Donny Faircloth walked through Devon Park’s gate on May 28 carrying a grocery bag of broccoli florets after NCAA officials cleared Mississippi State fans to bring the vegetable into the Women’s College World Series for the Bulldogs’ 11 a.m. CT opener against Texas Tech.
People are searching for mississippi state broccoli because a fan-driven superstition that began in the Eugene Regional followed the team to the sport’s biggest stage — and the NCAA elected to let it through a gate that normally bars outside food.
Broccoli became a team talisman after a fan nicknamed Broccoli Guy danced with the vegetable in the stands during the Eugene Regional. The tradition spilled into the dugout after Mississippi State beat Saint Mary’s in the regional final and showed up again during the Bulldogs’ super regional wins over No. 3 seed Oklahoma; players and parents leaned into it, leaving the team with a surplus of broccoli and prompting Dean Goold to clear an entire shelf of the vegetable at a Homeland grocery store.
Faircloth said he’d brought the florets "on the chance they did" allow them in, and that was how it played out at the gate. "We were hoping that they'd let us through the gate.... We were bringing it on the chance they did," he said. After security inspected the bag, he added, "They looked at it, nodded, said, 'Cool.'" Penny Grassel, who helped commission black shirts reading Team Broccoli with three smiling florets, said, "Once we won super regionals (Game 1), I was like, 'Oh, we've got to get broccoli shirts.'... I just think it's so cool." She also noted that Mississippi State parents planned to wear those shirts during the WCWS.
That allowance matters precisely because Devon Park’s rules list outside food as prohibited. The NCAA’s exception inserted a small, theatrical moment into stadium enforcement: a security policy designed to be uniform loosened for a single, unusual fan ritual tied to one program’s postseason run. The rules are still written to keep snacks and coolers out; in practice, on May 28, a bag of broccoli passed the test of an inspector’s nod.
The tangible echoes of the broccoli story are hard to miss: players celebrated with the vegetable in dugouts, a local parent scoured shelves to feed the craze, fans printed shirts, and one man — Faircloth — turned a simple grocery bag into a prop and a statement. Dean Goold framed it plainly: "This is supposed to be fun," he said, adding that the sport should be "positive energy" and "what it's all supposed to be about." For Mississippi State, a program making its first trip to the Women’s College World Series, that spirit has become part of the narrative the team brings to Oklahoma City.
What remains unanswered is why the NCAA decided to bend its own prohibition. Tournament officials allowed the broccoli entry but have not explained the decision-making that produced the exception or whether it will apply beyond May 28 or to other fan traditions at Devon Park. That gap matters because ad hoc carve-outs set precedents for enforcement and for how other teams’ customs might be treated at future events.
The next, immediate scene is already scheduled: Mississippi State’s parents planned to wear their Team Broccoli shirts for the Bulldogs’ second game of the weekend, turning a roadside superstition into a coordinated presence inside Devon Park. Whether the NCAA will again nod and say "Cool" at future gates is the question that now sits between a tournament rulebook and a vegetable that has become, improbably, part of a team’s postseason identity.
