Like many of y'all, drove up this afternoon. Time got away from me today running some morning errands and I didn't hit the road until 2 p.m., arriving in Columbia around 7:45 or so. First stop was the stadium and my first impression was a giant picture of Spurrier (on the stadium). Does Bright House need a giant GOL?
On the drive up, lots of memories came flooding back of hitting the interstate to see UCF road games. Louisiana Tech and Auburn in 1998. Georgia, Georgia Tech and Auburn in 1999. Georgia Tech and Alabama in 2000. Clemson in 2001.
With the exception of South Carolina in 2005, road trips in the South have pretty much become a thing of the past, unless you drove to ECU, Southern Miss or UAB. I kind of miss those trips, jumping in the car to see UCF take on a SEC/ACC foe.
I'm staying in Lexington which is a few miles west of Columbia. On my route to the hotel after seeing the stadium, I was greeted by a giant pig beckoning me to sample their BBQ buffet. Maurice's BBQ was the name. With a sign like that, the place is going to either be really awesome or really terrible.
Photo I pulled off Google:
So I pull over and check the reviews on Google real quick, just to see what I'm getting into. Holy smokes - this place was like a racist mecca. Apparently the owner (Maurice) refused to serve blacks and tried to use the "Hobby Lobby law" to proclaim it was against his religious views to serve them. They used to have a giant confederate flag in front and distributed white supremacist, racist and pro-slavery literature inside the restaurant. WTF? This was up until like 2 years ago until the old owner (Maurice) died and apparently the racist stuff has quietly gone away. Unreal. Maybe the old racist was dead, but they weren't getting my business either way. Incredibly sad a place like that was able to stay in business.
A few miles later I found some place called "Lizard's Thicket" or something like that. It was a "country cookin" place that was actually pretty cheap too - not bad. $7.99 for a meat and three vegetables.
That's really about it - I hope to get up early enough tomorrow to see parts of the campus before the game. This is my first time here, I didn't go to the 2005 game.
To address a few items this week:
-Will Stanback did indeed fail multiple drug tests. I initially heard of a failed test during the summer, at the same time Miles Pace was dismissed (same reason) and Will was then given one last chance to turn it around. Sadly, he refused to straighten up. GOL was left with no other choice.
-The rumor about Bo Schneider being "unhappy" is pure bunk. He was recruited by Coach Key and came in with the full understanding of the likelihood Key would likely become HC as well. All the stuff about "coming to UCF to play for Coach Taaffe" was completely off base.
On the drive up, lots of memories came flooding back of hitting the interstate to see UCF road games. Louisiana Tech and Auburn in 1998. Georgia, Georgia Tech and Auburn in 1999. Georgia Tech and Alabama in 2000. Clemson in 2001.
With the exception of South Carolina in 2005, road trips in the South have pretty much become a thing of the past, unless you drove to ECU, Southern Miss or UAB. I kind of miss those trips, jumping in the car to see UCF take on a SEC/ACC foe.
I'm staying in Lexington which is a few miles west of Columbia. On my route to the hotel after seeing the stadium, I was greeted by a giant pig beckoning me to sample their BBQ buffet. Maurice's BBQ was the name. With a sign like that, the place is going to either be really awesome or really terrible.
Photo I pulled off Google:
So I pull over and check the reviews on Google real quick, just to see what I'm getting into. Holy smokes - this place was like a racist mecca. Apparently the owner (Maurice) refused to serve blacks and tried to use the "Hobby Lobby law" to proclaim it was against his religious views to serve them. They used to have a giant confederate flag in front and distributed white supremacist, racist and pro-slavery literature inside the restaurant. WTF? This was up until like 2 years ago until the old owner (Maurice) died and apparently the racist stuff has quietly gone away. Unreal. Maybe the old racist was dead, but they weren't getting my business either way. Incredibly sad a place like that was able to stay in business.
A few miles later I found some place called "Lizard's Thicket" or something like that. It was a "country cookin" place that was actually pretty cheap too - not bad. $7.99 for a meat and three vegetables.
That's really about it - I hope to get up early enough tomorrow to see parts of the campus before the game. This is my first time here, I didn't go to the 2005 game.
To address a few items this week:
-Will Stanback did indeed fail multiple drug tests. I initially heard of a failed test during the summer, at the same time Miles Pace was dismissed (same reason) and Will was then given one last chance to turn it around. Sadly, he refused to straighten up. GOL was left with no other choice.
-The rumor about Bo Schneider being "unhappy" is pure bunk. He was recruited by Coach Key and came in with the full understanding of the likelihood Key would likely become HC as well. All the stuff about "coming to UCF to play for Coach Taaffe" was completely off base.
