This may be Oxford's biggest home game ever, so let's make sure we win the hospitality contest

    I do believe the biggest football game in Ole Miss history is about to take place.
    The match-up between No. 11 Ole Miss and No. 3 Alabama may be the most-watched game in the nation Saturday. The 2:30 p.m. game will be broadcast on CBS, but for the first time ever ESPN Game Day will be broadcast live from the stage at the Grove.
    Thank goodness for our big-screen television back in our tent, because to date I haven't been able to afford a ticket. My experience is that sometimes it's possible to get tickets at reasonable prices just outside the gate; and if not, I'll cheer from the Grove.
    I do hope everyone will pass the word that we need to be on our best behavior. The Alabama fans are our guests and we need to treat them as such. Fans that visit the Ole Miss campus return home marveling over how gracious we all are. Let's make sure Alabama gets a warm welcome even though we hope it will be a close game.
    Make no mistake, the oddsmakers expect Ole Miss to lose this game, but not by much. The line at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas currently has Alabama favored by 5½ points. As hard as it may be, if we lose we need to be gracious in defeat.
    But we're playing to win, and we have one of the best chances of beating Alabama in quite a while. The Alabama team isn't quite up to snuff this year and the Rebels are the best they've been in decades. A lot will depend on effort; and luck; and on the 13th man in the stadium.
    If we should win, I hope everyone will endeavor not to act like fools.
    A couple of years ago Jinny and I had the pleasure of hosting an out-of-state high school student who was thinking about coming to Ole Miss. He was a great student and being recruited by the honors college. After visiting the Grove, his mind was made up. He said then he was coming to Ole Miss, and he did.
    What attracted him wasn't that we won or lost the game that day. What attracted him was the graciousness and hospitality that he witnessed in the Grove. It is one of Ole Miss' greatest recruiting assets, so let's make sure we as fans don't muck it up through obnoxious winning or sore losing.

We hated Nashville's LP Field, but we sure love our Costco Grove supplies

    Jinny and I stopped by the Nashville Costco on the way home from the Vandy game and discovered some hard-to-find Grove supplies.

    The reusable wire racks were either two or three dollars each. The metal pans were around six bucks per package, for 15 steam pans and 30 food pans. The Sterno was $15.99 for 24 cans, which comes out to 67 cents per can.

    We've seen these at various places for two to five times these prices. For example, Jinny saw Sterno for sale at Wal-Mart yesterday for $4.99 for two, or $2.50 per can.

    We haven't decided what we're going to cook yet, but what ever it is, we're ready!

    Costco tends to carry items like these for two or three weeks, and then they won't been seen again until the next year, if ever. The Nashville Costco had a lot of catering supplies, and I'm guessing the Memphis one will, too. I may pay them a visit to see if we forgot anything.

________________

    Speaking of the Vandy game, we really hated LP Field. The stadium is nice enough, but getting in and around is a major hassle.

    We got to LP Field about a half-hour before kickoff. We didn't have tickets, as we usually just buy from someone at the game. Well, nobody was selling tickets. The kickoff came right as I finished buying our tickets.

    So far it was our fault. But the line to get into the stadium was unbelievable. They were taking about 30 to 45 seconds to wave down each person with a metal detector, and there weren't very many people waving the wands around; thousands of use spent quite a bit of time in line. If this is necessary, fine, but they need to hire enough people to handle the security.

    We had Club seats, but entered the stadium on the wrong side. There was a huge line to get into the Club section, and only one entrance. So when we found out we were on the wrong side we had to walk all the way back to the entrance, then around the stadium, then wait in line forever, and finally we managed to get into the club side where we were supposed to be.

     By the time we reached our seats the second quarter had started. I doubt we will be any rush to return to LP Field, although we certainly enjoyed the victory.

Ole Miss presented with $25,000 tab for party celebrating victory over LSU

Fans rush the field after Ole Miss' 27-24 win over LSU

    I published the photo above on Oct. 21. I was surprised that the security officials allowed the fans to storm the field, although perhaps there was little they could do to stop it.
    Now Ole Miss is paying the price, with a $25,000 fine being levied against the school by the SEC. The large fine is because Ole Miss is a repeat offender.
    Other schools were fined as well. Mississippi State received a repeat-offender $25,000 fine for excessive ringing of cowbells. Auburn was fined $5,000 as a result of the fans storming the field after the Alabama victory. Missouri also will have to pony up $5,000 following its celebration of its win over Texas A & M.
    I guess the Ole Miss needs to work harder at keeping the fans off the field!

