Justin Grantham didn’t anticipate getting a ton of attention online when he made the choice to attend the Tucson Super Regional.
“I honestly had no clue that it would get this kind of attention,” Grantham explained.
Of course, he also didn’t initially expect to be rooting against Ole Miss when he decided to go watch a few baseball games in the city he lives in.
You see, Grantham is a Mississippi State fan and enjoys going to baseball games.
He’s also in the Air Force and just happens to live in Tucson while he’s stationed at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. When the Arizona Wildcats were picked as the No. 5 national seed in the 2021 NCAA Baseball Tournament, Grantham started making arrangements to get to the Super Regional.
“I love the game of baseball. I planned to attend the Tucson Super as soon as they were announced as a national seed,” Grantham said.
He ended up buying the session pass and plans on being at all of the games.
“It just kind of worked out that they are playing a natural rival,” he said.
And so, when Ole Miss arrived in town for the Super Regional, Grantham got to the game to watch the Wildcats face them. With an Arizona hat and a Mississippi State jersey, Grantham went to watch the Wildcats and Ole Miss play game one on Friday.
Unsurprisingly, Ole Miss fans weren’t thrilled about his presence at the Super Regional and pictures of Grantham at the game very quickly made their way to Twitter.
Fans of the Rebels made their displeasure known online, but Grantham wasn’t bothered by it. According to him, he’s enjoyed seeing Ole Miss fans get a little hot under the collar about the whole deal.
“It’s been a lot of fun seeing those guys getting bent all out of shape over a State fan attending a Super Regional in the town he lives in,” he said.
Mississippi State fans, unsurprisingly, have also loved it. Bulldog fans on Twitter enjoyed seeing Grantham supporting the Wildcats and State fans were quick to support him.
You can see an example of that if you click here. Or here. And also here.
And while Egg Bowl Twitter was operating like Egg Bowl Twitter traditionally does, with outrage and nonsense, things have been a bit more jovial out in Tucson.
“For the most part, it’s just been a lot of friendly chirping back and for. A lot of jocular jabs, but nothing [too out] of control,” Grantham stated.
On top of that, Arizona fans have welcomed Grantham in as one of their own.
“A lot of them were confused at first. It took them a minute to distinguish the difference in the two Mississippi schools. Once they realized what was going on they’ve kind of adopted me as one of their own. The whole experience has been a lot of fun and I’m sure game 3 won’t disappoint,” Grantham said.
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