Contributors
Vassallo: Football Season Must Be Getting Close
Sunday night, I had the most vivid, real, wonderful dream that I’ve had in quite some time a la Johnny Burnette’s 1960 classic “Dreamin.”
The dream focused entirely on the opening football game in Oxford versus South Carolina won by the Rebels 64-14! I realize we don’t open the season in Oxford, nor do we play South Carolina this year. However, it was so real! I recall that our last touchdown was set up by a 50-yard quarterback sneak over right tackle. And three of our starters were held out of the game because of nursing minor injuries. I honestly hated to wake up. It was that great.
Shifting the focus to Johnny Burnette, he left this world way too soon, the result of a drowning accident in 1964. His classic “Dreamin” is one of my top 40 lifetime favorites, although it only made it to No. 11 on Billboard in 1960. This is hard to understand that a song this great, never made the top ten, however, his hit that followed “Dreamin,” “You’re Sixteen” did go to number eight. “Dreamin” hit the charts August 15 that year at the time “It’s Now or Never” by the King was No.1.
This upload is from the Love Lives Forever Series of the WJGroup – Book 1, Segment 16 by Dan Martin.
On September 19 (my birthday), Chubby Checker’s “The Twist” went to number one. This would become the only song in music history that would re-enter No.1 a second time (January 13, 1962) because of the Twist craze that captured the nation that year. A few years ago in Madison, I had cocktails with Chubby. It was a night to remember. So much for reminiscing about music, back to football.
In just a few weeks on HottyToddy.com, we’re going to do “Something New” this year as we count down the SEC (weakest to strongest in each division) plus analyzing our schedule (also weakest to strongest) over a seven week period.
Hopefully, this will get everyone in a football state of mind. I don’t know if we’ll win the opener by 50 points or not, but dreamin’ can be fun occasionally.
Steve Vassallo is a HottyToddy.com contributor. Steve writes on Ole Miss athletics, Oxford business, politics and other subjects. He is an Ole Miss grad and former radio announcer for the basketball team. Currently, Steve is a highly successful leader in the real estate business who lives in Oxford with his wife Rosie. You can contact Steve at sovassallo@gmail.com or call him at 985-852-7745.
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| Mon, Nov 4 |  | vs Long Island University | W, 90-60 |
| Fri, Nov 8 |  | vs Grambling | W, 66-64 |
| Tue, Nov 12 |  | vs South Alabama | W, 64-54 |
| Sat, Nov 16 |  | vs Colorado State | W, 84-69 |
| Thu, Nov 21 |  | vs Oral Roberts | L, 100-68 |
| Thu, Nov 28 |  | vs BYU | W, 96-85 OT |
| Fri, Nov 29 |  | vs 13 Purdue | L, 80-78 |
| Tue, Dec 3 |  | @ Louisville | W, 86-63 |
| Sat, Dec 7 |  | vs Lindenwood | W, 86-53 |
| Sat, Dec 14 |  | vs Southern Miss | W, 77-46 |
| Tue, Dec 17 |  | vs Southern | W, 74-61 |
| Sat, Dec 21 |  | vs Queens University | W, 80-62 |
| Sat, Dec 28 |  | @ Memphis | L, 87-70 |
| Sat, Jan 4 |  | vs Georgia | W, 63-51 |
| Wed, Jan 8 |  | @ 23 Arkansas | W, 73-66 |
| Sat, Jan 11 |  | vs LSU | W, 77-65 |
| Tue, Jan 14 |  | @ 5 Alabama | W, 74-64 |
| Sat, Jan 18 |  | @ 17 Mississippi State | L, 81-84 |
| Wed, Jan 22 |  | vs 13 Texas A&M | L, 62-63 |
| Sat, Jan 25 |  | @ Missouri | L, 83-75 |
| Wed, Jan 29 |  | vs Texas | W, 72-69 |
| Sat, Feb 1 |  | vs 2 Auburn | L, 92-82 |
| Tue, Feb 4 |  | vs 10 Kentucky | W, 98-84 |
| Sat, Feb 8 | | @ LSU | 7:30 PM SECN |
| Wed, Feb 12 |  | @ South Carolina | 6:00 PM SECN |
| Sat, Feb 15 | | vs 17 Mississippi State | 5:00 PM TBA |
| Sat, Feb 22 |  | @ Vanderbilt | 2:30 PM SECN |
| Wed, Feb 26 | | @ 2 Auburn | 6:00 PM TBA |
| Sat, Mar 1 |  | vs 12 Oklahoma | 1:00 PM TBA |
| Wed, Mar 5 |  | vs 1 Tennessee | 8:00 PM TBA |
| Sat, Mar 8 |  | @ 6 Florida | 5:00 PM SECN |