Crimson Red Sports

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“CIVILIZATION begins with distillation,” William Faulkner wrote, and in Oxford, Miss., his adopted hometown, it’s possible for a literary pilgrim to visit what’s left of his liquor cabinet.

Rowan Oak, Faulkner’s family home, is open to visitors, and in a glass case you will find a bottle of Four Roses bourbon, which he liked because it was inexpensive and easy to find. There’s his metal mint julep cup. There’s also a bottle of Harvey’s Fine Tawny Hunting Port, which he used for cooking game birds while a second bottle, for drinking, warmed in the ashes of the fire. And there are a few bottles of fine French wine, which he could afford to imbibe after winning the Nobel Prize in 1949.

Tailgating in the Grove has been a tradition at Ole Miss since the 1950s, its rituals closely attended to. This is not a land of face- and chest-painters. Many male students wear coats, ties and loafers; female students mostly wear brightly colored cocktail dresses and more makeup than one is accustomed to seeing on a human face in daylight.

The polite din is shattered, every so often, when a hoarse voice cries out, “Are you ready?” This is the beginning of the Ole Miss cheer, known as “Hotty Toddy.” Everyone within earshot yells back: “Helllll yes! Daaamn Right!” The batty, but catchy, cheer rolls on:

Hotty Toddy, Gosh almighty

Who the hell are we, Hey!

Flim Flam, Bim Bam

OLE MISS BY da#@!  

Otherwise sane adults are unembarrassed to holler this out every 10 minutes or so.

Glad the Bama fans showed up or VHS would have looked like South Panola was in town

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I saw that article this past weekend.  Well done. 

Oxford is a fine little town, and I hope the Yankees don't decide to move down South for retirement (and ruin it).

2 for 1 deal on those dresses?

Walmart.  $10 each (no straps).

I think those are guys!