INDReporter

N.O. Bowl Update - The party that never ends ...

by Dan McDonald

The tailgating activities around and inside the Superdome were unprecedented for the New Orleans Bowl.

[Editor's Note: Visit theind.com throughout the day for Dan's updates.]

N.O. Bowl Update Saturday, 12/17, 6:30 p.m.

NEW ORLEANS Reports from the tailgate gatherings around the Mercedes-Benz Superdome are about what was anticipated  there are Cajun fans everywhere.

The two activities outside the Dome the Ragin' Cajun Alumni Pre-game and the New Orleans Bowl Tailgate party that featured Band Camp were so crowded that one eventually spilled into the other even though they were set at different parts of the Champions Square area.

"When I walked outside the Club 44 (where the alumni gathering was), and looked up at the ramp, it was just full of red," says UL director of athletics Scott Farmer. "We're outnumbering everybody 20 to one."

The crowds for the pre-game events were a quantum leap past previous New Orleans Bowl events which is to be expected with the nearest university ever to play in the game taking part. The crowd inside the Dome will be a record, too.

Farmer's Ragin Cajun Athletic Foundation (RCAF) tailgate event, held inside the Dome in the St. Charles Club area, also drew a capacity crowd. A lot of them were drawn in there early since the sounds of Nik L Beer were echoing around inside the Dome much of the afternoon. "They're so good," Farmer says, "they made that a lot of fun."

There was also a fun moment during the RCAF gathering, with a handful of players from USL's 1970 football team that played in the Grantland Rice Bowl UL's last postseason appearance before tonight were recognized and honored. That group had T-shirts made up with "USL Bulldogs" on one side and all members of the 1970 team listed on the back.