San Diego Holiday Bowl Parties and Tailgating Guide

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The holidays encourage you to celebrate being alive and well with the people around you. This is the basis for every major world religion that values the universal holiday season. From Christianity to Judaism, Islam, and Division One College Football, we are all here, and we should all celebrate this time of year together.

The parking lot at Qualcomm Stadium will soon be gone. There are too many powerful people in this city with too many reasons for wanting it gone. In the near future, we will drive by and stare at a sea of condos or shopping centers, and will be forced only to remember the ghosts of San Diego Sports Fandom. As Qualcomm's days are numbered - every event from now until that sad day is officially important.

The 2007 Pacific Holiday Bowl in San Diego will be a party. There will be people from Texas, Arizona, and San Diego joined together to celebrate collegiate athletics. While the game doesn't really mean a whole lot nationally, it does give rowdy San Diegans the chance to throw their versions of a big party on citywide scale.

Downtown Dynamic

During San Diego Holiday Bowl Week you will definitely see hicks with orange colored University of Texas tees and faux blonde sorority types with maroon face paint hanging on their predictable boyfriends from Arizona State around the Gaslamp Quarter. These are either current students or alumni of the two schools involved in the game.

Within the context of sports fanaticism, it is always acceptable for people with invested interest in a game to have opposition against these "foreigners." Let's face it, these people take the time to drive here, wear ridiculous clothes and paint their faces because their school might finish the season ranked 13th in the nation. It is our duty as San Diegans to get drunk with them and say things that make them question who they really are.

These foreign fans want you to give them a hard time; they need you to give them a hard time. If you are drunk at a downtown bar the week before the 2007 San Diego Holiday Bowl, it is your civic duty to contribute to the tourism industry and force these hicks and Zonies to get defensive and find comfort in bonding with each other.

Holiday Bowl Parties & Specials

Gaslamp Gold Rush
When: Wednesday, December 26
Time: Immediately following the Holiday Bowl Welcome Reception
Where: All over Downtown San Diego
Sun Devils will spend the evening in the Gaslamp Quarter visiting maroon and gold friendly bars and restaurants to celebrate a terrific season and the upcoming football game vs. Texas. Wear your ASU colors and enjoy specials throughout the night.

Sparky's Touchdown Tailgate, the official pre-game Holiday Bowl party sponsored by the ASU Alumni Association, will kick off at 2:30pm on game day, adjacent to Qualcomm Stadium. The event is open to all ASU fans.

The event will feature Sparky (who is a collegiate staple that people from Arizona apparently gravitate toward), special guests, the ASU Cheerleaders, ASU Marching Band, DJs, and all the ASU spirit you can endure. This will be one special party, and the menu includes slow-smoked barbecue beef brisket, all-beef hot dogs, ranch beans, pasta salad, and double-fudge brownies. There will also be unlimited beer, wine and non-alcoholic beverages.

Texas will have its own party before the game and I sincerely hope that it is hosted by somebody whose name is on the appropriate level of Sparky.

The Palm restaurant in Downtown San Diego is offering two drink specials for the Holiday Bowl boozers:
"Tequila Sun Devil" - Arizona State University - Tequila Sunrise
"Texas Tea" - University of Texas - Long Island Iced Tea

The Palm's bar is a great place to watch sports while keepin' it classy. The Palm sports high quality flat-screen TVs, a great staff, unique food options, cocktails, and walls lined with the faces of local sports stars. When you're at The Palm, make sure to order somebody who is stating their foreign allegiance down a drink, and make them question their team's ability to prevail. It will be fun for you, and it will be important them.

San Diego Sports Bars for Holiday Bowl Week

Downtown Johnny Brown
This sports saloon has been in San Diego for 16 years and been serving up downtown's business crowd with lunchtime helpings of sports, beers and burgers. High-def TVs and shuffleboard tables add to the charm. In 2002, it was voted "Best Sports Bar" in San Diego by Men's Health Magazine.

