The University of Mississippi Athletics
Tailgating Guru Eagerly Awaiting First Trip to the Grove for Ole Miss-LSU Game
Nov. 19, 2003
OXFORD, Miss. -
By Mitchell Diggs
University Media and Public Relations
Joe Cahn has driven more than a quarter-million miles in search of the ultimate tailgating celebrations, and he expects to experience a new standard when he visits the University of Mississippi next weekend.
Cahn, known as the "Commissioner of Tailgating," plans to be in the Grove on Saturday, Nov. 22, to participate in the South's most famous pregame ritual. It's all part of Cahn's job, which sounds like a culinary adventure, sociology research project and football fanatic's dream vacation all rolled into one.
During the past seven seasons, he has visited every NFL stadium and more than 70 college venues, consuming an amazing variety of foods and learning firsthand about the culture and camaraderie of football fans. This marks his first visit to Oxford, but fans across the country have urged him to add Ole Miss to his Tailgating America Tours for several years, he said.
"No matter where you go - whether it be LSU or Penn State or Michigan or even St. Olaf College in Minnesota - Ole Miss is held in esteem by almost everyone across the country in regards to tailgating," said Cahn, a New Orleans native who has worked as a horse-and-buggy driver, professional photographer and restaurateur. "Everyone has heard of the Grove. It's legendary among tailgaters."
His visit to Oxford is sponsored by Coca-Cola and serves as a fundraiser for Share Our Strength, a national hunger- and poverty-relief charity. Coca-Cola donates $1 to SOS for every mile Cahn drives on his tour; the 2002 tour raised $31,787 for the effort. Cahn rolls into Oxford in his 40-foot Monaco motor home after spending the weekend in Nashville, where he was on hand for pregame parties at the Vanderbilt-Kentucky game on Saturday and the Tennessee Titans-Jacksonville Jaguars matchup on Sunday. When he leaves Oxford Saturday afternoon, he heads to Georgia for the Atlanta Falcons-Tennessee Titans game on Sunday and then moves on to Tampa, Fla., for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers-New York Giants matchup on "Monday Night Football."
His 2003 Tailgating America Tour began Aug. 28 in Villanova, Pa., at the Villanova-Hampton University matchup and carries him to 28 NFL stadiums and more than a dozen college campuses, plus the Sugar Bowl and the NFL Super Bowl.
Cahn says his experiences have taught him that tailgating involves far more than simply grilling, eating and partying.
"What tailgating has become is the new community social," he said. "It transforms the experience of going to a football game into something magical where lifelong friendships are formed and the whole community comes out and celebrates. The cultural barriers come down and are replaced with food and fellowship."
"When you walk around where everyone is tailgating, it's like walking through a thousand back yards with no privacy fences. It's what our neighborhoods used to be like."
The adventure began in 1996, when Cahn - who founded the New Orleans School of Cooking - decided to sell his business and try to visit every NFL stadium in one season. The idea, he explained, was to do a Charles Kuralt-style television program that would feature tailgaters across the country.
The TV show remains an idea - although Kuralt himself once profiled the Commish and his quest -but Cahn made it to every pro stadium that year. Before the 1997 season, he was named "Commissioner of Tailgating" at NFL headquarters and decided to add college towns to his tour.
"Lots of people who tailgate at the pro stadiums said, 'If you really want to see tailgating, go to the colleges'," he explained. The campus settings, coupled with thousands of students and alumni, make college tailgating more colorful and vibrant than the parking lot celebrations surrounding NFL games, he said.
Over the past seven years, he has tailgated in a eucalyptus grove at Stanford University, partied with the Vol Navy at the University of Tennessee and hung out on the University of Michigan's golf course. Last fall, he tailgated in Baton Rogue, La., for the Ole Miss-LSU game, and dozens of Rebel fans invited him to Oxford.
Although he sometimes fires up a grill or cooks a pot of jambalaya before a game, he prefers to wander around and sample what other tailgaters are enjoying. Tailgating provides "the best free cooking lesson in America every Saturday," he said.
His favorite tailgating food? "Whatever is placed before me,"" he said, noting that he has eaten almost every food imaginable at pregame parties across the country. The list includes grilled salmon, Dungeness crabs, bratwurst, fried chicken, lobster, barbecue and the ubiquitous burgers and hot dogs.
The key to a memorable tailgating experience is to spend time with good friends, he advised. "Bread and butter with friends is an incredible meal. A 10-course meal with people you don't like leaves a bad taste in your mouth. It's really about company and friendships."
This weekend's Ole Miss-LSU game, which likely will decide the SEC Western Division championship, is being billed as the biggest game in Oxford in decades. Cahn is happy that the storied rivalry between the two schools has regained the importance it held during the 1950s and '60s.
And although he's an LSU alumnus, Cahn said he is wearing an Ole Miss shirt this weekend.
"No matter where I go, I'm always for the home team,"" he said. "I'm cheering for the Rebels this weekend, and I hope they win the game and the Western Division championship."
Cahn's headquarters on campus will be along University Avenue near Shoemaker Hall. Visitors are invited to enter his contest for a "Deputy Commissioner," which includes a trip for four to the 2004 Super Bowl and $5,000.