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First, soak in a little Ole Miss game day experience:
....as the college gameday unfolds.
A few pieces about the Texas invasion. Apparently, we're overpaid, oversexed, and over there.
Upate: Today's post from Red Cup Rebellion should fire you up.
For starters, there are a shitload of Texans here this weekend. Of course, there are just simply a shitload of Texans to begin with, but what we have on our hands right now is a full-fledged invasion. I would say that, of the people I saw out eating and drinking, a solid third of them were in burnt orange and white.
The difference between this bunch, though, and the throngs of LSU, Alabama, and State fans we're more accustomed to seeing in Oxford, is their general amicability. Perhaps they are that impressed by our hospitality and what our little corner of the world has to offer. Perhaps they do understand how a proper guest acts (He doesn't dress like a broke-ass pimp or rattle an antiquated piece of farm equipment welded to a bicycle handle, for example.) and are carrying themselves accordingly. Or perhaps they are just looking forward to all of this as much as we are. Whatever it is, they've been great so far.
Everything from Old Taylor to the Square to the Grove was as packed as I've ever seen any of it. This is certainly on a level approaching, if not matching, the sheer volume of humanity that was present in Oxford for the 2003 LSU game. It is just that wild.
It is becoming as storied as anything William Faulkner ever penned at Rowan Oak. Ole Miss fans told FOX13 the rumors and stories surrounding the Ole Miss-Texas game are growing like fish tales. 100,000 fans are expected in Oxford on Saturday. The city will grow by 2.5-times its normal size. Traffic in Oxford was already tough on Friday. RV lots were filling up and the university airport is nearly at capacity with learjets. Houses are being rented for as much as $20,000 for the weekend, and wild rumors are circulating that Matthew McConaughey has rented City Grocery and two other bars. Around 40,000 Texas fans are rumored to be showing up for the big game.
I'll buy 25,000. But who knows?
The eyes and wallets of Texas are upon the grove:
David Odom and his wife Logan, who live in Taylor, Miss., six miles from Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, rented their 2,300 square-foot home with four bedrooms and two baths for Friday and Saturday nights. They don't mind staying across the street with a neighbor since Texas fans are handing the Odoms an $1,800 check ($900 per night). "That covers two of my house payments," said Odom. "We've put our house up for rent for every game this season, but this is the first time it rented. Within 10 days of listing the rental on the first of August, we had it rented."
Two house payments. So there's your move to Mississippi pitch.
"Usually our busiest game is when LSU plays here," McManus said. "But this game blows what we get for LSU completely away. We started getting calls from Texas fans in February. We're so booked that by tomorrow (Friday) afternoon, we're having planes drop their passengers and fly to park at other airports like Olive Branch, Tupelo or Tunica. I have 100 rental cars parked in the grass outside our terminal that are rented and waiting to be picked up."
Can't even get my dadgum lear jet to land in Oxford pissant small capacity sumbitches / grumbling Texas alum.
This is also your Saturday open thread.
Pace yourself because, in addition to our evening tilt, the day is backloaded with Tennessee-Florida, Michigan St-Notre Dame, USC-Stanford, and BYU-Utah.
Ole Miss game thread will go up two hours before the game.