Ole Miss Rebels almost certainly bowl bound, but will we get a chance to pick cotton?

Fans rush the field after Ole Miss' 27-24 win over LSU

    Saturday's 27-24 win against LSU is now history, one of those games that Rebel fans will tell their children and grandchildren about.

    It doesn't match the 1983 Egg Bowl win when State, with a few seconds on the clock, was kicking a chip-shot field goal. It seemed to me at the time that the ball actually went through the goalposts. Then a 40-mile-per-hour wind blew through the open end of the stadium and literally ejected the ball.

    From my vantage point it looked like the ball barely went through the goal posts, then went straight up for about half a second, and then went into reverse; sort of a loop-de-loop. This rather lousy Youtube video shows the ball going up and then changing direction, although it doesn't look like the ball made it all the way to the goal post, as it appeared to me at the time.

    The funny thing about human nature is that it is far more exciting and memorable to squeak out a win against an opponent than to win resoundingly. Ole Miss was leading LSU by an impressive 17-0 margin in the third quarter. A big win would certainly have been exciting and satisfying. But not nearly as memorable as the squeaker-win with six seconds left.

    At the time-out just before Ole Miss kicked its winning field goal the clock showed only three seconds left. But three seconds were added just before Ole Miss kicked its field goal for some reason. I was reminded of the legendary game in Baton Rouge where sluggish clock operations allowed the Tigers to complete three plays in 10 seconds for a win. I never saw it, but for years there was a billboard on I-55 which said, "Now Entering Louisiana. Please set your clocks back four seconds," or something to that effect.

Now for talk of bowl games

    Predicting the future for Ole Miss is always a gamble. But right now the 4-3 Rebels have seen the worst of a very tough schedule. Our remaining match-ups are Idaho, Arkansas, Troy, Missouri, and Mississippi State. All save the Egg Bowl give the Rebels a home-field advantage.

    So let's handicap it. I'm not willing to give the Rebels more than an 85 percent chance of winning any game, even though my gut feeling is that Ole Miss is certain to defeat Idaho and Troy. Arkansas is weak this year, although it would be foolish to sell them short. I think the Rebs have an advantage over Mississippi State, although the Egg Bowl is always Anything Can Happen day. And then there is currently undefeated Missouri....

    So let's give Ole Miss an 85 percent chance of defeating Idaho and Troy, a 70 percent chance over Arkansas, a 65 percent chance over State and a 15 percent chance against Missouri. Using my figures I predict a 7.2 to 4.8 season. 

    Of course, we can't win two-tenths of a game. So my real prediction is that we are very likely to finish 7-5 and have a very good chance of being 8-4. I find it very unlikely that Ole Miss will win all five remaining games. Another way to analyze it is that I give Ole Miss about a 50 percent chance of going 7-5, a 45 percent chance of 8-4, and a five percent chance of the miraculous 9-3.

    So Ole Miss is almost certainly headed to a bowl game, and probably a better bowl than last year's Compass. At 7-5 look for Liberty or Music City; at 8-4 look for Gator or Peach; and in the unlikely event the Rebels finish 9-3, get ready to pick Cotton.

    Just my view, for what it's worth. Those of you who are more avid football fans than I am are more than welcome to critique my analysis.

Video proof that Ole Miss never loses a party

    Here's a Game Day video that's a little painful to watch. But hey -- we didn't lose the party!
    And here's a news story on TotalFratMove.

We lost the football game but won the party with these Greek Salad Skewers

Greek Salad Skewers drizzled with Greek dressing

    We may have lost the ballgame with A&M, but these Greek Salad Skewers were a winner at our Grove tent.
    I had some of these in a Hilton executive lounge a while back and thought they would make great party food. They do, and were a perfect addition to a Grove table.
    There are plenty of recipes for these around the Internet. Just do a Google search and find the one that looks best to you. Here's how we made ours:

• Feta cheese cubes
• Grape tomatoes (the smaller the better, if used whole)
• Kalamata olives, halved
• Small piece of sweet onion (a square cut from a single ring)
• One-quarter of a slice of English Cucumber
• A tiny piece of romaine lettuce
• Salt and pepper

    Simply skewer the items in the order that looks best to you. The toothpicks we used were too small. Try to find some longer toothpicks, perhaps using sword toothpicks, or some other type of skewer.
    Make a Greek Salad Dressing of your choice and drizzle over the skewers 30 minutes before serving. The Greek dressing we made was a little bland so I added three tablespoons of Wishbone Italian. Season with salt and pepper.
    These might work well with the feta cheese cube on the bottom, as it will allow the skewer to stand straight up. Also, I think it might be good to have the Greek Dressing in little bowl as a dip rather than drizzled over the top.
    You can just make this one your own. I can think of dozens variation on this theme, all of which sound good to me.

