Jake Locker’s NFL Draft Party

On Thursday, I was fortunate enough to attend former UW quarterback, Jake Locker’s NFL Draft Party in his hometown of Ferndale, WA. Having briefly met Jake before, and knowing how humble and down-to-earth he is, I was anxious to see where Jake would get drafted. I had my predictions, and was glad to see him go to the Tennessee Titans (number 4 out of my top 5 predictions) at number 8 in the draft picks. They are a great team and I know Jake will grow immensely with them.
During football season, I’ve gotten to know Jake’s family and am always surprised to find such a group of people. They are so well-grounded and supportive that it’s no surprise that Jake is actually a great guy without even a hint of arrogance- something that is so easily prevalent with society’s attitude. There are innumerous people that wish him the best in his professional career. Go Titans!


This was the sunset the night before the party. Gorgeous!





I love how the camera man is invading Frank’s kitchen.


You know you've found a great guy when he wears Carhartts, cowboy boots, and a sweatshirt to his own draft party.




Jake and his agent, Cam, on a VERY important phone call.



What father wouldn’t cry on a day like this?
 
Aww… Mother and son.                         The proud parents!





 















And… Back to work for us

Tailgating

I have always liked football. As I found out this past Fall, the game itself is only half of game day. Not even half, actually. The day of every Husky football game, I woke up at 4:45 am (eww...) so I could be down at Husky Stadium at 6:30 am to start tailgating with my good friends at "Friends of Frank Tailgating".

Each grueling Saturday morning I woke up, looked at my clock and thought, "Why am I doing this?" 10 hours and 200 plates of served food later, I thought, "I love this!" And then I would continue to serve an average of 200 more people as kickoff drew closer.

We (me, my dad, and little brother) never got home before midnight; and all we could think about was after setting up our equipment, cooking breakfast for our crew, prepping food, cooking food, laughing and talking with people we had never met (all 400 of them), breaking down our equipment and cleaning everything and then going to the game, we had worked 20 hours without stopping. But it was always rewarding no matter how tired we were.

The thing that I love most about tailgating with Frank, is that he doesn't charge anything for the food we make for people. People can make donations if they want but if they don't have the money, we'll just give them more food! Portions are never slim. Maybe that's why hundreds of people try to find us before the game!

But it's not just serving people food and hearing them saying Frank's food is the best, it's about getting to know people and connecting with them over a common interest -- football.

I really hope to join Frank and all my other friends during this coming Fall. Tailgating is something I don't plan on giving up anytime soon.