Last spring, John Ball, Steve Nauman and I thought it would be a great idea to enjoy a college football game and tailgate in Michigan on beautiful fall day. For more than twenty years, my Jacksonville friends would make the trek to Ann Arbor to watch the Michigan Wolverines play somebody. The game was buffered on each side with the World’s Greatest Tailgate. However, with the advent of Nil and Portals, U of M games can no longer be considered “college football”. It is some bastardized form of professional football. Still great to be a Michigan Wolverine but it isn’t an amateur college competition by any measure.
So in 2025, we have procured thirty five yard line seats to see a great Mid America Conference game in Ypsilanti Michigan. The fighting Emus from Eastern Michigan University take on the vaunted Northern Illinois Huskies. These are bonified college teams.
When I reviewed the ticket options, I could buy six individual tickets for $150 or fifteen group tickets for $120. Any seats in any section. With my accounting major at Eastern, five years Big Eight accounting experience, CPA certificate, and several Controllerships for public companies, I determined that $120 for fifteen seats of our choice is better than $150 for six seats of our choice.
I closed the deal and sent an email to the World’s Greatest Tailgate team. Since 1966 the WGTs have been hosting events, primarily at the Big House. Occasionally, we would take the tailgate on the road.
In the email, I noted that we have nine seats, available at no charge, for anyone who would like to join us for the Eastern Michigan – Northern Illinois football game. In fact, if more than nine participants wanted to join us, I will buy those tickets as well. The game will be Saturday, October 11. We are planning a full throated, World’s Greatest Tailgater event for the Emu -Huskie tilt. There is free Tailgate parking across the street from the stadium. The WGT’s can consider this a road trip (albeit it is only 7 miles from our traditional Ann Arbor venue) where neither team is actually the Michigan Wolverines (but both combatants are real college amateur teams) and there are absolutely no traffic and no parking challenges. For anyone who accepts the offer, the ticket cost is zero. Hard to believe that a deal this good would ever happen!
How does spending Saturday at an Eastern Michigan football game compare to a Michigan contest. Well, it is a little less expensive. My thirty one yard line seats at Michigan are $325 each. My thirty five yard line seats at Eastern are $9. If you buy the fifteen seat group package at Eastern, they will flash your group picture on the Jumbotron with a message that says “The World’s Greatest Tailgaters. We are professionals, DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME.” Tailgate parking in Ann Arbor is $90 a car and in Ypsilanti it is -0-. How about convenience? For Michigan games, it is a half mile walk to the stadium from the tailgate. At Eastern it is 100 yards. “Easy in and easy out” is a myth in Ann Arbor and real in Ypsi.
More importantly, Eastern players are predominately amateur college players that enjoy the game and are thrilled with scholarships that pay for their college education. Most of them will play four years for the fighting EMU’s. When I follow a top twenty NIL team, I have to buy a new starting quarterback jersey every year.
The Eastern game day experience takes me back fifty five years. I am going to an amateur college game. The biggest outlay will be for the brats and the beer at the tailgate. The primary goal is having a great time on a spectacular fall day. I hope I can find a toss away charcoal grill at the dollar store for less than five dollars. Grilling the brats and burgers on the toss away is a perfect throw back to the incredible early days of tailgating. If the Emu amateurs beat the Huskie amateurs, it will be a perfect day.
So let me know if you can join us. If more than 9 fans decide to come, I’ll get some more tickets.
GO YOU HAIRY EMUS!!
Kingfish