Former Alabama signee joins ranks of Freeze football fans with Ole Miss commit

    Coach Freeze and the Ole Miss Rebels have snatched away a recruit from Alabama and as a result the Ole Miss line will be getting a little bit bigger. Make that a lot bigger.
    Brandon Hill, who attended school at St. George's in Collierville, signed with Alabama in February 2012 but wasn't able to enroll this fall due to some academic problems. So he enrolled in Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Va., to  make up the course work and get ready for the 2013 season.
    He's now ready and said he will enroll at Ole Miss in the spring. He said the offer was still open at Alabama but he just decided on Ole Miss instead. Hill is one of several high-profile recruits that Freeze has picked up recently.
    Various news outlets describe Hill as being either 6'6" or 6'7" and weighing between 350 and 378 pounds.
    Hill has been an offensive tackle at Hargrave, but I say we just let him run with the ball and see if anybody can stop him.

Old Stuff Found -- Tulane's Marching Band does Another Brick in the Wall, Sept. 22, 2012

    I was looking through stuff on my video camera and came across this film of the Tulane Marching Band performing at the halftime show during the Ole Miss-Tulane Game on Sept. 22.

    I'm not going to say the Tulane band is the biggest in the world, but the show was certainly different. It featured Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall."

    I only filmed a portion of the halftime show and then edited it down in size, so the resulting video is only 3.5 minutes long. In the background you can hear my daughter asking, "Who's Pink Floyd?" Clearly a deprived child.

    It was a great win early on for the Rebels, who won 39-0. I think the number of Ole Miss fans was down a bit. The Saints were playing that weekend and there was an AARP convention in town. Hotel prices were through the roof. We were able to use hotel points for free nights, otherwise we were looking at having to pay $300 per night. Ugh!

Lucky Rebels lose to A&M due to two really bad calls

     Whenever I write anything about football, I always preface it by saying I'm not an avid fan, I just enjoy watching the Rebels play from time to time. So my opinions should always be taken with a grain of salt.
     I was at the Texas A&M game Saturday, and of course you, dear reader, likely already know what I'm going to say. But before I get there I'm share my partial good fortune.
     I usually attend games by virtue of tickets purchased on StubHub. Tickets for the lesser games can often be had for $5-10 (or even less) after shipping. That's for seats in Section M, which is good enough for me. But when the UTEP game rolled around a few weeks ago I was lucky enough to find a couple of seats in the Rebel Club advertised at a reasonable price. And what do you know but at that game our Rebel Club neighbor saw that we were "strangers" and told us he might have tickets for the A&M game. So I paid full price for a change and got some great tickets.
     The bad news was that the stadium water pump was broken so there was no water in the Rebel Club, nor in any of the upper levels, apparently. This meant the drink machines wouldn't work, and of course, no restrooms. They eventually brought in canned drinks and we took the elevator down to the second level to relieve ourselves. It was far colder than we thought it would be and we really weren't prepared, so it was nice to be able to retreat into the heated club.
     We weren't prepared for the weather at all. I set up a tent in the Grove Friday night at 9 p.m. Tent setup is a real sight to behold, as the Grove is completely empty at 9 p.m., and by 9:10 it is completely covered with tents. I put our tent at "half-mast," with the legs un-extended. As it turned out, we wouldn't see the tent again until after the game.

