Get Up For Fargo!! College Gameday Weekend Part 1
Hi Folks, how's your weekend been? This will be a two-part blog about my trip to Fargo, ND on Friday and Saturday for ESPN College Gameday. I planned on arriving to view "The Replacements" at the Midway Stadium this past weekend in the Twin Cities.
Downtown Fargo before the Madness
However I was almost certain I would have paid more in gas and for a hotel with it being an additional 3 hour drive from the Summit, SD turnoff on Interstate 20. In addition, I did sell my ticket for a profit over 100 bucks, thus not all was lost. I was relieved to uncover that Lucero was performing at the Fargo Brewing Company's Anniversary Party on that Friday night. They happened to be an opener for The Replacements at the Midway Stadium along with "The Hold Steady" on Saturday evening. In addition, with College Gameday coming back to Fargo this year, I just could not pass up that opportunity. Here's an outlook of the Fargo Brewing Company and the band Lucero. However, I have a few winners for the Douchebags of The Day for Friday.
Concert Stub
Fargo Brewing Company: I arrived to Fargo roughly before 6:30PM, consequently I made tremendous time from Aberdeen. I decided to stay at the Scandia Hotel, as it was close to the College Gameday site on Broadway in Downtown Fargo. It may have been an aged hotel, but it was quiet and clean. Furthermore it was $65 dollars and had on site security in the parking lot.
Trust me, I have stayed in worse places.
I checked in quickly, and after struggling to find a parking spot for 12 minutes I was finally able to partake with the alcohol activities under their tent. I had their Sodbuster, a tasty porter beer that had a roasted coffee aroma with chocolate and tiny hints of smoke.
Sodbuster
The beer tasted similar to dark beers like Guinness, but not as heavy on my palette, but tasted rich nonetheless. However, with it being $5 a glass and Fargo cops being there as security, I felt one beer was enough. They have other ales on tap like Stone's Throw and Iron Horse that are flavorful with several citrus fruits. However I'm not a fan of fruit style beers or pale ales. It's a remarkable facility and the owners are passionate about what they produce. It's to be hoped that more of these microbreweries show up in the Dakotas. Here's a brief documentary about them starting their brewery.
Fargo Brewing Company Website
Fargo Brewing Company Documentary
Lucero: Along with the tasty beer, the anniversary party had live entertainment. I was overjoyed to witness the band "Lucero". Lucero is a diverse cowboy punk/soul band based out of Memphis, Tennessee. This type of band would not play up in the North Country as they primarily tour Texas and Tennessee. Lead Singer and guitarist Ben Nichols voice is gravely and soulful while playing an excellent rhythm guitar. In Addition, Brian Venable's guitar playing and the accomplished organist Rick Steff are just a few reasons the 7-person group is a delight to watch. Regrettably hearing endless of their sad songs about lost love just pulled at my heartstrings. You can tell that Ben has lived and has felt his lyrics that he has written. I did decide to leave a little bit before they ended. The reason being is I had not eaten for several hours and need to purchase a NDSU Bison Ball Cap. Furthermore $20 is exuberant to spend especially since the opening acts were not known or enjoyable. In retrospect, I should have saved 5 bucks and printed my ticket at home.
Lucero at Fargo Brewing Anniversary Party
However the time was moving quickly, I needed to proceed back to my hotel by 11:00 PM as needed to arrive in downtown by 5:30 that Saturday morning. Although leaving the concert was tough, it was not as tough as the three examples of Douchebags I dealt with after I left there. Here's those winners.
Fargo Scheels Manager: Yes Scheels manager I know I was late by 8 mins (give or take 20 minutes) after 9pm but I would like to purchase a hat from your store. His reply to me was, "It's 9pm were closed, come back tomorrow!" I guess Scheels doesn't want my business. Furthermore, in a prominent city on heavily saturated Saturday with a few extra thousand people, you should be open till 10 PM instead. Luckily for me, I scored a $5 dollar bargain NDSU hat at Walmart.
Sick Checkout Woman: Yes I view you're sick Ms. Walmart cashier, but I don't need your germs too with Walmart's low low prices everyday. Typically, I would be compassionate, but you are handling my newly purchased hat with your cough rag hand. It had me a little paranoid. So paranoid that I doused Febreeze on the new hat immediately when I got to my Tahoe. Yes, I bring Febreeze with me on trips. Furthermore, I love my clean clothes to smell like they have just come out of the dryer, It's one of my weird quirks. Fortunately for all my readers, I survived.
Millennial Giggly Girls: I had a craving for Kroll's Diner for a bowl of Knoephla, so after my Walmart excursion I decided to stop in at the location next to Walmart. In addition, when I arrived they had a special on a Patty Melt and Onion Rings so I was indeed hungry.
Sit Down and Eat
I sat down and was impressed by my waitress being cordial and friendly. Not to mention, I had all my food in less than 12 minutes, which was impressive as they were clearly busy. However, the 3 idiotic girls behind me in the booth played a trick on the waitress claiming there was a fly in their burger. I overheard the conversation, all they talked about was planting a dead fly to haggle for free food and frustrate the waitress. All of them giggled like hyenas and reeked of Taylor Swift perfume. I knew the waitress was struggling with this crew as all 3 headstrong teens were too cheap that they thought 3 dollar fries were too costly. The waitress was more than accommodating while being chastised by these adolescents. I don't figure the waitress covered their food, but I gave her a decent 6 dollar tip as she did not deserve that and appreciate her friendly demeanor. That's why I hate about teens from this generation, no respect or class for anyone.
After what happened in the previous paragraphs, I was back at the Scandia Hotel and was in bed by 11pm to midnight. I enjoyed the brief serenity as I knew the noise that awaited me in the following hours. I woke up roughly at 4:00 to walk 4 blocks to Broadway on Saturday morning. The 2nd edition of my blog will have a few of the sights and uncanny sounds not to mention a plethora of Gameday Signs that were either banned, used or made no sense whatsoever. Furthermore will discuss mostly the good, the bad and the ugly of the ambience and atmosphere of College Gameday. In addition, I will have a definitive message to power conference fans in the Division 1 FBS. Until next time, take care.
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