Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Ole Miss Tweet of the Day

by Jake Adams

It was a slow day on Twitter. Speaking of slow...


I arrived at the BBVA Compass Bowl a couple hours before kick-off after navigating block after block of picturesque inner-city Birmingham and what seemed like hundreds of people practically begging me to pull my car into what they were advertising as "their" yard. For reasons that I credit to primal instinct I chose a stadium parking lot instead. It was way too early to go sit in the press box, and I'd seen on Twitter that I'd arrived just in time to see the Ole Miss team buses pull up to Legion Field. I decided to go check it out and enjoy the scene of all the excited Rebel fans cheering the team as they made the walk to the locker room.

Because there was no Grove and no Walk of Champions there was some uncertainty as where to line up as we waited for the team. I found what I thought was a good spot to stand, but 10 minutes later when the army of buses pulled in it turns out that I was actually toward the end of the bus line meaning that I would completely miss Hugh Freeze and the players and coaches from buses 1 and 2, but that was okay. There were still several buses containing lots of players to greet.

The 3rd or 4th team bus came to a stop just a foot away from me. In fact, it was so close that it gave us all a good scare as it wheeled in. I'm pretty sure that driver was a State fan. Thankful to still be alive I looked around and noticed a large crowd and had grown behind me and there was nowhere to go. I was trapped between the crowd and the bus, and that's when the players from the remaining buses started trying to navigate their way between the throngs of Rebel fans and the line of white Greyhounds. We were all so packed in together that we had to back up so the headphone-wearing and hoody bedecked players could pass. The first few walked by and got their share of "Go Rebels!" and "Hotty Toddy!" but the line soon slowed to a crawl and then so did the cheering. That's when it got really awkward. Hugh Freeze must have been busy giving high fives and signing autographs at the front of the line or something, because the line of players came to a complete standstill.

So there I was just standing there staring at them, and I had no idea who they were. They had no idea who I was, and well, it was weird. That's when it occurred to me that it's far easier  to cheer when someone is walking by, not when they're standing right next to your face. Until that moment I had no idea. So there I am along with hundreds of others standing there looking at players giving faint and halfhearted "Go Rebels," hoping they would actually "go." The players were looking awkwardly at the ground. I'm sure they felt just as weird as I did.

I felt like maybe I should start a conversation.

"So, how's the food back at the hotel?"

No, that'd be stupid.

"Think you can beat Pitt?" That'd be worse.

"Who are you?" Not a good idea.

So I just sat there.

After what seemed like an eternity but was probably only a minute or so the line of Rebels started moving slowly. Slow enough that I recognized Coach Paul Jackson walking toward me and had time to consider whether I should say something this time.

"Hey, I follow you on Twitter," I considered. No, that'd be dumb.

Finally the last players begin to pass by and right behind them bringing up the rear is Keith Carter, shuffling his feet at a snail's pace, which is very slow in case you didn't know. That's right, Keith Carter, the former great Ole Miss basketball player and current color commentator and chief money raiser was standing right in front of me. We were in school at the same time in the late 90's, and I was a reporter back then and had interviewed him all throughout his senior season and I'd seem him out, but I truthfully had no idea if he knows who I am or remembers me from college and wouldn't expect him to, and I already felt weird from the five minutes gone by, so I just sort of stared past him, which is easy to do without making eye contact because I'm about a foot shorter than him. Meanwhile, Keith had this polite, "hello everybody who I do not know" grin on his face that made him look light years removed from his Marshall Henderson chest-beating days.

He's such a grown up now (good job on that, Keith).

I'm such a dork. I should have said something. Even if Keith had no idea who I was a nice friendly "hello" is always a good thing, right? Anyway when I saw this tweet this afternoon that's what I thought about. I've got to work on my bus greeting etiquette.

So, if it's not too late, I hope you'll all indulge me this:

"Hello Keith."

Oh yeah, and here's the Tweet. SEC hoops starts tomorrow!