Oxford-vations, Vol. 2
posted by David Cloninger, 10/03/2008 10:26:00 AM
---------- THE BEATLES
Somewhere in heaven, there is a machine that cranks out 5-foot-6, blonde, blue-eyed, slightly sloshed Ole Miss coeds that say "daintz" for dance and know all the words to "Dixie" ...
A disclaimer, loyal readers -- never begin an evening with, "The motto for tonight is, if it flows downhill, put ice in it and try to drink it."
Walking around the gorgeous campus at Ole Miss, I was struck by the simplicity of it. Not much construction, everything built around shady-treed circles, extremely clean. The only piece of litter I saw the whole afternoon was an unopened can of Coke Zero sitting by itself on a sidewalk. Had to be some kind of "Jackass" stunt ... I wouldn't have picked up that sucker for all the bubblegum in a Rebel coed's purse.
Another thing -- hardly any of the students wore headphones as they commuted to class. Check out the Horseshoe sometime and at least eight of every 10 kids you see are jamming along with their iPods, usually to some godawful claptrap expressly written to play through a club amplifier at three in the morning.
If they had not had the first presidential debate here last week, I seriously doubt many Ole Miss students could have told you who was running. They're not ignorant or anything like that, it just seems a more genteel atmosphere -- tucked away from the rest of the world's problems and out of the big-city feel, where hostile takeovers of administration buildings by students are considered normal.
I only saw one individual who looked like he was plotting a protest march, and even he had his sunglasses attached to one of those strappy cords that hang around your neck and are standard issue for any Greek organization.
Attention, traveling USC fans -- if you get here today (Friday) or early tomorrow, check out Big Bad Breakfast on Lamar Street in West Oxford. Homemade biscuits (in itself a novelty -- the last one I saw was in a glass case), home-cured bacon and sausage, grits with just enough spice in them to take the first layer of skin off your tongue. I asked the first female cook I saw to marry me.
Also ate supper at City Grocery, where I felt under-dressed in a golf shirt and khakis. Rather spiffy establishment -- no telling how many proposals (the decent kind) have gone down there. Saw some early-arriving USC fans in all their finery while I was tucking into the pork tenderloin, served with potatoes and okra, which I wouldn't eat on a bet.
Before we got to the real entertainment of the evening, I found out about Chris Smelley being named the starter. Not surprised in the least -- Smelley is the more experienced QB and I figured it might be a repeat of last week.
Then Steve Spurrier said Smelley was the most mentally prepared, which seemed strange, and if Smelley looks good early, Stephen Garcia may not even come in. Smelley is more mentally prepared at the beginning, true, but sometimes falls apart after his first mistake, and although Garcia is still raw, at least he's raw enough not to realize what "could" happen instead of what he thinks "will" happen.
I wouldn't read to much into it ... it's probably just the Spurrier cloud bank hovering over the team, he wanting to protect each quarterback and give them each a shot of confidence. Smelley gets the public vote but Garcia knows Spurrier needs to win badly enough that if Smelley isn't performing, he'll be in there, Spurrier's recommendation or not.
Heading to Memphis today to see the Stax museum, which I missed during the Liberty Bowl two years ago, and eat some ribs, which I ate two years ago and have been aching to get again since. I'm desperately trying to remember kickoff comes extremely early tomorrow, and Friday night or not, I need to be sharp.
Problem is, no one on this campus is going to call it a night by 8 p.m. As a committed journalist, I need to be out amongst the people.
Link to this entry - Discuss this entry - Return to Blog Home
"Lovely Rita."
---------- THE BEATLES
Somewhere in heaven, there is a machine that cranks out 5-foot-6, blonde, blue-eyed, slightly sloshed Ole Miss coeds that say "daintz" for dance and know all the words to "Dixie" ...
A disclaimer, loyal readers -- never begin an evening with, "The motto for tonight is, if it flows downhill, put ice in it and try to drink it."
Walking around the gorgeous campus at Ole Miss, I was struck by the simplicity of it. Not much construction, everything built around shady-treed circles, extremely clean. The only piece of litter I saw the whole afternoon was an unopened can of Coke Zero sitting by itself on a sidewalk. Had to be some kind of "Jackass" stunt ... I wouldn't have picked up that sucker for all the bubblegum in a Rebel coed's purse.
Another thing -- hardly any of the students wore headphones as they commuted to class. Check out the Horseshoe sometime and at least eight of every 10 kids you see are jamming along with their iPods, usually to some godawful claptrap expressly written to play through a club amplifier at three in the morning.
If they had not had the first presidential debate here last week, I seriously doubt many Ole Miss students could have told you who was running. They're not ignorant or anything like that, it just seems a more genteel atmosphere -- tucked away from the rest of the world's problems and out of the big-city feel, where hostile takeovers of administration buildings by students are considered normal.
I only saw one individual who looked like he was plotting a protest march, and even he had his sunglasses attached to one of those strappy cords that hang around your neck and are standard issue for any Greek organization.
Attention, traveling USC fans -- if you get here today (Friday) or early tomorrow, check out Big Bad Breakfast on Lamar Street in West Oxford. Homemade biscuits (in itself a novelty -- the last one I saw was in a glass case), home-cured bacon and sausage, grits with just enough spice in them to take the first layer of skin off your tongue. I asked the first female cook I saw to marry me.
Also ate supper at City Grocery, where I felt under-dressed in a golf shirt and khakis. Rather spiffy establishment -- no telling how many proposals (the decent kind) have gone down there. Saw some early-arriving USC fans in all their finery while I was tucking into the pork tenderloin, served with potatoes and okra, which I wouldn't eat on a bet.
Before we got to the real entertainment of the evening, I found out about Chris Smelley being named the starter. Not surprised in the least -- Smelley is the more experienced QB and I figured it might be a repeat of last week.
Then Steve Spurrier said Smelley was the most mentally prepared, which seemed strange, and if Smelley looks good early, Stephen Garcia may not even come in. Smelley is more mentally prepared at the beginning, true, but sometimes falls apart after his first mistake, and although Garcia is still raw, at least he's raw enough not to realize what "could" happen instead of what he thinks "will" happen.
I wouldn't read to much into it ... it's probably just the Spurrier cloud bank hovering over the team, he wanting to protect each quarterback and give them each a shot of confidence. Smelley gets the public vote but Garcia knows Spurrier needs to win badly enough that if Smelley isn't performing, he'll be in there, Spurrier's recommendation or not.
Heading to Memphis today to see the Stax museum, which I missed during the Liberty Bowl two years ago, and eat some ribs, which I ate two years ago and have been aching to get again since. I'm desperately trying to remember kickoff comes extremely early tomorrow, and Friday night or not, I need to be sharp.
Problem is, no one on this campus is going to call it a night by 8 p.m. As a committed journalist, I need to be out amongst the people.
Link to this entry - Discuss this entry - Return to Blog Home
Previous Blog Entries
David Cloninger. David is a full-time staff writer for GamecockCentral, and covers Gamecock football, men's basketball, baseball and recruiting. He may be reached by email at david(at)gamecockcentral.com. Replace (at) with @.