Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attending two Southeastern Conference home football games. The wife and I woke up really early and drove to Oxford for breakfast in the Grove before taking in the Volunteers and the Rebels, after which we made the 93-mile drive between culture and agriculture to get to the nightcap between MSU and Alabama.
Of course, there is much that could be discussed between these two venues, but I want to draw attention to one particular aspect of both gameday experiences. And no, it's not how the students at MSU showed up before the game began while the Ole Miss students couldn't be bothered to arrive until the 2nd quarter. It's definitely not that.
What I want to discuss is what I saw following Dexter McCluster's first touchdown run. After the PAT, after the commercial break, before the kickoff, something I had never seen before showed up on the Powe-tron. You've probably seen somewhere a picture of this guy. He wears a sequined blue jacket with HOTTY in red down the right side and TODDY down the left side, with I think some flashing LEDs for extra measure, a bow tie I think, as well as a lovely sequined blue leprechaun hat. I swear I've seen pictures of him, but I can't find one to save my life. Anyway, before the kickoff, somehow THIS GUY winds up on the Powe-tron in a prerecorded segment doing some douche-y robot dance which leads to him saying "ARE YOU READY?".
Understandably, my reaction was "How the hell did that moron get up there?" Mrs. VH had no idea. The vast majority of the crowd attending seemed to have the same thought I did. I was shocked that the administration that so deftly mishandled the whole TSWRA debacle would lay reason to the side to tacitly endorse the sheer douchebaggery of this one fool.
And of course, with every succeeding McCluster touchdown, who were we greated by? Dancing Douchebag Rebel Leprechaun Hotty Toddy Boy. And I made fun of him every time. I think he was even booed by his own crowd at one point. It was pretty sorry. So sorry in fact that Clay Travis mentioned him not once, but twice today in his column recapping the game in Oxford, the latter mention suggesting he should be set on fire at the fifty in order to promote unity amongst diversity and put an end to all the TSWRA claptrap. Suffice it to say, he was not a positive reflection of the program.
I say all that to say this ($1 to Sharon Fanning): Remember the story in the Bible where Jesus tells the Pharisees that they need to stop pointing out the specks in other people's eyes and worry about the planks in their own eyes? Well, I was guilty.
Upon arriving at DWS and witnessing the whole fantastically-executed lead-up to pre-game, I was forced to remember something I had forgotten. All the while I had been making fun of Hotty Toddy Boy, I had forgotten that for some stupid reason, our own Famous Maroon Band had been perpetrating its own embarrassment upon our own fanbase by attempting to do the Dawg Pound Rock on the field pregame.
How in the hell can I honestly knock Ole Miss for not coming up with a better way to do "Are You Ready?" when we're still allowing this travesty to occur on our own field in front of Florida fans, Alabama fans, and I suppose in two weeks, Ole Miss fans?
When they set down their clarinets and flutes and started bouncing, I remembered, and I immediately put my face in my hands. Megadawgmaniac, two seats down, turned his back to the field. Mrs. VH, the Rebel fan, astutely stated, "You can't say anything about Hotty Toddy Guy as long as your band is doing THAT."
And she was RIGHT.
Enough is enough, folks. It's time to put a stop to this.
In the past season, the MSU gameday experience has gone from being blah, run of the mill Templetonian fare to being as finely orchestrated and perfectly executed as you will find anywhere else in the country. I've been everywhere in the Southeastern Conference, I know of which I speak. At Auburn two years ago, and Georgia three years ago, we talked about all of the things about their gameday experiences which they were doing right and we were not. Now, we're doing those things.
The only thing holding it back is the band trying to be cool and do the DPR.
It's been discussed before, this is not the first time the band has done this. Ten years ago, they tried to do the same thing, and it came out as weird, awkward, and forced as it is now. Nothing about it has changed. Even Kyle Veazey tweeted last night how he was "not entirely convinced that the Dawg Pound Rock by the band is a solid idea." This is as negative a reflection upon our gameday experience as Hotty Toddy Boy is to that of Ole Miss.