     When tailgate time came, the weather was so bad we decided to just join our friends for a "tailgate" around our dining room table. We didn't get wet. We didn't get muddy. We didn't get cold. We enjoyed a glass of wine. A good time was had by all.
     The Rebels played a good game Saturday. A&M made a remarkable number of errors, so the Gods of Chance were with us until the end. We got lucky and should have won. Two bad calls cost us the game.
     The first bad call was when Ole Miss sacked A&M's quarterback Manziel for a safety. There is no question but that it was a safety. But the officials apparently got confused, and instead of giving Ole Miss two points and possession brought the ball to the two yard line. It's two points numbskulls, not the two yard line! (I know they ruled it wasn't a safety. It was).
     And then was the decision by Ole Miss to try for the first down instead of punting in a fourth and inches situation with 3:02 left to play, Ole Miss leading 27-23, with the ball on the Ole Miss 39. Most people would say punt every time, but I can see the strategy in trying to keep the ball. What I say is, if you want to go for inches, don't use a shotgun formation! Don't throw the ball backwards three yards when you only need to advance it 10 inches!
     Did Steve Sloan and Ed Orgeron get together and call in that play? They must have.

     OTHER COMMENTS: I took a bathroom break during halftime, but Jinny said the Texas A&M marching band was phenomenal.

In November 1966, Archie was the BMOC at Drew High School

    November 1966 was a big month for Drew High School senior Archie Manning. He was featured on the front page of the Drew Flash as Mr. Drew High School, in a photo for same, as a honor roll student, and as Student of the Month. The front page also said he was named to Who's Who for being Most Athletic and Most Versatile.
    As always, you can click on the photo to bring up a copy big enough to read.

October 1966 -- Archie Manning senior class president

    In honor of Eli Manning's win at the Superbowl, I thought I would share this photo from the October 1966 Drew High School newspaper, in which Eli's dad, Archie, was installed as senior class president. The reproduction quality isn't all that great, but it's all I've got!
    As always, you can click on the photo to blow it up large enough to read the story.

Mississippians want to amend constitution to make Col. Reb the Ole Miss mascot

    I came across an interesting item in a Public Policy Polling poll released Nov. 18.
    In a poll that appears to represent a good cross-section of the state (54-46 percent female to male, 66-30-3 white, black, other), Ole Miss comes up as the least popular sports team. No doubt the poor showing this season didn't help. Despite this fact, people from all over the state support amending the state constitution in order to bring Col. Rebel back as the Ole Miss mascot.
    Most people are willing to defer to university administration, but the scandalous, racist banishment of Col. Rebel has just been too much for people to stomach. So, folks, find a petition to get this on the ballot, sign it, and then vote next year to get Col. Reb restored to his rightful position so we can start winning some football games again!

Q5 Is your favorite college sports team in the state
Mississippi, Mississippi State, or Southern
Mississippi?
Mississippi ..................... 21%
Mississippi State ............... 36%
Southern Mississippi ............ 27%
Not sure ........................ 17%

Q6 Would you support or oppose a Constitutional
Amendment to designate Colonel Reb as the
official mascot of the University of Mississippi?
Support ......................... 52%
Oppose .......................... 22%
Not sure ........................ 26%

Oh, and by the way, don't you hate it when pollsters refer to Ole Miss as "Mississippi." If they don't want to use Ole Miss, then say the whole thing, "University of Mississippi."

Longtime sportswriter Caldwell says Dan Jones needs to go

    Longtime sports writer and former sports editor for the DeSoto Times-Tribune Ron Caldwell called for Ole Miss Chancellor Dan Jones' replacement in a column that appeared in the Friday, Oct. 28 edition.
    The column, entitled "Back to the Future for Ole Miss," begins as follows:

I have covered Ole Miss sports for more than 35 years. I received an undergraduate and graduate degree from Ole Miss and spent hard-earned money doing it. I worked at Ole Miss in media and public relations.

I have out-lasted football coaches Johnny Vaught, Billy Kinard, Ken Cooper, Steve Sloan, Billy Brewer, Joe Lee Dunn (sort of), Tommy Tuberville, David Cutcliffe and Ed Orgeron.

I have out-lasted chancellors J.D. Williams, Porter Fortune, Gerald Turner and Robert Khayat.

Ditto for athletic directors Johnny Vaught, Warner Alford, Pete Boone (round one) and John Schaffer.

And, let’s not even mention basketball and baseball coaches.

I have also out-lasted Johnny Reb (in a real Confederate outfit), Colonel Rebel and the ill-fated Traveler the horse, as well as the Rebel flag, “Dixie,” “From Dixie with Love,” cars tailgating in the Grove, panty raids and streaking.

I have ranged from the inconvenience of almost no restaurants, motels and stores to today’s horrendously, contemptible over-commercialization.

So, what’s the point other than to demonstrate that I’m old?

After seeing it almost all at Ole Miss and experiencing almost every conceivable emotion as a Rebel, I have some ideas of what needs to happen at “paradise on earth.”

