The Gator Bowl Frustration That Sparked The Cowbelt: An Origin Story for Mississippi State Fans

If you see my product "The Cowbelt," the ultimate cowbell holster, and wonder why someone would even think to make such a thing, well, allow me to relay the genesis of this invention.

The idea was truly formed on a fateful game day at the 2011 Gator Bowl. I was eager to cheer on Mississippi State in their first bowl game since 2007, alongside my wife and our friend, Tom.

Being a recent graduate and, let's just say, "financially prudent," we decided to save a few bucks on parking. That meant a solid 10-block hike to the stadium—a trek made even more interesting by the required accessory: our trusty cowbells.

It was that long walk, both to and from the game, that truly sparked the "aha!" moment. You see, none of the "standard" cowbell-carrying options were satisfactory. Holding the thing constantly occupied a hand, which is less than ideal when you need to high-five, hold a drink, or just, you know, exist. Stuffing it inside my waistband was a surprisingly uncomfortable proposition, pockets certainly weren't going to work, and relying on armpits or any other contortionist move proved useless for a successful game day.

Being a couple of engineers (and clearly, problem-solvers by nature), we decided there had to be a better way.

We committed right then and there to create a "thing" that would solve our problem – and, as it turns out, the problem for countless other dedicated Mississippi State football fans. Several initial ideas were sketched out during our drive back home from the game. We'll be sharing some of our early, and rather amusing, attempts at making The Cowbelt in future blog posts.