http://mississippistate.r.../content.asp?CID=1198705
since it seems to be free, I will just cut an paste it here as well...
<p style="margin: 4px 0pt 4px 4px; font-family: Franklin Gothic Heavy,Impact,Arial Black,Arial; font-size: 20pt; line-height: 20pt; font-weight: bold;">Grindin' for My State</p><noscript><h1>Grindin' for My State</h1></noscript><p class="byline">Whit Waide
Special to</p>
<div id="relatedcontainer"><div id="related" class="horizfade"><p class="headlinetop">Talk about it in The Dawg Pound</p></div></div>I
have been a professor at State for five years. I grew up about twenty
miles from campus. At age five, I put Bully on my birthday cake. I say
this not to impress you with my State credentials. I say this to put
in proper perspective the point of this column.
<table align="Left" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="208"><tbody><tr><td width="202">
</td><td rowspan="2" width="6">
</td></tr><tr><td align="right"><font face="verdana" size="1">Associated Press</font></td></tr></tbody></table>In
my 37 years as a Mississippian and as a Bulldawg, I have always been
frustrated by a sense of insecurity on the part of Mississippians and
Bulldawgs. We have an inferiority complex and always have. I think
this is at the very root of why Mississippi is last on all the good
lists and why Mississippi State has lost a lot of football games. I
think it is why Starkville is not the SEC town that it needs to be.
Though
we don't like to admit it, somewhere deep down we just don't believe in
ourselves - State of Mississippi or Mississippi State. I want to
devote my life to changing this.
I have been "grindin' for my
state" since I could walk. But I never put those words to this passion
and obsession until I met a young man named Anthony Dixon. I had the
pleasure of being one of Dixon's professors. With four simple words he
branded forever this my cause. I believe that with four simple words,
and even though he probably doesn't realize it, Dixon began what I like
to call the Cowbell Revolution.
Mississippi State stands at a
place unique to its history. State is in better shape now than it ever
has been in every aspect and despite budget cuts. We are in a good
place not just because of Coach Mullen and the fact that we are winning
football games, though that plays a huge part. We are in such a place
because of Mark Keenum and Scott Stricklin and dozens of other leaders
like them, be they faculty, student, or alumni.
We have changed
the culture. We have started to believe in ourselves. We cannot lose
this momentum. Even if we start losing football games. I am confident
we have turned a major corner in Starkville. Thanks in significant part
to the efforts of the triumvirate of Keenum, Stricklin, and Mullen.
But also because we are grindin' harder than ever before.
In
2009 we played Kentucky at Lexington. Anthony Dixon had a monster game
and broke a record or two. When he walked off the field as time ran out
- a smile ear to ear - an ESPN reporter shoved a microphone in his
face. I cannot recall word for word the exchange, but it went
something like this:
<table align="Right" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="208"><tbody><tr><td rowspan="1" width="6">
</td><td width="202">
</td></tr></tbody></table>REPORTER: Anthony Dixon, what a game! You broke a few records tonight! Were you just feeling it out there?
DIXON:
Yeah, I was pushin' it. I'm a senior. I want to go out with a bang.
I promise I do. The records are what they are. I am not concerned with
that. I enjoy having fun with these guys. I love my team. This was a
team effort. I just want to do my part. To the best of my ability.
I'm just out here grindin' for my team. I'm grindin' for my State. I'm
just trying to do what I can.
After I saw that, I got a bit
teary. I thought that this was a gorgeous and profound moment. I began
to think more and more about it. Anthony Dixon, I decided, represented
all that was good about this University. He represented all that was
good about this state.
Here is a guy who at one point in his
life was homeless, living in a car with his mother and brothers.
Despite that, he ran all over Terry High School and Mississippi State
University and loved that he had the opportunity to do so. He never
once got bitter about his upbringing. He never once got mad at the
state whose history played a role in leaving him homeless at one point
in his life. While he certainly watched the more fortunate around him
thrive and excel.
And at the height of his collegiate fame,
what does he do? He takes the attention off of himself. Beyond that,
he says "I'm grindin' for the state of Mississippi". I get a little
teary just thinking about it.
After we beat Alabama that year, Coach Croom gave a press conference. He said something to this effect:
"Anthony
Dixon could have played football wherever he wanted. But he came here.
