Tailgating with Books

By Benjy Lipsman in News on Sep 13, 2005 3:45PM

Chicagoist has long dreamed of quitting our day job to take long, sport-related road trips. Catching a baseball game in every major league ballpark in one summer, seeing a football game at each Big Ten stadium... Sadly, we've pretty much had to live vicariously through others who have made such trips. At least they often share those experiences in wonderful books.

Among those lucky few who have been able to hit the road in the name of fandom is New York Times Styles writer Warren St. John. He spent five months five months in 1999 travelling with the legions of Alabama Crimson Tide football die hards who follow the team each fall and documented his experiences in his book, Rammer
Jammer Yellow Hammer. While many authors are content to simply recount the games and towns, St. John takes a deeper look into "the deep roots of humanity’s sports mania..., the psychology of crowds, and the surprising neuroscience behind the thrill of victory."

Tuesday evening at 7pm, St. John will be hosting a tailgate party/book reading at the Book Cellar in Lincoln Square. The Four Moon Tavern is sponsoring the event so there'll be FREE beer while St. John reads from his book and leads a discussion. Chicagoist never turns down free beer -- especially when there's football to be discussed -- so we'll be there. We're also curious to learn just what made that guy who lived across the street from our grandparents paint his RV black and gold with a giant Hawkeyes logo. And we want to know where we can get our own!