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Southern University tailgates showcase a tradition built on family and culture
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BATON ROUGE — A Southern University tailgate is about more than football, according to fans who have been showing up for decades.
Roosevelt Johnson has been coming to the tailgate for 38 years, long enough to watch generations of Jaguars return to campus.
"One of the things that's important is the family, the culture, cooking and camaraderie," Johnson said.
The cooking gets going well before kickoff.
"After we get everything all set up, we start cooking, music and enjoying ourselves," Roman Smith said.
Johnson says some of what makes the tailgate special cannot be put on a menu. Dominoes, dancing and generations sharing the same game-day excitement are all part of it.
"The Southern experience, if no one has experienced it, they need to," Johnson said.
For Jaguar fans, the tailgate is just the warm-up.
"Once you get to the game, the excitement, the Human Jukebox, there is nothing like it anywhere in the world," Johnson said.
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