Let me say, I LOVE the Dawg Pound Rock. It was awesome when Kenzaki Jones came up with it, it was awesome from 1998-2000, and it's still awesome now. I love that Dan Mullen thinks it's awesome. I love that he's got the gonads to let the football team do it on the sidelines before games. I love that other teams hate it. Even Kirk Herbstreit, way back in the day, described it as "the best thing going". And it's still that way today. Why else would ESPN show clips of the team doing the DPR in their mid-game montages of game action? Because it was, and still is, an incredible and unique aspect of MSU football.
Let me also say, the only people that need to EVER be doing the DPR on the grass of Don Magruder Scott Field are the young men that spend their springs and summers getting up early in the morning, putting in the time and sweat and work for the right to be standing on that sideline during the fall.
No one else. Not Billy the trombone player from Aberdeen, not Sara the flute player from Taylorsville, not Christine the flag girl from Maben. To allow them to go out there and do a wimpy, forced, awkward version of the DPR devalues the real thing, and detracts from the INCREDIBLE pregame experience that GByrne & Co. have worked so hard to craft over the last two years.
It must stop.
To anybody reading this who is a member of the Famous Maroon Band: You have to stop this. You don't get a pass on it because Elva Kaye Lance tells you you have to do it. The Nuremberg Defense will not work for you. You have the ability to decide what you will and will not do. It is within your power to stop this. You are a crucial part of the MSU gameday experience, and your responsibilities do not extend to trying to pump up the crowd by jumping around on the field. You do what you're there to do, and you'll do your part to get the crowd pumped. The DPR is not your job. Don't do it.
Everyone else, if you think this is as stupid and silly as I do, let someone know it. I plan on doing so tomorrow. I don't like being stricken with embarrassment at an aspect of the MSU gameday experience, and this is the only thing about it that does that to me, and judging from the reactions of those around me yesterday, I'm not alone.
Please, let us all be heard and let something be done about it, so that in two weeks it can be done away with, and we'll be able to show the Ole Miss Rebels how we've managed to turn DWS once again into one of the most impressive and rowdy gamedays in college football. It'll be like old times once again.
Thank you,
Of course, there is much that could be discussed between these two venues, but I want to draw attention to one particular aspect of both gameday experiences. And no, it's not how the students at MSU showed up before the game began while the Ole Miss students couldn't be bothered to arrive until the 2nd quarter. It's definitely not that.
What I want to discuss is what I saw following Dexter McCluster's first touchdown run. After the PAT, after the commercial break, before the kickoff, something I had never seen before showed up on the Powe-tron. You've probably seen somewhere a picture of this guy. He wears a sequined blue jacket with HOTTY in red down the right side and TODDY down the left side, with I think some flashing LEDs for extra measure, a bow tie I think, as well as a lovely sequined blue leprechaun hat. I swear I've seen pictures of him, but I can't find one to save my life. Anyway, before the kickoff, somehow THIS GUY winds up on the Powe-tron in a prerecorded segment doing some douche-y robot dance which leads to him saying "ARE YOU READY?".
Understandably, my reaction was "How the hell did that moron get up there?" Mrs. VH had no idea. The vast majority of the crowd attending seemed to have the same thought I did. I was shocked that the administration that so deftly mishandled the whole TSWRA debacle would lay reason to the side to tacitly endorse the sheer douchebaggery of this one fool.
And of course, with every succeeding McCluster touchdown, who were we greated by? Dancing Douchebag Rebel Leprechaun Hotty Toddy Boy. And I made fun of him every time. I think he was even booed by his own crowd at one point. It was pretty sorry. So sorry in fact that Clay Travis mentioned him not once, but twice today in his column recapping the game in Oxford, the latter mention suggesting he should be set on fire at the fifty in order to promote unity amongst diversity and put an end to all the TSWRA claptrap. Suffice it to say, he was not a positive reflection of the program.
I say all that to say this ($1 to Sharon Fanning): Remember the story in the Bible where Jesus tells the Pharisees that they need to stop pointing out the specks in other people's eyes and worry about the planks in their own eyes? Well, I was guilty.
