Going for the Crown

Last night we had the annual running for the roses, sash and crown here in Mississippi.  The Miss Mississippi Pageant is broadcast live, running for two hours on one of the local television stations.

The old pageantry of years past somehow seems a bit lost, but for a group of eighty people in a "closed group" on Facebook, we look forward to this event for 364 days every year!

This group was formed several years ago, as a result of a each of us doing commentary individually on Facebook during this very same pageant.  Each of us would see each others comments and add to them.  Our individual comments were lighting up the FB news feed like crazy.  We were all like jealous pageant mom's on steroids!   Our regular Facebook friends did not know what to make of all this!

In a brainstorm dream, out fearless moderator came up with the idea of a closed group for the next pageant, which was Miss America, just a couple of months later.  Needless to say, it was a hit amongst  our group of pageant followers, and we are now a group of over eighty, and most of us have never met, all being friends of the moderator!

This year was almost like watching the Superbowl!  We had pre-game commentary. " Ok, what channel, because my cable viewing guide doesn't show it being on WLBT?"  "How many Casino ads will we see this year?"  "Will the plastic surgery ads take over this year?"  "Wonder why there are no dentist commercials with all those fixed smiles??"

WLBT cut over to the pageant right at the 8:00 hour.  It was obvious from that cut over that the pageant preliminaries had already been going on for some time.  One of our crew had been in attendance all week.  She noted that the Fire Marshall had visited on Wednesday, and ordered 40 seats be removed in the name of fire safety.   You know there had to be some hot and angry pageant attendees whose prepaid seats were nowhere to be found!

The cut over went into the introductory musical dance opener.  It didn't  take long for the commentary to begin!  The first live song, you guessed it, lip stinked!  Hopefully the audience didn't notice it as much as our group did!

We were introduced to this year's hostess, and right off the bat, some in our group noted that she had a baby only seven weeks earlier.  Some noted, "that must be the reason for that dress"!  It was a bright red one with an open back.  The wireless microphone pack looked like a battery pack for an android adult size doll!  She later changed into a blue dress that provided even more commentary.  Her boobs offered up one note that she looked engorged!  I noted that the veins popping out of her cleavage were the same color as her dress!

The evening gown portion was uneventful,  as the girls all looked stunning in their choices of gowns.  Their athletic trainers would be proud.  The plastic surgeons work was perfect.  One girl was caught by our group, her white bra strap was exposed, under her black dress.  This is a big no no in the pageant world!  Then, one contestant,  made it known that her mother had breast cancer, and that she, had undergone a preventative double mastectomy.  Wow!  We all wondered, would she make it to the next round?

The comment of the night came from our moderator during one of the segments where they announce the awarding of scholarship money.  "You have to just love it when a contestant is awarded a $1,000  scholarship while wearing a $6,000 dress!

The "talent" portion for the top ten had us all wondering, how bad could the others have been???  One girl doing ballet looked like a spinning top!  Singers had Daddies asking Mommas "and how much have we spent on voices lessons???"

The swimsuit portion was the hit of the night.  Some wondered if the spray tan solution was sold in 55 gallon drums. It looked like some of the contestants had put on their bodybuilder shine before their entry onto the stage!  Our comments centered around the shoes!  Some wore platform wedges and one contestant had the dreaded "toe overhang"!

Finally, it was down to the top five!  It's interview question time!  Most of us were of the consensus that last year's runner up was the odds on favorite, this being her last year to compete.  Yep, she got picked and made it through her question without a slip!

The anticipation was building for the announcement.   The lengthy song and dance numbers during vote tabulation just added to the suspense!   Finally, it was time!

The stage was full of dignitaries. Along with the crown bearer,  the Governor and Lt. Governor were at the ready with the bouquet of roses and the Miss Mississippi sash.    It's time!

After the first few announced placements, we learned that the odds on favorite didn't make it to the top two.  It was now down to Miss Rebel from Ole Miss and Miss Golden Eagle from USM.  The winner, the blonde violin player from USM!!!

Our group all expressed how much fun we had experienced together over the past 2.5 hours.  We are all at the ready for the next one.  Bring on the Miss America Pageant!!!