Dear Tailgates us Seniors would like to thank you for a few things:

Thank You...

For letting us wake up ridiculously early to our fight song.

There's nothing like that first drum roll that wakes us up long before the sun rises. Although our first thoughts might be that a tailgate is not worth getting up this early it only takes until about 30 seconds into the song before we are out of bed and grabbing our first drink (if you we are 21 of course) .

For the fashion you bring.

Theres nothing like game day outfit. From ugly striped overalls to face tattoos with our school's mascot there is no other place this kind of dressing would be appropriate.

For being a day when the playlists are stocked with throwbacks.

Without tailgates it doesn't seem like the song September by Earth Wind and Fire would have lasted this long, for that we are forever grateful.

For the dancing.

When you look around on a football Saturday you will without a doubt see someone making a fool of themselves trying to dance. Normally we would all cringe and turn the other way but on tailgate day everyone joins in instead.

For the free food we get when parents' tailgates come to town.

The best game days are those when our parents or our friends' parents come to town with a car full of Costco snacks. Its great meeting everyone's family and its even better meeting their groceries and eating that delicious plate of free food.

For the wins and the many many losses.

I'm not talking about the football wins, but the personal ones. Like that one time you found $40 on the ground or an unopened drink on the counter. And of course even though they were tough at the time thank you for the many losses that made for great stories. From cracked phones that became conversation starters and the day after journey to locate all our new bruises we loved it all.

For all the people that came with the tailgates.

Without game days we would have a whole lot less friends and even less memories to share with them. An entire day dedicated to dancing, partying, and watching football without any responsibilities has made for some of the best moments of our college careers. These are some of the days we will look back on when we are bored living in the real world.

For making our schools feel like home.

There is nothing like a tailgate to bring the school together and make everyone feel like we are one in the same. Whether its cheering in the student section together, walking around town high-fiving everyone wearing the right colors (which to be clear are green and white of course) it made big schools feel like big families. It might be cheesy, but maybe sometimes cheesy is true.

So tailgates, goodbye. You will be missed and we will be back for those post-grad attempts at tailgates, but we will remember you how you were when we were here.