I am determined to honor that. I want to give him and these boys
something to be proud of. All they got in these towns is a stop sign
and a funeral home.
But they love Mississippi. Mississippi is
their home. I'm tired of them not having anything to be proud of.
This football team, this university, can do more for the state of
Mississippi in three hours than a politician could do in thirty years."
And to that I said AMEN.
I
am determined to carve into the stone of Mississippi State history and
folklore the phrase GRINDIN FOR YOUR STATE to represent us as much as a
cowbell or a bulldog or Jack Cristil.
What does it mean "to
grind"? Grindin' simply means to work hard and to have pride, respect,
and honor in the thing you are working for. It of course has meaning
that pre-dates today, but its Bulldawg connotation was born amongst guys
like Dixon. Young black fellows who like rap music and sports. The
young black community adopted the word and gave it its own meaning. And
in so doing, I believe, created a perfect branding and personification
of what being a Mississippi State Bulldawg is all about. We grind for
our State.
We also grind for our lowercase-"s" state: the
great state of Mississippi. We are grindin' for the state of
Mississippi AND Mississippi State. Why? Because we are a land grant
school. The foundational mission of the land grant college is service
to the community. To take all that we learn in this university and not
be content to bundle ourselves up in the Ivory Tower, but to help folks
and be real and honest and true. To put people out in the world who
grow, build, make, invent, create things, and help bring honor to
Mississippi. To give folks some sense that this dirt we walk on is what
really sustains us. We must honor that and be proud of it.
<table align="Left" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="208"><tbody><tr><td width="202">
</td><td rowspan="1" width="6">
</td></tr></tbody></table>We
are the people who grow the food and build the buildings. We are the
farmers, the scientists, the engineers, the schoolteachers, and
inventors. The stewards of the land. We are also the stewards of
mankind, of all our fellow Mississippians. Mississippi State has the
highest percentage of black student enrollment in the Southeastern
Conference. That is something to be proud of. State folks are a big
family like no other collegiate family I've known. A family who loves
each and every one of us, just like Jesus said to do. The next time you
go to the Egg Bowl in Oxford and some drunk frat boy hollers
"Moooooooooo" at you like a cow, here's what you should say: Hell Yeah.
Damn Right.
We grind because we are Mississippi's university.
Eighty percent of our student body is from Mississippi. Up the road
they can't say that, and that's fine. I understand the business model
they are going after. They want to be Virginia. Which is good, I
think, for our state. But while TSUN is off in the stratosphere chasing
their dream, we must be aware that what we are is a land grant school
in Mississippi and our dream is based in this great big beanfield we
call Starkville, Mississippi, and in this cow college we call
Mississippi State University. We are the People's University and we are
honorable, good, and true.
We don't just clang a cowbell for the
sake of clanging it. We clang it because it is the very heart of who
we are. The reason State and Ole Miss don't like each other- the very
root of the rivalry- is not in any football game. The root of it is in
the people and the land. And in that Bell.
Over a century ago in
Oxford, they didn't want to teach things like science, engineering, and
agriculture. Ole Miss was run by Yale and Harvard folks, intent on
preserving it as a classic liberal arts haven for the elite. This is not
to say that there is not great value in that type of education.
Absolutely there is. But in a land grant we believe we must complement
that education with a more applied, pragmatic education of thinking as
well as DOING.
They didn't want us in Oxford, so we came to
Starkville and built our good name by serving the People as agrarian
stewards and military defenders of the land. And they began to make fun
of us. They called us Bookfarmers. Meaning that we were poor folks for
the most part, not real farmers like the planters in the Delta with
their sharecroppers doing all the work. We were Bookfarmers, just
learning how to farm in books. I love that name. I have it written in
big block letters right above my office door so that every one who
enters my office will see it and ask about it. And a lot of them do. I
am proud to be a Bookfarmer.
I have been bugging Scott
Stricklin for a while about doing a certain video for the Jumbotron next
football season. A video that will get this message of "Grindin' for
My State" out for public consumption. The mantra has reached cult
status on campus to such an extent that it simply demands to be taken
from campus to the alumni population at large. I am absolutely
convinced it is the tie that binds all State people--sure as any
cowbell.
