CFTL Background
In 2001, HoustonCougarsWest.com and Coogfans.com began a tailgate for all fans and regular posters of the message board where friends could congregate before and after football games.
Its mission was to allow fans to bring friends and family, so that they might experience Cougar tailgating firsthand. It was the belief that people would return after being introduced to the pageantry.
During the 2001 season, monies were donated by Coogfans.com message board members for each tailgate. It was hoped that enough money would be raised for any and all visitors that would come by... free of charge.
The 2001 season saw an exponential growth in the people that came out and participated at the tailgates.
Towards the end of the season, it was not uncommon to have over 100 people at the tailgates. There was plenty of food for all and nobody was ever turned away.
But there were problems...
Obviously, this increase in attendance resulted in an increase in money that needed to be raised for each game.
This burden fell on a few board members and the end result was more and more money being poured into the tailgate.
The cooking at the tailgates was done by a small crew of dedicated people, each working independently. As the sizes of the crowds grew, these individuals had to dedicate more and more personal time. Also, the independence of each cooker led to organizational and timing issues.
In addition to organizational issues, the heavy burden endured by the same cooks for every game was beginning to take a toll.
A way had to be found to more equitably divide the work. As with anything fun, the whiners started appearing with more and more frequency.
With the increased complexity of throwing a tailgate, organization of the tailgate itself began to suffer thus fueling the fire of discontent.
Through the 2001 season and to the end... these problems became more and more pronounced. Something had to be done.
After the 2001 season, the fathers of the current format of Coogfans tailgating met behind closed doors to carve out a new idea that would take the HCW/Coogfans tailgate to the next level and make legends out of mere mortals. Those men were Captain Cougar, Don Caliche, Mad Dog, MDCoog, and TumbleWeedCoog.
The Bright Idea
Three cooking teams were to be formed for the 2002 football season, with expansion teams to come the following year.
A draft of cooking members was to take place whereby 3 team captains would have the opportunity to select their team members. (2002 Draft 2003 Draft)
In addition to this draft, each team had the opportunity to withhold 4 additional "staff" members and protect them from being selected by another team. Because there were seven home games in 2002, each team had the opportunity to solely plan and deliver a tailgate for 2 games.
In the case of 2002 (7 games), an end of season bash included all cooking teams.
The cooking teams competed with each other based on several criteria that were judged by assigned judges and a commissioner.
The winner got the prize of being the greatest tailgaters of 2002.