1:15pm — Ran into some friends at a local watering hole Friday night (one of which who was just engaged) and a ‘quick drink’ turned into several, thus the late start. By the looks of our message board, we’re going to have a good crowd at the tailgate, which means extra food and beer to keep the troops happy. Priority #1: Google coupons codes for Papa Johns.

Success: Coupon code found = pizza bill goes from around $160 to $80.

Oh the joys of the internet.

North Carolina FC recently moved the reigning NWSL Champions from New York to North Carolina and rebranded them as the North Carolina Courage, which has increased our tailgates from around 18/year to more than 30. Mix that in with an unfortunate merchandise robbery we experienced earlier this season, and finances are tight. (I’ll try to keep this strictly a timeline of events rather than a of a Wiki on all things NCFC from here on out)

2pm — Inventory beer. Between the two local breweries who have donated product we have a sixtel (baby keg) from Nickelpoint and 3 cases from Lonerider.

After rechecking social media: Nope, we’ve got some heavy hitters (drunks) coming today. We’re going to need more beer.

2:30pm — Quick trip to the grocery store: PBR & Coors Light will be on the menu today once the good wine (craft beer) is gone. Grabbed a few Smirnoff Ice’s as well to be strategically hidden around the tailgate to “Ice” anyone who brings the snark.

4:00pm — Arrive at stadium and it’s like Christmas morning. One of our members has already gone to the storage pod we use to house our gear, loaded it up, and brought it to the setup spot before I even arrived. Very grateful for that.

4:05pm — The keg tap is missing… shit. Google “Places to rent a keg”.

4:15pm — Found a store that rents kegs a few miles away. Win. Little old lady behind the counter won’t let me rent a tap without also renting a keg. Fail. Proceed to sweet talk lady and promise to rent future kegs from her, wink a few times, lady rents me keg tap. Win.

5pm — Food arrives, beer is flowing, and whoever is controlling the music plays the 3rd Nelly song in a row. Two out of three ain’t bad.

5:30pm — It’s one of our Capo’s birthday. Group shots are poured and taken… this process rinses and repeats at least 3 times. The target of the Smirnoff Ice has been determined: Jonathan Duren, it’s your birthday and we love you, but tonight you will chug the Smirnoff.

Birthday shots. (Photo courtesy of Oak City Supporters)

6pm — A new Supporters Group (Renegade Soccer Supporters) is celebrating their first game: More shots.

6:15pm — The buses that shuttle people from Durham and Raleigh to the game for free show up as well as supporters from VA, Charlotte and Wilmington. Tailgate swells.

6:30pm — Attempts are made to “Ice” the birthday boy. Attempts fail. A new plan is devised: sneak said Smirnoff Ice into stadium via birthday boy’s trumpet case unbeknownst to him. NCFC starting lineup is announced via Twitter to mixed reactions.

7pm — The Town of Cary has placed limits and regulations on how/when we can light smoke “in” the stadium, so we proceed to light smoke and take a photo outside of the stadium. A few faces make their long awaited return to our tailgate, hugs are exchanged and the energy is really good.

7:15pm — Everyone grabs a flag, songs start up, I pop a smoke grenade and the march to the stadium begins. Larger group marching than normal, and it’s 20 degrees cooler than the last home match, people are loud.

7:20pm — Overzealous security guard uses a metal detector on every.single.person.in.the.march. It takes forever. During the process it starts raining, great (we’ve had 5 lighting delayed games already this season).

7:30pm — Rain stops just in time to soak everything. Kickoff.

7:35pm — Birthday boy goes to open trumpet case, sees Smirnoff Ice, tries to pretend he didn’t see it. The crowd chants “Ice! Ice! Ice!” until he faces the reality that he’s not getting out of this and drinks.

7:50pm — NCFC is denied an obvious penalty in the box. There is a NCFC defensive miscommunication on our end, Puerto Rico takes back possession and score. Shit.

8pm — The first half has been flat from our boys, and it’s being reflected in the supporters end. Crowd bursts into Petey Pablo’s “Raise Up” (which has become an anthem of sorts this year) and it lifts spirits a bit. Half time follows shortly. Beer lines are long.

8:15pm — People are mad at the refs, but what’s new. It does seem that the only thing he’s consistently calling is… well, nothing. It’s definitely not bias towards one team or the other, it’s just bad for both sides.

8:30pm — Second half starts, we sub off Lance Laing. People grumble. He’s our best when it comes to free kicks, probably the best in all of Division 2 soccer. People start placing bets on how many free kick opportunities we’ll get now that he’s out: One Dollar Bob. We’re almost instantly we’re awarded a free kick. Great.

8:45pm — Both the crowd and team seem much more energized in the 2nd half, the booze is finally kicking in.

9pm — Puerto Rico’s away wins this year have been few and far between. It shows. They’re currently flopping left and right to try and waste as much time as possible. Any semblance of “Family Friendly” in the section starts to go out the window as frustration takes over.

9:15pm — Puerto Rico’s Manager loses his mind on the referees during an on-field scuffle, he’s escorted to the dressing room. The supporters section approves and the volume is raised to its highest of the night. I get a text from a NCFC staff member reminding us to not light smoke unless we score, per our new “agreement” with the town. I text back in agreement. I don’t mean it. I get the smoke ready. If you had the over/under for ‘free kick chances with Lance Laing on the bench’ at 4, you win a prize. Probably Smirnoff.

9:30pm — PENALTY PUERTO RICO in the 90th minute! Matt Fondy steps up to take the PK that could draw the game at the death (virtually identical to our last match vs PR). Tension builds. A Puerto Rico defender runs up and moves the ball from the spot in an attempt to “ice the kicker.” The crowd yells things at him that would make Samuel L. Jackson blush. I love it.

9:31pm — Matt Fondy sinks the penalty kick and we’re level at 1–1 at the death. Smoke is lit, streamers are thrown, strangers embrace. It’s absolute chaos. Otherwise known as football heaven.

9:33pm — Despite our boys scrambling back to score the winning goal, the game ends in a tie. The team comes over to show appreciation. Queue photos between players and fans, autographs, and a few player specific chants out of appreciation, and we begin cleaning up the section.

The aftermath. (Photo courtesy of Oak City Supporters)

9:45–10:15pm — Tailgate clean up begins. Stalls for beers. Begins again and once again stalls for beers. Conversation bounces from celebration over the comeback into frustration that it was necessary and progresses to hatred towards the referee.

10:30pm — Quite a few people help clean up the tailgate and we’re done fairly quickly. I make my DD (aka girlfriend) stop at Taco Bell. Tomorrow is going to hurt, but tonight was a great night for the NCFC community.