The Joplin Globe, Joplin, MO

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September 23, 2008

Mike Pound: Tailgate party by any other name

Every fall day — past and present — is to be treasured

The brats were hot and the drinks were cold and really, that’s about all you can ask for at a tailgate party.

By the way, as far as I could tell, there were no “tailgates” to be seen at the tailgate party I was at Saturday afternoon, but it was called a tailgate party nonetheless. I guess I can see that. I mean, “tailgate party” rolls off the tongue much easier than “drinks and brats before the football game” party.

The origin of tailgate party (I think) can be traced back to the days of the Roman Empire, when wealthy Romans would gather in the parking lot of the Coliseum before a lions/Christian match, eating ancient brats and Caesar (ha) salad. These gatherings, known as “chariotgate” parties, would start days prior to the match because, let’s face it, your typical lion/Christian match didn’t take very long.

The tailgate party I attended Saturday was nice, but most tailgate parties are. Especially tailgate parties in the fall. I have participated in tailgate parties in the summer before Kansas City Royals games (which actually are not much different than the Iions/Christian matches of ancient Rome), but a tailgate party in the summer is just not the same as a tailgate party in the fall — or almost in the fall.

To me, a tailgate party on a warm, sunny day in the fall has a sense of urgency to it; a sense that warm, sunny days won’t be around much longer, so they should be enjoyed, they should be savored.

I know that fall officially began on Monday, but the tailgate party I attended on Saturday, to me, had the same sense of urgency. October is just around the corner, which means that November and December are one corner closer. I know that a time will come in December when I will think back longingly to the tailgate party I attended this past Saturday.

That’s the thing I love about fall. Each nice day is to be treasured. Each warm, sunny day becomes an excuse for a party, an excuse to get outdoors one more time because by tomorrow, it could be snowing.

The weather folks say that it will be sunny and warm for most of this week, and that’s nice, but don’t be fooled by that. We are getting to the bottom of the warm-and-sunny-day barrel. We are getting to that time of year when there are more warm and sunny days behind us than in front of us. So we should get out and revel in every one of those warm, sunny days.

I think a lot more about fall now than I did when I was younger. Every so often, while I’m walking my dog around our neighborhood, I’ll notice another sign that fall is on the way — the cooler early morning temperatures, a tree with leaves starting to change colors or a pumpkin on a porch — and I’ll think about falls of the past. Then I’ll think about falls to come. I’ll think about the falls my wife and I will spend driving our 10-year-old daughter, Emma, from activity to activity. I’ll think about the falls when Emma will drive herself from activity to activity. And I’ll think about the falls when Emma will be living somewhere else thinking about her own falls — past and present.

On those rare mornings when I think about falls gone by and falls to come, I’ll realize that there are more falls behind me than there are in front of me. So, I remind myself to enjoy each one. I remind myself to notice the little signs that fall is near and to savor those little signs.

I don’t, however, enjoy or savor the roughly 1.5 million leaves that fall likes to drop in our yard. I mean, hey, I may get wistful every now and then, but I’m not a total moron.

I do, however, enjoy tailgate parties on warm, sunny, almost-fall days. I do enjoy listening to Emma and her friend Katie talking about non-football-related topics on a Saturday evening while they sit next to my wife and me in a stadium watching a football game.

And I do enjoy thinking about those wonderful, warm sunny fall days to come.

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