Tailgating Ideas – Don't Just Tailgate, Tailgate Better

Back in August we introduced you to the TailDecker, a self-contained tailgating system that utilizes your tow hitch for transportation. We thought we would share a gallery of photos of people using their TailDecker while out tailgating in Alabama. (Click images for larger viewing)

In a nutshell the TailDecker is a complete, self-contained tailgating system that attaches to the rear of your tailgating vehicle via the 2″ tow hitch and has a complete set-up contained within. You can get more information on the TailDecker at www.taildecker.com.

Tailgating in the SEC is highly competitive. Judging by the message board reaction to Peter’s post, Ranking The SEC Tailgates, who tailgates better is as highly contested as the games on the field. Armed with this knowledge we were surprised that it took this long for someone from South Carolina to request we customize a Margaritaville Tailgating Grill to South Carolina Gamecocks garnet and black. Take a look at how this one turned out.

If you would like to see more photos of other Custom Tailgating Grills, click HERE.

Bottle openers are one of those things we tailgaters never think of until we need one.  Being a tailgater who often drinks from bottles with pry off tops, it is even more important to have one handy.

I used to carry one on my key chain but after breaking several of them, which I’m convinced was due to poor quality metal, I stopped spending money on them. I do have a pair of really nice openers that I keep in my kitchen drawer, but I’m so fond of them I don’t want to risk losing them by taking them tailgating.  Thankfully we were approached by the folks who make the MyTopOff bottle opener.

Oddly enough, the MyTopOff is unlike any of the other bottle openers I’ve seen. First of all, it is cylindrical in shape and instead of using it to pry a cap off, you just push it down, then pull it up, and the cap should come off.  It’s available in both a black plastic and also a stainless steel version.  While both are interesting, I have to admit, that the stainless version is pretty eye catching with it’s brushed metal look.

Disclaimer: We received samples of the MyTopOff openers for free. The fact this sample was provided to us in no way influenced our opinion of the product nor did it impact our ability to test and review the product fairly and objectively.

As I mentioned before, the MyTopOff is a bottle opener, so naturally the main test for this product is opening bottles.  The company claims that it will open not only pry-off type caps, but the twist-off variety as well. For the test I had several different beers in typical long necked bottles (pry-off), some Mike’s brand beverages (twist-off), and some Red Stripe (pry-off).  The Red Stripe, in it’s “short ugly bottle” (their words not mine), was to check the effectiveness of the MyTopOff on unusual bottle shapes.  During the tests, I tried both the standard plastic and stainless steel models of the MyTopOff.

What I found is that the screw-off caps opened with no difficulty with either opener.  The long necked brews also opened just fine.  The Red Stripes were a little temperamental at times. I learned that a little turn and an additional down/up with the MyTopOff seemed to be the fix.  Another nice thing is the magnet built onto the rim of the MyTopOff.  While I didn’t get the cap to stick every time, I did enjoy not having to bend over to pick up all of my caps.

Also included with my samples were the MyTopOff bottle koozie and drink sling. Since we all have experience with neoprene bottle koozies I’m not going to do dedicated testing.  I did like the bright green color of the koozie as it would help with drink identification.  The drink sling basically turns your bottle into a necklace.  This is done by slipping a rubbery retainer over the opening of the bottle, and below the flared out section.  While I don’t see myself using it personally, it may be useful for freeing up your hands for a few minutes if you don’t have a place to set your beer down at your tailgate.

Probably the most meaningful part of my testing was the inclusion of my wife, Katie.  Katie has Rheumatoid Arthritis, so anything that helps her do basic tasks more easily is ideal.  I’m pleased to say that using the MyTopOff was easy for her and gave her some independence with opening her own drinks.  I have to believe that she’s not the only tailgater that could benefit from this sort of thing.

I going to say the MyTopOff is “Tailgate Approved” for multiple reasons.  First of all, it has conversational value, especially the stainless model, which in my opinion is huge at a tailgate party.  Secondly, it means you don’t have to worry about cutting your hand on a bottle cap or having to open a bottle with your teeth.  Third, it is affordable enough to keep with your tailgate gear all year.

Speaking of affordability, the current price of the MyTopOff is $9.95 plus $4.95 shipping and handling.  This is for the plastic opener, bottle koozie, and drink sling.  You can double that order for an additional $4.95.  The stainless steel version of the MyTopOff isn’t much more than that.  Of course you can check out all the pricing, quantity options and free items at mytopoff.com.  While you’re there, be sure to check out the MyTopOff girl as well!

Wait! There’s more!  The folks over at MyTopOff.com sent us an additional opener, koozie, and drink sling that we’d like to pass along to our readers in the form of a giveaway.  There are two ways to enter:

1) Facebook – All you need to do is scroll to the bottom of this post and hit the Facebook share button and post this review to your wall on Facebook. Feel free to make mention of how badly you would like to win or whatever else you can think of. After you have posted this review to your Facebook wall, click over to the Tailgating Ideas Facebook Page. There you will see a wall post promoting this review and giveaway. Just comment “I want to take my top off!” on that post confirming you posted this to your wall so that we can validate your entry. After you have done that, you are now entered into the random drawing via Facebook.

2) Twitter – Simply cut and paste the following piece of text into a Tweet.

@TailgatingIdeas wants to see your top off! RT this #giveaway & be entered to win a #MyTopOff bottle opener! http://t.co/goqMhlHv

Each time you tweet that exact piece of text will earn you another entry. Keep in mind only one tweet per day will gain you an additional entry. You don’t want to annoy all of your followers by tweeting that same thing over and over to increase your chances of winning.

