Sports Writer, Starkville, MS

How many times ya visited, mizzou?

 

As an Ole Miss grad I'm probably supposed to mock Starkville every chance I get, but I've been there a couple of times this year and it's not too bad. It's a lot better than it was a decade ago.

I don't know anything about the paper other than it has at least one good writer.

 

Like Fayetteville, Starkville's bad reputation far exceeds reality. I've always enjoyed my time there.

That said, the paper is a rag.

 

And he's an F-in stud

 

Go there, do a real dynamite job and in a couple of years I'll try to hire you and instead you'll decide to go work for Rusty Hampton.

Hey, it's a living ...

 

It is the worst SEC college town, also the smallest, I think, might be Oxford instead.
But none of the SEC schools, outside Vandy, are in what would be considered large markets.
I can't say that Starkville is the worst college town period. I've heard bad things about Lubbock and, reportedly, Pullman isn't a picnic either.

 

I breezed through Starkville in February. It looks like a gem when compared to the rest of Mississippi.
Ironically, I also toured Pullman last month and there's not much going on there either ... well, the University of Idaho is about 10 minutes away, whatever that's worth.

 

I've seen Bruce Springsteen in concert 10 times - 8 with the E Street Band, twice solo.

Far and away the best of those shows was at "The Hump" in Starkvegas. Without checking ticket stub I believe the date was Feb. 13, 1981. He played for 3.5 hours and "Jungleland" during the encore was my best concert moment ever.

We did learn the hard way that you could not buy cold beer in Starkville on that trip.

Only other memorable moment in Starkville was getting locked inside the football stadium when some doofus locked the fence that surrounds it while folks were still working in the press box.

 

Unless I missed it, Don Foster is still the editor there. He is a 20-year vet in the position and was with the Dogs at the Final Four in 1996 and numerous Omaha CWS trips.
Hawkins is a managing editor or somesuch.
Starkville Daily News is a college-town paper and is what it is.
This a job for a newbie grad or someone cutting their teeth.
Everyone here on the board knows that.
Mizzou shouldn't apply. We know that, too.
He's overqualified for this one.

 

If Don Foster still is there, he needs to retire. He misspells too many words.

 

That's the 60s-70s guy you talked about.
Yes, he's a homer. Autumn gamedays are painful for him whether State's winning or losing.
He hates the refs. All of 'em.
But he's a helluva nice guy and was once my boss.

 

Starkville is not the end of the world but it's just a $3 cab ride away.