The Best of Missionsecfootball.com
It started in Starkville with Mississippi State hosting South Carolina. The sounds of cowbells rang in the new SEC football season, and missionsecfootball.com was underway.
It ended three and a half months later with Florida and Arkansas, battling to become the best team in the conference. As the Gators stormed the field and celebrated, our job was done. Thankfully, we went out with a bang. A 38-28 UF victory. A wacky and exciting game that had seven points in the first quarter and 59 points in the final three. And it was the sound of the UF fans and marching band that ended the 2006 SEC season and our mission.
Glenn, Emily, and I enjoyed our time out here driving through the South. We need to thank all of the people in New York that made this possible and did a lot of the behind the scenes work that made our mission so successful. It was a great team effort that we'll never forget. Also, we need to thank the fans, SIDs, and all other people who we met along the way that helped us out.
As a way of saying goodbye, we've put together a "Best Of" list. Some categories were difficult and required an honorable mention. Others were considerably easier.
Enjoy.
Best game: LSU at Auburn. Honorable Mention: Auburn at South Carolina.
Best play: Jarvis Moss blocked field goal.
Best player: Percy Harvin. Honorable Mention: Erik Ainge, Darren McFadden.
Best stadium: Sanford Stadium. Honorable Mention: Neyland Stadium.
Loudest stadium: Neyland Stadium. Honorable Mention: The Swamp.
Best tailgate: The Grove at Ole' Miss. Honorable Mention: The Quad at Alabama.
Wildest tailgate: Florida-Georgia.
Most unique tailgate: South Carolina's Cockaboose.
Best tailgate food: Praline french toast at LSU.
Nicest fans: Mississippi State.
Favorite fan: Big Dawg. Honorable Mention: Jim Brown, Mitch Lavinghouze.
Favorite story: Desire Street Academy.
Best restaurant along the way: Gyro Wrap in Athens. Honorable Mention: Momma G's in Auburn.
Best barbecue along the way: Dreamland Barbecue in Alabama. Honorable Mention: Mike and Ed's Barbecue in Auburn.
Best highway: State Road 89 in Florida. Honorable Mention: That curvy road with the view of the mountains in Tennessee that Emily keeps talking about but can't remember the name of. Glenn thinks it might be the Smoky Mountain Highway.
Car anthem: Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'"
Fastest driver: Emily Melton.
Best bribe attempt to the police officer who pulled us over: Emily saying "I've got free CSTV coozies!"
Favorite coach: Steve Spurrier. Honorable Mention: Tommy Tuberville.
Favorite Heisman winner: George Rogers.
Worst gameday traffic: Auburn. Honorable Mention: South Carolina.
Best rule that we came up with to make a solid mix tape: The "WEJOG" rules. We suggest, if you ever need to fill a mix with a good song that everyone will like, go with Weezer, Elton John, Oasis, or the Gin Blossoms. WEJOG.
Favorite Campus Rep: Harrison Markey (He's sitting in the room as we type this.)
Best Mom: Donna Melton. She did my laundry and fed us on several occasions.
Favorite time zone: Central. Honorable Mention: Eastern.
"I'm Always Hot" Award: Glenn the New Yorker.
"I'm Always Cold" Award: Adam the South Floridian.
"I'm Feeling Just Fine With the Current Temperature" Award: Emily.
Best photographer paddock: Georgia.
Best press box: Georgia. Honorable Mention: The Swamp.
Best dressed road tripper: Adam (I iron my clothes, they don't).
Worst dressed road tripper: Glenn. Honorable Mention: Emily
Heaviest suitcase: Emily. Honorable Mention: Emily...it was that heavy.
Best looking female road tripper: Emily.
Most camera shy: Glenn.
Number of tacos consumed: Glenn estimates more than 100.
Finally, favorite sports memory: Adam's - Seeing the Kentucky fans rip the goalpost down after beating Georgia.
Emily's - Having a pep talk with Mark Richt's wife in the bathroom at halftime of Georgia-Tennessee.
Glenn's - Seeing Steve Spurrier come out of the tunnel at The Swamp.
And, favorite non-sports memory: Adam's - Seeing the new Bond movie with Glenn and Emily.
Emily's - When Glenn went to Baptist Hospital in Jacksonville.
Glenn's - When he was released from Baptist Hospital in Jacksonville.
Well, that's it. I hope our readers and viewers had as much as we did over the last three months. I think we can all agree on which college football conference is the elite one. It's not the Big 10.
Comments
I enjoyed it all every week. Do it again next year!
Posted by: Bee Saxon | December 4, 2006 12:47 PM