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November 16, 2006
Buffalo, Beer, Bills, And Brothers...
In 1990, after graduating from the State University of New York At Morrisville, I continued my "education" at the State University College At Buffalo. I put education in quote marks, because I didn't really learn very much, except how to get drunk (er). I learned a lot about that subject at Morrisville, but since the education I wasn't receiving at Buff State wasn't doing me any good anyway, I might as well have some fun not learning anything. Along the way, I met some great friends, and had a great time at Buff State, including meeting a bunch of guys who helped found a chapter of Phi Sigma Kappa there.
Jason, Anthony, Eric, Chris, and myself, along with a few others, became Founding Fathers of the Kappa Septaton Chapter at Buff State. Over the years, a lot of us have lost touch, but recently, we decided to get together in Buffalo, for a small reunion. Jason and I went, and we met several of the other guys who still live in, near or around Buffalo.
Several weeks before the reunion, some of the Buffalo crew thought it would be fun to go to a Bills game. But, money and the Jets stood in our way. (The Jets/Bills game in Buffalo (Orchard Park, really) is a big AFC matchup, so getting tickets is difficult.
Spending almost 10 years in a place teaches you things. One of the important lessons that I learned was that if you can't get into the game, the next best thing is to tailgate outside the game. Which is exactly what we did.
The view from the outside isn't nearly as good as it is inside, as you get to see the field, the game, the players, you know, that sort of thing.
But our little encampment was built with the best of intentions, and with a panel truck brought by Mike M.
The shot here is after the storm clouds moved on to harass someone else. I couldn't take many pictures for fear of being swept away in floodwaters. The tarps we had weren't great, but except for the holes in them, they kept most of the rain off.
"Roughing" it didn't seem so rough since Tim C. brought a portable T.V...
There were several grills there, lots of food, and much beer. The thing about tailgating is you park and drink, no matter what time the game starts. It's a little easier when it's an afternoon or evening game, but since this game was at 1:00pm, we parked around 10:00am or so, and began drinking. See?
It's frightening, really, but I am to blame. I took the picture. Yikes.
So not being able to really watch the game, the focus was on beer, food and catching up. Here, the guys check out photo albums from our time at the 'Buff.
Speaking of catching up, I was able to track down some old radio buddies of mine, specifically Ted and Tom. (Ted's the shorn one.) Both of these super funny guys recognized me immediately, after not having seen or heard from me in almost ten years. They put me on the air, and I won a goofy contest. What a blast!
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Here are Jason, Barney and Pat. Brian and Jason are brothers. Pat and Brian are brothers, but only two of the people in this picture are related. Get it?
Before you leave your tailgating area, you are supposed to extinguish all fires. Thanks Frankie for putting out the coals!
If we had gotten into the game, we would have gotten really wet, but our seats might have looked like this...
Despite the rain, and the fact that the Bills lost, we had a great time at the game. We continued the weekend by eating wings at a fantastic wing joint called Duff's. Since Jason and I left Buffalo, we haven't had a decent chicken wing, so it was nice to at least get back and enjoy a staple of our college life. That and Mighty Taco. We also got the chance to get up with Matty T., who was working, and could not join us.
We met this year in Buffalo, and next year, we may do it again, (with other brothers, hopefully) but there's no stopping any of these guys from coming to The Old North State. The same is true for us meeting anywhere, really, so long as we stay in touch, which is what we promised to do. We'll see.
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From the top row, left to right, Tim, Anthony, Mike and Jason. On the bottom, me, Mike, Brian, Frank and Pat. The other one is Jack, who is in the first pic, but took the second picture for us.
See you guys next year!
Posted by Jon at November 16, 2006 08:27 PM
Comments
Great weekend, looking forward to the next ones. Pics look good.
Posted by: jason at November 18, 2006 12:25 AM