Road Dawg Tour Recap from Memphis

[gtowndawg]

- Big crowd. The room was full. They said it was over 300 people which was a little better than expected.
- Keenum had the stomach bug so nothing to report there. I was interested in what he had to say knowing that Byrne and Mullen would basically be saying everything we've already heard.
- One Note of Interest...Byrne graduated last week from State with an MBA.

<span style="text-decoration:underline">Byrne comments:</span>

- He really believes the vast majority of Mississippi relates better to State than any other school. So growing the fan base should not be hard, we just have to win and market/promote.
- He will hold all coaches accountable to win consistently.
- He said the woman's NCAA game against Ohio State was the worst officiated game of any kind he had ever seen.
- Said Varnardo was 50/50...but I think that's probably the safest thing to say even if he knows he's probably coming back.

Unfortunately, there was no q&a with Bryne. I had several questions for him.

<span style="text-decoration:underline">Mullen Comments:</span>

- Said the spring game was the best practice of the year because the guys were so pumped because of the crowd. He also said that was the first time they practiced in the stadium. He's told the players that stadium is only for special occasions so they will be extra pumped when they actually get to play in there.
- Pleased with linebackers (good depth) and secondary. Was pleased with offensive line, they made good progress. Tailbacks should be good, Robert E. should be full health by fall. Freshmans will play at wide out. Russell will be given a chance.
- Talked about the spread, philosophy, etc. Stuff we've heard 100 times by now.

There was a Q&A session with Coach Mullen. Yours truly asked about the "mat drills" that are so infamous. He talked about how it test them mentally. He said if I asked everyone in this room to get up right now and run a marathon most everyone would say "I can't do that." Point being, you have already decided you can't do it before you even try. He still didn't give very much detail about the drills except this:

- It's every Wednesday morning at 5:45am. 8 stations are set up with wrestling or gymnastics mats. Some stations they are doing certain exercises like crawls. He said if they (coaches) think one person is not giving 100% the whole teams starts over. Another station there is a line (he pointed to the back door in the room and said from here to there...I would guess maybe 30 feet or so). One player is told to get to the line, one player is told to stop him. It's that simple. There are winners and there are losers. I got the impression you did not want to lose.

All in all it was a nice night. I spoke with Mullen for a while, he's a nice guy. I have no doubt he will do well and I told him that.

 

[gtowndawg]

- Big crowd. The room was full. They said it was over 300 people which was a little better than expected.
- Keenum had the stomach bug so nothing to report there. I was interested in what he had to say knowing that Byrne and Mullen would basically be saying everything we've already heard.
- One Note of Interest...Byrne graduated last week from State with an MBA.

<span style="text-decoration:underline">Byrne comments:</span>

- He really believes the vast majority of Mississippi relates better to State than any other school. So growing the fan base should not be hard, we just have to win and market/promote.
- He will hold all coaches accountable to win consistently.
- He said the woman's NCAA game against Ohio State was the worst officiated game of any kind he had ever seen.
- Said Varnardo was 50/50...but I think that's probably the safest thing to say even if he knows he's probably coming back.

Unfortunately, there was no q&a with Bryne. I had several questions for him.

<span style="text-decoration:underline">Mullen Comments:</span>

- Said the spring game was the best practice of the year because the guys were so pumped because of the crowd. He also said that was the first time they practiced in the stadium. He's told the players that stadium is only for special occasions so they will be extra pumped when they actually get to play in there.
- Pleased with linebackers (good depth) and secondary. Was pleased with offensive line, they made good progress. Tailbacks should be good, Robert E. should be full health by fall. Freshmans will play at wide out. Russell will be given a chance.
- Talked about the spread, philosophy, etc. Stuff we've heard 100 times by now.

There was a Q&A session with Coach Mullen. Yours truly asked about the "mat drills" that are so infamous. He talked about how it test them mentally. He said if I asked everyone in this room to get up right now and run a marathon most everyone would say "I can't do that." Point being, you have already decided you can't do it before you even try. He still didn't give very much detail about the drills except this:

- It's every Wednesday morning at 5:45am. 8 stations are set up with wrestling or gymnastics mats. Some stations they are doing certain exercises like crawls. He said if they (coaches) think one person is not giving 100% the whole teams starts over. Another station there is a line (he pointed to the back door in the room and said from here to there...I would guess maybe 30 feet or so). One player is told to get to the line, one player is told to stop him. It's that simple. There are winners and there are losers. I got the impression you did not want to lose.

All in all it was a nice night. I spoke with Mullen for a while, he's a nice guy. I have no doubt he will do well and I told him that.

 

[dawgstudent]

Good stuff. Thanks for posting it.

