The first day of the Ole Miss Rebel football season begins tomorrow, and with that being a home date the weekend will also mark the beginning of the Ole Miss Rebel tailgating season. Being that we Rebels are a bit prideful when it comes to our Grove experience - we love our food, our frills, and our friends as much as we love our football - we at the Cup are excited to announce a weekly feature to features just that.
"Grovin' with the Cup" will feature photos, videos, and memories submitted by you and yours. Following each home game, we will gather and feature tweets, vines, and pictures submitted to the vast void of the internet and compile the ones we think best capture the Grove spirit. For easy identification, include the hashtag #GroveCup in whichever media you'd like for us to feature. You'll get more visibility if you share your submissions via Twitter at @RedCupRebellion or @smeargleRCR. If a red cup of a brand we won't specify is in your submission, that's a bonus.
So, to keep it simple, here are the points you need to remember:
- You like the Grove
- You like to talk about the Grove
- Do so via social media (preferably Twitter) with the #GroveCup hashtag, bonus points and enhanced visibility for tweeting @RedCupRebellion or @smeargleRCR
- Photos or videos involving a red cup are a bonus
- We'll compile the best submissions into a weekly feature
To get the ball rolling and get y'all more excited about this upcoming weekend, here is a list of some of my favorite Grove memories. Our tent has traditionally done a themed decor for each home game. Below are some of my favorites followed by some miscellaneous memories that I will cherish forever as an Ole Miss fan.
Specific Tailgate Theme memories
BYU 2011
"Everything Mormons Can't Have" This tailgate involved everything from coffee cake to dark chocolate desserts and of course, tons of booze. We met some of the guys from BYU's SB Nation Vanquish the Foe at the game and they took the joke kindheartedly.
Texas 2012
"Viva Mexico" What embodies a tailgate for the big Texas weekend better than Tex-Mex? We went all out with hand-rolled taquitos, seven layer dips, and more chips and salsa than you could shake a chupacabra at. The highlight of the festivity was our Texas Longhorn piñata filled with airplane bottles of Jack Daniels. It only took a couple of blind-folded swings to give everyone at our tailgate one last sip of courage before heading to the Texas game. ALL HAIL TIPSY HAT MARINE GIF
MSU 2012
"We are better than you" We knew this might be a stretch, but it was too irresistible of an idea to not try. It included beer bath bratwursts with sautéed peppers/onions next to canned cocktail weenies, grilled shrimp kebabs beside Walmart shrimp cocktail trays, etc. That way, if any MSU friends and family came by the tent, we could simply point them to the "This is OUR table" side of the tailgate. Shout out to the DG house for this sign that holds a special place in my TSUN bias premadonna bearmedia heart.
Miscellaneous memories
Bama 2014
I'm sure everyone has a memory that sticks out regarding this other worldly experience and our tent group was no different. Let's just say it involved victory cigars (yea I bought cigars....just in case), pictures with the goal posts at the Grove stage, and a certain One Man to Beat wearing a powder blue helmet from the Memphis auction while performing the best drunken wobble dance I've ever seen.
Texas A&M 2012
It was early October and the forecast called for partly sunny skies and a relatively warm day as far as Octobers in Mississippi go. What ensued was a deluge that flooded our tent and formed a river that ran straight through our set up. Anytime you wanted to grab a sausage ball or chicken tender, you had to strap on your galoshes and wade across treacherous waters. With the rain came a cold front that forced temperatures into the 60s, and in turn forced me to buy an Ole Miss sweatshirt from the Union so I could at least be a tad warm while watching Johnny Football perform a Cirque du Soleil at the Vaught.
Share your favorite Grove memories in the comments and be sure to include #GroveCup throughout the season with your super strong Grove game. Hotty Toddy and we'll see y'all in the Grove.