Ole Miss Football: Grove Grinder, We just have to keep on grinding

We are all Ole Miss football fans and we’ve all seen our share of upheaval in recent seasons. OHT has also seen a tough season but we grind forward.

After 53 years as a Ole Miss football fan I have become used to die-hard disappointment. If you are a Rebels fan you are accustomed to heartbreakers. We’ve seen it on the gridiron while also seeing some heartbreaking moments on the diamond and the hardwood. Sometimes those heartbreakers happen.

Over the past week or so OHT has been dealing with storm damage here in Mississippi. Two weeks ago storms ripped thru central Mississippi devastating communities in a number of counties. We hope and pray all of our readers were without damage and loss. Here in Neshoba County, Philadelphia was hit hard and we suffered significant damage here at my home. In total we lost approximately 30 huge pines around our yard with one of the largest landing squarely on our home.

Naturally we suffered a terrific amount of water damage because of the structural damage to the roof. Of course, we were without power for a number of days and lost everything in our fridges and freezers. Trust me, Dominoes is not something I care to eat for a while. The most important thing is we were safe and together. The second most important thing was finding who our true friends and neighbors are.

Thanks Are Due

Ole Miss Rebels

There was really no worse feeling I can recall at the moment than walking outside after the storm and seeing the aftermath. We had a dozen trees on just our driveway. These aren’t just trees they were all huge pines some measuring 33″ across. When I recognized the severity of the problem I began making phone calls. Nobody believed it was this bad.

Finally, after at least twenty calls which went nowhere I called Tommy Waddell who is a lifelong friend and Neshoba County sheriff. He and his deputy Judy Tullos got the ball rolling and within 10 minutes we had people here on the Hill with chainsaws.

Thanks to Tucker Volunteer FD and the guys from there who took the call, Neshoba deputy and my neighbor JW Jenkins and Philadelphia Firefighter Colby Pope. Both had worked the storm the night before and were here on the Hill putting in work. I want to also thank Mike Mowdy who  showed up with his saw and tractor. In just a few hours they had our driveway clear so we could at least get in and out. None of them would take a dime.

 A Tale of Two Trees

Of course, the biggest tree on the Hill hit the house. Job one was to get it off the house so I called another of my neighbors, Gaston Barrett who immediately headed our direction. After a quick look he told me to call Greg Lewis and Greg and his guys got the tree off the house and did a great job. Job two was to get the roof water-proofed and Wendall Magee and his crew took care of that job for us.

Those of you who know me and follow me and are friends with me on social media know I love to hunt. You also know we have kennels with prized coon hounds and huskies. We had a tree which uprooted but was hanging against other trees and would destroy the entire kennel. Thanks to Keith Goodin ‘squirrel’ for climbing the tree and taking it down from the very top and saved our hounds. Those of you who want to see some cool pics and videos can find them on my Facebook page.

Then There Was FanSided

Running a college fan-site as a site expert isn’t an easy gig to begin with and when you have to do it without power and with major distractions it is nearly impossible. With the storms which hit I had to deal with both situations and was overwhelmed. FanSided who is OHT’s parent network came to the rescue.

At the beginning of 2019 OHT had goals which I set as site expert. Little did I know the events of April 18th would directly affect those goals. Thankfully we had contributors from other FanSided sites who stepped up to keep OHT going. From the bottom of my heart I thank the following FanSided sites and contributors.

First and foremost, thanks to FanSided Editorial Director Michael Collins and FanSided VP Patrick Allen. With just a couple of emails from both we were able to keep OHT rolling. I also want to thank Luis Tirado Jr for his support. Thanks to the vast number of contributors who helped us out over the past two weeks.

From my perspective there are no words for what these guys did. Very special thanks go to Busting Brackets and Saturday Blitz and the contributors who kept OHT going and what it meant for me on a physical and emotional level. A very special thank you goes out to Tristan Freeman, Joey Loose, Curtis Wilkerson, Matthew Bartlett and  Neil Adler.

Special thanks also go to Jerran Anderson, Phil Poling, John Mitchell. Alex Weber and Bryan Rauf. There is no way to express OHT’s gratitude. These guys not only delivered for the site but also gave some great insight on OM athletics. If I missed somebody please forgive me but all of you have moved me in a way I can’t begin to describe, They came thru for OHT when OHT wasn’t sure in which direction we were headed.

For everything which has happened we at OHT want to say thank you. While you may have suffered thru storms and power outages there are people who stepped up here on the Hill and we greatly appreciate it. What was the one thing I witnessed more than anything else? HOPE Thank you from the bottom of our heart. Hotty Toddy!