Thompson: 'What if we are the people who win these games?' A new feeling at Ole Miss

"We laughed and hugged and talked duck hunting with the couple in line behind us, checking on how the birds were flying, and falling, in a wide alley stretching from Hazen, Arkansas, to Mississippi's Bobo Brake. Inside the restaurant, we all sat at the bar and got the bartender to change the television to the Texas game, so we could watch Archie Manning's grandson play. Sports mean different things to different people, but to me they have always been a portal to memory."

"There were a lot more Ole Miss fans in town than Georgia fans. We joked that the Dawgs were saving their money for the next rounds in Phoenix and Miami. We asked about hometowns, folks from Jackson and Gulfport and Tupelo and Sherard. Family text threads abandoned all topics but the Rebels. We ate dozens of oysters and drank Abita Ambers and Bloody Marys and we talked about the people we carried with us in spirit."

Arrival in New Orleans occurred the day before the Sugar Bowl, with the crowd moving into the French Quarter for the Ole Miss–Georgia quarterfinal. Galatoire's was fully booked, prompting a visit to Felix's oyster bar, a place tied to childhood and a father's last wishes to revisit happier times. In line, chance encounters recalled Delta hunting traditions and local connections. Inside, the group watched other games while cheering regional athletes. The crowd wore Chene hunting gear and powder blue, traded hometown stories, flooded family group texts with Rebels talk, ate oysters, drank Abita Ambers and Bloody Marys, and honored absent loved ones in spirit.

Read at ESPN.com