Ding dong indeed.
Welcome to Mississippi y'all, The Hospitality State. Beware of cowbells.
Mississippi is an unusual place. Yeah yeah, I know, we all have lopsided heads, marry our cousins, don't wear shoes. But, I'll have you know, all my cousins live out of state and I actually have two pairs of shoes, my good ones and my gooder ones.
And this week I'm wearin' my dancin' shoes because OUR New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl! Our unfortunate situation in Mississippi is that we have no hometown professional teams to root for, so we outsource to other places like Atlanta, Dallas, Green Bay, Houston, St. Louis, etc. Our team allegiances shift as do our homegrown players, like Brett Farve or the Manning family, dad included, or Jerry Rice or Walter Payton. I mean, who ever thought anyone from Mississippi would be rooting for the New York Giants? But there is one team that has always been ours, the New Orleans Saints.
There was a time the Saints were so bad, you could have dressed out 11 nanny goats on one side of the ball and the Saints would have lost by 20 points. Yet, through all the hard years we have hung in as fans, although sometimes with anonymity under paper bags, but this year we were finally rewarded
Is there anywhere on the planet to escape this asshole?
From an email from T-Bone, but really from his friend Jill.
This is on the door of the Chevron by the house, Spillway and Grants Ferry. The manager is a huge Saints fan. After the first loss, a sign on the door said to leave all comments outside. This was the new sign yesterday.
(click photo to enlarge)You just can't make this stuff up!
America is burning, Obama is fiddling, and Congress, bless their all-important, egomaniacal little hearts, is wasting our hard fought taxpayer money and critical time during "the greatest crisis since blah-blah-blah" to worry over important legislation like college fucking football. More specifically, how college teams are ranked in the BCS standings.
Don't get me wrong, I loooooove college football, but c'mon Washington, don't we have better things to be doing? Economic woes for example? Or illegal immigration? We still have a war going on, I know Obama won that other one for us and it's easy to forget, but wake up out there! Moreover and sickeningly so, I understand from this article that the legislation in question is being spearheaded by none other than Republican Senator Orrin Hatch, whose beloved Utes were snubbed for the top spot after a perfect finish last year in the regular season.
Sure, the BCS computer rankings and coaches ranking and all that other jibber-jabber is an imperfect science, but is this really something Congress should be wasting time over? Can't we, as Americans, just get over the fact that some shit ain't gonna be perfect in life? Including the BCS rankings? And just because some Mormons, among others, got their panties all wadded up, doesn't mean we need to waste millions of dollars in Congressional salaries, printing costs, etc., to study this socially devastating calamity! Not!
And then some other Republican doofus is trying to prevent the NCAA from calling a game "national championship" unless there is a playoff system in place. Oh lordy, now we're gonna start legislating words! Heaven forbid we call a championship game a championship game! Gotta have a law for that ludicrousness.
You know how every now and then you'll come across one of those news stories about funny old laws, typically at the local level, but many times at the state level that would, for instance, prohibit someone from driving while blindfolded in Alabama or prohibit the concealed carry of an ice cream cone in your pocket in Kentucky. Or a more modern example of dumb law as demonstrated by the recent rash of local ordinances which require a person to pull their pants up and OVER the underwear. Sheesh! That just the kinda of focused and cutting edge legislation we need in this country.
Hey, you know what else will make people pull their pants up? A swift kick in the ass-crack with a pair of steel-toed, hobnailed boots. Works everytime. Except on Sundays, the Friday after the third Monday of the second week of Spring and at no time during the presence of a woman in a corset. Or while spitting in public and giving a lit cigar to a housecat.
I can't imagine the scorn and ridicule 100 years from now as they peruse American history and realize that we couldn't even figure out how to say, "Hey, you're the winner," without some damn law being written to tell us how to do it.
Welcome to America in 1984 2009.
Man, what a crazy football bowl season, huh Bobcat??
Yesterday, my beloved 20th ranked University of Mississippi Rebels (9-4 regular season) led by new head coach and demigod Houston Nutt, opened up several cans of premium whoopass on the 8th ranked Red Raiders of Texas Tech (11-2 regular season) in the Cotton Bowl.
The Rebels, led by diminutive running back/part-time quarterback/wide receiver Dexter McCluster ran over, under and through Texas Tech all day. McCluster ran for 97 yards and caught 6 passes for 83 yards. The big, rumbling, bumbling tight end Gerald Harris caught two touchdown passes and Brandon Bolden ran for 101 yards including a 17 yard rush for a touchdown.
