The football weekend began with two cityscapes of football as life raft. Now, a couple of hours before Mississippi-Cal, on a walk to a 200-person tailgate in the center of campus, I witness three college football scenes:
• Two male drummers, in full Cal band uniforms with spatted shoes, are stopped by an Ole Miss fan, 65ish, dressed in a bright red polo with Ole Miss logo over the heart. The Rebel fan says: “Y’all know Dixie?” One of the kids says, “No. We’re from California.”
• On the way to the stadium, eight cheerleaders dressed in their blue-and-gold garb, with blue-and-gold pompoms, get stopped by a Cal fan, maybe 40.