In this video, I imagine a portion of it like this: a
scene of an old hillbilly at an ancient grist mill in a time long past,
grinding corn and wheat to feed the People, with some great piece of
music and a deep voice building anticipation. Then cut to a scene of
Anthony Dixon running over four defensive backs straight into the end
zone. And then the deep voice saying at the end, God-like:
"Mississippi State University: Grindin' for our State since 1878."
since it seems to be free, I will just cut an paste it here as well...
<p style="margin: 4px 0pt 4px 4px; font-family: Franklin Gothic Heavy,Impact,Arial Black,Arial; font-size: 20pt; line-height: 20pt; font-weight: bold;">Grindin' for My State</p><noscript><h1>Grindin' for My State</h1></noscript><p class="byline">Whit Waide
Special to</p>
<div id="relatedcontainer"><div id="related" class="horizfade"><p class="headlinetop">Talk about it in The Dawg Pound</p></div></div>I
have been a professor at State for five years. I grew up about twenty
miles from campus. At age five, I put Bully on my birthday cake. I say
this not to impress you with my State credentials. I say this to put
in proper perspective the point of this column.
<table align="Left" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="208"><tbody><tr><td width="202">
my 37 years as a Mississippian and as a Bulldawg, I have always been
frustrated by a sense of insecurity on the part of Mississippians and
Bulldawgs. We have an inferiority complex and always have. I think
this is at the very root of why Mississippi is last on all the good
lists and why Mississippi State has lost a lot of football games. I
think it is why Starkville is not the SEC town that it needs to be.
Though
we don't like to admit it, somewhere deep down we just don't believe in
ourselves - State of Mississippi or Mississippi State. I want to
devote my life to changing this.
I have been "grindin' for my
state" since I could walk. But I never put those words to this passion
and obsession until I met a young man named Anthony Dixon. I had the
pleasure of being one of Dixon's professors. With four simple words he
branded forever this my cause. I believe that with four simple words,
and even though he probably doesn't realize it, Dixon began what I like
to call the Cowbell Revolution.
Mississippi State stands at a
place unique to its history. State is in better shape now than it ever
has been in every aspect and despite budget cuts. We are in a good
place not just because of Coach Mullen and the fact that we are winning
football games, though that plays a huge part. We are in such a place
because of Mark Keenum and Scott Stricklin and dozens of other leaders
like them, be they faculty, student, or alumni.
We have changed
the culture. We have started to believe in ourselves. We cannot lose
this momentum. Even if we start losing football games. I am confident
we have turned a major corner in Starkville. Thanks in significant part
to the efforts of the triumvirate of Keenum, Stricklin, and Mullen.
But also because we are grindin' harder than ever before.
In
2009 we played Kentucky at Lexington. Anthony Dixon had a monster game
and broke a record or two. When he walked off the field as time ran out
- a smile ear to ear - an ESPN reporter shoved a microphone in his
face. I cannot recall word for word the exchange, but it went
something like this:
<table align="Right" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="208"><tbody><tr><td rowspan="1" width="6">
DIXON:
Yeah, I was pushin' it. I'm a senior. I want to go out with a bang.
I promise I do. The records are what they are. I am not concerned with
that. I enjoy having fun with these guys. I love my team. This was a
team effort. I just want to do my part. To the best of my ability.
I'm just out here grindin' for my team. I'm grindin' for my State. I'm
just trying to do what I can.
After I saw that, I got a bit
teary. I thought that this was a gorgeous and profound moment. I began
to think more and more about it. Anthony Dixon, I decided, represented
all that was good about this University. He represented all that was
good about this state.
Here is a guy who at one point in his
life was homeless, living in a car with his mother and brothers.
Despite that, he ran all over Terry High School and Mississippi State
University and loved that he had the opportunity to do so. He never
once got bitter about his upbringing. He never once got mad at the
state whose history played a role in leaving him homeless at one point
in his life. While he certainly watched the more fortunate around him
thrive and excel.
And at the height of his collegiate fame,
what does he do? He takes the attention off of himself. Beyond that,
he says "I'm grindin' for the state of Mississippi". I get a little
teary just thinking about it.
After we beat Alabama that year, Coach Croom gave a press conference. He said something to this effect:
"Anthony
Dixon could have played football wherever he wanted. But he came here.
I am determined to honor that. I want to give him and these boys
something to be proud of. All they got in these towns is a stop sign
and a funeral home.
But they love Mississippi. Mississippi is
their home. I'm tired of them not having anything to be proud of.
