It's never too soon to get ready

   Your hard-working reporter is in a chatty mood this morning and hopes you are too. That's a sideways plea for lots of comments on this blog entry. and for the moment I'm throwing out the rule against using I in the blog.

   So I've come up with a way to remember what to pack for a tailgating excursion to an ODU football game. It's called the Coach Bobby Wilder method. You bring items pertaining to each letter in Coach Bobby Wilder. And if that doesn't do it, then we've got issues.

   C is for ... chips (your choice of what kind; I believe we can all agree that's a good start)

   O is for ... orange juice (because somebody's going to need a mixer and O is a tough letter.

   A is for ... American cheese (need to throw it on the burgers; oops, I just gave away a B)

   C is for ... condiments (ketchup, mustard, relish, mayo)

   H is for ... hot dogs (but you can sub in sausage or brats)

   B is for ... beer (although I've NEVER drank a beer at a tailgate party; hey, my nose is growing!)

   O is for ... onions (and you can't grill onions without peppers, so remember those too)

   B is for ... burgers (we already said beer, Belushi, calm down)

   B is for ... buns (to go with the burgers, brats, dogs and sometimes just to gobble down straight to soak up the beer)

   Y is for ... you (it ain't a party without you there, right?)

   W is for ... watermelon (there will be a seed shooting contest at 5 o'clock on game day) and wings (for when the fall weather gets cooler and watermelon is out of vogue)

   I is for ... ice (that's for the beer, silly)

   L is for ... limes (see above. Oh, how I wish I had the Corona market cornered)

   D is for ... dip (while I qualify for a dip in the eyes of many, I'm talking about guacamole, bean dip and onion dip)

   E is for ... endorsement device (you try to come up with a picnic/tailgating food that begins with an e). An endorsement device would be a huggy with ODU on it that keeps the BEER cold!

   R is for ... ribs (and I expect an invitation to eat some; you guys know what I look like, the picture is right there at the top of the blog, and when I walk by I expect a greeting and a BBQ-sauce covered rib to be offered up, get it?)

   There. Now you have the system that will at least get you through the first game. That's on Sept. 5 by the way.

   * The Big Blue BBQ is set for May 7, starting at 5:30. That's p.m., silly, so don't show up before the sun rises. Anyway, it's going to happen outside the Constant Center. Advance tickets are $15. ODU personnel tell me that tickets at the door are $20, but I've gotta ask, "If it's outside, where's the door?"

   * I've been told by certain hard-core blog readers that every time I mention the name Tony Mercurio, it starts a fire storm. So here I go: Tony Mercurio. Have at it.

   * Do you faithful readers think that ODUBlitz.com needs a message board? Just wondering.

   * The Monarchs will practice today from 3 to 5 p.m. So what questions do the blog's readers have about what's going on at practice?

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