Red Cup Rebellion: An SB Nation Community

Navigation: Jump to content areas:


Pro Quality. Fan Perspective.
Login-facebook
Around SBN: College Football Preseason Top 25 Rankings

The Cup Countdown: Number 5

So I had every opportunity to go to the Florida game. And I didn't. A couple of my friends have ragged me about it endlessly, but I'm sticking to my guns. Sometimes, a man has to have some principles. I had reached the end of my rope with this Ole Miss team. I wasn't seeing the effort, the realization of potential that would have inspired me to drive 12 hours with Ivory Tower and his lame country music to watch my Rebels get waxed by the best team in the country. So I didn't go. I stayed behind and engaged in an athletic endeavor of my own. I played Ultimate Frisbee. I wrapped my broken left hand into a sweaty, medical tape club (Patrick Willis style) and vented my football frustrations by owning the shit out of some motherfuckers in flatball. It felt good; being trapped in the stands while you helplessly watch your team lose is pretty agonizing. I'm not a terrific athlete by any means, but it feels good for the actions and decisions to be your own, to feel the burn of a full sprint in your legs as you pull past another player and burn him on your way to the endzone. I was at peace...

Star-divide

When the Ultimate game ended, some guys from Tupelo that we played with (State fans, no doubt) mentioned that, hey, you guys aren't getting your asses kicked too bad in Gainseville. Shit, I thought. Not again. I had almost wanted to that the score was 28-0, Florida, shake my head in disgust, and move on with my day. No such luck. We all scurry to find a TV. A few hurried minutes later, I'm wringing my hands in front of a big screen at a bar. One of my friends bartends there, and opened up for business early on account of the game. So there we were, right after a Shene FG puts us within 7 just after halftime. Cordera Eason scores an acrobatic touchdown. McCluster squirts through the UF defense for 7 more. Somehow, we're up. At this point, it becomes obvious that Florida is Done Fucking Around. A big kick return and a quick score have the game tied up again. Ole Miss punts, then forces a punt, starting the pivotal drive of the game with 6:54 left on the game clock. Dex runs for 4. Bolden runs for 1. Third and five, most likely a passing down, and Snead has been inconsistent all day. Good thing for Kent Austin. Austin has noticed Florida's secondary creeping up on the run, sitting on short routes. Third and five. Game on the line.

Flash forward. May. New York city subway, 9:00 AM on Sunday morning. Ghost and I are leaving the sports bloggers' conference, bleary-eyed, surveying the riff-raff that usually occupies the tubes on a morning such as this. We're creeping along, stop after stop, when another train pulls up adjacent to ours. The doors clanger open, and a portly, poorly composed fellow stands up like a bolt. He darts his glance to the other faces on the train, and hiking up his cargo shorts, loudly proclaims "IT'S THE NUMBA THREE EXPRESS, (racial epithet excluded)!!!!!!!!!" He runs to the other train. Ghost and I follow. At some point, a month or two later, we're talking about the Florida game, and the conversation turns to that one play. Third and five. And Ghost pegs it. Shay Hodge. 86 yards for the score. The #3 Express.

Back to the barroom full of sweaty guys. Hodge blows by Major Wright. The room erupts. I high five someone. Hard. With my broken hand. Ow. But it didn't matter. The win was eminent. This one felt different. I want to say that it was at that point that I knew we had it. Thanks, Shay. That was pretty badass.

28d2a_medium

via media.commercialappeal.com


0 recs  |  Comment 6 comments |

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

Display:

I can understand you not making the drive...

I didn’t either. But from your post it sounds like you missed the whole first half. I hope that’s not the case. That would posit more than just a “we probably won’t win” kind of attitude.

by Hunter C. on Sep 1, 2009 4:07 PM EDT reply actions  

You have to realize...

After the Vanderbilt game, Whiskey Wednesday was ready to stop blogging. It infuriated him.

by Juco All-American on Sep 1, 2009 4:17 PM EDT up reply actions  

The guy who inspired the "NuMbA tHrEe XpReSs" bit was an interesting character.

