Saturday. Game day. First home game in Starkville. First home game in Starkville. What to do, what to do? Since I live in a "house divided" some tough decisions have to be made. We line up the schedules, figure out the "no brainers" then flip a coin on the conflicts to see what colors to we will be wearing on Football Saturday. Since TSUN only has one home game in September, Oxford was the winner this go round.
Pit Stop:
The roads to Oxford and Starkville are a whole lot easier these days compared to "back when I was in school". Now you have four lane highways headed in both directions.
I was so fired up about Football Saturday that I was up at the butt crack of dawn. All the tailgate gear was packed the night before, just needing to be loaded up at early rise. I had a cypress bench to deliver, so packing had to be loaded around that. Also loaded up one of my ice chest cooler boxes to use as a refrigerator for all the "foo foo food" that needed to be kept cool. Got it all packed, hopped in the drivers seat, cranked up the Kia, then oh CRAP! The spousal unit was still in the bed cutting those zzz's with the CPAP machine justa humming. I shoulda thrown a yellow hankie at her for delay of game!
Pit Stop:
We finally got on the road about 10:00 and up I-55 we went. I learned long ago it is better to be slow and safe, compared to fast and pulled over, or God forbid, in a wreck. Got a call from a friend that needed a favor. Her SUV broke down on her during her gas stop in Grenada. She couldn't find her parking pass so she asked me to stop and look through the car. Get there, find the hidden key, and open the door. Found coffee cups, cigarette butts, six changes of clothes, several beach towels, lots of unopened junk mail, but no parking pass. That girl must live in that vehicle.
Since we had stopped, it made since to kill a few errands at one time. Topped off the gas tank, got the bottled water for the chafing dish, got the ice for the ice chest cooler box, then went across the street to the local liquor store for a bottle of tequila that we needed for Sunday. Oh Lord! I step through the door of the Sunset Liquor Store and it looked almost abandoned, nothing, literally nothing in the center of the store. All four walls were lined up with shelves, stocked with everything needed for a good ole drunk in the Grenada County Hills on a Saturday night. Don't even think about asking about the wine selection in a place like this! I looked for the clerk, and there he was. Good ole Bubba, all decked out in a stained covered wife beater t-shirt. I asked about Tequila, and he just pointed, saying nothing. I looked though his selections, no Cuevro Gold. I politely inquired, and his answer was, "ain't no gold in here, just silver and 1800". Silver it was. Bubba turns out to be quite the math genious. All the prices were listed with so many dollars and a bunch of odd cents. Bubba done priced everthang so that it would ring up even dollars including sales tax! Don't think he even had any coins in the register. You have got to stop by and see Bubba's operation for yourself the next time you take a break in Grenada.
Final Approach:
As you reach Batesville you take the exit to highway 6. On the right is a gas station that has all the party supplies that you forgot to pack and then some. There is even a Rebel Shop in a trailer in the parking lot for those that forgot and wore the wrong color shirt for game day.
As you get closer to Oxford, you have to take pause, and remember the poor gals that were killed or injured on a charity walk on this highway, as you pass the memorial that was erected to honor them. There are a lot of things that happen in this world that make you wonder "why", and this is one of them.
City Limits:
It always cracks me up to see the line of cars in the left lane once you enter the city limits of Oxford. Everybody wants to turn left on Jackson Avenue. There are three more exits right down the road that end up in the middle of campus! Must be getting a bite to eat, Shopping at Rebel Rags, or loading up on tailgate supplies at the Wally World.
We take the last exit on Lamar that leads to downtown, the Square, and University Avenue. The exit off 6 at Lamar has "round-a-bouts" on each side of the bridge. There has been many a country boy that has gotten caught up in one of those loops where he has either backed up traffic waiting his turn, or he is in a continual loop and can't figure out how to get off!
The first sighting of what the day will bring was one of those self serve ice machines. It was only 1:00 pm, with a 6:30 kickoff, and they had already put up the "sold out" sign.
Parking:
With the new parking policy, I knew that some would take advantage of the situation to their profit! Didn't realize it would be the local churches! The Baptist kept their price steady at $20. The enterprising Methodists marked theirs up from $20 to $30. The Catholics in previous years had figured it out and theirs was reserved parking only.
On game day 2013, you can enter the campus up to 3 hours before kickoff to unload your supplies and passengers, but you have to have a parking pass to park your vehicle on campus. This was especially troublesome for the families that had large blocks of tickets, but get only one parking pass for a fee of $100. I damn near had three or four fender benders just trying to unload. Those hem lines on those coeds keep getting shorter and shorter! Thank you Lord for blessing me with two boys!
