A deal went down off of Exit 14 in Columbus, Georgia, Wednesday evening.
Abby Supan had coordinated everything earlier in the week, making sure her order was complete to satisfy her dozens of buyers. Phillip Weaver was on the other end of the transaction. He and his team of four worked on a total timecrunch but completed Supan’s request in time for her flight that night.
The two met, exchanged the merchandise, and Supan was off to deliver the goods – 100 T-shirts, sporting junior pitcher Dealainey Everett’s, “An underdog is still a freakin’ dog” quote, which reached the national stage after MSU’s win against Oklahoma on Sunday in Norman, Oklahoma.
“We wanted to create something fun and meaningful that showed support to the team,” Supan, whose daughter, Ally Supan, is a freshman on the Bulldog’s history-making softball team. “This College World Series is such a special moment for the athletes and families, we wanted something that would bring all of us together to show our support to them.”
The shirts stood out in the bleachers of Devon Park on Thursday afternoon. In what would usually be a maroon-filled section, the seats behind the first-base dugout turned into a sea of white. The shirts were even featured on ESPN’s broadcast of the game.
“Everybody is showing up in the underdog shirts,” ESPN reporter Holly Rowe said as she told the story of Everett’s slogan. “I think it might be the mantra of the softball season.”
Weaver had the game on in his business, The Jersey Shoppe, when the broadcast displayed the shirts he made. Before they made their way onto national television, Weaver turned around the order of 100 shirts in what he called “the tightest timeline he had ever worked on.”
He had planned to meet up with Supan at 5 p.m., a deadline that wouldn’t have been a problem if not for struggles with UPS. The shirts arrived and were ready to be printed on time, but the prints, which were supposed to be on the same truck as the shirts, were nowhere to be found.
Weaver called the manager at UPS and the two scrounged through the tractor-trailer where the prints had been left behind. Once the prints were found, Weaver hurried his way back to the office. He got everything ready to go by 4 p.m. and printed the last shirt at 4:57.
One hundred T-shirts completed in 57 minutes.
While a hectic process, Weaver said it was worth it to see his work on national TV.
“It was awesome,” Weaver said. “Those are the little accolades that we want to see after we’ve done something like that.”
‘It’s like another family’
Defying the odds, like Weaver did in his shirt-making stunt, is something this MSU softball team is very familiar with this season. The Bulldogs took down No. 14 national seed Oregon in the Eugene Regional, securing State’s second-ever appearance in the Super Regional round.
Against a softball goliath in Oklahoma, MSU clinched its first-ever WCWS appearance, taking down the heavily favored Sooners in three games. The Bulldogs have adopted the underdog mentality on their improbable postseason run, and so have the team’s fans and families.
“It’s we versus me. It’s a ‘we’ mentality,” Abby Supan said of the kindred spirit of the MSU squad and their families that has aided in this postseason run. “We have to do it as a team that is together.”
Supan said the culture within the relatives of MSU softball players is tight-knit. They have a GroupMe, staying in touch and sharing travel information about road venues.
On Thursday, MSU’s fan section looked like a family reunion with everyone in matching T-shirts, hugging and talking like they’ve known each other their entire lives.
In a sense, it was.
“It’s like another little family,” Abby Supan said. “Besides your work family, you have your softball family.”
The underdog shirts were a hit for many, not just the people wearing them. Abby Supan said she had State fans approach her with love for the shirt, asking where they could buy one.
“We probably could have went to 200 (T-shirts printed), and put a table at the World Series front entrance,” she said.
‘Team Broccoli’ and beyond
Everett’s motto isn’t the only thing MSU parents have welcomed this postseason. Jim Stewart Allen, better-known as “Broccoli Guy,” has become a symbol for State’s run, following their run in the postseason while dancing with broccoli in the stands.
Catcher Paige Ernste’s mom, April, and outfielder Great Grassel’s mom, Penny, sported shirts during the Norman Super Regional that said “Team Broccoli,” each with their daughter’s name on the back. Supan loved it so much, she got one made for herself.
The family Abby Supan and the families of Bulldogs players have made this season is similar to the community she felt when walking on campus at MSU for the first time. She said the moment she stepped on campus, she knew it was home for her daughter.
“It’s not just parents,” Abby Supan said of the support Bulldog softball has felt throughout this run. “It’s parents, families, fans and the alumni.”
Jake is the Mississippi State athletics reporter for The Dispatch.
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