The History Of Jameson's Night

Saturday is the 9th Annual Jameson's Night at the Supporter's Tailgate. Jameson's Night is the held at the tailgate before the home New England Revolution game every year, sometimes multiple times a year if the Revs visit more than once. I took some time this week to figure out the beginnings of this tradition.

In 2002 the Rapids got off to a slow start, the team was slightly above .500 (4-1-3) and had only scored 9 goals in those 8 games. A couple of the supporters decided they needed to change things up and decided the next game would be Jameson's night at the tailgate. Its unclear if the choice of Jamesons was intentional to tie into New England being in town and Boston's Irish background or if it was just a coincidence. Those 2-3 supporters brought the Jamesons to the tailgate and a few other die-hards joined in. By the end of the tailgate some people were pretty hammered as they headed into Invesco (this was also the Rapids inaugural year at Invesco by the way).

Well the Rapids won, and they didn't just win, they won 5-2. Remember that the team was averaging 1.125 goals per game leading into this one, and hadn't scored more than 2 in any game. It was an offensive output the fans hadn't seen since the team scored 5 against Chicago at Mile High Stadium in 1998. Of course, those that partook most heavily in the Jamesons didn't really remember the game. ;) Not only that, but the next game the Rapids scored 3 at home against LA. Suddenly the Rapids offense was on fire. New England came back 3 weeks later, which was too soon to organize another Jameson's Night, and the Rapids lost 2-1.

In 2003 the Rapids started even slower than 2002. By the time of the New England home game the team was 1-2-6 with 4 goals in those 9 games. Obviously it was time to try the Jameson's Night again. Sure enough the fans got sauced and the Rapids won 4-1. The Rapids hadn't scored 4 goals since the prior Jameson's Night. As Jason Greene, one of the 2-3 supporters that originally came up with the idea (and one that doesn't really remember that first game), puts it, "I'm not normally a superstitious person, but after going 2-0 with 9 for and 3 against over our first two Jameson's Nights, it was clear to us that keeping up tradition would be worth every blown chunk.". After the successes of the first two Jameson's Nights, the tradition was on.

Including that first Jameson's Night the Rapids are 6-3-1 against New England at home since that game, outscoring them 21-9 with 4 shutouts. The only loss was the second game in 2002 when there was no Jameson's Night. The Rapids have never lost when Jameson's Night was held, let's hope that streak continues on Saturday night!