When we got back to our tent mid 4th quarter there were a couple of things missing. Then to top it off, as we were packing up, two guys walked by and one bends over and picks up a cowbell in our pile. My wife saw him and yelled "hey", he drops it and they take off running. Thieving 17'ers.
Anyone have any problems with people stealing from your tailgate?
- Thread starter DreadNought.sixpack
- Start date
We moved out of the Junction about 5 years ago for that very reason... Kids would just walk by and grab chairs, paper towels,coolers, beer...basically anything they could grab in one swipe. Once I saw two girls just walk into our tents and start helping themselves to the contents of our coolers. And then when confronted they would act like we were the ones causing problems. It got so bad in the 3-2 game that we decided to move across from the junction... That was great for 1 season, but it started there soon too. We finally just moved our setup away from everyone, and so far we haven't had any problems.
I'm sure the sight of a jew walking around with a .300 blk slung over his shoulder was a good deterrent.
Last year some bastard stole one cooler from our tailgate @ lot 6. It was mine and the only one with beer in it. They could have left me one at least.
Yea, cornhole boards and bean bags last night. My dad and I took a Saturday to build and paint them. Now thanks to some ******* they're gone before I could even play a game on them. After bags I had quite a bit of money invested, so thanks for that whoever you are.
Infront of the Ag. Engineering building.
i always assume the worst from people. our generator was attached with a cable to the corner of our tent and secured with a lock. if you are going to steal my ****, you are going to have to work really hard and you will stick out like a sore thumb. coolers, chairs, tables can all be attached into one big pile of bulk that would be really difficult to steal.
I might commit a crime if I caught someone stealing from my tent. If you're a thief, you're different than me.
We started doing that when everyone left the tents, but we almost always had someone stay with our stuff... but this **** was happening with us there. College kids would just walk by and swipe stuff in stride and then they would always say the same **** "Oh, my friend said this was his." or my all time favorite from some drunk fat kid with a swoop who tried to steal a roll of paper towels: "Y'all always take stuff from us! Stop being a dick!". Damn dude, just ask... it's almost like people take pride in stealing ****.
We had a MSU bag with huggers, fruit and candy taken off the top of our cooler. They didn't take the cooler but I think a few Bud Lights were taken. I guess we are going to have to get tents with sides and a door, or hire security to watch the damn thing during the game. It really is sad that people take advantage of these crimes of opportunity!
Not to make this political and definitely not racist. It just happened and the people involved made it interesting. I may have told this once before.
We were tailgating in the junction and I had a grill slammed full of pork and chicken. There were breasts, tenders, drumsticks, pork tenderloins, and sausage. The pork had already been cut and then coated again in a homemade pineapple jerk sauce. The breasts too.
So, we are all standing there before an LSU game (maybe 2006... Can't remember). Two guys who were likely international students just stroll up to the table, grab plates, open the grill, and start loading up. One of my buddies comes and gets me. I walk over nicely and ask how they are doing. They rant and rave about the "chicken" they are eating. I'm not 100% sure what they were saying because their English was not very good but chicken came through loud and clear. Not one piece of chicken was on their plates.
I explained it was pork and then they both did their best to be nice while trying to run out of there. Pretty sure it was against a religious standard for them.
Needless to say, they never came back. I would have felt bad for them if they weren't stealing my ****.
We were tailgating in the junction and I had a grill slammed full of pork and chicken. There were breasts, tenders, drumsticks, pork tenderloins, and sausage. The pork had already been cut and then coated again in a homemade pineapple jerk sauce. The breasts too.
So, we are all standing there before an LSU game (maybe 2006... Can't remember). Two guys who were likely international students just stroll up to the table, grab plates, open the grill, and start loading up. One of my buddies comes and gets me. I walk over nicely and ask how they are doing. They rant and rave about the "chicken" they are eating. I'm not 100% sure what they were saying because their English was not very good but chicken came through loud and clear. Not one piece of chicken was on their plates.
