The New "The Ultimate Tailgater"

By: Stephen Linn
If you're reading this then chances are you've already noticed the new The Ultimate Tailgater website. Now The Ultimate Tailgater is about more than my books and videos. Now it is the premiere site to celebrate the lifestyle surrounding sports.

The Ultimate Tailgater is now a channel on MyOutdoorTV.com - an Internet network dedicated to every activity outdoors and tailgating is one of America's most popular outdoor activities so this is a perfect fit.

In addition to new videos - both The Ultimate Tailgate Chef and the new The Ultimate Tailgater's Cool Tools product videos - you'll find a new set of tailgaters to help you enjoy your parking lot parties like never before. Our new contributors are:

Olvier "Ali" Nejad Think of a version of the real life "Van Wilder" and you have found Oliver "Ali" Nejad. Though often recognized for his success in the poker world, Nejad has a broad knowledge of everything from sports, cars, collegiate culture and hi tech gadgetry. Nejad is the ultimate envelope pushing "man's man." A legend in his own time, Nejad�s days as a fraternity man are far from over. Known for throwing the best parties and staging the most irreverent stunts, Nejad's personality is magnetic and he can be found in almost any environment discussing virtually any topic on air, or off.

Dave Lamm An outdoor enthusiast and an even bigger fan of tailgating, David is a former college football player turned writer. Playing football in college exposed David to the two things he loves: all types of sports and big time tailgating. A native of San Diego and now a resident of Orange County, California you can find David tailgating prior to every San Diego Chargers home game. He is also the driving force behind his blog tailgatingideas.com, and is always looking for a better and more enjoyable tailgating experience.

Sara Pepitone Sara is a freelance writer and a fan of almost all sports and foods. She is not related to a former Yankee, but she can tell you she is, if that's what you want to hear. Offline, her work has appeared in such publications as The New York Times, The New York Post, Travel & Leisure, and Gourmet. She's also the woman behind scoreboardgourmet.com.

Michael King Michael is the president of FanHub.com, an online community for traveling NASCAR and NHRA race fans that covers every aspect of the race weekend, except the race including city guides, local restaurant, lodging and venue feedback from other race fans. When he's not at a race you'll find Michael in class, he's enrolled in the MBA program at Regis University in Denver, Colorado.

Steve Glor (aka "Sweet G") As the marketing VP for Freedom Grill "The Official Grill of Tailgating" Steve spends most of his time at tailgate parties. Rough gig. When he's not peddling grills he's using them to feed the crowd. That's how he earned his "Sweet G"nickname, cooking the barbecue trifecta of pulled pork shoulder, beef brisket, and baby back ribs. He's been featured on Food Network's "Tricked Out Tailgating" and his tricked out tailgating truck, Carnivore, has been featured on SPEED. In addition to Freedom Grill, Steve markets the company's award winning line of grilling sauces: Fire Brand Sauces.

With these new voices The Ultimate Tailgater will truly be the best website for everything surrounding the lifestyle of sports from the party to the food to the the products to the excitement of all sports.

So bookmark the site and get ready for some great tailgating...

The Best Tailgating

A couple of "best of" lists caught my eye this weekend while playing around online - the best places to tailgate and the best NFL stadiums. These are tough categories to narrow to 10 or so but they are also the categories most often narrowed to 10 or so. I did it in the FOX Sports Tailgating Handbook and many on my list are on these. Many, but not all. On to the lists.

The first takes the form of The Bucket List of Tailgaters and runs down the "tailgate parties that every tailgater should experience before they die." You'll find the usual - Lambeau Field and The Grove at Ole Miss - and the unusual - The Zoo at Brainerd International Speedway - but you have to admire the completeness of the list since it covers football to racing to concerts and more. You'll find the entire list at tailgatingideas.com.

The stadium list comes from YardBarker and lists the top 10 stadiums "to be a fan or just be at." Broad enough...

Atop the list is Arrowhead Stadium and at number 10 is Invesco Field. I'll let you see the ones in the middle for yourself. To add some color to the post they also include this Super Fan video. There are certainly some dedicated fans in America. And some good make-up artists.

Tailgating on a Budget

The whole idea of tailgating is spending time with your friends and making new ones. It's not about who has the biggest rig or the fanciest grills. Sure, those things are nice and will impress your tailgate neighbors, but they aren't what makes tailgating fun.

Dave Lamm at Tailgating Ideas has that figured out and put together a tailgating kit to get you up-and-running for less than $100 (he squeaks in with $ .13 to spare). If you have another $100 or so I'd add a tent or Sport Shade to the kit, too. But the point is you don't need much to enjoy your parking lot party.

If you have any budget tailgating stories or ideas let me know... I'd love to see what innovations have come from the parking lots.

Contest: Win a Trip to a NASCAR Sprint Cup Race

Now that Daytona is in the books are you itching to get to a race? Well, the contests are starting to roll out to let you win a race trip. This one is going to sound like an odd tie-in to racing (or tailgating) but, heck, you can win a trip to the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Chicagoland on July 12 plus a Kodak printer autographed by Donald Trump. I told you it was an odd tie-in.

