Guys, thanks for the reminder of that day when the Hogs brought baseball bats (“the wood baby”) to the Red Stick and beat number one LSU out of what we thought at the time was a national championship. That topped off a great week for me last year. I had a week off from work , and I had been at the MSU game in Little Rock earlier that week with my family and saw friends there at War Memorial, and then on the way back home when we stopped off to eat in Pine Bluff, we ran into more people there that we knew who had been at the game. With Thanksgiving just the day before, that got me to thinking just how small our state is and how wrapped up in the Hogs (for better or worse) that we all are. As my family and I sat exhausted on the couch after watching the LSU game, you knew there were happy families (united by Thanksgiving and the Hogs) all across the state doing the same thing. It felt good that day to be from such a small place.

And I would have felt like old Houston Dale was still in some way part of that family if he had taken his 3 million and left for some school that didn’t play Arkansas every year. He was our goofball to begin with, one that we brought into our living rooms each weekend. In the words of the Godfather, haha, he has now gone against the family, and you never go against the family. And I hope he and the Rebels get whacked come October!

Thanks for the props.

Don’t worry Stephen, I think we’ll still catch glimpses of Houston’s zeal for all-things himself on a regular basis, or at least once a year for sure. The good news is that he won’t be representing Arkansas at the time.

Great comments, Kevin. Couldn’t agree more.

CJLR, I appreciate the chin up. “Giggidy” – we’re gonna have to make regular use of that. Great word.