¡Ol! Ole Miss, that is. While not my first time at the University of Mississippi, this weekend was the first time I spent more than 7 hours in the town of Oxford and the university. I hadnt even planned to this school this season, but when have things ever gone to plan for anyone in 2020? Still, I finally got to my first SEC game of the season, and it was a barnburner. So much for the SEC being known as the conference of defense. In reality, times are especially in the year of Covid.
Truly, this trip was more of a than my typical football experiences this year. Football just provided an impetus to go somewhere. And once I had conferred with Christopher, who had wanted to go to at least one game with me this month, plans were settled. I found a reputable motel in town—aptly named the Ole Miss Motel—with reasonable rates and within walking distance of the campus of Ole Miss and the Oxford sights worth seeing. Its truly a gem, even if it looks grungy from the outside.
Friday night, our first stop was Rebel Rags, the premier swag store for Ole Miss apparel. Seriously, if you want something related to Ole Miss, itll be found at this place (except for a mask with a nose clip in it). Next, we sank our teeth into some juicy chicken at Abners, known for its chicken and with a continual stream of customers while we were in there. Then a walk around the main square of Oxford, which reminds me of so many small Southern towns Ive seen. Lots of people were out and about, and we stopped by a few of the shops, but nothing really kept us for very long. We did see someone had placed little books of MLKs sayings at odd places around the square, including the lap of the William Faulkner statue.
Saturday morning, we slept in but still managed to be out and about before most people were up. Blame it on our Eastern Time Zone bodies. We found a coffee shop between Abners and the main square, just opened in 2020, so we got caffeinated. Honestly the best pumpkin spice latte Ive ever had (yes, I had one). No indoor seating,
so we settled in for some on the main square, between the courthouse and the Confederate revisionist statue dedicated to a ‘just and holy cause. Sheesh. Flash forward two hours, and there were a few protestors with signs surrounding that statue. Bless ‘em. I think we made two trips around the square throughout the rest of the morning, checking out books and seeing if anyone sold Ole Miss masks with the nose clips. We found lots of fun books but no masks. I did break down and buy a big button with what I can only say looks like a glamour shot of the head coach of Ole Miss football, Lane Kiffin, most likely taken when he was head coach at Tennessee. I was not the only person to fall victim to his charisma. Nope. When we finally went to lunch at the Ajax diner, I was standing in line for the gents bathroom, and the two people in front of me—a father and his probably son—were both proudly sporting the same button! And the kid told me he had the same shirt I was wearing, except in short sleeves. (I bought my shirt at Rebel Rags: powder
blue with OLE MISS across the chest and the outline of a shark in red underneath it.) The dad was also the first person to give me a Hotty Toddy since I appeared to be a native.
The Ajax diner was just too much, however. Everyone knows how much I love soul food, and this place did not disappoint. But there was a lot of food on the plate. And there were a LOT of people packed inside the place, with very few masks at all. Plastic sheets divided the booths, but as Christopher succinctly said, If I get Covid on this trip, itll be from this place. Indeed.
We spent most of the afternoon on the campus of Ole Miss. My impressions of the Grove—normally where the biggest crush of tailgating perhaps in the world happens for every Ole Miss home game in times—were of two parts: first, how empty it looked; and second, how little Covid was being spread because people were actually obeying the orders.