 

[topdawg.sixpack]

<span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline">Byrne comments:</span>

- He really believes the vast majority of Mississippi relates better to State than any other school. So growing the fan base should not be hard, we just have to win and market/promote.

That Greg Byrne realizes this and is doing something about it. Its true that most Mississippians do associate with MSU over other schools, which could pay dividends in the future should we start to win consistently. It is amazing what forward thinking leadership in the AD will do.

 

[tommyboy1520]

You forgot to mention that he invited you to "come see for yourself" what the drills are all about. I enjoyed Byrne's story about Tunica National that morning. Apparently one of the guys in his group mistakenly assumed he was a student worker and asked him to take care of some trash he had before introductions were made.

 

[Bulldog Backer]

...Mississippi is largely an agrarian State, with many more poor people than wealthy people. The hearts and minds of both these poor people, and poor people who have worked hard all their lives to "make it," should be aligned with "The People's University." I think both Dr. Keenum and Greg Byrne recognize this.

 

[3000lbchicken]

Unfortunately there are some hard working individuals, just as tired and "redneck" as the rest of us, that are too proud and like to escape from their challenges and upbringings and pretend to be something they are not on Saturdays during the fall. They take it home with them and brag and stroke their own egos because they are, afterall, an Ole Miss fan.

 

[gtowndawg]

I assume he was either kidding or he wants to see me hurt for some reason.

The story from Byrne was good. Forgot about that.

 

[War Machine Dawg]

I was the one who asked about freshmens WRs playing. Another thing of note, Mullen wants 50k+ for the JSU game & dropped some not-so-subtle hints that cowbells are encouraged inside DWS as long as he's HC. Bring 'em & ring 'em.

 

[gtowndawg]

so he could bug Greg for a bigger stadium. Something like that.

 

[BCash]

My dad has told me numerous times about why he started to hate the **** out of Ole Miss and people that go there so much. He said he remembers parents who worked UNDER his father at the steel factory taking out loans and barely getting by just so there kids could go through rush at OM and act like preppy ********. And of course these people never went to college themselves but talked **** constantly during the 60s.

 

[Todd4State]

I was the one who asked about freshmens WRs playing. Another thing of note, Mullen wants 50k+ for the JSU game & dropped some not-so-subtle hints that
cowbells are encouraged inside DWS as long as he's HC. Bring 'em & ring 'em.

I went to a game with one of my friends- it was the SELU game- and he had his cowbell and was just walking around with it. The "security" guard told him that he couldn't take it in. Now, if the police tell me to do something, I'm going to do it so I don't end up in jail or beaten, or some combination of both. But this was the one time I asked time I just couldn't help myself. I asked the "security" guard when SELU joined the SEC and they said it was a stadium policy. I then told them that was BS and walked off with my friend.

I then went to another gate and told my buddy to hide the cowbell this time.

In a year of ridiculousness, that was par for the course.

 

[8dog]

at any games, conference game or not.

 

[MadDawg.sixpack]

of how ole miss gained fans from across the state - even those "rednecks" - and that was the confederate flag and colonel rebel. I know of several people in my family and my wife's family that were/are die-hard rebel fans that had never even set foot in Oxford or the campus. But they all had rebel flags and were ole miss fans. I don't think I have to spell out for you why they tended to associate themselves with the rebel flag and that whole image.

 

[3000lbchicken]

edit to add: The ONLY ones that actually went to college and graduated, went to State.

 

[RebelBruiser]

So the discussion is which school would be most attractive to the redneck walk on fans?

In my experience, that's usually the team that wins the most. It's that simple.

 

[Agentdog]

One of my good friends (and his dad) growing up is a Reb. His dad was quick to tell me that OM represented MS and the old south and to pull for State was to pull against those traditions.

Now, I am the last one to play the race (racism) card. However, that pissed me off 20 years ago and still does to this day. OM (the university) certainly has tried to disassociate itself from that image/things. But I agree, they have a number of fans who subscribe to that line of thinking. It was funny before the 2000 Egg Bowl in Oxford some young OM fans where yelling "Jackson State sucks" and etc. I wanted to ask them what they were implying calling MSU fans JSU fans.

Regardless, Rebs came out of the woodwork a while back when I made this statement but I will make it again......I think, in the state of MS, there are more State fans than OM fans. I just always see more MSU garb, tags, and etc. I know it isn't an exact science but.......
</p>

 

[MadDawg.sixpack]

So the discussion is which school would be most attractive to the redneck walk on fans?

Assuming the two schools are identical, I would agree. But they are not. At least not from the image they try to convey:

Ole Miss: "Harvard" of the South; "culture, NOT agriculture"; preppies versus the rednecks; rival is "Moo U"

MSU: The People's University; Ag school in an Ag state; never corporately embraced the state's racist imagery from the past.

