{"id":12543,"date":"2014-03-11T09:09:51","date_gmt":"2014-03-11T14:09:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=12543"},"modified":"2014-03-10T12:30:41","modified_gmt":"2014-03-10T17:30:41","slug":"traditions-await-fans-at-swayze-field","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/traditions-await-fans-at-swayze-field\/","title":{"rendered":"Traditions Await Fans at Swayze Field"},"content":{"rendered":"

Diamond Rebs Home Season at Oxford-University Stadium<\/span><\/h2>\n

\"Red<\/a>Over the past several seasons, Rebel baseball fans have created what is home to one of the rowdiest settings in all of college baseball, rife with pageantry, tradition, and a little bit of weirdness \u2013 but not enough to keep it from being altogether charming. In case you\u2019re new to Rebel baseball this weekend, or simply can\u2019t remember all of the accoutrements of your fandom, here\u2019s a crash course in what to expect when the Diamond Rebs take to the field.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 Alcoholics in the outfield<\/strong><\/span>: Beer is technically illegal on the Ole Miss campus, but thanks to a quirky jurisdiction boundary, it can be brought out to the student section in right field. Rebel undergrads (and even a few of us graduates) load up coolers full of booze, set up folding chairs and park themselves in the right field terrace. Security will search your cooler on the way in, but they\u2019re just checking for outlawed glass containers. It doesn\u2019t matter that you may be somebody\u2019s high school brother toting a rolling cooler stacked with beer, but God forbid you bring a six-pack of Abita bottles.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"ole-miss-baseball-beer-shower\"<\/a>\u2022 Beer showers:<\/strong><\/span> Did Ole Miss just hit a home run or walk off hit to win a game? Then throw up your umbrella and zip up your rain jacket because you\u2019re about to experience a deluge of cheap beer and brown water. I never really participated in this tradition. Maybe that\u2019s because I experienced some friendly fire while hosting LSU friends for a series, or because any beer\/bourbon in my cup is worth more consumed than thrown. <\/span>
\n\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u2022 Writing on the warm-up ball:<\/strong><\/span> After the Ole Miss outfielders are finished warming up, the center fielder will throw the ball into the right field terrace for a student to guard while the Rebels bat. Bring a pen because by \u201cguard\u201d I mean cover in creative writings and doodles of the (usually) vulgar variety. At the end of the inning, the ball guardian hurls the ball back to the outfielders. It\u2019s fun to follow the evolution of the ball\u2019s artwork over the course of the game as well as the outfielders\u2019 review of the ball\u2019s artistic progression.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 \u201cLove is Gone\u201d:<\/strong><\/span> Put down your drink for this one! Between the top and bottom of the fifth inning, David Guetta\u2019s dance anthem \u201cLove is Gone\u201d is queued up over the stadium loud speakers. The baseball team gathers at the top rail of the dugout while pumping their fists to the beat and all Rebel fans are expected to follow suit. Once the beat drops, it\u2019s time to let loose and get wacky, but be aware of your neighbor. Throw your fist, hands, legs, etc. in any and all directions, making sure to pause and resume according to the beat. Senquez Golson shows us how it\u2019s done.<\/span>
\n\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u2022 Throw it in the dirt!:<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0The first time I heard this chant was during my undergrad years before the expansion to OU Stadium. During any three-ball count to opposing pitchers, super fan Chip Clinton (who passed in 2009, R.I.P.), would yell in a raspy, deep voice \u201cThrow it in the dirt!\u201d to which the rest of the stadium would immediately echo \u201cDIRT.\u201d This tradition continues today and is an Ole Miss favorite. The response is traditionally loud and quick, so pay Chip his respects and control that Southern drawl.<\/span>
\n\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u2022 Rock-paper-scissors tourney:<\/strong><\/span> Every third inning, non-starters will take a warm-up jog down the third-base foul line to the bullpen. Upon arrival, a fierce five- to seven-player rock-paper-scissors tournament breaks out. Loser has to, I dunno\u2026 buff someone\u2019s glove or bat maybe?<\/span>
\n\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u2022 Watching drunk guys fall down the hill below the right field terrace:<\/strong><\/span> Self explanatory.<\/span>
\n\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u2022 [BRAND REDACTED] Cup races:<\/strong><\/span> This tradition started last season. While some people might think that mascot races are lame, I love this new addition. There\u2019s even an @OMSoloCups Twitter account that tracks the record of each cup throughout the season. Poor Yellow was winless last season, but we all know he\u2019s got heart. Moreover, we at Red Cup Rebellion can\u2019t really be too upset, considering the column\u2019s namesake comes from Red [BRAND REDACTED] Cup. <\/span>
\nSo cheer on.<\/span><\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

This article was originally printed in TLV #198 (published February 22, 2014). To download a PDF of this issue, click HERE<\/a>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Diamond Rebs Home Season at Oxford-University Stadium Over the past several seasons, Rebel baseball fans have created what<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":12546,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ole-miss","category-red-cup-rebellion"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/SwayzeFeat.jpg?fit=1600%2C1067&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12543\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}