He was loud, with a voice that pierced the train car with every word he yelped. He was also vulgar, hollering at every girl within eyeshot of him. Ethnically, he was quite ambiguous, almost in a way which personified New York itself. WW and I couldn’t help but observe the fella’s every move becuase he was literally the only person in the train car who was moving.

As WW said, it was a Sunday morning. We were both insanely hungover and exhausted from gettin’ our booze on with other sports bloggers (I swear, it wasn’t nearly as nerdy as it sounds) all damned day before ending up in a sketch-ass hipster bar in Chinatown all damned night. We found ourselves that morning on the #1 local train which, along with #’s 2 and 3, runs along the western edge of the isle of Manhattan until converging somewhere downtown. We were en-route from Columbia to Penn Station to catch the bus back to DC and not in the mood to deal with this bizarre clown.

Yet we followed him onto the #3 express. Granted, the express trains naturally get you to certain stops faster than the local trains, but whatever… we didn’t really “know” that at the time and just acted on a hunch and a bizarre need to follow around a guy who was literally skipping with his pants hiked up as if he were running over hot coals.

We didn’t at all find it funny until maybe a few hours later when I simply looked at WW and said “IT’S DA NUMBER TREE EXPRESSS” as a complete non-sequitor. We loled.

There, that’s my story.

by The Ghost of Jay Cutler on Sep 1, 2009 4:58 PM EDT reply actions  

Ole Miss earned it......

 Was present at the Rebels / Gator game and damn was it hot……
Ole Miss time after time manned up and did their part…….
Some of those passes Snead was hitting looked like darts
in a bullseye! Florida was in it till the end but it just was not their day! My hats off to the Rebels and I look forward to seeing you guys
again in “Hotlanta”

by UltraGator on Sep 1, 2009 8:48 PM EDT reply actions  

Florida fans know what's up.

Every Gator I’ve talked to has ranted and raved about Jevan Snead along with our defensive playmakers. I guess they realize that Snead could have very certainly been a Gator.

by The Ghost of Jay Cutler on Sep 2, 2009 12:30 AM EDT up reply actions  

Comments For This Post Are Closed


User Tools

Old people really, really don't like us.
Start posting about the Rebels »

Join SB Nation and dive into communities focused on all your favorite teams.

Connect_with_facebook

FanPosts

Community blog posts and discussion.

Recommended FanPosts

Small
Ruminations on the Upcoming Season

Recent FanPosts

Crawfish_small
Follow the Masoli appeals process here
Crawfish_small
Neal McCready lowers the boom on NCAA's Masoli decision (free Rivals content)
Small
Gonzo will be upset about this
Images_small
Not Sports Related, But Mississippi Related
100_3931_small
Could It Be?
Small
Football Recruiting Rankings
Small
Handy New Gameday Product
Colonel_reb_small
Mississippi Gridiron Magazine
Av_small
Will The cowbell die this year? One can hope right?

+ New FanPost All FanPosts >

SBNation.com Recent Stories

South Carolina's quarterback Stephen Garcia celebrates with fans after defeating Vanderbilt 14-10 in their NCAA college football game  Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009, at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Mary Ann Chastain)

College Football Opening Night Rootability Index: Telling You Which Teams To Like

Florida State's Christian Ponder, left, runs as Miami's Marcus Robinson gives chase during the first quarter of an NCAA college football game Monday, Sept. 7, 2009, in Tallahassee, Fla. (AP Photo/Phil Coale)

2010 ACC College Football Preview: Deep Conference Should Make For Highly Competitive Season

Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany speaks in Lincoln, Neb., Friday, June 11, 2010, in front of a Big Ten and a Nebraska backdrop. Nebraska made it official Friday and applied for membership in the Big Ten Conference, a potentially crippling blow to the Big 12 and the biggest move yet in an off season overhaul that will leave college sports looking much different by this time next year.(AP Photo/Nati Harnik) +5 updates

Big Ten Announces Conference Divisions For 2011

More from SBNation.com >


Lazy blogger who really only writes about basketball...sorta

Small The One That Got Away