I didn’t know all that much about the American football phenomena known as tailgating, but I did know this: you need a stadium parking lot, and by God, you need a large vehicle, so why not a pick-up truck?

So the truck was the first step, and we elected to go with the 2015 Ram EcoDiesel; we would have to cover about 360 kilometers from our starting point in Vancouver, BC to CenturyLink Field, right on the water in downtown Seattle, WA. That is where we’d be watching the hometown Seahawks play the New York Giants.

We wanted something efficient, and the Ram turned out to be just that; we saw 9.6L/100km throughout our journey, meaning we only went through about a quarter of a tank.

The next step, then, was to find an appropriate place to tailgate.

Which is a bit of a problem at CenturyLink; considering the densely-populated downtown area in which it sits—not to mention the close proximity to the Pacific Ocean—they don’t tend to have acres and acres of massive parking lots. Not to mention that some veteran football fans I’d talked to prior to our trip had said that “Seattle isn’t really a tailgating town.”

We would soon find out how incorrect that statement was.

We had to arrive early because, as it turns out, the tailgating spots in the few open parking lots that exist are hotly contested. We ended up with the last spot in one of the lots. It was the last one left for one big reason: half of it was submerged in a puddle. No problem for the 1500, but I’ll put it to you this way—we had to be careful when stepping out.

Truck parked, we commenced setting up. For us, that meant taking our two lawn chairs, coolers and “12th Man” flag” – which I would find out later being the name of the collective fan base—and set everything up at the back of the truck.

Our set-up paled—and I mean PALED—in comparison to what others were doing.

Two lawn chairs? Psshhaw. Try six officially licensed Seahawks ones, one for each member of the family. A 12th Man flag? Again; psshaw. How about an entire tent emblazoned with the Seahawks logo? And almost every spot had one. This wasn’t a parking lot; this was a small village.

Of course, the blue-neon green was everywhere; on ugly sweaters, jerseys, toques, socks—I’m fairly certain that every person in that parking lot was wearing some Seahawks paraphernalia. European football—read: “soccer”—fans like to think they’re the most manic, with the clothes, hats, flags etc., but these Seahawks fans would give them a run for their money.

Then, there’s the food.

We expected to find folks with maybe a portable barbeque cooking up some hot dogs, burgers, typical camping fare. Maybe there’d be a smoker.

We didn’t expect the portable oven sitting in a pickup bed, or the deep fryer and accompanying selection of sauces (seven, to be exact), or the hot wings recipe that rivaled anything we’d had in restaurants that specialize in these things. A few inquiries later, we’d find out that this was already the second meal these people had cooked there that day; they’d had breakfast, too.

Even though I’m not really a Seahawks fan—heck, I’m not really a football fan, in general—the folks there were accommodating. They had no problem lining up for photos, no problem chatting with this obvious football newbie about the ins and outs of the game, their team and the NFL ethos.

The game itself was a good one for ‘Hawks fans, with the home team winning 37-13, but it was secondary to the tailgating experience. Heck, that’s what football is all about; the community surrounding it. Players change, coaches change, jerseys change but the fan base remains, and they’re manic.

And they’ll always be tailgating.

The Ram

Well, we’d brought the right vehicle, that’s for sure; it actually surprised many that it was a diesel, since it runs so quietly and is nothing like the big Super and Heavy Duties that many of the folks there were used to. They wouldn’t believe that it was diesel, even after I assured them.

If it’s undetectable from the outside, then it may as well be a petrol six banger from the inside, making for a much more comfortable ride home after the game.

Also helping in this regard was our tester’s Laramie trim, which adds a ton of luxurious leather inside, big Uconnect infotainment screen (with wonderful Garmin GPS), heated seats and steering wheel which came in real handy in the cold, rainy weather.

Ours also came equipped with air ride suspension, which helps with towing as well as adding comfort to the ride. It compliments the coil springs at the rear, which is something no other light trucks can lay claim to, as they stick with leaf springs.

Add those fantastic fuel economy figures to the equation, and you see how much sense the 1500 EcoDiesel makes.