Southern Tradition

I am discovering that there are things in the south that are distinctly different than Kansas; not better or worse, just different! One of these things is football. The town comes to a halt when there is a game. School is cancelled and tailgating begins at least 24 hours before the game. Southerners are also pretty serious when it comes to food, there's no messing around! Most of them forego the traditional hamburgers and hotdogs and grill ribs and steak! To say the least, I was impressed by their tailgating "skills"; they get the job done!
A Mississippi State tradition is the ringing of the cowbell. I have been told that a long time ago a cow got out at the dairy during a football game and ran onto the field wearing a cowbell. Now people ring cowbells. I don't know if this is the true story or not bit it sounds pretty valid to me and I think it's cool. On Thursday morning the grad students in my office got together to decorate our cowbells for the game. It was quite entertaining and we had a blast! As you can see on my bell below, I had to include the cattle industry and KSU so I put "eat beef" on both sides of my bell. During my time at KSU, the Collegiate Cattlewomens club sold "eat beef" shirts and license plates. It was only appropriate! The "Flying M" brand you see on there is the brand they use at the Beef Unit.
Another great thing about Mississippi State football- student season tickets are only $35 for all the home games. That's right, 6 home games for a total of $35. And the game was sold out Thursday night!
Hope you enjoy the pictures!