Growing LSU tailgate welcomes all SEC fans at baseball tournament

HOOVER, Ala. (WIAT) – Thousands of fans are in Hoover for the SEC Baseball tournament. In true SEC fashion, many fans are tailgating the games at the Hoover Met. One tailgate crew has set up in the same spot for the last decade.

The 8:38 Tailgate is a group of LSU fans who brought their love of hospitality and tailgating from Baton Rouge to Hoover. Dan Ducote is the mastermind behind the tailgate. He says they’ve been hosting tailgates in Louisiana for more than 30 years, so they had plenty of practice before bringing their setup to Alabama.

“We came here to Hoover the first time; we didn’t even have a tent. We came with a table, a couple of chairs and we sat,” Ducote said. “And then the next year, we had a couple of tents, one tent, and then like last year, we’ll have as many as 16 of these 10×10 tents, but sometimes the weather takes a few. We’ve had a few casualties this year, but that happens every year.”

Ducote says the setup in Hoover is much smaller than their football setup in Baton Rouge. As far as planning goes, he says it takes a day at the most.

“Everything stays in the trailer. All of our liquor, all the cooking equipment, stays in the trailer. So, all we really do is pack up and come and buy here. We like to shop local, so we call like the grocery, local people, say, ‘hey, we’re going to need 20 pounds of fish and 20 pounds of chicken,’ and whatever and we just pick it up here and buy it here. So, it’s not a lot of planning that goes into it. We book our hotel rooms far enough in advance and we just show up,” said Ducote. “We don’t have a budget, and we would blow our budget if we had a budget. Every day our Publix bill, our grocery store bill is between $500 and $1,000 a day, so it depends on what we’re cooking and what we’re buying and all, but that’s not counting the tents and the liquor and all the other things, the cooking equipment and all.”

The 8:38 Tailgate crew loves to make new friends at the tournament, which has helped them in keeping the coveted tailgate spot secure.

“One of the [Hoover police] lieutenants last year told us, we got here on a Tuesday, and he said, ‘Look, I came by this morning, and somebody had put a tent here and I told him, ‘Y’all can’t set up there’,’” Ducote said.

Community and tradition are two things SEC fans have said all week long that they love about the baseball tournament. And what better picture of community and tradition is there than the 8:38 tailgate with its “open tent” policy for all SEC fans?

“It started with my brother and I here, cousins, lifetime friends, people we’ve met. It’s grown and grown and the more people,” said Ducote. “Some of our strongest friends now are people we’ve met here in Hoover.”

One of those friends made at the tournament is Hoover native Jonathon Penrose. He stumbled upon the 8:38 Tailgate about five years ago and has made a point to come by every year since.

“They were looking for a Buffalo Trace bourbon cream. They couldn’t find it apparently in Louisiana, and I thought, ‘that’s really funny because our ABC store just happened to get a case of them a few weeks ago,’’ Penrose said. “So, I went to the ABC store in Hoover at the Galleria Circle, literally brought it over and they were amazed, and they said, ‘well you know, that’s awesome,’ so they kind of brought me in, and every single year, it’s just been awesome. They’ve shown amazing hospitality.”

Hospitality is the name of the tailgate game for the 8:38 crew. Fresh cooked meals, flowing drinks, and it costs you nothing but a smile and a conversation.

“It started way back in the day, we had friends and customers that would come to our tailgate party, and we wanted to have drinks and beer and food for them, and then it’s just gotten bigger and bigger. So, it’s just something we do,” Ducote said. “We like people to come enjoy, stop by, introduce themselves and grab a drink.”

If you take Ducote’s word and want to stop by and say hi at the 8:38 Tailgate, they’ll be set up between the Finley Center and RV park through Sunday’s game.