Get to Know Mississippi State University
After seeing that the Huskies would be playing Mississippi State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, our first thought was, Surprise! Who knew Mississippi was still a state? We just assumed that after the Civil War and Trent Lott, America would just kind of let the lease run out.
Mississippi State University has been a part of the country since 1878, it is located in Starkville, and has one of the largest veterinary schools in the country.
Its most famous alumnus is John Grisham, and his influence means that if the game goes according to script, it will be boring and thirty minutes too long.
There are Seattle connections to other notable alumni. Former Seahawk Porkchop Womack played there, and Rafael Palmeiro got his 3,000th hit at Safeco Field, which he later denied before Congress.
Plus you gotta think that football player Fred Smoot would just love our Opening Day of Boating season (the internet has just collapsed under weight of Fred Smoot jokes).
With more on the Magnolia State here is Seattlest’s Mississippi bureau chief and former resident, Karsten:
1. Even locals giggle when we get to the "i-p-p" part.
2. I never saw a man with a shirt on until I was six and moved to Oregon.
3. My brother and I actually made the paper because we read at the library.
4. You will go to church on Sunday, regardless of your belief system.
5. When I lived there, the education system was ranked 50th in the nation. Despite that, I still remember this little mantra they drilled into our heads:
Don't say ain't,
Or your mama will faint,
Your dad will fall in a bucket of paint,
Your sister will cry,
Your brother will die,
and your dog will call the FBI.
