Game Day Kicks Off With UCAA Bearcats Blitz at Home and On the Road

UC Alumni Association Executive Director Myron Hughes, ’86, said the Bearcats Blitz pre-game tailgate at the Myers Alumni Center felt like a UC reunion on Thursday, Sept. 6, before the Bearcats opened their 2012 season by thrashing Pittsburgh. That’s the unique, galvanizing effect of game day on a college campus. And the Pitt game was only the first of seven home games this season.

As UC football has grown and gained a more dedicated following in recent years, pre-game activity has popped up all around campus, with eager-to-tailgate alums using their ingenuity to find suitable locations. The Bearcats Blitz is a great option because it’s really a “game day open house” for anyone and everyone. There’s a pre-reserved tailgate lot next to the Myers Alumni Center with plenty of activity, but the whole area inside and outside the building is a big, happy Bearcat Zone where everyone is welcome.

The Blitz officially opens four hours prior to kickoff and features big-screen TVs to catch other action from college football, clean amenities for the family, inexpensive drinks and free popcorn, prize raffles, and a UC Bookstore outlet on site (with a 10% discount for all UCAA donors). When the weather is hot, it’s cool inside; when the weather turns cold, it’s warm inside! There are food vendors just outside between the Alumni Center and The Grid tailgate area on Campus Green and Sigma Sigma Commons.

Maybe best of all, the Blitz tailgate lot is the starting point for the CATWALK, the football team’s traditional walk through campus to the stadium. Starting about 2 ½ hours before game time, the CATWALK moves from the Blitz through The Grid to the cheers of hundreds of Bearcat fans. And it makes a huge difference for the team, according to Head Coach Butch Jones.

For more about making the most of game days at UC, visit UCGameDay.com.

And check out the plans for Bearcats On The Road, UCAA’s “traveling tailgate” to UC away games this fall at Washington D.C. (Virginia Tech), Toledo, Louisville and Temple.