Okay, stay with me on this. Kodak was a sponsor for an episode of The Celebrity Apprentice and, as the release puts it, "... Tito Ortiz and Lennox Lewis showed how Kodak has delivered a knockout punch to pricey ink and brought affordable printing to the masses with the new KODAK EASYSHARE All-in-One Printers."

So to add legs to the promotion Kodak is running the "Pricey Ink - You're Fired!" contest where they want folks like you to send in the best photo you have that you haven't printed because of the cost of printer ink. The grand prize is the NASCAR trip but they have several others:

Grand Prize: Selected by Kodak from the top 100 scoring entries plus the category winners (as listed below), wins a trip for 2 to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series™ race at Chicagoland Speedway® on July 12th, 2008, plus a KODAK EASYSHARE 5300 AiO Printer.
Most Artistic Photo: One entry, selected by Kodak based on 50% creativity and 50% content, wins a KODAK EASYSHARE 5300 AiO Printer.
Best Family & Friends Photo: One entry, selected by Kodak based on 50% creativity and 50% content, wins a KODAK EASYSHARE 5300 AiO Printer.
Wackiest Photo: One entry, selected by Kodak based on 50% creativity and 50% content, wins a KODAK EASYSHARE 5300 AiO Printer.
Most Viral: One entry, with highest viral score, wins a KODAK EASYSHARE 5300 AiO Printer.
Best Knockout Video: One entry, selected by Kodak based on 50% creativity and 50% content, wins a KODAK EASYSHARE 5300 AiO Printer.
All printers awarded to winners are autographed by Donald Trump!

One thing to know before entering is you have to be a member of Brickfish.com to enter (it's free - the contest is run through the site). (To learn more about the contest click here, and to read the official rules click here.)

Now, I know it says to send the best photo you have you haven't printed, but I'd go ahead and send the best you have, period. Somehow I don't think Kodak is going to send sheriff's deputies to your house to search photo albums to make sure you never printed it.

It's the Start of the Racing Tailgate Season

The Daytona 500 runs today, but race fans have been tailgating outside the track for several days now. Here's a report from the Daytona Beach News Journal on what that action looks like.

If you're there send me some photos and stories of your tailgate party so I can share them on the blog. Who knows, you just may become the first Tailgater of the Week when the new The Ultimate Tailgater website launches in a couple of weeks.

Tailgate Chef: Steak and Mushroom Sandwich

The past week or so I've been getting some e-mails and calls from folks beating me up for not having posted any recipes lately. You know what? They're right. It's one of those things that just slipped through the cracks. Sorry.

I'll have this fixed in a couple of weeks when the new and improved The Ultimate Tailgater website launches (more on that in a few days). On the home page of the site will be the Recipe of the Week, plus there will be new The Ultimate Tailgate Chef videos each week that will give you great recipes and show you how to make them.

In the meantime, here's a great tailgate dish. You can make this in the parking lot (be sure to take the pans with you) but I usually prep it ahead of time and take the finished sandwiches with me (although I warm up the mushroom sauce and add it on site) so I can have more time to enjoy the party.

Steak and Mushroom Sandwich
1 pound beef round tip steak or sirloin tip steak, thinly sliced
Salt and pepper
½ plus ½ teaspoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon olive or vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ pound sliced white mushrooms
¼ cup dry red wine
½ cup prepared beef gravy
½ loaf French bread, split and toasted

Sprinkle the meat with the salt and pepper to taste and 1/2 teaspoon thyme. Sauté the meat (using half the oil) until browned and medium rare, about 30 to 45 seconds per side. Cook the meat in batches and do not overcrowd the pan—this will ensure that the meat fries rather than steams.

In a large nonstick skillet heat the remaining oil over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring until tender, about 3 to 5 minutes. Pour in the wine and bring to a boil for 1 minute. Season the mushrooms with salt and pepper to taste and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon thyme. Add the prepared gravy and stir until the mixture is heated.

Arrange the meat on top of the toasted French bread and top it with the mushroom sauce.

Serves 4 - 6

Ballpark Tailgating

I've been buried in production this week on new episodes of The Ultimate Tailgate Chef and a new video series - The Ultimate Tailgater's Cool Tools - as we prepare to relaunch The Ultimate Tailgater website and blog as a channel on an Internet television network in a few days (more on that in a post to come), so I'm just catching up on some blog reading I've missed the past few days.

One of the post I ran across was this year-end football/tailgating piece on Wicked Good Sports. The picture alone grabs your attention - this looks like a heck of a tailgate party. And it's at a baseball game.

The worst part about football being over is no more tailgating til’ September. I think that’s the biggest and one of the only problems I have with Fenway- there’s no tailgating! Instead of firing up the grill and diving into a fresh 30-pack, we jam into dive bars and pay $6 a freakin’ beer. Imagine if people partied like this outside of Yawkey Way…

My buddy took this shot outside of the Brewers home opener last season. Can you say 12-person beer bong?

You can read Jeff Guinee's entire post about his look back at the New England Patriots' season and thoughts on tailgating here.

SEC Superfan Contest - Call for Entries

Every year Alabama Gameday conducts its SEC Superfan contest. Okay, it's actually a contest to find the goofiest drunk fans from other SEC schools and laugh at them.

They've put out their call for 2008 entries so get your cameras ready. To see the 2007 entrants click here and here. It's worth the clicks...