Tennessee baseball fans troll Southern Miss on social media for lack of .... Applebee's?
Hey Vol Nation, if Applebee's is the bar set for high dining, you might want to sit this one out this weekend as Tennessee baseball travels to Hattiesburg for the NCAA Tournament super regional against Southern Miss, with a trip to the College World Series on the line.
A Tennessee fan trolled Southern Miss on Twitter saying Hattiesburg didn’t even have an Applebee’s. A USM fan account responded to the Tennessee fan tweet and created what appeared to be a parody UT website, mocking the Vols in the process, saying, "VOLS PARTNER WITH SEC TO PROVIDE HUMANITARIAN RELIEF TO THIRD WORLD STATE THAT LACKS CLEAN WATER AND APPLEBEE'S."
The trolling Tennessee fan later took down the post but added some gas to the Twitter fire, saying "you can't even keep an Applebee's open," referring to a Hattiesburg Applebee's that closed during the pandemic.
One person on Twitter gave Vols' fans an Applebee's option not so far away.
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"Don’t worry Tennessee fans, you will still be able to get you @Applebees fix if you are attending the Super Regional against Southern Miss in the neighboring town of Laurel. Just a short 28 mile drive, but well worth it to get some home cooked food away from home," the tweet said.
Not surprisingly, USM fans jumped to the defense of Hattiesburg and their beloved Golden Eagles. The Southern Miss fan Twitter account that bills itself as "lifting USM through life experiences and a little humor," had thousands of page views and was poking fun at Tennessee baseball coach Tony Vitello.
For the record, in Omaha, Nebraska, where the College World Series is held, the closest Applebee's to Charles Schwab Field is about a 20-minute drive away. That's not much different than in Hattiesburg.
The back and forth between Vols' and USM fans had Southern Miss and Applebee's both trending most of the day Wednesday.
Considering Hattiesburg has world-famous restaurateur Robert St. John restaurants like his Crescent City Grill, The Midtowner and Ed's Burger Joint, one must wonder what offerings Vols' fans are used to. Oh yeah, Applebee's.
In the grand scheme of things, it may not matter because Tennessee received an allotment of just 600 tickets. The rest of nearly 6,000 tickets will go to Southern Miss fans who are clamoring to see coach Scott Berry reach the College World Series in his last season with the Golden Eagles before retiring. Tickets were trending north of $400 on Wednesday.
The Super Regional is set to begin on Saturday (2 p.m CT., ESPNU) as the Golden Eagles (45-18) came through the losers bracket to win the Auburn Regional last weekend. Tennesse (41-19), meanwhile, won the Clemson Regional as the No. 2 seed.
There must be no concerns of Applebee's in Clemson, since no complaints were heard from UT fans about being there.
Ross Reily can be reached by email at rreily@gannett.com or 601-573-2952. You can follow him on Twitter @GreenOkra1.
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Tennessee baseball fans troll Hattiesburg, Southern Miss for Applebee's