First, Dan Jones needs to go as Chancellor. . . more

    You can click on the title above to read the rest of the column. I should note that Caldwell is not alone in suggesting that Jones simply is not up to the job of Chancellor of a major university. Many, if not most, Ole Miss alumni feel that he is way over his head.
    Jones has no one but himself to blame for this mess. It was he who chose to let the Pete Boone situation fester, and to send out an outrageous letter filled with falsehoods and name-calling. It was he who has taken part in public meetings where those who dared to disagree with him were slandered. Most people simply find this behavior repugnant and want no affiliation with a chancellor who is going to behave in such an uncivil manner.
    It takes courage to speak truth to power, but Ron Caldwell has done so. Dan Jones can turn things around both for Ole Miss and for himself. But to do that he has to set his ego aside and start listening to the great mass of alumni and students that he is supposed to serve. If he just can't or won't do this, then he does need to go.

Amid athletic woes, the world sees Ole Miss as a beautiful and gracious place to be

    While we've all been squabbling over athletics, Ole Miss has gotten an awful lot of good press lately. The old saying goes, "We may not win every game, but we've never lost a party." Some of the news stories are of that theme, but in a good way.
    There have been so many stories this year about tailgating in the Grove that it is almost comical. Newsweek magazine has rated Ole Miss the most beautiful campus in America, apparently grading on a combination of both campus grounds and student attractiveness.
    Just a few of the Grove Stories:

Birmingham News, 10-15-11: Greetings from the Grove
The Crimson White, 10-17-11: Grove v. Quad
New York Times Travel Section, 10-14-11: Of Parties, Prose, and Football (Faulkner and Football in Oxford, Mississippi)
The Fresno State Collegian, 9-30-2011: Tailgating the Rebel Way
Foxnews.com, 10-9-11: Football Fans Never Lose the Party at the 'Holy Grail of Tailgating'

    There's some even better press about Ole Miss having nothing to do with looking pretty or having a nice cocktail party atmosphere. I'll save that for another post.

New Forward Rebels release devastating to Pete Boone, Dan Jones

    The Forward Rebels organization has come out with some new information that is absolutely devastating to Ole Miss Chancellor Dan Jones and Athletic Director Pete Boone. To say this newly released info paints them in a bad light is an understatement.
    In the newest post on its website, called "The Case Against Pete Boone," Forward Rebels presents an actual letter written in 2009 by a major donor to Ole Miss Chancellor Dan Jones, in which he carefully outlines problems with the Ole Miss athletic program. I'll get to some of the contents of the letter in a minute, or you can read it for yourself. But after the letter was written the donor got an email from John Hartwell, Senior Executive Associate Athletics Director, informing him that because of his letter he would not be allowed to travel with the team for the upcoming year, even though his large donations apparently entitled him to.
    Also included is a letter written in March 2011, from 161 major supporters expressing similar concerns. This group in particular wanted the physical education major to be immediately restored, as all coaches have requested, and for an outside consulting firm to do a thorough review of the athletics department. Jones gave them a hem-haw about the phys-ed major and told them he had already done a thorough review when he took office, and Pete hires consultants all the time. Of course, the idea is not to have consultants hired by Pete!
    When Pete Boone has acted so maliciously towards a major donor, how can Dan Jones claim that he is the victim of "malicious" attacks -- of which he has been unable to identify one? How can Dan Jones say that the demands of Forward Rebels are being made by anonymous people when he's met with them and exchanged correspondence with them?
    There are a couple of things in the lengthy letter to Dan Jones that just pop off the page. One is that Pete Boone apparently interferes with and tries to micro-manage all of the coaches. Relations between Boone and football coach Houston Nutt are so strained that John Hartwell was hired specifically to work as a go-between to smooth things out. It hasn't worked very well. Boone is by all accounts a jerk, and sending a proxy over to do his jerky meddling doesn't make things any better.
    You might remember the lawsuit filed a couple of months ago by former Ole Miss Coach David Saunders. See Former Ole Miss coach serves notice of claim. Saunders claims that he was offered a job by Nutt and that the job fell through because Boone didn't like him. He says in the suit that the reason Boone didn't like him was because he wanted to recruit students with severe learning disabilities.
    Now I pointed out in my earlier post that a "severe learning disability" is often a fancy way of saying "low IQ." And if Saunders' claim is true, I might very well side with Boone, in that I would rather try to recruit really smart players than really dull ones. But in the end I would want to recruit players who could play football, regardless, and if that means recruiting a struggling player, so be it. And the AD shouldn't be going around behind the coach's back undercutting his decisions.
    What the David Saunders story tells us, if true, is that Boone is getting heavily involved in all of Houston Nutt's decisions. This is backed up by the letter from the big donor to Chancellor Jones. This is no way to run a football team! We have a problem and it is Pete Boone.
    There is a second tib-bit of information in the letter from the big donor to the chancellor. This is really only a rumor or concern that the big donor had, but he had apparently heard that checks were being written from the athletic department to the academic department, possibly taking funds that were legally allocated or donated to athletics and improperly transferring them to academics. Obviously just a concern, but sunshine is the best disinfectant, and it's time for a complete audit of the athletic department budget to properly account for these funds. It's a matter of public record, and we deserve to know where this money is going.
    There was one more bit of bad news for Pete Boone on Monday. Former Ole Miss standout and current K.C. Chief Jerrell Powe, who struggled for two years to gain academic admission to college, posted a letter on his Facebook page which is highly critical of Boone. Said Powe: "While you would think Mr. Boone would want me to go to school, and even more to play for Ole Miss, he was, if anything, discouraging to me during my struggle. Although many are familiar with Mr. Boone's desire to keep me out, I have held it back for a while." You can read the entire letter on the Forward Rebels Facebook page, as it has been reposted.
    If you read the David Saunders Notice of Suit, it's pretty obvious that Jerrell Powe was likely one of the players that Saunders was recruiting and working with.
    There are a lot of threads to this whole affair, but they all come back to point zero: Pete Boone needs to go.

