If football was a religion, then tailgating at the Capital City Classic would be its camp meeting.

Welcome to tailgating as Alcorn State University fans do it &8212; with plenty of food, fun and all the trimmings and, of course, the main event &8212; in Saturday&8217;s case, the annual game pitting Alcorn against rival Jackson State University.

But first, the food.

&8220;Come on &8212; sit down,&8221; said Charles Fleming, one of several family members from Natchez. &8220;You want a pop? Here, have some shrimp. Make yourself at home.&8221;

Indeed, the Fleming-Scott family&8217;s tailgating site &8212; one of hundreds packed into the parking lot of Veterans Memorial Stadium &8212; seemed to have almost all the comforts of home. Arranging their comfy lounge chairs in a circle, the smells of crawfish boil coming from two big Dutch ovens, the only thing missing was a TV set.

Not that they needed it. Charles Fleming himself seemed to be the entertainment, cracking jokes and doubling over with laughter with almost every breath and going over to say hello to his neighbors.

The striking thing: from one end of the parking lot to the other, Alcorn and JSU could often be found fellowshipping with one another, something you might not see between diehard fans of other university teams.

Well, for one thing, some families have alumni from both schools. People from the Alcorn camp have been known to marry people from the Jackson State camp, he said conspiratorially. &8220;Basically,&8221; he said, raising his voice to previous tailgating levels, &8220;we&8217;re just one big family here.&8221;

&8220;Doesn&8217;t matter what race you are, what school you&8217;re from or whatever, you&8217;re welcome here,&8221; he went on to say.

That&8217;s been the Fleming-Scott family&8217;s motto for the many years &8212; for some of them, more than 30 years total &8212; they&8217;ve been attending almost every Alcorn game, at home or away.

&8220;We even went to Washington, D.C., to watch them play when Hurricane Ivan was coming in,&8221; Fleming&8217;s wife, Betty, said with a proud smile. A little sprinkle of rain, such as happened before Saturday&8217;s game, wouldn&8217;t slow them down one bit and certainly wouldn&8217;t keep them from supporting their team.

Not that they don&8217;t have a special reason for rooting for Alcorn this time around. As Lee Edward Scott and his wife, Van, proudly pointed out, their son Bryan Woods is playing for Alcorn, where he&8217;s now a junior.

The other reasons they love all the events surrounding the game, including tailgating? &8220;Being with my family, my children,&8221; said Van Scott, one of Betty Fleming&8217;s sisters. &8220;This is part of our everyday life.&8221;

Plus, Charles Fleming said, there&8217;s plenty to be proud of when it comes to Alcorn. &8220;We&8217;re one of the oldest black universities in the nation. And we were the first ones to be settled with in the Ayers case,&8221; he said.

He could have gone on, but someone yelled out that it was barely 30 minutes until kickoff, and the camp stoves were put out, the last of the cold drinks finished and the rain ponchos donned. It was time to do what they came for.

But a parting word from Charles Fleming summed up his philosophy for tailgating and for life.

&8220;Be as nice as you can to everybody. Enjoy life. Someone told me that and said to pass it on, and now I&8217;m passing it on to you,&8221; he said.

And another parting motto? &8220;Go Braves,&8221; someone shouted from the group that was quickly leaving Charles behind for the stadium.

Words to live by.