Bulldog! Bulldog! Bow wow wow

Our very own Handsome Dan

Since moving to New York, we've been fortunate enough to participate in a few yearly traditions.  It has been almost 2 years since the Mobleys arrived in Manhattan, but we've been able to pick up on some great events that Mike and I missed out on while living in California.  One of the greatest traditions that unfortunately only occurs every TWO years is the Princeton v Yale football weekend. 


The Buck family is extremely generous in opening up their home to all who wants to come and they put together one of the most elaborate tail gate experiences I've ever seen in my entire life.  The spread this year included: two fully stocked Tahoes, home made chili, a fresh batch of Mr. Buck's famous whiskey sours, a 10 lb roasted turkey, TWO beef roasts, unlimited chips & dip, spinach salad, coleslaw, a Hieneken keg, a 75 quart cooler full of beer, over 6 pounds of cheese & salami, a 20 quart cooler full of wine, multiple bottles of pungent/peaty scotch, a giant inflatable Tiger, custom made cups for the event, and at least 4 handles of miscellaneous other booze.

We got an extra bonus because Mike's parents were in New York for the weekend!!!  We all caravan-ed out to Princeton Friday night to get a head start on the festivities. Saturday was a perfect day to spend 7 hours outside.  The crew was packed up and ready to head out to the Princeton campus by 8:30am where we strategically staked out our tail gating real estate.





Our set up was key to ensuring optimal socializing while still having enough room to throw a football around.  Mr Buck, being a loyal Princeton alumni and a VIP member of the board, was able to secure the best tail-gating location at the parking lot of Ivy Club, which provided us with prime access to a bathroom, which was key considering we were out there from 9a to 4p.  

Princeton is one of the most beautiful campuses I've ever had the pleasure of visiting, but during fall, it's absolutely spectacular.  Not only was this my first time joining the Princeton/Yale weekend celebration, this was a first for Winston as well!  He was quite the hit (amongst both Yale and Princeton alumni) with his Yale sweater. Even if you're a loyal Princeton Tiger, it's hard to resist his face and regal disposition.  The ladies were pretty smitten, and people even questioned whether he was "the real" Handsome Dan.  

It meant a lot to me to be able to spend the day with Mike's parents as well.  This was Mr. Mobley's first Yale/Princeton football game in over 50 years!!!! But Ivy League football games are totally different than the cut-throat collegiate football I experienced at both USC and at the University of Texas.  The actual game was less of an attraction than the festive tail gating, so only a few of us visited the actual stadium.  And...get this...the tickets were $9!!!   So the day was just a beautiful event full of food, fun, family, friends and football...all of my favorite "F words"!

The Buck's hospitality continued past the daytime events and went through the night as they invited everyone back to their home for the evening.  As one could imagine, there were quite a few leftovers from the tailgate and some big football games still on TV.  So they had quite a house full of energetic adults playing Apples to Apples, wearing silly hats, drinking every available form of alcohol, and congregating around the cozy fire pit outside. 

Sunday was rough, and I think we all left Princeton with a little less seratonin, and a little more sadness about the weekend being over, but it was worth it to spend the weekend with some of my favorite people being festive as ever.  If only we didn't have to wait two more years for the next Yale/Princeton matchup!