Sunday, October 5, 2014

Game Day, #HailState

What a day in Starkville, Mississippi!

The excitement had begun to build long begin long before Saturday.  SEC Nation was coming to town.  The weather was gonna be awesome.  Only problem, somebody decided to schedule this game at 11:00!

OK, make the adjustments, no problem.  Food prep day the day before.  Pack the car the night before.  Set the alarm clock for 4, then hope for the best.  Sausage balls cooked, cooler packed, I'm off!

The man cub did his part, arriving well ahead of 4 hours before kickoff to drop off the supplies.  A college student up by 5 after a night of Bulldog Bash, amazing!  I found my "pay and park" spot, loaded up my trusty ole collapsible wagon and off I went.

We had the grill going in no time.  Deer sausage and man cub drop biscuits, awesome with a cold beer at 8 in the morning!?  We looked at each other, agreed, skip the beer, water will do!

My nephew needed to borrow one of my chafing dishes.  Seems he had brought a breakfast casserole that needed to stay warm.  He shows up for the pickup, first thing I see, he's got on his Maroon shirt, the color for the day.  Then I see he is wearing shorts.  Now,  the weather has taken a bit of a dip.  I left my flippers and shorts at home, too damn cool.  Nephew Chase is wearing those shorts of his, but those dang things were PINK!  I gave him a hard time about his choice of breakfast foods and his attire and he took it well!

Had some walkup company that took one look, and said "y'all seem to know what you're doing, we need some help.  Can you drop us some clues on how to do this tailgating thing?"

Freshmen parents that just drove in from Memphis.  They had to make several trips to the car, in the parking lot, half a mile away.  How do you get all this stuff in and out of here without killing yourself?  Man cub and I looked at each other, chuckled a bit, then looked at him and we both said "get here early and stay late".  Freshmen parents have to learn the " 4 hour before kickoff rule" the hard way.  Tents and tables dropped off the night before, securing some stuff to the tree.  Grill comes from the apartment or condo you will have for the next few years.  The rest of it, you just figure out on your own!

Lots of noise and excitement was coming from the Junction with SEC Nation in the middle of it all.  Alumni of years past will remember "malfunction junction" where five roads intersected near the stadium.  The roads are all gone, now replaced with an open space reserved for party tents and the hoards of Bulldog faithful to gather.

The stadium opened early.  The students filled there section in no time flat.  First come first served seating.  I took my seat an hour early to take it all in.  Team warm ups were in full swing!  I'm sitting on the visitors side.  The sun has not yet overcome the top of the stadium.  Sitting in that shade was some kinda chilly.  Thankfully I had my multipurpose jacket with me!

Stadium filled up, crowd began to warm up and the cowbells began to clang!  The A&M team has been here before with Johnny Football.  That was before the new enclosed end of the stadium.  The visitors dressing rooms were moved, and are now under the student section in their corner of the end zone.  Stomping on that concrete during  halftime, a new tradition at Wade Davis Stadium!

A&M went in for a score on their first possession with ease.  Oh shit, Johnny Football all over again.... State responded in kind.  A&M player ejected for targeting.  Head Referee caught with a live microphone cussing at himself on a screwup.  Could these be good signs of things to come???  Yes indeed!  Defense put on a show!  Dak Attack and company was impressive!

Halftime arrived.  Cousin Linda was my companion for the day.  She had to leave her seat for a bit.  We looked at each other and laughed!  We had not put our cowbells down the entire first half.  What was she to do?   In order to not break the luck, I kept mine in hand, the whole game.  Neighbor offered to fetch cold drinks for me to keep the luck running.  Dawgs win, in a big way!

The crowd was the loudest I've ever participated in.  Could not hear the referee or any of the anounncements throughout the game.  Hardly anyone left for concessions or gravity runs.  Had me thinking, how can a woman watch a football game for three straight hours without a gravity run, but yet, have to stop every hour on a road trip to pee????

Had a few people in the crowd that had their cowbells malfunction.  During a big score, their cowbell clapper got the clap and froze up, no clanger dinging at all!  Mighty frustrating indeed.  More cowbell needs more WD40!

The amazing thing to me, I was able to post updates to Facebook all game.  Video feeds were a bust, but what the hell.  I finally figured out why.  Folks in the stadium, with all the excitement, could not drink their drink, ring their bell, and text at the same time!  Me, I just put my cup between my knees and began updating away!

I didn't leave the stadium the whole game.  Before and after, I'd been digging for my friend threw my drawers and couldn't find him.  Finally did the submarine routine as a last second call.  Much later in the day, I finally discover my drawers are on backwards!  Another tradition to keep the winning streak going.  Whatever it takes!

After the game it was back to tailgating.  Friends stopping by to bask in the reflections of the success of the day.  Grill was fired back up, time for burger sliders and cold beer!  Then it got interesting. Lots of the TV's were now on the TSUN game.  Mostly curious, mostly its all about football.  Even the TV's in the student union were showing that game.  Man cub and I stopped to catch the last six minutes, out of respect for his mother and her side of the family, of course.

Ole Miss wins and they invade the field and tear down the goal posts.  MSU wins, and we go about our way, leaving the field and stadium intact.  There will probably be fines on both schools, for field distruction and excessive cowbell noise.  In my book, both are well worth writing the check!

#HailState and HYDR!

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