Patriots 27, Browns 16 (12/9/'01): "Happy Father's Day!" My daughters Katie (14), Amy (11), and Jenny (9) stood with big smiles around a large present for me. It was by far the largest box I had ever gotten on Father's Day. I had no clue what it could be. We already had a large dog so I ruled that out. I was curious. Upon tearing open the paper with the gleeful help of the girls I saw standing in front of me a Grill-to-Go. A Grill-to-Go! It was the tailgating must-have item and I now had one. Thanks girls!
The Grill-to-Go was a somewhat space-age looking device when folded up -- its rounded, red body a sleek rocket shape. It sure looked ready to go. It was a great replacement for the charcoal and small propane grills that cluttered up all our car trunks. No more bags of charcoal and cans of lighter fluid. Easy to clean. A griddle for making eggs and bacon for the early morning tailgates. It was the hit of the 2001 tailgating season. At least the first three months of it.
Me, Paul, Bergs. and the Grill-to-Go arrived for the Week 13 game against the Browns. The Pats were at 7-5 and starting to ride the Brady wave that would wash them all the way to New Orleans. The wind
chill was in the low 20s and there was a threat of snow. We tailgated among the snow banks and dirt piles rising high between the old stadium and the new one under construction. The lot was a mess. When the wind would blow the dirt would cover everything. You could feel it in your teeth. One tailgate Shep left a window open in his car. He was cleaning dirt out for years. To quote Mark: "Welcome to downtown Baghdad, boys."
We set up for the tailgate and I pulled out the Grill-to-Go. It was the first time for Paul. He was impressed. How could you not be? It went together like a dream and heated up quickly and evenly. The only glitch -- just a little one -- was the plastic tank at one end that the grease drained into. It had a little opening like at the top of a water bottle. Somehow you were supposed to get the grease out of there. But if there's one thing grease does, it's solidify quickly upon cooling. So by its seventh week in action the plastic grease tank was filled with old grease. As we sat in our chairs drinking and watching the burgers cook, we noticed the grease tank had caught fire. A small flame rising out of the little opening. I tried to put it out but it just kept burning and burning and burning... "Anything in the instruction manual about it also being used as a torch?" Bergs asked.
We ate and packed up the tailgate to get into the game. I had forgotten to turn the grill off and it was still hot. Too hot to put in the trunk. "How about we put it in the snowbank in front of the car and bury it so no one sees it and steals it," I said to Paul. He agreed with the plan. The Pats beat the Browns in a great battle to improve to 8-5. The highlight of the game was Troy Brown returning a punt 85 yards for a touchdown thanks to big blocks by Lawyer Milloy and Richard Seymour. I can still see the look on the punter's face -- the last man between Brown and the end zone -- as Seymour rumbled towards him to throw the block. One of the best moments of that year. Late in the game the weather turned nasty with a cold, wet snow. As we left the stadium the three of us decided to skip the postgame tailgate and hit the road. Paul and I jumped into my car and made an easy exit.
The next morning I was cleaning the supplies out of my car. Chairs. Table. Cooler. Grill? Where's the Grill-to-Go? Nowhere to be found. I thought back to the pre-game tailgate and an image of me burying the grill in a snowbank flashed before me. I lost the Grill-to-Go. That my three daughters gave me. Ruh roh. I figured I could just go out and buy a new one and they would never know the difference.
Then I heard a voice. "Hey Dad, where's the grill?" It was my always observant daughter Amy. "What happened to the Grill-to-Go?" The scene in the "Grinch" where the Santa imposter conned Cindy Lou Who into thinking he was taking the Christmas tree back to the North Pole to fix it ran through my head. But this turned out to be one of the few times a white lie eluded me. "I left it in a snowbank."
I often wonder if the Grill-to-Go sat in that snowbank till the next day when the snow began to melt and some member of the stadium staff noticed it sticking out. I picture him sitting on his deck at home, beer in hand, smelling his burgers cooking on my Grill-to-Go and watching the eternal flame burn from the plastic grease tank.
The Grill-to-Go was a somewhat space-age looking device when folded up -- its rounded, red body a sleek rocket shape. It sure looked ready to go. It was a great replacement for the charcoal and small propane grills that cluttered up all our car trunks. No more bags of charcoal and cans of lighter fluid. Easy to clean. A griddle for making eggs and bacon for the early morning tailgates. It was the hit of the 2001 tailgating season. At least the first three months of it.
Me, Paul, Bergs. and the Grill-to-Go arrived for the Week 13 game against the Browns. The Pats were at 7-5 and starting to ride the Brady wave that would wash them all the way to New Orleans. The wind
chill was in the low 20s and there was a threat of snow. We tailgated among the snow banks and dirt piles rising high between the old stadium and the new one under construction. The lot was a mess. When the wind would blow the dirt would cover everything. You could feel it in your teeth. One tailgate Shep left a window open in his car. He was cleaning dirt out for years. To quote Mark: "Welcome to downtown Baghdad, boys."We set up for the tailgate and I pulled out the Grill-to-Go. It was the first time for Paul. He was impressed. How could you not be? It went together like a dream and heated up quickly and evenly. The only glitch -- just a little one -- was the plastic tank at one end that the grease drained into. It had a little opening like at the top of a water bottle. Somehow you were supposed to get the grease out of there. But if there's one thing grease does, it's solidify quickly upon cooling. So by its seventh week in action the plastic grease tank was filled with old grease. As we sat in our chairs drinking and watching the burgers cook, we noticed the grease tank had caught fire. A small flame rising out of the little opening. I tried to put it out but it just kept burning and burning and burning... "Anything in the instruction manual about it also being used as a torch?" Bergs asked.
We ate and packed up the tailgate to get into the game. I had forgotten to turn the grill off and it was still hot. Too hot to put in the trunk. "How about we put it in the snowbank in front of the car and bury it so no one sees it and steals it," I said to Paul. He agreed with the plan. The Pats beat the Browns in a great battle to improve to 8-5. The highlight of the game was Troy Brown returning a punt 85 yards for a touchdown thanks to big blocks by Lawyer Milloy and Richard Seymour. I can still see the look on the punter's face -- the last man between Brown and the end zone -- as Seymour rumbled towards him to throw the block. One of the best moments of that year. Late in the game the weather turned nasty with a cold, wet snow. As we left the stadium the three of us decided to skip the postgame tailgate and hit the road. Paul and I jumped into my car and made an easy exit.
The next morning I was cleaning the supplies out of my car. Chairs. Table. Cooler. Grill? Where's the Grill-to-Go? Nowhere to be found. I thought back to the pre-game tailgate and an image of me burying the grill in a snowbank flashed before me. I lost the Grill-to-Go. That my three daughters gave me. Ruh roh. I figured I could just go out and buy a new one and they would never know the difference.
Then I heard a voice. "Hey Dad, where's the grill?" It was my always observant daughter Amy. "What happened to the Grill-to-Go?" The scene in the "Grinch" where the Santa imposter conned Cindy Lou Who into thinking he was taking the Christmas tree back to the North Pole to fix it ran through my head. But this turned out to be one of the few times a white lie eluded me. "I left it in a snowbank."
I often wonder if the Grill-to-Go sat in that snowbank till the next day when the snow began to melt and some member of the stadium staff noticed it sticking out. I picture him sitting on his deck at home, beer in hand, smelling his burgers cooking on my Grill-to-Go and watching the eternal flame burn from the plastic grease tank.
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