Rivalry is supposed to make the competition in intercollegiate athletics fun, of course for players, but especially for the fans. For Ole Miss football, the MSU rivalry is getting uglier.
Rivalry, I mean isn’t that what we really thrive on as fans anyway? Bragging rights for a year? No way! It’s bragging rights forever when you are a diehard fan of Ole Miss football, and that’s exactly what it’s supposed to be.
No matter if you get blown out 55-20 by your rival this season or the next five, you still contend your favorite team is the very best. Why? Because we know we are better than them, not just because they are our rival. We are just better, period. WAOM
Of course, there is always the other side of that coin, the team you despise hearing of or seeing success from. Rivalry is kind of like alcohol; you can enjoy it in moderation. Lately, the rivalry we call the Egg Bowl has seriously begun to get out of hand.
As a result, a little overindulgence in our favorite beverage of banter, and at last, our taste has become bitter and venomous.
This Rivalry Has Always Been Ugly
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The Egg Bowl Rivalry has never been nice, period. Since the early days before the Egg, when they were known as the Red and Blue and the Aggies, these two fan bases have clashed. In fact, in 1926, the Red and Blue were victorious 7-6 over the Aggies in Starkville.
The game was a huge win for the Red and Blue, breaking a 13 game losing streak. Of course, University of Mississippi fans responded by storming the field, and going straight for the goalposts.
Naturally, the loss didn’t settle well with Maroon and White nation, nor did the Ole Miss celebration. Once the State College fans realized Ole Miss students were attempting to steal the goalposts, they took to the field. Pandemonium ensued, as described in Battle of the Golden Egg on OleMissSports.com,
"Irate Aggie supporters took after the ambitious Ole Miss group with cane bottom chairs, and fights broke out. The mayhem continued until most of the chairs were splintered."
All of this over goalposts? Of course! It’s just what we do. Besides, they are part of OUR state too.
The Cracked Rivalry
For fifty-one years, I have watched the Egg Bowl turn from a fun and interesting rivalry into something rather ugly. Sure, when you get two groups of people together who despise each other, there will inevitably be trouble. Oh yeah, there have been a lot of fights! Most of us older Rebels will never forget the pregame melee from the 1997 Egg Bowl, which ended in a 15-14 victory for Ole Miss. It was an ugly win, just like the fight.
Inevitably, it was a game which went down in the record books as an Egg Bowl match-up between two great coaching legends. The prowess of Tommy Tubervillve and Jackie Sherrill, and two great defenses battling on a rainy November Saturday afternoon was a showdown. Note to self, whatever happened to Joe Lee Dunn after MSU? The 1997 Egg Bowl game became an instant classic as reflected by the final score and Rebel victory of 15-14! Sadly, that incredible game continues to be overshadowed by the pregame fight.
Rotten Rivalry Becomes Social
Yeah, we all know the story. Some smart college computer kid, who’s apparently a huge Bammer now, wondered….Why can’t we all just get along? Smh. Social media revolutionized the way everybody used the internet, including rivals. It turned the internet into a place filled with love, unicorns and rainbows, and rivals singing Kumbaya. Yeah right. Of course, you know there are at least a few people who actually believe it. It’s those types of Egg Bowl fans, who have tried to pretend all was wonderful, who have also recently seen the rivalry fall into an abyss.
What was once trash talk, and seldom might turn into a pregame fight on or off the field, has become an everyday skirmish fueled on by social media. Fans of Red and Blue or Maroon and White, can’t miss it in the mutually moderated Bulldog/Rebel groups. See the hatred firsthand, for yourself. I’ve seen it personally, the lethal intent of each fan base, with the use of racial slurs, and even the threats of physical violence. Go join an Ole Miss/State College rivalry group and see how long it takes for you to shake your head in disgust. We can easily imagine, how something done out of spite and anger can morph into stupidity from both sides.
The entire State of Mississippi saw it within the rivalry of the Bammers and Barners, when irate fan Harvey Updyke poisoned the Toomer’s trees. The revelation by Updyke on the Paul Finebaum Show left us all speechless.
Did we learn anything from this ridiculous display? Hopefully maybe, but sadly, probably not.
Of Course, The Rivalry Is Fueled On
Ole Miss Rebels Football
The Ole Miss administration delivered news of a second NCAA Notice of Allegations, and social media blew up. Our ravenous rivals became hungry for blood, and they are relishing in every savory scrap they find. While one side points and laughs, and prays for the death penalty, the other prays for this whole ordeal to be over with.
No, as a Rebel fan, it isn’t easy to see our football program in this situation, and sure, it’s even worse to listen to the endless banter from our rivals. But hey, that is part of the rivalry; you reap the rewards of a team’s failure and you literally want to rub their faces in it. Honestly, if the shoe were on the other foot, there would be Rebel faithful doing the same thing.
Real Rivalry Requires Thick Skin
Some of my closest and dearest friends are fans of Mississippi State, and without exception, they are great people. Sure, in past few days, I’ve taken a few good-nature jabs from some of those friends and really had no retort. Everything they say may sound wrong to me, but at any rate, they have every right to say it.
Of course, they know I’m a diehard Rebel and hardcore Ole Miss football fan. In addition to that, they also know exactly how much this entire situation hurts me and my family. However, they aren’t doing it to be ugly, on the contrary, they do it because they know I would do the same thing. There is nothing wrong with a little banter between rivals, when you know it’s friendly. However, social media in Mississippi has become very anti-social, in the wake of the recent investigation and the final amended NOA, and it’s only going to get worse.
Taking The Rivalry High Road
It’s easy to retaliate and throw red-hot daggers in response to some of the things which both sides are guilty of. But, we must maintain a level of decency when we attempt to defend ourselves and our university. Both sides need to learn to take the high road and resist the urge to make violent threats and refrain from challenging others to ‘just meet me halfway’! All it takes is one incident of stupidity to get out of hand, and it will make this even worse for both schools than it already is.
This is already going to set back both schools from the looks of it; I mean what kid really wants to be in the middle of this kind of nonsense. What kind of parent would want that? None. This will hurt the Egg Bowl rivalry for years to come when it gets out of hand, and make it even more difficult for either team to contend in the SEC West. And, it will especially hurt both teams, when Mississippi’s greatest players are playing for Alabama, LSU, etc.
First of all, we have to preserve the spirit of rivalry for the benefit of both universities, not poison it. We have to love the rivalry more than we hate each other, and furthermore, we have to begin now. For the sake of Ole Miss football, and State College football, more fans of both schools should begin to take the high road. Because, the heavy traffic on the low road is turning the Egg Bowl into a quagmire of ugliness.
ARE YOU READY?