The Orange Jump Suit Guys from the College Kids Tailgate soak up the spirit at the West Virginia game.

Auburn students Michael Nunnelly and Kevin Johnson walked away from Jordan-Hare Stadium after the West Virginia game happy, drenched with 3.75 inches of rain and a blood alcohol level of 0.00%.

Their clothes were soaking wet. Their tailgate was bone dry.

Just like always.

Nunnelly and Johnson, both juniors, don’t drink.

Neither do the now 14 other guys that help set up the College Kids Tailgate, a loosely but devotedly organized game day gathering that is beginning to draw attention on the Auburn University campus.

But if not beer, than what?

Beer me a Cheerwine.

“Have you ever had Cheerwine?” Johnson asks. “We drink lots of Cheerwine.”

The group started in 2007, freshman year, with seven friends who lived in Lupton Hall where the group still sets up camp. Seven friends who were Christians. Seven friends who just, you know, didn’t drink.

“We just decided to tailgate together and it just grew into this,” Nunnelly says.

“The most was 320 for the Mississippi State game a couple of weeks ago. Or at least that’s how many signed the guest book. There were probably more.”

Since the start of the 2009 football season, over 1,000 people have stopped by the tents full of Cheerwine and orange cotton candy and the guys wearing the orange jumpsuits (all College Kids Tailgate trademarks).

The group is unaffiliated with a specific church, denomination or campus ministry and isn’t even explicitly evangelistic.

But connections have been made. Relationships developed. Lots of hamburgers grilled.

“I just appreciate them hanging out together and providing a place where kids can come hang out and feel safe and enjoy the game,” says Johnson’s mother’s Tami, taking shelter from the first of the days many downpours underneath one of the tailgate’s tents before the West Virginia game.

Tami and her husband Ken were both down from Birmingham for the day.

“It’s a place where parents can know their kids are safe and where they would want them to be.”

From left to right: Auburn juniors Brandon Campbell, Kevin Johnson and Michael Nunnelly.

That’s the idea, Nunnelly says.

“We wanted to create a no pressure environment,” he says. “Something fun for everybody where people of all kinds of backgrounds, both church and unchurched, lost and saved, can come and build relationships and have a good time.”

Johnson agrees.

“Hopefully it’s making more of an impact than not just not having alcohol but by having people that are here developing relationships with Christians that are doing evangelism with their own lives,” he says.

Nunnelly’s mother Lottie, who graduated from Auburn in 1982 and tailgated with her son prior to this year’s Mississippi State game, has seen just that firsthand.

“There’s people that just walk up that don’t know anyone there,” she said. “There were some kids from Mississippi State that came up. I actually got to here someone asking another student, ‘hey, so where are you going to church.’ It was really cool to see it working.”

Also cool to see working?  The bottle of Dale’s with a hole punched through the cap for seasoning en masse.

Johnson gives it a shake.

“That’s some Auburn engineering right there,” he says, knocking back a Cheerwine.

Make sure you can Tiger Walk after Tiger Beer.

For many, tailgating isn’t tailgating without beer.

And while a cicerone may be able to point you to the perfect tasting brew to go with your brat, and a frat guy could steer you to the cheapest, sometimes a pretty bottle (or can) is all you need.

Especially when it comes stamped with a tiger on an orange-and-blue background.

Which is why when TWER‘s own J.M. Comer brought Tiger Beer from Singapore to my attention, I knew it deserved yours.

Uh... where is the shaving cream? And why is she looking at us in the mirror? War Eagle!

While Mr. Comer grants that it is “better than Foster’s,” he admits no one exactly raved about it when he served it during last year’s LSU game.

But, lest you be deterred, the company assures its customers that “whenever you drink Tiger, wherever you drink Tiger, it tastes exactly how we mean it to taste” and “there’s nothing quite like the taste of an ice-cold Tiger Beer.”

That all sounds rather profound, but a bit noncommittal.

However, the Brewing Industry International Awards, apparently, could not heap enough praise on the Tiger and decided in 1998 to officially proclaim it “The World’s Best Lager Beer.”

