In 1996, Joe Cahn sold his cooking school business and took a job that's "like heaven," he said in an interview with CNN Money.
The 63-year-old, self-proclaimed "Commissioner of Tailgating" makes his living having drinks, grilling out and enjoying pregame parties with fellow NFL fans. He tailgates his way across the nation in an RV.
"It's the new American social," he told The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, "The last great American neighborhood where people get together and socialize. Tailgating is the original Facebook, except when you 'friend' someone in the parking lot, you get to eat."
In the 16 seasons he has been "professionally tailgating," Cahn estimates he has visited more than 800 venues and clocked more than 800,000 miles, he says in the CNN video below. He has had a host of sponsors over the years, including Coca-Cola, Campbells and Kraft, making him quite possibly America’s only professional tailgater. "Even if I won the lottery, I wouldn’t change my lifestyle," he told The Washington Post. "I get to eat the food of America."
His wife is "glad he's out of the house," and Cahn has found second family in the friendship, frankfurters and football across the country. “The Democratic Party is not a good party,” he said in a CBS interview. “The Republican Party is not a good party. The Tea Party is not a good party. The best party is the tailgate party.”
WATCH CNN's video with the Commissioner of Tailgating: