9-5-09 State vs.Jackson State Football Game

Jeremy, Lillie, and I headed to Starkville for the first game of the season. We met Josh and Tim for the game. We made into Starkville about 1pm for the 2:30 game. We were able to do a little tailgating and then headed for the stadium. We had to find Lillie a ticket. We ended up trying to get in without one and it worked. Apparently, they were having some major issues with the scanner which took us quite awhile to get in so we think that helped us to get Lillie in ticket free. Saved us $40 so we were glad to get in without too much trouble. We were up in the top section and made it just in time to see the bands last performance and the national anthem. Lillie especially loved the team come running out. She was so excited bouncing around and giggling! Then the rain came down and came down and came down. The teams went out for the coin toss and then they announced there was going to be a 30 minute delay for lightening which we never saw but decided we better get Lillie out of there since we were about 20 rows from the very top. At this point we were completely wet. Lillie did very well - she stayed close but really didn't seem to mind being wet. I guess she saw that we all were so she was ok. After the 30 minutes, we went back to our seats and the teams came back out - Lillie again so excited to see them run back onto the field. We were completely soaked. It sprinkled/rained for most of the first half - off and on usually pretty lightly. Lillie sat in my lap almost the entire first half just taking it all in. Cheering when she thought appropriate for the "da dogs" and getting overly excited about the ball and the da dogs (Lillie's word for bulldgos)!

Halftime was pretty exciting since we were playing Jackson State - Sonic Boom of the South - I think that was right. They were pretty awesome playing a Michael Jackson tribute. Then unfortunately our band had to play next. I know most of you don't know about our band but it is definitely nothing to write home about! So here comes the band and the performance was a bit embarrassing especially considering who just performed before us. They had a blue grass band come out and perform a mini concert with the band playing the back up music. They didn't even march hardly any. It was the most bizarre thing anyone had seen especially with Jackson State band playing. Is there a reason they couldn't have done this strange performance against a team that makes sense like the Kentucky game? Oh well - our little rant. It was so bizarre!

The second half was a lot less wet well I should say rained a lot less but we were definitely still wet - obviously there was no way to dry off.

Overall, Lillie did pretty well. She started getting a little restless but so did I. We were tired and soaked and of course this is the one time we didn't bring a change of clothes or ponchos or anything. It is kind of wild b/c I almost always pack all that stuff and for some reason this time I never even thought of it. We will definitely remember for the next game. I took Lillie out with about 8 minutes left in the game - the score was very lopsided so we started our way down. We went and window shopped for a bit and then met up with the guys to do a little more tailgating. We headed home and Lillie was asleep before we made it to West Pointe - which is 10 minutes from Starkville. Josh came home with us for a few days to hang out with us in Memphis.