There were a few alarmed fans who emailed to say they had heard a rumor that there would be no tailgating at Arkansas Razorback football games.
Uh, that would be like a game with no football.
The specific concern was The Pit, formally known as Lot 44, would not be available because of ongoing construction on the Frank Broyles Complex. To its credit, when asked, the Razorback Foundation, which controls parking, sent an email to all of the donors who qualify for Lot 44.
Lot 44 is for those who donate at least $5,000 to the Razorback Foundation, and being in that lot is a source of pride to a lot of the fans. There are friends and families who share the donation and the parking spot, more commonly known as the tailgating location.
The rules for tailgating there are simple this season: Licensed car, first-come, first-served starting at 7 a.m. on game day, except for the first two rows which are reserved. Enter only from Maple Street which is under construction.
As for the rest of the campus, it's game on.
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Speaking of emails, got one from the University of Arkansas a couple of weeks ago that simply said the Razorbacks and Chad Morris would be headed to Little Rock on Oct. 13 to play Ole Miss and tickets are available for as little as $40, and gave a link to where tickets could be purchased.
In the past few years it seemed as if tickets were hard to come by physically.
The folks at War Memorial Stadium didn't get them in their hands until late and calls to the UA didn't always get results either.
Most likely those were calculated moves to make sure the crowds at War Memorial were smaller, which considering the opponent it was surprising how large they actually were.
The way to look at this now is different. The UA has given its fans and football fans across the state the opportunity to decide if they really want to continue to play any games at WMS.
The fans have two years to make that decision.
Obviously, this year is the Ole Miss game, next year it is Missouri. Both are solid SEC conference opponents. The stipulation is that at least 45,000 tickets must be purchased to each game.
That's fair. More than fair.
If the Missouri game in 2021 is is going to be in WMS it is up to the fans.
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Chad Morris will also be in Little Rock on Monday to kick off the 15th season of the Little Rock Touchdown Club (lrtouchdown.com).
That's 12 days before the season opener against Eastern Illinois in Fayetteville and Morris will be excited.
The doors open at Embassy Suites at 11 a.m. when lunch is served. The program begins at noon and ends promptly at 1 p.m.
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Final note about emails. Got a personal one from Collins Hemingway wanting to know if yours truly would be attending our Central High class reunion next week.
Collins and your trusty scribe met in the second grade and by amazing twists of fate ended up working together at the old Arkansas Democrat until 1977 when Collins, who had a computer aptitude, packed up his son and drove to Portland to help The Oregonian become the first totally computerized newspaper.
Fast forward 11 years to another reunion and turns out Collins stayed there a year and went to work for a start-up company named Microsoft. Later, after co-authoring a book with Bill Gates, he retired as a senior vice president.
Our classmate Fran Hammett Birdwell has done an amazing job of organizing our reunion and seeing lifelong friends is the central theme. She has all the info at fjbird68@gmail.com.
Sports on 08/17/2018