Living in Atlanta, being a fan of Mizzou sports meant catching the occasional Tiger football or basketball game on ESPN or ABC when they aired, always taking a second seat to ACC and SEC games, since Atlanta is home to teams in both of those conferences.
I'd talk about the Big 12 conference and watch co-workers or, worse, Georgia Bulldog fans, roll their eyes at me.
Well, all that changes on July 1, when Mizzou enters the SEC conference.
I have mixed emotions about the change, but then, when I was going to Mizzou, we were still the Big 8 conference. Then we became the Big 12, and now we're an SEC school.
I hate to admit it, but I am going to miss the rivalry with the Kansas Jayhawks. I'll miss the Border Wars.
But what I am going to enjoy is being able to see my team play games, either in person or on TV with more regularity. The last time I saw a Mizzou game in person I was a senior in college and now I'm planning to drive to the OTHER Columbia, Columbia, S.C., this fall to see the Tigers play the Gamecocks.
And I am completely enjoying that Mizzou officials have been courting the Atlanta alumni base.
I've already seen Mizzou head football Gary Pinkel TWICE in the past month in person.
I met him a few weeks ago at the Coaches Caravan, when he and head basketball coach Frank Haith came and talked with about 150 alums. I got to meet Atlanta Falcon Sean Weatherspoon, who is also a Mizzou grad.
I had a nice chat with Frank Haith, even showing him the silly photo my college roomie Patti and I took on our campus tour last summer.
Parking in Frank Haith's space
Coach Haith laughed at my photo and my belief that the Tigers had a stellar basketball season because Patti and I parked in his spot. He said that sign is actually no longer there. It kept getting stolen. D'Oh! Silly college pranksters. ;)Coach Pinkel was nice, too. When he introduced himself to me and shook my hand he said. "I'm Gary Pinkel." I replied, "Yes, sir, I know who you are. I'm Lisa."
Coach Pinkel was back in Atlanta on June 6 for a "Welcome to the SEC Party" at the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Buckhead. What a party! Alumni from Texas A&M, which is also entering the SEC, were there as well. Hundreds of people showed up, and I'm not sure they thought that many would be there.
Both schools had team merchandise shops set up, and I bought these Tiger ears.
Sporting my new Tiger ears
The photo isn't the best. My iPhone is the 3GS and doesn't have a flash, so in low light I get a photo that looks like this.And later that night, a fellow Tiger pal and friend said Gary Pinkel had tweeted me and my Tiger ears. What?
I joined twitter just to see what she was talking about. And there I was, in all my Tiger ears glory, looking on as Gary Pinkel rallied the faithful. I'm on the right in the background.
I'm famous!
So, I really did show my Tiger stripes this week!
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