ROADHOGS



In my quest to travel and visit each away venue that the Hogs play in the SEC, I can now scratch Starkville, MS off my list. Several friends warned me earlier in the week about this being a dead end trip and I was prepared for the worst. But as usual, I was pleasantly surprised. For starters, we got there in record time; 4 hours flat. That's almost as quick as a trip to Fayetteville from Searcy. (Jay was driving and reliving his old Dallas cop days chase experiences I do believe). Secondly, it was a gorgeous day with temps in the low 60's and the sun was shining in a cloudless sky. I was warned that the facilities were less than stellar, and there was nothing to do there. Well, we traveled there ONLY to watch football so I wasn't concerned about typical "after-game" celebration hot spots. Yes, the stadium is old and small and there was no hot water in the Razorbacks dressing room, but the campus was neatly landscaped and access to the stadium was fan friendly. Like our Auburn trip, we got there early enough to walk down to within a step of the field and enjoy seeing the players and coaches go through pre-game warm-ups as if we were on the staff. The Bulldog faithful were very hospitable and engaging and seemed to appreciate the 8,000 or so Hog fans who joined them for the game. As we waited outside the stadium to greet the Hogs an older gentlemen came up and asked us about our trip and our team and where in Arkansas we were from. After a short visit, we knew he was probably SOMEBODY and I asked him were he was sitting. His seats were in one of the boxes in the exclusive "M" club. I asked if we could come sit with him and he simply winked at me and said "yall enjoy the game." Oh well, didn't hurt to ask! The five of us, Gary, Jim, Jay, James, and I had a great time. The game was closer than we wanted with Coach Croom's bunch holding us to our lowest offensive outing of the year. We found out we were a complete football team Saturday with the first two scores coming off of special teams efforts. Defense only gave up one big running play and allowed a TD pass but was stingy otherwise. I will always remember the Starkville trip for several reasons. We won the SEC West outright that day, James was sick the whole trip but managed to even call the hogs a couple of times, and being with friends trumps a championship every time. I can't go to Atlanta this year, but I plan on watching the SEC championship with a friend or two as well...after we take care of the Bayou Bengals friday! I wonder if Hawaii will ever try and join the SEC.....ROADTRIP!  ¶ 5:27 PM