Eagle story tells of Wild Bill Schneller thumbing nose, starting fight at 1938 Arkansas game

    Jack Lamar Mayfield tells the story of the massive fight at the 1938 Arkansas-Ole Miss game played at Crump Stadium in Memphis in the Friday, Oct. 21, Oxford Eagle.
    The story, entitled 'Wild Bill' Schneller thumbs nose at Arkansas defender is, unfortunately, behind a paywall. You can pay $5 and read the Oxford Eagle over the Internet for a month.
    I had not heard of this fight until a couple of months ago, when I read about it on a football chat board. I sent my good friend, Holly Springs attorney Bill Schneller an email asking if he was any relation. His response was simply "You must live under a rock, that was my dad." I didn't know for sure. I didn't think his dad had gone to Ole Miss until a few years later. The photo, however, does give it away for anyone who knows the younger Bill.
    At any rate, according to the Oxford Eagle column, Arkansas was losing pretty badly when Schneller intercepted a pass on the 50-yard line. He ran it back for a touchdown and when he saw no Arkansas players were near him he slowed to turn and thumb his nose at the Arkansas crowd, not once but twice, once while he was running and once as he crossed the goal line. There was no such thing as excessive taunting back in those days.
    The game ended shortly thereafter and Arkansas players sought justice. A huge fight erupted amongst the players which was eventually brought under control, but as for the fans they went at it for quite a while.
    Schneller played both offense and defense. Primarily a blocking back, he apparently carried the ball as well. An Associated Press story recapping the year said he scored five touchdowns in 19 plays in which he ran or received passes. Presumably his interception was one of these.
    It's a fun story and I'm glad I had a chance to read it. You can do a Google search on "Wild Bill Schneller" to learn more.

Ole Miss players just ordinary boys, like our brothers

    The following editorial column appeared on Oct. 16, 1987 in The Daily Mississippian. I suppose I never would have written it had I not visited with football tackle Jay Schimmel, who submitted a letter to the editor a few days before and visited with me for 10-15 minutes.