But beyond the numbers, there was something else, something far more important than numbers, scores, and stats. It was team spirit. Ole Miss had it. Texas Tech didn't.
Houston Nut came to Ole Miss from Arkansas following behind David Ogeron's poor 3-8 performance last year with the Rebels. Ogeron may have left behind a weak record, but his recruiting skills were phenomenal. Nutt saw the talent, he believed in his players and Nutt made a promise to his team. He said if you believe in me, I'll take you to a bowl game. A simple motivation for his players and those young men performed.
Ole Miss stumbled a bit this year and rudimentary mistakes at critical points cost them some very close games against top 25 teams. Wake Forest and Vanderbilt come to mind. The Rebels should have won both of those games and finished the season 11-2. But they didn't.
Each week, Ole Miss picked themselves up and dusted themselves off, overcoming the doubt and second-guessing that can ruin a team. They came back each week stronger and more motivated to win. In Florida, the reached the peak with a devastating defeat of the Gators in Gainesville. Then they beat LSU in Baton Rogue. They believed in themselves and it was Nutt who fostered that feeling, nurturing his players to victory.
At the end of the game yesterday I noticed that two of the linemen from Texas Tech were displaying what could be best described as "poor loser syndrome" as they lashed out at the Rebels and their own teammates. It was sad to see a great team who had come so far, only to lose an important game, pouting like spoiled children, a game in which they were beat fair and sqaure.
Ole Miss, you should be proud. I am! We all are! Mississippi is proud of her Rebels!
I leave you with our historic cheer:
work and football.
I am at work. Yay work!
It's Saturday and what I should be doing is beginning to simmer a pot of chicken bones on the stove and wondering to myself how long I'm going to hold out before I drink a beer.
Instead, I'm here. Waiting. Waiting for a contractor to call.
It rained like a mother last night, but wet subgrade soils won't keep contractors for doing dumb things. Like pouring concrete in mud. So, I wait.
I know if I keep staring at the phone it'll never ring.
*sigh*
This weekend I'm thinking about making pot roast. Or more specifically, boeuf bourguignon. Beef braised in red wine with root vegetables and the traditional garnish of mushrooms and pearl onions. I'll probably skip the pearl onions because those things are a pain in the rumpelstiltskin to deal with. Nothing a little large white onion won't solve.
On today's football menu, Ole Miss will play West Central North Eastern Community Technical College aka The University of Louisiana at Monroe and the Dawgs of Mississippi Cowbell College will send the practice team of South Panola High School to take on the #1 ranked Toilet Paper Elephants of Alabama.
I expect Ole Miss to hand defeat to ULM readily to pad my ever widening lead vs. Linder's Bulldogs and the Bulldogs probably won't even show up today out of fear. They'll just forfeit by virtue of sending out messages tied to carrier pigeons who will land in the Alabama stadium at game time.
On a serious note, I expect that Mississippi State is quietly preparing for the departure of Sylvester Croom, the SEC's first black head coach. His impact was felt as a new future was written for black coaches in the SEC and expectations were high. However, in the SEC and anywhere sports are played, winning games is the key. Through 2007, Croom's Bulldogs have gone 14-30. Not so good. My sources tell me that within the alumni circles of MSU, the grumblings are getting louder for a new coach. We'll see. Will Mississippi State again make history, by FIRING the first black coach of the SEC?
An outstanding performance and a win against Croom's old team, Alabama, where he cut his coaching teeth, would do wonders for his current situation. Gotta find those bright spots in a crap season like the Bulldog's are having.
Ole Miss is also treading water. A huge win against Florida raised expectations a little too high, but in the games Ole Miss has lost against other top 25 teams, the margin of defeat has been slim. And most defeats have been because of simple mistakes. Rudiments. Dropping the ball, fumbles, critical holding or unsportsmanlike conduct calls late in the game. They have no one to blame but themselves.
Ole Miss still has the potential for drawing a bowl game this year. Maybe the Liberty or Independence. Another Cotton Bowl appearance would be wonderful, but the Rebels will have to go undefeated for the rest of the year. Unlikely considering that they face LSU at LSU. Big time disadvantage. But, we hold hope alive. LSU is struggling a bit this year and the Rebels have played strong against some first line teams.
Well, with all that being said, I hope both teams strike out and stomp ass this weekend. I'd like my bet with Linder to come down to the last game of the season.
Y'all have a good day. And Hoddy Toddy!!
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