Upon arriving at DWS and witnessing the whole fantastically-executed lead-up to pre-game, I was forced to remember something I had forgotten. All the while I had been making fun of Hotty Toddy Boy, I had forgotten that for some stupid reason, our own Famous Maroon Band had been perpetrating its own embarrassment upon our own fanbase by attempting to do the Dawg Pound Rock on the field pregame.
How in the hell can I honestly knock Ole Miss for not coming up with a better way to do "Are You Ready?" when we're still allowing this travesty to occur on our own field in front of Florida fans, Alabama fans, and I suppose in two weeks, Ole Miss fans?
When they set down their clarinets and flutes and started bouncing, I remembered, and I immediately put my face in my hands. Megadawgmaniac, two seats down, turned his back to the field. Mrs. VH, the Rebel fan, astutely stated, "You can't say anything about Hotty Toddy Guy as long as your band is doing THAT."
And she was RIGHT.
Enough is enough, folks. It's time to put a stop to this.
In the past season, the MSU gameday experience has gone from being blah, run of the mill Templetonian fare to being as finely orchestrated and perfectly executed as you will find anywhere else in the country. I've been everywhere in the Southeastern Conference, I know of which I speak. At Auburn two years ago, and Georgia three years ago, we talked about all of the things about their gameday experiences which they were doing right and we were not. Now, we're doing those things.
The only thing holding it back is the band trying to be cool and do the DPR.
It's been discussed before, this is not the first time the band has done this. Ten years ago, they tried to do the same thing, and it came out as weird, awkward, and forced as it is now. Nothing about it has changed. Even Kyle Veazey tweeted last night how he was "not entirely convinced that the Dawg Pound Rock by the band is a solid idea." This is as negative a reflection upon our gameday experience as Hotty Toddy Boy is to that of Ole Miss.
Let me say, I LOVE the Dawg Pound Rock. It was awesome when Kenzaki Jones came up with it, it was awesome from 1998-2000, and it's still awesome now. I love that Dan Mullen thinks it's awesome. I love that he's got the gonads to let the football team do it on the sidelines before games. I love that other teams hate it. Even Kirk Herbstreit, way back in the day, described it as "the best thing going". And it's still that way today. Why else would ESPN show clips of the team doing the DPR in their mid-game montages of game action? Because it was, and still is, an incredible and unique aspect of MSU football.
Let me also say, the only people that need to EVER be doing the DPR on the grass of Don Magruder Scott Field are the young men that spend their springs and summers getting up early in the morning, putting in the time and sweat and work for the right to be standing on that sideline during the fall.
No one else. Not Billy the trombone player from Aberdeen, not Sara the flute player from Taylorsville, not Christine the flag girl from Maben. To allow them to go out there and do a wimpy, forced, awkward version of the DPR devalues the real thing, and detracts from the INCREDIBLE pregame experience that GByrne & Co. have worked so hard to craft over the last two years.
It must stop.
To anybody reading this who is a member of the Famous Maroon Band: You have to stop this. You don't get a pass on it because Elva Kaye Lance tells you you have to do it. The Nuremberg Defense will not work for you. You have the ability to decide what you will and will not do. It is within your power to stop this. You are a crucial part of the MSU gameday experience, and your responsibilities do not extend to trying to pump up the crowd by jumping around on the field. You do what you're there to do, and you'll do your part to get the crowd pumped. The DPR is not your job. Don't do it.
Everyone else, if you think this is as stupid and silly as I do, let someone know it. I plan on doing so tomorrow. I don't like being stricken with embarrassment at an aspect of the MSU gameday experience, and this is the only thing about it that does that to me, and judging from the reactions of those around me yesterday, I'm not alone.
Please, let us all be heard and let something be done about it, so that in two weeks it can be done away with, and we'll be able to show the Ole Miss Rebels how we've managed to turn DWS once again into one of the most impressive and rowdy gamedays in college football. It'll be like old times once again.
Thank you,