Football Players Are Just Ordinary Boys

    The year was 1970. Ole Miss was playing Southern here in Oxford. I had a dog named “Archie” and was wearing an “Archie” button. Archie was on the field. It was truly the heyday of Ole Miss football.
    It was, however, a sad day for the Rebels. The Rebel football team, drunk on nine straight victories, had gone to Holly Springs the night before the game and gotten drunk at Bessie’s Lounge.
    Momma and Daddy were not pleased, because they knew, as did everyone else from Holly Springs, that the team had spent the better part of the night at Bessie’s drinking beer. Nevertheless, they dutifully cheered for the Rebels, even though they did so disgustedly.
    At some point a Southern player went down. I don’t remember how badly he was hurt but I cheered. That’s when Daddy turned to me and loudly gave me a lesson in football etiquette.
    “Son,” my daddy said, “Those boys out there are just ordinary boys like your brother. Would you like for your brother to be in a game and for someone to cheer when he was hurt?”
    Forget the fact that my brother would never be in a football game. Daddy’s message hit home, and I hung my head and said I was sorry. While I have perhaps unlearned some of the football manners my parents taught me (I “boo” the opposing team and all Democrats) I don’t think I’ve ever cheered again when an opposing player has fallen.
    These days things are looking much worse for the Rebels than they were back in 1970. We are, simply put, doing horribly, and everyone has their pet theory as to why.
    It might do us well to consider the words my Daddy told me. “Those boys out there are just ordinary boys like your brother.” They are trying, and while they deserve our honest criticism, they also deserve the same support we would give a brother.
    The Rebels, for the past several years, have been notorious for having slow starts. This year, they haven’t even started. Hopefully this weekend will be different.
    Let’s face it. Southwest Louisiana is not a great team. The Rebel team has some talent, if everyone can just manage to use it at the same time. We will probably win this weekend, and I, along with my perfect date, will be there to witness it.
    This doesn’t mean I don’t have some criticisms of the Ole Miss team and coaching staff. I do. At the same time, I also respect people who are at least trying to accomplish something.
    In deciding to play football, players give up a lot of what makes Ole Miss fun for the rest of us. They put up with a “dumb jock” image which, while sometimes true, unfairly overshadows the fact that some of the best students on this campus are athletes.
    These athletes will be on the field Saturday trying to win a game for Ole Miss and some pride for themselves. The students should be in the stands showing their support.
    If your brother was on the field, you would be at the game. And these are just ordinary boys, just like your brother.

We can thank Dan Jones and Pete Boone for new Delta State ad

ADDENDUM 10-22: A reader comments that the ad below looks like a Photoshop production rather than an actual newspaper ad. It's been posted on Facebook and no doubt sent by email, but hopefully hasn't made an appearance in print. Plenty will see it, however, as Facebook is as good as any newspaper these days.

    If you don't believe Chancellor Dan Jones and Athletic Director Pete Boone are harming Ole Miss, just take a look at this ad, apparently placed by Delta State University. Delta State has been enjoying remarkable success with their Division II football program and is currently ranked first in the nation.
    Jones is known for his remarkably uncivil discourse, which is harmful to the Ole Miss family. His refusal to do the right thing and either have Boone resign or fire Boone is harming not only the athletic program but the entire school.
    The quality of a football team shouldn't matter when students decide where they will attend college, but it does. Everyone enjoys the thrill of victory. Ole Miss has been getting a remarkable amount of good press as the most beautiful campus and the best tailgating school in the nation. Unfortunately, Ole Miss was also rated as having one of the worst 10 football teams in the nation by ESPN.
    Pete Boone is harming our school by his inability to manage an athletic program and his refusal to resign. Chancellor Jones is harming our school by his refusal to do his job and fire Boone and his uncivil behavior. While these two prance and bray like jackasses, the Ole Miss family -- and our football team -- continue to lose.

(Click on the photo, perhaps twice, to enlarge)

University speakers compare Forward Rebels to violent segregationists; Dan Jones basks in it