I explained it was pork and then they both did their best to be nice while trying to run out of there. Pretty sure it was against a religious standard for them.
Needless to say, they never came back. I would have felt bad for them if they weren't stealing my ****.
I bought a 20' cable lock and run it through all the coolers and bags and attach it to a locker box that we use to store other things. If someone's gonna take anything they'll have to take it all.
exactly...if for anything else, its a deterrent to go steal somebody elses stuff and leave mine be...as bad as that sounds. its a pity we even have to go to these lengths, but i think its smarter to take the extra precautions than to leave it unguarded (instead of watching the game, i would most likely be worried about the tailgate stuff anyway). as far as people stealing food and drinks....sounds like they are asking for an *** kicking. at our tailgate, we try to wall off access areas to prevent unwanted visitors, but from time to time, even that fails. people just suck these days. i dont mind being hospitable, but i want the food i give out to be at my discretion.
I really don't get stealing food. I've never stopped at a tent and not been offered food. Lots of time it's people I don't even know. If you're friendly, someone will offer you food, and usually the people with the best stuff are anxious to show it off.
During the 3-2 game, yes. Came back to empty coolers.
We moved out of the junction after that and haven't had any problems to this day.
Of course, we also lock down anything of value, and when possible, we have a couple of people that prefer to stay at the tailgate and watch the game on TV.
We moved out of the junction after that and haven't had any problems to this day.
Of course, we also lock down anything of value, and when possible, we have a couple of people that prefer to stay at the tailgate and watch the game on TV.
Yep. Its happened to me twice. The MSU PD and athletic dep didn't really seem to care when I brought it to there attention. It kinda turned me off with tailgating and giving them money after the way they handled everything
it sucks, but i also believe that you, the tailgater, have some responsibility as well. the campus pd cant watch 6,000 tents even if half of them are blue. it takes a few seconds to secure valuables with a cable lock. you might have to get creative and it would be great if there was a larger police presence, but if something got stolen at my tailgate, the first thing i think is "dammit, i should have done a better job" not "where was the damn PD?"....but then again, im from jackson, so i dont take a leak without thinking about something getting stolen.
does the school not encourage fans to tailgate? Of course they want us to, but we can't all get there on game day and set up our tents and stay there the whole time to watch it. If they want fans to continue then they need to do a better job. You'll be surprised as to how little they care what happens to your stuff. At the end of the day, I left my stuff in a spot and its my responsibility, I get that. But the way they handled my situation was total crap and that's what got me. I wasn't asking anybody to replace my things or anything like that. But when you encouraging fans to tailgate, you should do everything in your power to make it a great experience. And that is their (athletic dep) responsibility. People should not be afraid to leave tents the Friday before the game.
Yeah, although I understand that they can't watch everything and individuals have the primary responsibility for their stuff, MSU needs to attempt to keep campus a safe environment for property as well as people. Or they need to work really hard to make it clear how common having stuff stolen is, so people can accurately assess the risk which I think would be embarrassing. They do have an interest in supporting the tailgating culture and it seems like just accepting theft isn't really the way to do it.
Other hand maybe this is job opportunity for enterprising colleges kids to rent themselves out as tailgate sitters during the actual game.
Two years ago we had a bunch of stuff stolen. I contacted the campus police chief and others (game day operations folks) via email and never heard a word back.
Now we have a cable lock that runs around everything. We didn't loop it around two of our tables this past weekend and, of course, they got stolen.
In the email I sent to UPD a few years ago I offered to let them use our tailgate as bait to catch these *****, but of course they didn't take me up on it.
I'm thinking about just doing it myself, leaving everything out there and watching from afar for a few hours. Whoever gets caught deserves a broken hand at the least.
Now we have a cable lock that runs around everything. We didn't loop it around two of our tables this past weekend and, of course, they got stolen.
In the email I sent to UPD a few years ago I offered to let them use our tailgate as bait to catch these *****, but of course they didn't take me up on it.
I'm thinking about just doing it myself, leaving everything out there and watching from afar for a few hours. Whoever gets caught deserves a broken hand at the least.
