NCSU vs UNC-Ch Football Tailgating Party (v2009)

We just got back from the Thanksgiving Weekend Tailgating Party hosted by my Uncle Mike (Mike Clark) for the annual in-state throwdown between the NCSU Wolfpack and the UNC-Ch Tarheels. The catered event featured attendance by the whole Clark Clan and made for a very good time. Thanks to Uncle Mike for laying out the green for another year.

We got to the party tent early and the kids spent a fair amount of time bouncing from tent to ten in the Fan Zone looking for all the free stuff. I am not sure what they came away with, but they all were sporting tote bags full of swag before we ate.

As expected, Chuck showed up draped in Carolina Blue, but the sea of red from the parking lot served to minimize the offensive attire.

Dawa and David brought little Hunter to the party and it was the first time that Tracy and I had a chance to see him. Tracy grabbed him as soon as she saw him and just gobbled him up. He was very well behaved and seemed engaged the whole time.

Ché and Natalie also made the event, despite Natalie's proximity to her due date and it was a little hard to believe how much Elle has grown since I last saw here.

The game proved to be worth the hype. It was in-state rivalry weekend all around the nation and State had their work cut out for them. The Carolina Tarheels were ranked #24 in the polls and State had a single victory in the ACC all year. Despite the fact that the Wolfpack entered the game with two consecutive victories over the Tarheels, things looked grim. Things went according to plan and the Tarheels went into halftime with a 24-14 lead. Tracy and the girls went back to the Party Tent to hang out, but I stayed in the stands with Dad and Chuck and was there for the big comeback in the second half. The Wolfpack ground out the second half and walked away with the 28-27 victory.

I took pictures and you can see the album via the attached link.


2009 NCSU Tailgate

The Big Orange Machine Rolls On

Last night, Kellie's only true passion, competition cheerleading, added another chapter to her life as the BDHS Tigers hosted the first annual Evergreen District championship. Last year the Northwestern District added new members and BDHS splintered off into the new division. The new district has a mere five teams, but this meant that the lady Tigers would face new competition on their hopeful path to the State Championship in Richmond.

One of the new district members, Liberty High School, was the same school that pasted BDHS on Friday night 65-0. The cheerleaders had front row seats to the slaughter and clearly felt that, while paybacks are a bitch, sometimes you have it coming. The Liberty Eagles went first and laid down what looked to me to be a more than competitive routine. Clearly our girls had their work cut out for them.

The Tigers went third, but I did not really get to see the routine because I was acting in my usual role as second-string unofficial team photographer. This meant that I enjoyed my usual view of the performance through the viewfinder on my Nikon. This doesn't allow for the best view of the event and I later learned that they had dropped a stunt. Dropping a stunt means that a girl was lifted into the air and fell down before planned. This is a big blow to the team's score and to add insult to injury, the routine's music was skipping throughout the performance. I was worried, for no other reason that I perceived this event to be their easiest competition yet this year. A quick look to the coach demeanor showed little worry on her part and she is normally a very good indicator of the final outcome.

She was right because when the Tigers' final score was tallied, their additional points for their level of difficulty overcame the drop and they placed first by a relatively comfortable margin. This was a close call for a team that has dominated the competition this year, but realizes that mistakes in the coming weeks will be be very costly as the level of competition rises.

Position	Team	Score
1st	Brentsville District Tigers	238
2nd	Liberty Eagles	228
3rd	Kettle Run Cougars	202