    I just returned from a ceremony honoring James Silver, who was a professor from the 1940s until 1965. He was a supporter of integration and was essentially chased from the Ole Miss campus. I wrote about the plans a couple of days ago.
    I didn't think my opinion of Ole Miss Chancellor Dan Jones could get any lower, but it has. Journalism professor Curtis Wilke described attacks on Silver by the Klan-like Rebel Undereground newspaper and Citizens Council. He praised Silver for standing up to these attacks. He then introduced Chancellor Dan Jones, and compared the Forward Rebels movement lobbying for a new athletic director to the Rebel Underground, Citizens Council, and segregation supporters, and praised Jones for standing firm.
    Jones had every opportunity to call for civility and point out that the Forward Rebels movement had nothing to do with any of these groups, but he didn't. Instead, he essentially ratified Wilke's comments by saying nothing, and going into a long spiel about about how the Ole Miss administration today stands firm against efforts to interfere with academic freedom. It was an obvious allusion to efforts by alumni to get Jones to fire athletic director Pete Boone. Earth to Dan Jones: The athletic director is not an academic post!
    William Winter, who has written a letter against Forward Rebels, then gave a fine talk as he always does. But when he described those who attempted to prevent Hodding Carter from speaking on campus he referred to them as "Forward Rebel types."
    The purpose of Forward Rebels is to push for improvements in the athletic department, including the firing of Pete Boone. I'm sure some supporters would like to have the Col. Rebel mascot back; most Ole Miss fans would. But as a practical matter that ship has sailed. That's not what the group is about.
    For university speakers to take advantage of a public forum to paint members of Forward Rebels as Klansmen, Citizens Council members and segregationists is a sign of just how desperate these people are becoming. Dan Jones knows he is losing and is adopting a scorched earth policy is a last-ditch effort to win.
     The Forward Rebels corporate structure is in a bit of disarray right now but the alumni-at-large don't care. There are almost 6,000 Facebook supporters and growing who support getting rid of Pete Boone and making other changes. If Dan Jones keeps up his despicable behavior he may need to go, too.
     It's time for Curtis Wilke, Dan Jones and William Winter to offer formal apologies for these outrageous comments. A failure to do so would be an act of incivility.

National press interpreting Jones letter as claim of physical threats

    In Chancellor Dan Jones' recent "civility" letter to alumni he claims to have been "threatened." As usual with proclamations appearing over Jones' name, we would do well to analyze this statement.

The Ole Miss family may not be aware, however, that as a part of this orchestrated campaign, I have received threats, promising that if I do not remove Pete Boone, "It is going to get real ugly," and threatening to expand the attacks to other athletics employees.

    Note carefully the chancellor's words. He says that he has received threats, the threat being that if he doesn't do the right thing and remove Pete Boone, "It is going to get real ugly." These people also are "threatening" to expand the attacks to other athletics employees.
     I don't believe a reasonable person engaged in a heated political debate would consider the phrase "It is going to get real ugly," to be a threat of physical violence. Yet Jones' letter, if not read carefully, leaves the impression that he or Boone have been physically threatened.
    That's certainly how the some of the national media have taken it. Take, for example, this blurb from the CBSsports.com website:

Something to chew on ... and spit out: Houston Nutt is merely on the hot seat at Mississippi. Mississippi chancellor Dan Jones released this letter Thursday saying he has been threatened and it could "get real ugly" if he doesn't fire AD Pete Boone.

    See how this media outlet didn't manage to parse Jones' letter exactly right? The "threat" Jones alleges is that if he doesn't fire Boone it could "get real ugly." CBS interpreted it to mean that he had been told things could "get real ugly" AND he had been threatened. A perfectly understandable error given the way Jones' letter was written.
    USAToday reports the following:

Some Mississippi fans are not happy with Pete Boone and they are showing it by making threats against the school's athletic director and other officials.

     An ESPN blog reported on the "threats" but then managed to report that the threat was that if Boone wasn't fired things would "get real ugly."
    There are, sadly, a number of other media outlets that have interpreted Jones' letter as suggesting that "threats" have been made. When used without the explanation that the "threat" is that things will get "real ugly" the assumption is that those threats are threats of physical harm.
    I had not written one word about any of the athletic department mess prior to receiving the chancellor's "civility" letter yesterday. When I read it I was outraged.
    When people argue over policy, it is not uncommon for someone to warn that things might "get real ugly." For Jones to come out bleating that he has been threatened has resulted in harm to the entire Ole Miss community. It was an act of incivility.
    A friend of mine posted the following on his Facebook wall yesterday. I realize Ole Miss is controlled by a few big donors these days, but little people matter, too:

I've languished over this decision. I've been in the UMAA Foundation since I graduated law school, and did the 110% club for several years when the economy allowed me to do it. I love Ole Miss, but I can no longer support our leaders. Boone's radio interview and Jones' letter have convinced me beyond any doubt that the status quo will continue, and they only want my money with no accountability. I can no longer do it in good faith.

     From my observation of Jones, he is obsessed with "being the winner" in any confrontation. Jones could have sent out a letter stating, "I'm sorry I wasn't listening well enough. Let's see if we can get everybody at the table and work this out." (Bogus, but it might have defused things). Instead, he insulted and denigrated those who disagreed with him and made a bunch of bogus claims.
    Jones has managed to convince a large portion of the national media that we're all down here threatening physical violence against each other. To the best of my knowledge it's not true, and by doing this our chancellor has done great harm to Ole Miss.