We’re a bit halfway past the home slate of games for the 2016 season which is a huge bummer, but I can definitely say thanks to the weather it’s been a great season (jinxed it for everyone sorry) so far at the grid. I wanted to give a quick review of our home at spot #19 so far in order to share what an experience it has been at the grid. You’ll hear about the good, the bad, and the ugly below.
The Good
What has been the coolest aspect of life on the grid has been tailgating near so many other Bearcat fans. With a couple hours to game time, you’re engulfed by a sea of Bearcat tents with people chilling or playing drinking games. Since you’re near everyone you can kind of select the experience that makes you the happiest. If you want to watch TV and chill with a beer you can! If you want to play table games, your neighbors are likely already doing so. If you want to do a keg stand look for the Ski Club. If you don’t like burgers and hot dogs you can even purchase some finer food like Bdubs or Waffo. From an equipment perspective the individual plots are decently large, if we really wanted to we could likely squeeze 2 tents onto ours. It’s bring your own power which is fine, and there are plenty of porta-potties or buildings near by to go to the restroom. There are plenty of garbage bins and they have recently started to provide recycling. If you want to deal with charcoal they even provide aluminum cans to dump your coals in once you are finished cooking. It’s an accommodating place, where volunteers will quickly unload your car at one of two drop points and bring your gear right to your plot.
The Bad
This is just a uniquely Cincinnati issue because we are an Uptown Campus and there’s just not a field large enough for everyone, but I still wish there was one large place all Bearcat fans could conglomerate so the world could see how passionate we are about tailgating. When ESPN comes by (they did!) they see the grid; which is awesome, but they never see the tailgate on Vine Street, or Calhoun, or Bogarts, or our old home Views on Vine (Which was great too!). Our guests notice as well. It’s an impressive spectacle at the grid, just not spanning miles like some other schools. There’s really no solution to this problem, other than opening up the entirety of campus to tailgaters (I’m talking Sigma Sigma/Engineering Quad/McMicken Commons) and I think for safety and logistical reasons it will never happen. I totally understand. Making campus one large tailgate would be a News Record Opinion piece in the making about how football ruins campus for students who don’t like fun. Would be cool though!
Another issue is it doesn’t open early enough. This year they allow you 6 hours before game time which is great, but I used to be up at 8am cooking bacon and eggs watching the sun rise at Views on Vine. If it were an option, I’d be on campus the night before. I may be a small minority here, but sitting around a propane camp fire with friends and camping out at Sigma Sigma before game day sounds like heaven. A man can dream.
The Ugly
This is all on me… Getting stuff to campus is a PAIN. I have dreams of parking a trailer at the alley next year, but the athletic department informed me that getting an alley spot is almost impossible because you die-hards never give your spots up! If this is true, I think we need to find more spots at the grid to park creative vehicles. I’ve seen towable bars hybrids, busses, and various trailers. Lets make some more room for creative Bearcat spirit vehicles!
The Athletic Department has done a fantastic job improving the Grid Iron tailgate. With music, food, and fellow Bearcat fans you really can’t go wrong. I’m loving our home and can’t wait to upgrade someday. The Grid gets 4.75 out of 5 stars because I would love to camp and the thought of not fitting a trailer at the grid makes me sad.
