Tailgating - America's Favorite Event

With more than 50 million tailgaters each year, Americans flock to acres of parking lots to gather with friends and family, grill delicious burgers, play horseshoes and celebrate their local sports team's game! Intertwined into routine fall Saturdays and Sundays, tailgating has become a true staple at sporting events. However, most fans don't know how or why tailgating was created.

Believe it or not, tailgating has been around since the 1861 Civil War Battle of Bull Run. Civilians from the Union side arrived with baskets of food and shouted, "Go Big Blue!" to support and encourage their side to win the commencing battle. Later in the 1860s, Texas rancher Charles Goodnight invented the chuckwagon, which ultimately shaped the way we celebrate tailgating today, because it was the first contraption that helped mobilize hearty meals with ingredients like grass-fed beef.

While these early examples of "tailgating" are interesting and certainly not what we're used to, the first form of tailgating at a sporting event was at an 1869 football game between Rutgers and Princeton. This was one of the first games during which fans and players both wore identifying colors and headwear. Thus beginning the tradition of fans taking on the colors of their favorite teams and coming to the games with team spirit. Combine this with a form of the chuckwagon and you have a modern-day tailgating party!

Anyone that has ever been to a tailgate realizes how important food is to the pre-game event in 2014, and it seems that this tradition isn't going anywhere. Today, most fans would agree that tailgating is all about the grill with 40 percent of tailgaters spending more than $500 per season on food and supplies. There's something exceptionally satisfying and impressive about cooking a 10-pound brisket before kickoff. For those loving more basic options, well-prepared and grilled grass-fed burgers or brats, such as those supplied by Chisholm Trail Grass-fed Beef, are perfect for any hungry crowd! Additionally, a lot of tailgaters encourage others to join their party, try their food and spread the love of the game to fellow tailgaters.

As football season kicks off, it's time to break out the cooler, grill and team jerseys. Tailgating is a distinctly American pastime, celebrated at professional and collegiate football games across the country. Whether it's the companionship, the perfectly grilled burger or the competitive tailgating games, the act of pre-celebration has often become more important than the games themselves. Here's to the 2014 season; happy tailgating!

This article was contributed by Mike Crawford, partner of Chisholm Trail Grass-fed Beef - a rancher-owned cooperative specializing in raising 100-percent grass-fed cattle on ranches in Texas. For more information, visit: http://www.eathealthybeef.org.