A STARKVILLE FLYOVER: CRANK UP THE SOPWITH CAMEL!
Mississippi State owns their country attitude: cowbells in the stands, a buttoned-down gameday decor, and that entire section of the stands reserved for those who’ve lost limbs in gruesome farm injuries. (Not true! That’s actually a section in Kinnick Stadium in Iowa.)
How much do they really own it, though? So much so that the flyover for the Alabama game was done by what appears to be a crop duster or the Baron Von Richtofen himself flying all the way from Hell for the game.
Gadzooks! Was that the dashing Wiley Post? Or the rakish Jimmy Doolittle? Or perhaps Amelia Earhart, who overcomes the crippling handicap of having a vagina every time she bravely enters an aircraft! O, those wily aviators! Someday, might they fly to sun?
The little hysterical WOOO! at the end may be one of the most nuanced crowd noises we’ve ever heard: part shame, part acceptance, and part ironic barbaric yawp. Whatever–they can tie weather balloons to pigs and let the recreational shooting crowd loose on them as long as Mississippi State keeps winning. Bowl-eligible means you can fly whatever you want over the stadium, even if it does sound like a motorized go-cart with wings.
A clarification: From reader Bulldog, who invites us to eat him.
That was our President, retired Air Force commander Gen. Robert H. “Doc” Foglesong. It is his Mississippi State biplane. He always buzzes over the stadium before the game. So eat me and the rest of the bulldog nation.
Their president buzzes the stadium in his own biplane? Is he a botanist/humanitarian with a penchant for archaeology, arctic exploration, and jujitsu? Does this man have limits, we ask?












36
Sorry Bulldog, but Doc Foglesong was never Chief of Staff of the USAF. He was Commander USAFE (US Air Forces Europe). I have friends who served under him in Europe, and the disdain mentioned in his Wikipedia profile is but the tip of the iceberg of things he did based on their accounts. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_H._%22Doc%22_Foglesong
Comment by Sleepless Dawg — November 15, 2007 @ 5:15 am
35
“Ahhh, thats just my pet snake, Reggie”!
Comment by Tommy J — November 14, 2007 @ 2:39 pm
34
17
You forgot the PhD in Chemistry from WVU. His dissertation was on improved ways of distilling moonshine.
The Orgeron should be relieved that the game is in Starksville this year. Doc had the biplane outfited with twin Fokker machine guns and planned on strafing The Grove and obtaining the Nobel Peace Prize in the process.
Comment by yoyofutbawl — November 14, 2007 @ 12:17 pm
33
Indiana Jones is based on a weekend trip of Mr. Fogelsong’s.
Comment by War Eagle — November 14, 2007 @ 8:08 am
32
Jesus, am I the only one that could tell that it was the freakin Red Barron Pizza plane???
Comment by Sam — November 13, 2007 @ 10:25 pm
31
Give me a break, Hombre. Texas had three Apaches and a Blackhawk fly over this past weekend, four F-18s fly over a few weeks ago, and then two B-2 bombers for our season opener. You’re right, though, those things are unbelievably loud.
Comment by Chris — November 13, 2007 @ 9:27 pm
30
so am I to understand that MSU’s president is Indiana Jones?
Comment by PK — November 13, 2007 @ 5:24 pm
29
“not only would he bomb your house, he would steal your couch and burn it, too”
And then display it on his front lawn.
Comment by James S — November 13, 2007 @ 4:38 pm
28
#24. Ah, the 1996 game. Remember kids, aerial hijinks=State win.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMup0JXRX8c
Comment by jakldawg — November 13, 2007 @ 4:19 pm
27
Well at least the new president upgraded to a Bi-plane…the old president had a hot air balloon, and those “float-overs” took forever….
Comment by Mr Pelican Pants — November 13, 2007 @ 4:15 pm
26
EZ, you think that second parachuter didn’t plan that or something?
Comment by Clemson327 — November 13, 2007 @ 3:50 pm