Jolt'n Joes
Jolt'n Joes can be described as a sports bar with an industrial chic edge. This massive bar features an outdoor patio with palapas, plenty tournament pool tables, and apparently "the most plasmas of any sports bar in San Diego." If you need a break from the hardcore college football fans that will be taking over downtown, check this place out.

San Diego Sports Club
For those who enjoy sports in an "I don't really care about sports" environment while playing pool and screaming at expensive TVs that seem out of place, this Hillcrest bar is perfect - especially if you are staying at a cool old hotel near balboa park. A dance floor turned living room-esque viewing area comes complete with couches and a disco ball for spontaneous post-game dance parties. Check out the game day drink specials.

Players Bar and Grill
This is a Clairemont sports bar that normally supports Boston teams. But apparently for the Holiday Bowl they have adopted the Texas Longhorns as their team of choice.

Seau's
Even though No. 55 Junior Seau moved on to New England, his bar and grill in Mission Valley is an all encompassing sports bar that always seems to be at the center of the San Diego sports universe. The bar will not take sides during this year's Holiday Bowl and it will be sure to be loud, packed, and a great place to meet people who are with you and against you.

All About Tailgating

Qualcomm's parking lot is the largest public parking lot west of the Mississippi and it has two main rules.

1. You can't park over night before or after the event.
2. You can't have a party that exceeds the area of your car space.

Insider tip: All other common sense rules of a civilized society still apply.

Despite the rules, when tailgating at Qualcomm Stadium, you will be dealing with serious fans on vacation from Arizona and Texas who plan on getting loaded before a college football game. So, things can (and will) happen.

They say beer before liquor, never been sicker. "They" are amateurs and don't know how to tailgate properly because "they" are afraid to take things too far. Preparing for a big college football game is not about being smart; it is about drinking and eating in public with caution only for your stomach blowing away in the wind.

San Diego Tailgating Do's

1. This is division one college football and unless you are going to a bowl game to root for a hippy school like Humboldt State, vegetarian cuisine is best left as a side dish option. You want to grill something big, and you want its glorious smell to carry, so people walking by will know you are serious.

2. Feel free to pull your party's alcohol together (i.e. kegs, mixers, and handles of hard stuff) to form one zone of shared spirits. Then, when you have passed the point of caring, offer drinks to people who are wearing your team's colors. It's okay to deny your enemy before the game. In fact, they will respect you for it.

3. Bring a sober driver! Qualcomm Stadium is a very dangerous locale for post-game accidents and DUIs. Unfortunately, the stadium only has three exits and everyone tries to flee at once. Since it is the holidays, try getting your party to organize a post-game brandy and hot cider gathering while the parking clears and your D.D. gets prepared to fulfill his or her important purpose.

San Diego Tailgating Don'ts

1. Qualcomm is swarming with cops. Don't give them attitude. They know you are excited, they know you are drunk, and they have heard it all before.

2. Don't leave your hot coals anywhere but the designated areas. Even though this is not the national championship game, it's okay to get excited, but if you are going to light a car on fire, make sure you do it on purpose.

3. Don't light cars on fire for any other reason!

We have all played the educational video game Oregon Trail and we all know that it is more fun and rewarding when we make it to Oregon only after getting through the many obstacles. With that in mind, the post game scene in the Qualcomm parking lot is Oregon, and the pre-game scene is the last our guests have to cross. ASU and UT will come to our sacred ground before the game and create circles similar to the wagon trains of the old west.

This Holiday Bowl in San Diego, we get to be those wild Indians! Lying somewhere between playing Oregon Trail and playing Oregon Trail when you are drunk, getting to be the last obstacle for people who love their team is a lot of fun. The 2007 Holiday Bowl will be a fun time had by all, and more importantly it will be San Diego's big chance to throw a huge party both inside the stadium and out. Don't be afraid of the out-of-towner enthusiasm; they want to be here, and they want to give you a high five.

For a full listing of San Diego Holiday Bowl events, visit HolidayBowl.com.