| Northwest Arkansas Times | Sunday, November 04, 2001 |
| WebHogs among fans living it up in The Grove | |
| BY DUDLEY E. DAWSON -Northwest Arkansas Times | |
OXFORD, Miss. -- When a college football coach expects a tough game sometimes he will tell his team to "pack a lunch and be prepared to stay all day." The WebHogs, a seven-month old, Internet-based Razorback fan group, took that dedication to a new level on Saturday way before the University of Arkansas and Ole Miss hooked it up in a night contest at Vaught-Hemmingway Stadium. The Webhogs were in place cooking and enjoying pregame in "The Grove," the Rebels' legendary 10-acre, on-campus tailgating area, just a little after 8:30 a.m. in advance of a 6 p.m. kickoff. "We wanted to get here early and make sure we had a good spot since it is first-come, first-served here," said Rick Bawiec, founding member and current president of the group that was started back in April. "This is just a great atmosphere and we've been letting the Ole Miss fans know we're here since early, early this morning." The Ole Miss football team walks down through The Grove about three hours before game time to a rousing ovation from the thousands of fans on hand. That is one of the big moments in a day Saturday that includes several hundred Razorback fans joining in on the festivities. Arkansas fans sent up several Woo Pig Sooie chants, which were quickly countered by Hotty Toddy chants from Rebels faithful. "There some taunting, but it is just everybody having fun," Bawiec said. It is something that Bawiec would love to see duplicated in Fayetteville on either the UA intramural fields or on the grass area by Old Main, which is an idea that has been tossed around lately. "The intramural fields will be awesome if they set it up like The Grove," Bawiec said. "... When they open the gates at 6 a.m., you run in and get your spot. The people who helped us get our spot have been doing this 20 years. The intramural fields could be that way." Because the intramural fields are currently being used for The Trough and you can lease spots there, it might be that Old Main could become Arkansas' version of The Grove. The Webhogs tent was busy on Saturday with several of the 4,000 or so Arkansas fans who attended the game dropping by. Current PGA golfer and former Razorback linkster John Daly was one of the many who strolled through on Saturday. All that wanted to eat were fed with something called Dead Rebel Chili. "It's all in good fun," Bawiec said. "We're just here to get ready for the game and root on our team." The Webhogs website is http://www.webhogsclub.com/. | |