New Tailgating Restrictions: Not Actually A Big Deal

So I've seen a ton of backlash to the new Brighton tailgating regulations announced by the Flynn Fund this week - namely, that in order to get into the Brighton tailgate lot you now need a game ticket. From what I've seen in a few tweets/comments/posts people seem to be FURIOUS (to be fair this is not necessarily indicative of the full fan base but it was certainly enough to notice). Here at 4th And Dude we like to make our stances as clear as possible with no room to go back on if it turns out to be super wrong, so here is mine: if you are upset about these new rules then you are being a gigantic Pussy. Yes, capital P, deal with it.

Maybe it's because we fought alongside our brothers in the Great USC Wristband Battle at Shea Field, so we know how bad these things can actually get, but being angry about needing a single game ticket in order to tailgate is the biggest unnecessary outrage since the UGBC election scandal of 2012. First off, tickets to literally every game (except ND) cost less than $10 on StubHub right now. At worst, think of this as an incredibly cheap bar cover to allow you to drink for free outside for 3 hours. If literally any place in America offered that deal you would be there in a heartbeat, so why the anger here?

Second, look at this from BC's perspective - this is an absolute no brainer. If you have no interest in supporting the Eagles why do you believe they have to just give you the unalienable right to tailgate? Think about it this way: if you were throwing a Project X style BYOB house party for your birthday - you hired the band, security, cleaned the whole place up, spent literally months sweet talking your neighbors into not caring about the noise for 8 hours, dumped a ton of money into alcohol permitting - and some friend of a friend who you've never met walks in, starts eating your finger sandwiches, peeing on your toilet seat, waking the neighbors, doesn't bring a gift, and leaves before singing Happy Birthday? You'd say "Fuck that guy, who's friend was that? What an asshole". Kind of the same thing here. What on earth does BC get by allowing you to just do whatever the hell you want on campus for 6 hours with zero intention of supporting the birds in any capacity? I'll admit this metaphor went kind of off the rails but I like it.

Look, if you don't care about the Eagles then quite frankly you don't deserve Brighton. Yes that's a hot take but honestly, what makes Brighton so awesome (and college football tailgating in general) is that you're surrounded by other people who give a shit about your squad, the collective optimism/excitement you feel pregame, hoping for the payoff of a post-win post-tailgate, or praying that just once we'll have that big game energy leading up to a top 25 showdown later in the year. You can't only take the good, it's a package deal and that's what will always make football tailgates special.

At the end of the day, this is such a nothing controversy that has people getting upset because they have nothing else to get upset about. The wristbands were a bad policy - that said "hey you paid a bunch of money for the spot but only 6 people can come". This says "hey you spent a bunch of money for the spot and literally 44,500 people can come if they have any (even fake) intention of coming to the game afterwards". This is not the Brad Bates era anymore, thank God, so we need to stop assuming the worst. This is a win win for both BC and fans. I don't know about you, but I'm taking the trade of "you can drink and grill outside for 3 to 5 hours and play cornhole and shotgun etc, and in return you have to watch the school your tailgating at's football game afterwards" any day of the week, and twice on Saturday (literally, ha!).

And if this is the hill you choose to die on, pay a ton more (much more than season tickets, by the way) and go to the Mod lot next year. Unlike college, you don't need to know someone to get in there.

Go birds. It's tailgate season, and it'll be over before you know it. Just try to enjoy it.