This football team, this university, can do more for the state of
Mississippi in three hours than a politician could do in thirty years."
And to that I said AMEN.
I
am determined to carve into the stone of Mississippi State history and
folklore the phrase GRINDIN FOR YOUR STATE to represent us as much as a
cowbell or a bulldog or Jack Cristil.
What does it mean "to
grind"? Grindin' simply means to work hard and to have pride, respect,
and honor in the thing you are working for. It of course has meaning
that pre-dates today, but its Bulldawg connotation was born amongst guys
like Dixon. Young black fellows who like rap music and sports. The
young black community adopted the word and gave it its own meaning. And
in so doing, I believe, created a perfect branding and personification
of what being a Mississippi State Bulldawg is all about. We grind for
our State.
We also grind for our lowercase-"s" state: the
great state of Mississippi. We are grindin' for the state of
Mississippi AND Mississippi State. Why? Because we are a land grant
school. The foundational mission of the land grant college is service
to the community. To take all that we learn in this university and not
be content to bundle ourselves up in the Ivory Tower, but to help folks
and be real and honest and true. To put people out in the world who
grow, build, make, invent, create things, and help bring honor to
Mississippi. To give folks some sense that this dirt we walk on is what
really sustains us. We must honor that and be proud of it.
<table align="Left" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="208"><tbody><tr><td width="202">
are the people who grow the food and build the buildings. We are the
farmers, the scientists, the engineers, the schoolteachers, and
inventors. The stewards of the land. We are also the stewards of
mankind, of all our fellow Mississippians. Mississippi State has the
highest percentage of black student enrollment in the Southeastern
Conference. That is something to be proud of. State folks are a big
family like no other collegiate family I've known. A family who loves
each and every one of us, just like Jesus said to do. The next time you
go to the Egg Bowl in Oxford and some drunk frat boy hollers
"Moooooooooo" at you like a cow, here's what you should say: Hell Yeah.
Damn Right.
We grind because we are Mississippi's university.
Eighty percent of our student body is from Mississippi. Up the road
they can't say that, and that's fine. I understand the business model
they are going after. They want to be Virginia. Which is good, I
think, for our state. But while TSUN is off in the stratosphere chasing
their dream, we must be aware that what we are is a land grant school
in Mississippi and our dream is based in this great big beanfield we
call Starkville, Mississippi, and in this cow college we call
Mississippi State University. We are the People's University and we are
honorable, good, and true.
We don't just clang a cowbell for the
sake of clanging it. We clang it because it is the very heart of who
we are. The reason State and Ole Miss don't like each other- the very
root of the rivalry- is not in any football game. The root of it is in
the people and the land. And in that Bell.
Over a century ago in
Oxford, they didn't want to teach things like science, engineering, and
agriculture. Ole Miss was run by Yale and Harvard folks, intent on
preserving it as a classic liberal arts haven for the elite. This is not
to say that there is not great value in that type of education.
Absolutely there is. But in a land grant we believe we must complement
that education with a more applied, pragmatic education of thinking as
well as DOING.
They didn't want us in Oxford, so we came to
Starkville and built our good name by serving the People as agrarian
stewards and military defenders of the land. And they began to make fun
of us. They called us Bookfarmers. Meaning that we were poor folks for
the most part, not real farmers like the planters in the Delta with
their sharecroppers doing all the work. We were Bookfarmers, just
learning how to farm in books. I love that name. I have it written in
big block letters right above my office door so that every one who
enters my office will see it and ask about it. And a lot of them do. I
am proud to be a Bookfarmer.
I have been bugging Scott
Stricklin for a while about doing a certain video for the Jumbotron next
football season. A video that will get this message of "Grindin' for
My State" out for public consumption. The mantra has reached cult
status on campus to such an extent that it simply demands to be taken
from campus to the alumni population at large. I am absolutely
convinced it is the tie that binds all State people--sure as any
cowbell.
In this video, I imagine a portion of it like this: a
scene of an old hillbilly at an ancient grist mill in a time long past,
grinding corn and wheat to feed the People, with some great piece of
music and a deep voice building anticipation. Then cut to a scene of
Anthony Dixon running over four defensive backs straight into the end
zone. And then the deep voice saying at the end, God-like:
"Mississippi State University: Grindin' for our State since 1878."
