It’s just before noon on a warm fall morning, and Army Capt. Aaron Berg is sipping from an icy bottle of beer aboard a 45-foot motor yacht dubbed “At Ease.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The University of Washington Alumni Band is wrapping up a rousing round of drum-pounding, brass-blasting fight music on the Husky Harbor docks where At Ease is among a flotilla of boats gathering for UW’s first big rivalry game of the season against Stanford.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The pier is packed with purple-clad revelers waiting for the game to start in the big stadium just a short walk away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“This is, without a doubt, the most unique tailgating I’ve ever seen,” says Berg with a wide grin, taking another sip from the Pyramid Hefeweizen wheat ale, fresh from a local Seattle brewpub.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Wow, this is amazing.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Berg is smiling not just because he’s having fun, but because this is exactly the type of one-of-a-kind college football tradition he’s on the hunt for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Berg, a Ranger-tabbed medical officer and former enlisted man stationed at Fort Carson, Colorado, is on an epic quest that will take him to 18 games over the 16-week regular season this year. And that’s just for starters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After closing the regular season with the Army-Navy game in Baltimore, he’ll hit as many bowl games as possible. And then it’s on to the first-ever college playoffs before capping it all off with the inaugural College Football National Championship Game in Dallas on Jan. 12.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“What can I say, I just have a huge passion for college football,” Berg says. “There’s something about it all \u2014 the ebb and flow of the season, the rankings, the traditions, the pageantry, the smells, the tastes, the interactions between fans. I love it all.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Growing up in small-town Iowa where he played center on the high school team, Berg’s love of the game started at an early age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His parents had season tickets to the University of Iowa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I was going to games since I was 8 years old. And when other kids were watching cartoons on Saturday mornings, I was getting up to watch college football.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But this year, it’s a passion with a purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ultimate college gridiron guide<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I want to write the ultimate college football travel guide, looking at all the great traditions and rivalries, along with all the best places to eat, party and tailgate,” Berg says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I also dig into some things the average fan doesn’t usually get to see, looking at everything from a day in the life of an athletic director to what it’s like to push a broom on the stadium cleanup crew.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He says any proceeds from the book will go to Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The genesis for the idea came last year while Berg was thousands of miles from the nearest college football stadium \u2014 at Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan, to be precise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It was 4 in the morning and I was working out at the KAF gym watching the Georgia-Auburn game,” he recalls, slipping into play-by-play mode as if he’s right there watching the game live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In his account, Georgia leads by a point with only seconds left in the last quarter when the Auburn quarterback throws a Hail Mary that gets tipped by Georgia’s safety into the hands of Auburn wide receiver Ricardo Louis, resulting in a game-winning touchdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The crowd goes absolutely nuts, and the whole stadium just explodes,” Berg says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After missing three seasons \u2014 one in basic training, another during a yearlong tour in Iraq, and most recently another in Afghanistan \u2014 “I decided right then and there I would do this,” he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Too many people don’t chase their dreams, he says. “They just let life come at them. I don’t want to do that. I knew I could save up enough money and leave to make it happen. So, why not?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The blitz<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Back from deployment just in time for the season’s kickoff, Berg’s gridiron odyssey began with the Georgia Bulldogs crushing the Clemson Tigers 45-21 in front of a home crowd in Athens on Aug. 30 in the first weekend of college play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It was awesome, just a phenomenal experience. The in-game atmosphere, I don’t know if anyone can even touch it,” he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He’s using leave days to stretch his weekends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Seattle for Week 5, the UW-Stanford matchup was his sixth game so far. After briefly introducing himself at the stern of At Ease, it wasn’t long before he was invited aboard for beers and pregame chit-chat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Locals call this boat-borne version of pregame festivities “sailgating,” and it’s just as boisterous as the tailgating action surrounding other parts of the stadium. Some 5,000 fans come to the game by boat, harbormaster John Terry says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With a name like At Ease, Berg had a hunch the boat might have a military connection, and sure enough, it’s owned by retired Washington Army National Guard Brig. Gen. Gary Stone, who was a junior here when the Huskies won their first national championship in 1960.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now in his 70s, Stone is all too happy to share a lifetime of memories from Huskies games, and Berg soaks it all in, recording the interview on his phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Huskies ultimately can’t put together a game-winning drive, but Berg clearly feels like a winner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even as he inches his rental car through the stop-and-go traffic leaving the game, his excitement is still contagious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I know, it sounds ridiculous, but I even love this. Some of my favorite memories are in the car with my family after the game.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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