Duke to Suspend Tailgating Indefinitely

Duke is Duke just took on a whole new meaning...

If you have heard, the "teen-age" sibling of a Duke Student was found passed out in a porta-john.
Whether or not the porta-john was inside the stadium wasn't noted, but my guess is it was which is why the university took a "hands on" approach and decided to ban tailgating. This is a bad idea for any number of reasons that I had stated in an earlier post when Ann Arbor tried to stop the 900 Block State Street Madness that happens before every home game.

Look: Tailgating is tailgating. Millions of people, old and young alike have tailgated since tailgating started becoming popular in the 50's. (I'm guessing here on the date, but you get the idea). I'm sure that students and underage youth have passed out at a game or in a porta-john on more than one occassion.

Actually, I've seen it. No, I haven't done it. But I've seen it. It happens, folks. These are the times when young people learn that they will never, ever do that again (until the next time) and older fans learn that they can re-visit their youth only to be reminded that they can still do really stupid things....

But that's the beauty of having the freedom to tailgate: You only have yourself to blame if you do something stupid. Now, I'm against the drunk fan getting behind the wheel after tailgating, but we have more than enough laws to address that issue.

What I'm going after here is much simpler in that if you take something away that's been responsibly enjoyed for years by the masses, well, the masses are going to find ways to work around the system, creating more of a mess for everyone else in the long run. I gaurantee it.

And guess what? Whether or not you find ways around the system to responsibly enjoy yourself, there will always be a drunk sibling passed out somewhere in a porta-john. It's just the way it is. It just so happens it was Duke's turn this time. I can only hope that the student body at Duke performs its civil duty and protests this act in manner becoming true college student fans, that are of course of the legal drinking age.

A "Drink In" comes immediately to mind, but you get the idea. They need to establish the fact that alcohol is legal and used responsibly, can certainly enhance the game day experience.