Oxford, MS is God's country.  Truthfully, I ended up going to Ole Miss for just a few reasons.  First things first, I could get in.  I never could figure out those SAT tests.  The University of Texas Austin was never really in the cards for me.  I was bright, I had a A minus GPA  from Westlake High School, but that just wasn't good enough for a school when everyone who graduates with honors.  

Westlake (for those of you who don't know) is a small suburb in Austin.  Drew Brees went to Westlake.  Westlake went 7 seasons without losing a regular season football game in the 90's.  It was truly Friday Night Lights.  So- it was really okay that I didn't go to UT.  I needed a change of scenery.  

The second reason I went to Ole Miss is because it is beautiful- and I do mean EVERYTHING is/was beautiful.  I will let your imagination run wild with not a whole lot of explanation needed.  Jack Ingram calls Oxford.. Foxford.  

When I went to college in 1991, Oxford was a pretty sleepy town.  A hidden gem. It did rank among some of the top Football tailgating schools in the country, but still, it was affordable and really a little behind the rest of the world.  No one had cell phones, and everybody walked and talked a little slower.  I still to this day love that southern accent.  I get a smile every time I hear one.  I think I have lost it since marrying my wife from Iowa, but Laura swears I still get twangy when I talk to my Dad.  

One of the craziest things about Oxford was that it was a dry county.  No cold beer.  Now, for a town that consumes more beer than most major cities in a weekend, it was pretty comical that it was dry.  You would go to the Quick Mart and there would be stacks and stacks of cases of Natural Light, Bud Light, and Miller Lite.  Nothing fancy and they were cases.  24 Beers.  

Now, take a young kid who is going to a frat party and he has a case of beer and wants to get that beer cold quick.  A refrigerator won't work and quite frankly we didn't have freezers.  We spun beers.  We poured a bag of ice in a cooler and took each beer and spun them on the ice until they were luke warm.  It worked.  

Little things like that made Ole Miss special.  Now on a day like today in Oxford in the summer it was HOT.  You would walk outside and break a sweat.  Women called it "glowing".   As the 4th rapidly approaches, I love thinking about memories like this. 

People from Louisiana, Alabama, South Carolina, Arkansas, Florida will all be able to relate.  Love to hear from you if you can relate!  

Oh, and yes.  Back to the UT/Ole Miss thing.  For the first time in my life I will be able to see the Ole Miss Rebels play the Longhorns in Austin.  No need to spin beers here and I will be pulling for my Rebels.  

Happy 4th of July!

Will