In Eckleburg's Eyes - 2/4/2008

The trip to Birmingham was a rousing success. I got back to Knoxville this morning at about 2 am.

I arrived Friday night and we went to Calera for seafood and Hoover for shopping. Hoover is to Birmingham as Farragut is to Knoxville and where the MTV reality series "Two-A-Days" was filmed. The Fish Market is great. I have been to see SMA several times since he moved to The Ham, but I had not been there since before he lived there. The stuffed shrimp were as good as I had remembered.

The next morning we ate breakfast and then journeyed to the 144 miles to Starkville, MS, to watch our Vols play Mississippi State in basketball. On the road, we missed one turn and took a detour through the most pointless toll booth ever.

We did pass the birthplace of playwright Tennessee Williams. Who knew Tennessee Williams was born in Columbus, Mississippi? We theorize that he became a great writer because there is absolutely nothing within a 10-mile radius and wrote to break the monotony.

We spent the day in the aptly named, Starkville. There is little there. SMA’s sister is a Mississippi State alum so we enquired where to eat whilst in Starkville. She informed us that the best restaurant in Starkville was in Birmingham.

While the city’s tourist attractions are limited (and by that I mean nonexistent), the campus is beautiful. The game was held at the Humphrey Center, known as "The Hump." Their baseball complex is named the Palmeiro Center after alum Rafael Palmeiro. I think they should call it "the House That Steroids Built..."

We bought our tickets more than two hours before tip-off. We quickly learned from scalpers that the game was sold out. We found the lowest price we could at $60 apiece on a seat with a $22 face value. We assumed the fact that the arena was far smaller than Thompson-Boling and there is nothing else to do in Starkville accounted for the sell out. We later learned the game did not sell out. If you cannot trust a scalper, who can you trust? Stephen was still more upset about the $1.25 we spent on the toll road than getting railroaded for tickets.

The seats were very good. We sat directly in front of Tennessee post player Wayne Chism’s mother, Ernestine, and the rest of his family. She was a treat. From ironically berating the referee’s weight to instructing Lofton to shoot, she entertained us. Chism missed a crucial front end of a one-and-one and we thought how awful that would be to sit with her, but fortunately we redeemed ourselves.

Chism, from nearby Bolivar (TN), had a strong contingency at the game. One of his supporters wore a jersey he had autographed to "Pookie." This was funny as in commercials, Charles Barkley bumps Dwyane Wade from his Fave Five for referring to someone as Pookie. In all seriousness, it is easy to see how Chism grew into such a fine person with such a great support system.

The game was wonderful. It was one of the loudest stadiums I have been in. Voices carried and could be heard throughout the arena, which encouraged obnoxious behavior. Well, it had that affect anyway..

The game was hotly contested as MSU was nationally ranked with three starters from Tennessee, including former Tennessee signee Jamont Gordon (who scored 17). The game was closer than it should have been because of incessant fouls called on us and the Bulldogs hitting 7 of 8 three-pointers in the final six minutes. They actually cut a 64-47 deficit to just two points with 46 seconds remaining in the game and regaining possession with 34 seconds.

Our MVP might have been their PA announcer, who killed their momentum. At breaks, he would give a long list of announcements, evoking silence and deflating the crowd. No one responded to their cheerleaders. At one point, four older Tennessee fans cheered the MUS dance team as none of the locals were. It was great.

After the game, I had Tyler Smith sign my custom Smith t-shirt. He was more than cordial. I did not realize until afterwards that I asked a grown man to sign my breast. I am such a groupie...

Road games are so much fun. (Especially, when you win.) The amazing thing is the camaraderie. Tennessee fans, in the minority, bond quickly on the road. It saddens me as Christians should have this. We are always on the road, as heaven is our true home, and typically in a hostile environment. If Christians bonded like Vol fans, we would have a greater impact. What does it say when we let a game become a greater glue than Jesus?

After the game, we returned to Birmingham and stayed up to watch The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, released on DVD last week. For my analysis see the "A Veiled Tell, No Soli" movie review.

The next day, we lounged around the house before watching the Super Bowl. I had contacted Will Willimon, one of the nation’s best preachers, to check his whereabouts this Sunday but he was out of town. So, I took a rare Sunday off.

After watching one of my favorite Super Bowls of all-time. I made the long journey back to Knoxville.