Taking in the Grove for the first time
Oct. 6—It was a few ticks past 3:30 or so as I made my way up to the press box at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
Once inside, I felt the cool relief of air conditioning, sucked down most of an ice-cold Arnold Palmer and started to sort through what exactly had just happened over the last hour or so.
When I met with my colleague Michael Katz, the Daily Journal's Ole Miss beat reporter, ahead of last Saturday's LSU game about what I could write about that he might have too much on his hands to cover, he had the genius idea of seeing how Ole Miss fans felt about the Lane Kiffin regime after the previous weekend's disappointing loss at Alabama. And what better way to do that than to metaphorically dive headfirst into the Grove for the first time?
Let me preface this by saying I've only lived in Mississippi for a few months, but I'm not a total stranger to tailgating. I'm not a tailgating pro, but I've been around the block a few times.
For one, I grew up in north Florida, where college football — no matter if it's Florida, Florida State or Georgia — still reigns supreme. Jacksonville, my hometown, still hosts the (unofficially now) World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party, at least until Kirby Smart eventually gets his way. While in college at the University of Florida, I attended GameDay on campus in 2019.
On the NFL side, I still remember the days of when my dad used to split Jaguars season tickets and we would go to church, stop by Publix to grab chicken tenders (because every good Florida story involves Publix chicken tenders) and park at the Duval County Public Schools building. Some of my dad's friends would join, food would be consumed, a pigskin would be tossed and we'd take the water taxi over to the game.
But I'm not sure anything prepares someone for their first trip into the Grove.
Tents taking up every square inch of the 10 acres. Endless numbers of people huddled under said tents. Shoulder-to-shoulder traffic in the few walkways that exist. TVs set up everywhere. More kinds of food than one can count. Ole Miss fans were instructed to wear red, and it was just an endless sea of red collared shirts and slacks.
Talking to random people is pretty much my worst nightmare, and it feels even more difficult once people realize you're waving a microphone in their face. Generally speaking, I feel like most conversations that begin with "Hi, I'm a reporter working for (insert outlet here), and I was wondering if you have a few minutes to talk about..." don't usually end well, not too dissimilar from a Jehovah's Witness member going door to door.
But the good folks of the Grove treated me well. Our conversations were never tense, and it really showed me how generational Ole Miss fandom is. People who are fans from birth or adopted it because one of their kids went to school there or people who are fans because it was passed down to them. It's not rare to see multiple generations of the same family under the same tent.
"When I was born, I had an Ole Miss football in my crib. Been one about every day of my life," one fan told me.
While the last day of September didn't feature quite the record-breaking heat that was seen earlier in the summer, it was hot enough to be a reminder that it still wasn't quite fall. I found myself constantly wiping sweat off my forehead, and unfortunately more than a few sweat stains had formed on my shirt. Having gathered enough interviews to fill out my story, I made my way back to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, though I did manage to get stuck in the Grove as the Walk of Champions was forming. Important lesson learned: It's much easier to walk around the Grove than through the Grove.
For as big as the LSU game was, I got the sense that this wasn't a one-time thing. That kind of crowd and atmosphere will be there for LSU, but I'm sure it was there for Mercer, too.
"I think Ole Miss is as you see — look at this crowd here," Stan Whitley said. "Of course, it is LSU weekend, but every weekend we're packed down here. I think Lane Kiffin has been a good addition to us."
It's quintessential college football in the South. There may be intense tailgating scenes at college campuses across the country, but there's only one Grove.
