Serious Tailgaters Prepare Days Ahead Of Birmingham Football Rivalry Game
Serious tailgaters fill the lots surrounding Birmingham's Legion Field.
In Birmingham, tens of thousands of football fans will watch Alabama A&M face Alabama State in the Magic City Classic, a big game between two black colleges.
TONYA DAVENPORT: Yeah, we’re doing cabbage. We’re doing baked beans. We’re doing turkey wings. We’re doing barbeque wings. We’re going to fry a little wings.
STEWART: That’s Tonya Davenport. She’s here with her cousin Edmund Nelson, and they began setting up on Monday.
EDMUND NELSON: Grills, smokers, deep freezers – refrigerator’s on the way – couches, the full bar. I got speakers, TVs to hang.
STEWART: Nelson roots for Alabama State, but he’s more of a tailgating fan. He drove 800 miles from Miami to Birmingham two weeks ago to start preparing. He opens the door to a large cargo trailer stacked with supplies.
NELSON: Inside here there’s more TVs. We’re just getting ready for the Classic, something we do every year. It’s a big get together. My mom, she went to Alabama State. And every year, it just get’s bigger and bigger.
STEWART: Hundreds of tents have popped up, and in Nelson’s, there’s artificial turf on the ground, a matching sofa and loveseat and five barbecue grills. No matter where you go, you hear music.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
STEWART: Freddie Jones parked his RV across from one of his buddies. They set up a little courtyard in the middle, decked out with lights and a sound system. He says the Magic City Classic is popular because it’s different.
FREDDIE JONES: You can go tailgating for the other teams and Tennessee and what have you – Alabama. And you have these restrictions where you can’t play your music. But at the Magic City Classic, you can just about do what you want to do within reason – clean fun.
STEWART: At kickoff, for the 60,000 people inside the stadium, it’s about the bands, dancers, football. But for folks like Jones, the serious stuff happens outside, beyond the gate.
JONES: Everything that comes this way is going to get cooked. Don’t put your hand on the grill. We’re cooking that, too (laughter).
STEWART: Once the game between Alabama State and Alabama A&M is over, it doesn’t mean that the fun ends. Some of the tailgaters stick around through Sunday. For NPR News, I’m Sherrel Wheeler Stewart in Birmingham.
Copyright © 2016 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
Hungary’s oldest library is fighting to save 100,000 books from a beetle infestation
Restoration workers are removing about 100,000 handbound books from their shelves and carefully placing them in crates, the start of a disinfection process that aims to kill the tiny beetles.
A military exercise drawing together 19 nations and 35,000 forces begins in Australia
The largest-ever war fighting drills in Australia is underway and expected to attract China's attention. Talisman Sabre began in 2005 as a joint exercise between the U.S. and Australia.
Trump marks anniversary of assassination attempt at the FIFA Club World Cup final
The president joined the players on the field after the match to present PSG players with their runner-up medals and hand Chelsea their championship trophy.
Wildfire destroys a historic Grand Canyon lodge and other structures
A park official said the visitor center, the gas station, a waste water treatment plant, an administrative building and some employee housing were among the 50 to 80 structures lost.
Jannik Sinner wins Wimbledon, Italy’s first singles champion
Italy's Jannik Sinner defeated defending champion Carlos Alcaraz to win his first Wimbledon title. Sinner is the first Italian to win the tournament.
Senate committee details failures by Secret Service in preventing Trump shooting
The Senate Homeland Security Committee said the Secret Service's "lack of structured communication was likely the greatest contributor to the failures" at the Pennsylvania rally last summer.
