Davis Wade Stadium - Traditions

Traditions

• The Junction is a grassy park on campus where Bulldog fans tailgate under tents during sports weekends. It is named The Junction for the railroad (and the defunct railroad bed later)that ran through the tailgating area prior to the construction of The Junction. It also replaced "Malfunction Junction", a set of adjacent intersections where 6 different streets entered into campus. The streets were rerouted around the area and a pedestrian park was built, then "The Junction" developed on the site. While many Bulldog fans tailgate in other places on campus, The Junction is unique in that it allows thousands of fans to tailgate under tents directly in front of the stadium without cars or traffic. The Junction has been referred to as the “premier tailgate experience” by the Birmingham-based firm contracted for its design and development.

• The "Dawg Walk" is held approximately three hours before each home game. This is where the team and coaches walk through The Junction to the stadium with the MSU band playing and thousands of Bulldog fans lining the walk, cheering the players on.

• One of the Bulldogs' proudest and longest traditions is the ringing of cowbells. From 1977 to 2009, "artificial noisemakers" were banned by the SEC, including cowbells, but fans continued to bring them in even though administrators encouraged fans not to use cowbells and security guards "search" you upon entry. There could be as many as 40,000 cowbells in the stadium during a big game. In the 2010 season, a compromise was reached on a trial basis allowing fans to legally bring cowbells under SEC rules to games at Davis Wade Stadium as long as the cowbells were only used at sanctioned times: Pregame, quarter breaks and Half-time, Time Outs, and when Mississippi State scores.