'There’s nothing like tailgating at the Magic City Classic'

Published On: 11.01.15 |

By: Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

‘There’s nothing like tailgating at the Magic City Classic’

Feature

A smoky haze rose over Birmingham’s 100th neighborhood Saturday.

Any other week of the year, the Magic City has 99 neighborhoods. But the week that Alabama State is going to meet Alabama A&M on the football field at Legion Field, there is another.

This neighborhood started to mushroom around the “Old Gray Lady” the Wednesday before the game as RVs and tents took their places in the parking lot, their tailgating homestead for the 74th Magic City Classic.

There was a football game in which the Hornets defeated the Bulldogs 35-20. But make no mistake — people flocked to the Classic, the combination family reunion and town festival that draws fans from across the country, even if they attended neither school.

The game drew 63,874. One can only imagine how many resided in or at least visited the tailgating area.

Barbecue grills of all shapes and sizes were in overdrive, some since the first possible move-in day on Wednesday. Music blared from every corner like a tapestry of sound.

And nobody wanted to miss a thing.

Gerald Mackey grilled outside a tent on the northwest side of the stadium with five buddies from his childhood. A sign on the tent labeled them “The Brothas — Classic Friends for Life.”

“It’s a calming effect, really,” he said. “You’re out here with people you can socialize with. No matter who comes up, it’s just like your family.”

Offers of a plate of food came at every turn. Whether it was Boston butt or whole chickens, shrimp and grits or a rotisserie pig, the offers just kept coming.

Montgomery’s Preston Walker said about 200 were going to dig into that 150-pound porker around 3 o’clock even though the game kicked off at 2:30. Was he going into the stadium?

“Nah,” he replied. “We’re gonna watch it on TV. We’ve got everything out here.”

Food, friends, fun and funk are all part of the tailgating experience at the Magic City Classic. (Nik Layman/Alabama NewsCenter)

The Alabama A&M band at Legion Field for the Magic City Classic. (Nik Layman/Alabama NewsCenter)

The Alabama State University band at Legion Field for the Magic City Classic. (Nik Layman/Alabama NewsCenter)

Alabama State players take the field for the Magic City Classic. (Nik Layman/Alabama NewsCenter)

An Alabama A&M player looks on at the Magic City Classic. (Nik Layman/Alabama NewsCenter)

Fans in the stands at Legion Field for the Magic City Classic. (Nik Layman/Alabama NewsCenter)

An Alabama A&M cheerleader. (Nik Layman/AlabamaNewsCenter)

Alabama Power donated $10,000 to each school at the Magic City Classic. (Nik Layman/Alabama NewsCenter)

Fans in the stands at Legion Field for the Magic City Classic. (Nik Layman/Alabama NewsCenter)

Hornet mascot for Alabama State. (Nik Layman/Alabama NewsCenter)

Bulldog mascot for Alabama A&M. (Nik Layman/Alabama NewsCenter)

The Alabama A&M band at Legion Field for the Magic City Classic. (Nik Layman/Alabama NewsCenter)

Members of the “Bulldog Battalion” watch the Magic City Classic. (Nik Layman/Alabama NewsCenter)

Grand Marshall, actor Anthony Anderson, poses with Alabama A&M cheerleaders.

Reginald Smith rattled off the menu of grilled dishes that were available nearby. “Everything but chitterlings,” he said. “I didn’t have time to clean those.”

The Southside resident remembers missing out when his aunts went to the Classic in his youth.

“I made a vow when I got old enough I was going to come on my own,” he said. “That’s what I’m doing.”

ASU alumnus Bobby Diggs of Hillsboro parked his RV in Lot D, just as he has the past few years. He likes that area, he said, because he enjoys communing with his tailgate neighbors he knows.

“Not everybody but maybe 75 percent of the people you may know in this area,” he said.

Bobby Diggs sets up in Lot D every year. (Solomon Crenshaw Jr./Alabama NewsCenter)

This temporary neighborhood is no house divided. Dr. Debora Mayes sets up in much the same place each year to renew acquaintances with neighboring tailgaters even though she bleeds black and gold and they maroon and white.

“It’s just a game,” she said. “The camp that wins has the most fun afterward but we’re not sore losers.”

Her grilling neighbor Camelia Holmes of Hoover agreed.

“That’s what the Classic is all about,” the A&M fan said. “You support your school but you embrace your ASU fans as well. That’s what the Classic is about – family and fun.”

Jerrold Lankford might have seemed to have a split personality as he wore an A&M cap and an ASU T-shirt. He explained his double allegiance: he’s an alumnus of Alabama State, his son Jarrell plays baritone in the Bulldogs band.

Lankford, who lives in nearby Bush Hills, admits he could simply stay home instead of tailgating. “I don’t want to miss out on all the fun,” he said. “There’s nothing like tailgating at the Magic City Classic.”

Passian Rupert of Montgomery is engaged to marry Prentice Timmons on next Saturday, Nov. 7. But here she was walking on the east side of Legion Field wearing a “Bride” T-shirt while several of her friends wore T-shirts that identified them as the “Bride’s Entourage.”

“This is the bachelorette weekend,” she said. “We’ve got to celebrate. We’ve got to relax. We’ve been stressed out so this is our weekend to relax before more stress next week.”

A forecast of rain came to fruition during the third quarter of the game. By the time the fourth quarter began, there was just a splattering of fans in the stands.

Ronnie and Lucy Cohen of Hillsboro welcomed about 18 to their RV in Lot D as they tried to wait out the weather.

“It didn’t dampen our spirit,” he said of the rain. “It just dampened our food.”