Ready for Game Day

The Today show anchor kicks off the season with this super-Southern dessert

- by BETSY WATSON photograph by MORGAN HUNT GLAZE

FOR CRAIG MELVIN, it’s not a real tailgate without a little competition. “You need to have fans from both teams. There's got to be trash-talking,” he says. “You can’t engage in that if everyone's for the same squad.” He roots for the Gamecocks. A native of Columbia, home to the University of South Carolina, his devotion only deepened when he returned to the area for his first postgrad news gig after attending Wofford College in Spartanburg. “My house was in the Rosewood neighborhood, within walking distance of Williams-Brice Stadium. I spent many Saturdays tailgating there,” he says.