahams had always hauled out to the Titans games, they shared stories and food and photographs of happier days.
And they shared with us Dr. Graham's own recipe for his famous Sausage Balls, which we will be honored to include as one of our Blacktop's Best!
See more pictures from the Tennessee tailgate in our Scrapbook OntheBlacktop.com!
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OnTheBlacktop.com 
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