If someone with DirecTV, a grill, and a cooler full of beer was like "come hang out at my tailgate while I'm at the game" while I was at State, I would have given it special consideration for OOC games like USM. If you're serious, you should pursue this. Pretty cheap investment, a case of beer.
I have no love lost for campus police, but in fairness: Let's say a cop sees someone walk into a tailgate, pick up a cooler or whatever, and walk off. There's probably a 90% or better chance that's the rightful owner. Unless we want a drastically more robust police presence at games (which I know I don't want), unfortunately we're probably going to have to deal with some theft.
The paid tailgate sitters idea is probably a money maker waiting to happen
The paid tailgate sitters idea is probably a money maker waiting to happen
im just saying, if you leave all your stuff there unattended and not locked or secured in any way, my suggestion would be to lock it up. its a simple fix...now, if people are going around with bolt cutters or stealing piles of stuff that have been locked together, that is another thing. you have to do your part as well to not be a victim. just my opinion. if you go tailgating again and dont secure your things, i think you are asking for trouble as it only takes one of 70K on campus to take your stuff. also, if im going in the game, i put away all my expensive things (generator under the table out of sight under the tablecloth, ipod base and speakers in a rubbermaid also under the tablecloth, TV secured and out of sight, and everything chained together if and when possible, chairs and tables and tent all locked together)...just try not to be a target. if you advertise your stuff sitting there ripe for the picking, i just dont see that as being a very good steward of what you have. i absolutely think the school should do whatever it can, but i dont think its realistic to expect cops to watch every tailgate spot for nefarious characters. and so you know, its a problem at all big-time college campuses. i do think a bait tent or ten would be an awesome idea. i suspect that many doing this kind of stuff are there for the goodies and not the game.
get you one of these, a padlock, and be done with it. its a simple fix. should the police have to sweep the junction because people refuse to secure their items? i dont think so. just take the 5 minutes it requires to secure your items. just like it might be a nice idea to have a handgun at home just in case the police arent able to keep intruders out of your house, this is a good backup plan. not trying to be argumentative, i just think its a good idea to protect yourself.
get you one of these, a padlock, and be done with it. its a simple fix. should the police have to sweep the junction because people refuse to secure their items? i dont think so. just take the 5 minutes it requires to secure your items. just like it might be a nice idea to have a handgun at home just in case the police arent able to keep intruders out of your house, this is a good backup plan. not trying to be argumentative, i just think its a good idea to protect yourself.
I was thinking about this more, and I also think that a couple of coolers with live snakes in them randomly deployed though various tailgating lots could go a long way to curb stealing out of other people's coolers. Snakes probably wouldn't even have to be poisonous but the idea of something that would strike as soon as the lid was opened has a certain appeal. Maybe if we could just get this rumor started. . .
I like where you're going with this idea but I can see it now. I have a few beers, I'm watching a close game on tv, and as I reach for another beer while half-way paying attention to what I'm doing I open the snake cooler instead. That would not end well. Full disclosure, I'm terrified of snakes and the thought of sitting in a tent knowing one is in a cooler close by just creeps me out.
Somebody needs to invent a tailgate tent with retractable metal grate walls, similar to what they use in mall stores. Maybe design it out of aluminum so its not so heavy. When you head into the game, drop the walls down and lock them at the bottom.
I was thinking the same thing with snakes in an ice chest. Is that one poster still having problems with snakes in his garbage can? Sounds like a good source of live snakes.
Someone needs to make sure Stricklin sees this thread (if he hasn't already). As a recent graduate who was in band, thus not much tailgating experience, I had no idea this was even a problem, and it's ridiculous. I tailgate at the Liberty Bowl when we're on the road or I can't make the trip, and I nor anyone I know there has ever had a single issue with things stolen. It's pretty bad when theft is more of a problem on campus in Starkville, MS, than on city property in Memphis of all places, and something needs to be done about it for the sake of our gameday environment's reputation.