Tailgating! Cornhole!

This time of year these words used in conjunction can only mean only one thing.  Wait.  Okay maybe a couple things, but I’m not referring to late night cable.  This is a family blog and we’re talking within the context of football.  Tailgating, as everyone knows, is the series of “theme” parties occurring in stadium parking lots across America every fall.  Cornhole is a tailgate focused board game wherein participants toss a mango sized bag filled with corn at a six inch round hole on a wood board. www.cornhole.com  It’s fun.  It’s easy.  Everyone can participate, and as an added bonus – assorted hand held beverages and food stuffs can be consumed WHILE playing.  Perfection is often just that simple.  

College football is a great way to remain connected with one’s alma mater.  For me that connection is with my beloved Oregon State University www.oregonstate.edu aka  “The Beavers”  Ohhhhhh!  eSSSSSS!  Yuuuuu!  Oregon State fight, fight, fight!  My wife Kevan and I are both alums and have been trekking to Corvallis every fall since the mid-eighties.  We went pre-daughter, with daughter and now go without our grown-up daughter, much to her chagrin.  There has been a Lion King-esc “circle of life” element to our experience.  The best part is that we share it all with our oldest, dearest friends.  We tailgate together, sit together, complain together, win together, lose together and laugh together - every fall, every year.  Yes it’s better when we win but it’s never been a requirement.     

This weekend Cornhole will be more than a tailgate experience.  For me Cornhole is an opportunity to celebrate my school, my team and my passion (this isn’t a lost episode of Three’s Company so keep the double entendre jokes to yourself).  Here is my version of Cornhole boards.  They will be introduced Saturday in the parking lot of Reser Stadium in Corvallis.  These boards were “upgraded” for my good friend Phil Richardson the talented owner mechanic and operator of Phil’s Auto Clinic in Lake Oswego www.philsautoclinic.com  One board celebrates the past with an “Old School”  historic theme.  The other celebrates the “New Era.”  Go Beavs!

Perhaps this work could open new doors for my burgeoning painter/artist business.   I could recast myself as “David Stodd…Local Cornhole Artist."  On second thought - don’t wait for the t-shirts.