I think the University had more security working the parking issue today than they had in the 1960's on the day when the first black kid, James Meredith, was enrolled as a student.
We were fortunate enough to get assigned to the Ford Center parking, which is one a hop, skip and a jump from the Grove.
Tailgating:
We are fortunate enough to have friends that locate their tent on the corner as you cross the bridge on University Avenue, right next to the "Popo Tent". Here is a picture of me and the spousal unit with the "Popo" in the background:
As a surprised, I got all decked out in the color of the day for my Rebellion Friends"
Yep! even my shoes wear red.
My dear friend Marian, remarked that I truly must be going through the change. I just fired back "I may be red on the outside today, but I am true maroon on the inside, including my boxers!" Tried to get her to look but she turned her head away in just the nick of time!
The ice chest cooler box I brought was a great addition. It became the designated refrigerator for those "foo foo" items that can't take the heat, like those deviled eggs!
People have finally figured out the little party wagons, as we had three identical red ones! My buddy Thom commented that after seeing mine, he had to get one. He was glad he did, because his parking lot was on the back side of nowhere!
To me, the best part of being in the Grove is the bird watching. It must have been a tough summer state wide, as the plumage on the coeds has gotten shorter and shorter. My buddy Thom and I agreed that on our next trip to Oxford, we would be bringing a wooden yard stick and a t-shirt printed with "skirt alert". If these coeds come by with dresses and skirts shorter than my shirt tail, we are gonna yell "skirt alert!" And turn them around and send them home! (We would probably be out numbered!)
The Game:
These days, schools have a designated game day color. Today of course, was red. As you entered the stadium, all you saw was a sea of red. And hot, oh it was hot. You can pay $8 for a large stadium cup that has refills. Mine ended up averaging $2 per cup full. I highly recommend it on a hot day.
They have a "freshmen run" at the first home game. The freshmen all line up outside the stadium, and they get to run the length of the field to the student section. There is no way that security has validated all of those tickets of these freshmen. It is amazing to see how many freshmen there are on campus each year.
During one of the game breaks, Cspire, the cell phone company, gave away a car to one of five students that had the highest rebel reward points accumulated from last year. I got to wondering, are they are going honor the student with the highest number of parking tickets from last year at the next game?
As predicted, the game against Southeast Missouri was a runaway. Before the beginning of the second half all the frat boys and their dates had left the Vaught!
Potty Break:
On a hot game day Saturday, you will eventually have mother nature come a calling. As you age your body starts going through changes. I have officially reached the latter stages of manhood. Me and four older guys were all lined up at the urinal, and nothing was happening. Not a drop. Felt like I was a kid again that had consumed too much alcohol. No matter how hard I tried, nothing! Finally one of the old guys hollered "anybody having any luck down the line?" All of a sudden the whole bathroom broke out in laughter. Seems nobody was having any luck, since we had all sweated out most of the liquid we had consumed. Finally, the Ah's began, relief! Another round of laughter began.
Time to Go:
Game over, back to the Grove you go. Some begin to immediately pack up, others sit down and discuss the days events while waiting for traffic to clear. We try to figure which little red wagon belongs to whom. We get everything all packed up and loaded up with the exception of the tent. Tent guy comes by later. Great investment by friend Charla!
Since traffic had now cleared, I was able to pull my KIA up to the curb. Some ole boys noticed my MSU Dad sticker on the window and they said, "Hey lady, what's with the State sticker, you need to get rid of that" The spousal unit replied "I live in a divided household, Hotty Toddy!" With that those boys were very apologetic and came back and gave her a hug and together that all yelled their Hotty Toddy cheer, Momma and the young'n's! Love it!
As we are driving down highway 6 towards Batesville, I kept smelling something. I didn't figure it out until we got to I-55. It was ME!
What a day. Got to spend quality time with my wife, see lots of friends that went to the wrong school, and practice my bird watching skills. Ain't nothing like the South on College Game Day.
Life is good, live it each day, for tomorrow you will be gone. For all my Ole Miss friends, Hotty Titty!, I mean Hotty Toddy! Go Dogs!
2 comments:
Did you get Morgan's permission to dress like a Reb?
Loved the summary and reflections of the day ! Roy and I came by but no one was at your tent. We had four of the five grands with us nd had to stay on a tight schedule and child watch with so many people in a small area. We didn't lose antibody and thy had a blast all day. If you can, chek out the picture of the grands when we got back to the condo... We will find you next time.
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