 

[Agentdog]

Was Jackie there?

If so, have we self reported the violations yet?

 

[gtowndawg]

considering he works out at the very location where the event was held. Germantown Athletic Club.

Either he was out of town, or he was told to lay low for a while.

 

[RebelBruiser]

So, let me get this straight, just so I know for future reference. We get all of the racist redneck walk-on fans, and you get all the God-fearing, redneck walk on fans?

 

[tommyboy1520]

I would say there are obviously racist and redneck fans of both schools. But I would also venture to say that when John Q. Mississippi with racist leanings decides he wants to pull for either State or OM, and has no discernible tie to either school, the majority of the time he's going to pick OM because of the confederate flag.

 

[HammerOfTheDogs]

You also couldn't educate slaves during Antebellum times, or hide Jews from the Nazis.

 

[DowntownDawg]

....Maddawg, if you haven't seen this, it's worth your time reading.

In there is a description of the 1962 Kentucky game, which was nothing more than a a state sanctioned anti-integration rally. Reading the article gives you the sense that #1) Ole Miss willingly and knowingly embraced Old South/racist images, and #2) there were supporters that were supportive of Ole Miss for these reasons.

To their credit, they have distanced themselves today, but there was definitely a time when that was the case. For some reason, that line of thinking didn't fly on NAFOOM.

That article is Germanic and garnered a good bit of discussion on NAFOOM a while back, but it is a good read, and I agree with you completely.

 

[SlickRick662.sixpack]

at Memorial Stadium just to attract attention (with UM being a nationally dominate program)? Much like George Wallace's pitiful school-door act at Bama (why didn't he make a scene at Auburn) You think Barnett would have gotten a different reaction at Scott Field in they early '60s?

 

[RebelBruiser]

at Memorial Stadium just to attract attention (with UM being a nationally dominate program)? Much like George Wallace's pitiful school-door act at Bama (why didn't he make a scene at Auburn) You think Barnett would have gotten a different reaction at Scott Field in they early '60s?

Short answer, no, the reaction wouldn't have been a lot different at MSU than at Ole Miss. The issue was a statewide issue about integration at the university level. It would've been no different at MSU. MSU just happened to integrate a few years later after the initial integration had happened.

It was the 60s, which is unfortunately a black mark on the history of the South. It was not an Ole Miss issue anymore than the issues at Alabama were an Alabama issue. It was a Southern issue and a white vs. black issue.

That article is great by the way. I definitely learned some things about that period that I hadn't known before reading it. In many ways, the South is still recovering from that period. It's come a long way since the 60s, but there is still a ways to go.

The good news is, it appears to be getting better with each passing generation. For an example, I was out fishing with my cousin, uncle, and dad one day. My cousin saw a black family at the same pond that was having a lot more success catching fish than we were, so he went over there, struck up a conversation and asked them what they were doing to catch the fish. He even got some bait from them. While he was over there, my dad and uncle made the comment that when they were kids, they never would've been able to do what he had done, because it would've been frowned upon for them to even consider mingling with a black family like that. They were both remarking how nice it was to see the times changing that much in only one generation.

 

[stevo1a]

asdfasdf

 

[cowbell9]

fagrebku

 

[jwbigcreek]

I agree it was a statewide issue. I just think that more of the ignorant redneck (I'm an edjukated redneck) type identified with UM & the Rebel flag during that time. That's nothing against UM (although I do think someone/somebody promoted that type of thing during that time). Overall, I think we should let bygones be bygones & look to the future.

Peace to our inbred, Rebel flag lovin' racist neighbors from the North,

jwbigcreek

 

[Todd4State]

So, let me get this straight, just so I know for future reference. We get all of the racist redneck walk-on fans, and you get all the God-fearing, redneck walk
on fans?

people rockin' the verse?

Have you missed Whiskey Alley?

That should answer your question.

In all seriousness, I've never seen a group of fans that were more worried about whether or not they went to church as MSU fans.

 

[cowbell9]

...affairs in our Country ( is it still ours?) We all need to stick together and defeat the socialist !!#!# in control.

 

[jwbigcreek]

I agree. And DAMN right it's still our country. I get pretty <17'n> sick of all the crap I see on the network news (plus CNN)

 

[cowbell9]

1776ku</p>

 

[jwbigcreek]

(edited to remove from wrong place).</p>

 

[jwbigcreek]

My paranoid brother is stockpiling all the ammo he can (damn near breaking him on a teacher's salary). Of course if the shat hits the fan, I'll probably be migrating back to the great state of MS with him. What did the old NRA stickers say? Something along the lines of prying my firearms out of my cold dead fingers?

Damn right Dawgs bite,

jwbigreek

 

[cowbell9]

coptersku