And if the specially imported German hops, the exclusive strain of Holland yeast or the label itself are not enough to sway you, perhaps a hint of Green amongst all that orange and blue might: Tiger Beer has adopted three tiger brothers, Satria, Jepati and Tuah, (who their customers are encouraged to visit at Singapore Zoological Gardens), in an effort to protect the endangered species.

It takes 100 days to make a tiger, 21 days to make a Tiger, and 21 years to legally drink one in the state of Alabama. Please drink responsibly and don’t drive on the Tiger…

But do feel free to drink and ride the tiger.

The planning starts on Sunday. The menu is decided, lists are made, dishes assigned – all the preparation and attention to detail of Thanksgiving dinner. It even looks like a holiday: delicious smells in the air, kids toddling around a table groaning with food, travelers from far and wide.

The people, the food, make the experience.

“The spirit of tailgating can really be summed up in one word,” says Summer Vaughan. “Family.”

And Vaughan, 29, a 2001 Auburn graduate and practice manager for a local financial planning firm, loves her family.

“We all consider each other to be Auburn family … not just on football Saturdays, but year round,” she says.

Since 2000, three families have made up Vaughan and husband Gary’s central tailgating group. But the core of 12 can swell to 50 when the game, and the cooking, is going to be good.

Either way, the preparation is the same.

The RV is parked and grass cordoned off at 4 p.m. Wednesday… as in, as soon as they’re allowed. On the eve of the game, outdoor carpet, tents, lighting, tables, chairs, an inflatable Aubie, cornhole, TVs, trashcans, tablecloths, and table decorations are set up. The act of tailgating itself happens both before and after the game and the dual pleasures of turf and turf make the hours of setup and tearing down worth it, regardless of what happens inside the stadium.

Gary is usually in charge of the main dish, which means hauling to the site the smoker, fryer, grill or gas tank depending on if the entrée is brisket, fried turkeys, drunken chicken or jambalaya.

“We try to select something related to the opposing team’s mascot and/or geographical location,” Summer says.

For La. Tech? They went Cajun. Specifically po-boys, with friends agreeing to bring fresh seafood up from the coast.

The Vaughans, the Petersons, and the Bushes go all out.

Because the en plein aire festivities that flank Jordan-Hare when the leaves turn as orange as the sweat shirts are about more than just food and football.

And that’s why Summer Vaughan tailgates.

“It is a time to share good cheer and get a taste of how Auburn fans aim to make all fans feel welcome,” she says.

(That’s actually better than most family Thanksgivings.)

The Spread

Make-your-own Po Boys (shrimp or oyster)
7 Layer Dip & French Onion Dip with Chips
Deviled Eggs
Cookies & Carrot Cake

Arnold Palmers

2 quarts lemonade
2 quarts sweet tea
1 quart vodka

Mix well and serve cold.

Blue Cheese Cole Slaw (an Ina Garten Recipe)

1/2 small head green cabbage
1/2 small head red cabbage
4 large carrots, scrubbed or peeled
2 cups good mayonnaise
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons whole grain mustard
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon celery salt
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) crumbled Roquefort blue cheese
1 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves

Cut the cabbages in half and then in quarters and cut out the cores. Set up the food processor with the slicing blade (according to manufacturer’s instructions) and place the pieces of cabbage, one at a time, lying horizontally in the feed tube. (If they don’t fit, cut them to fit lying down.) Place the feed tube pusher on top and turn on the processor. Don’t push on the feed tube pusher or the slices will turn out too thick! Continue with the remaining red and green cabbage quarters. Transfer into a large bowl, discarding any very large pieces. Before you pour the dressing on the salad, save a handful of the grated vegetables to decorate for serving.

Change the slicing blade for the large shredding blade and cut the carrots so they also lie down in the feed tube. Since the carrots are hard, replace the feed tube pusher and press firmly with the food processor on. Transfer to bowl with the cabbages.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, both mustards, vinegar, celery salt, kosher salt, and pepper. Pour enough mayonnaise dressing over the grated vegetables and toss to moisten well. Add crumbled blue cheese and parsley and toss together. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for several hours to allow the flavors to meld. Serve cold or at room temperature.