The deadline to post to your Facebook wall or via Twitter is 11:59 pm pacific time, Monday October 24, 2011. A winner will be chosen at random from all entries and will be notified privately via Facebook or Twitter to provide their address. We will announce the winner publicly on Facebook and Twitter once the winner has confirmed their address and the MyTopOff is in the mail. And the best part is if you win, we will even pay for the postage to get it to you. Good luck.

A little more than a year ago we shared with you one reader’s successful customization of his Margaritaville Tailgating grill into a Ravens Tailgating Grill. We just got an email the other day from another one of our Baltimore readers and apparently that grill has some company. Check out Mike from Severn, Maryland and his custom Ravens tailgating grill. Nicely done Mike.

All we can say is make sure to check back in here tomorrow to see more of Mike’s handy work. No, he didn’t do a second grill but he did customize his propane tank. And by customizing his propane tank we mean he took our suggestion from two years ago to Customize Your Propane Tanks and made his to look like an actual NFL football. You have to see the photos to believe it. They will be posted tomorrow so make sure to come back.

If you want your own Margaritaville Tailgating Grill customized to your team’s colors and theme, visit our tailgating gear store, shop.tailgatingideas.com. To see other grills our readers and I have customized, visit the Custom Tailgating Grills page and check out the gallery of over 30 different team grills.

It was back in February of 2010 when we introduced you to the GoPong Beer Pong Table. Back then, the GoPong beer pong table was only available in a standard black color with a very simple theme. The major benefit was that it was a high quality beer pong table but at basically half the price as the competition. Well, GoPong recently introduced a new set of tables with football field gridiron designs and have managed to keep their prices low once again.

The GoPong Football Field table shown above is the 8′ x 2′ version that is ideal for playing beer pong while tailgating. The 8′ x 2′ x 27.5″ size is 100% regulation World Series of Beer Pong dimensions. And unlike those other guys that are selling football themed beer pong tables but not calling them “beer pong tables”, (please read: NFL Beer Pong Table Is Pure Hypocrisy) GoPong knows what’s up and isn’t trying to insult your intelligence. To prove our point, the GoPong Football Tailgating Table does not come with some lame 2′ wide table tennis net. They know you aren’t going to be playing table tennis on it and you would just throw that away. What they did include was a sleeve underneath the playing surface that holds six beer pong balls. We particularly like the addition of the ball holder sleeve because now your table and balls are all together. No more having to remember to bring along your package of beer pong balls because they are already neatly tucked inside the folded table. Once at your tailgate, simply unfold the table, reach underneath and six balls are there waiting.

Another extra added feature includes a latch that holds the table together at the middle fold. This just provides a little extra stability when opened and in play mode in case someone bumps the table from too much leaning. When it is time to pack up and head inside the game, flip up the latch and fold the table up like normal. Of course the GoPong Football Table is not just for beer pong. You can play flip cup or quarters on it as well.

If you are still a football fan but not a beer pong player and do not need a tailgating table that is eight feet long, the folks at GoPong have you covered. They also offer a four foot version of the same football field themed tailgating table. The main difference is that it is half the size as the beer pong table and folds in half instead of in quarters. Other than those major differences, both football tailgating tables from GoPong are made from the same high quality construction and craftsmanship you would expect.

As far as these tables being “Tailgate Approved”, we can definitely say yes, they are. To take our endorsement even further, we have added both the 8′ GoPong Beer Pong Table and the 4′ Tailgating Table to our tailgating gear stash we bring to the games. And we didn’t just add them to our tailgating kit because we got them for free. We added them because we liked the products so much that we actually bought them with our own money. (When was the last time we PAID for a piece of tailgating gear? It’s been a long time we can tell you that.) Take a look at some of the photos we shot of our own tables.

As you can see in the above gallery (click individual images for a larger view) the GoPong Football Tailgating Tables come with a generic football field design complete with yard lines, hash marks and end zones. For those of you wanting to take it up a notch and support your favorite team, you can easily customize these tables to any team logo you can think of. We chose to customize our GoPong Tailgating Tables to support the San Diego Chargers. It was simple and affordable and gave our tables that authentic look using officially licensed logos. Here is how we did it:

We went to Skinit.com and browsed their selection of officially licensed Tailgate Packs. Keep in mind the GoPong 8′ Football Beer Pong Table is 2 feet wide by 8 feet long so consider those dimensions when browsing the tailgate packs. Visualize which skins you would like to place in the end zones and which ones would look good on the middle panels of the table. Order your tailgate pack for your team and you now can customize your table to support your team. The best part is because the Skinit Tailgate Packs are designed to affix to the exterior of your car, they are waterproof and weatherproof so they can withstand the rigors of a beer pong game with plenty of tips and spills.

The specs on the GoPong 8′ Football Beer Pong Table are:
• Size Unfolded: 8′ x 2′ x 27.5″ high (World Series of Beer Pong Regulation Size)
• Size Folded: 2′ x 2′ x 5″
• Weight: 21 lbs
• High strength aluminum frame
• Football Field Tabletop Design
• Waterproof melamine surface
• Ergonomic carrying handles
• 6 Ball capacity ball holding sleve

The specs on the GoPong 4′ Football Tailgating Table are:
• Size Unfolded: 4′ x 2′ x 27.5″ high
• Size Folded: 2′ x 2′ x 3″
• Weight: 12 lbs
• High strength aluminum frame
• Football Field Tabletop Design
• Waterproof melamine surface
• Ergonomic carrying handles

Because we found these tailgating tables to be “Tailgate Approved” and because we bought them with our money, we believe in these items. We have decided they would make a great addition to our online tailgating gear store and at an affordable price. The GoPong 8′ Football Beer Pong Table is $119.95 with shipping included and the 4′ GoPong Tailgating Table is less than $80 with shipping included. If you are interested in the 8′ GoPong Football table click HERE. If you like the versatility of the shorter table, click HERE to get a GoPong 4′ Football Tailgating Table.