in another post in which you’ve commented. Give it a look-see, won’t you?

what our team name is or who our mascot is. At all. How can people not realize this?

through college athletics?
answer=no

Mississippi State flag.

You’re missing the point (why I expected otherwise I don’t know). It’s not about “making up for 1962” or being “better off with our athletics programs.” It’s about not closing off doors of opportunity for Ole Miss to better itself as a university which, hopefully, only furthers educational opportunities for all of Mississippi.

Answer this: why should Ole Miss feel some sort of duty to commemorate the history and heritage of, frankly, only a few of its students?

…and trying to recreate or relive it. History belongs in history books, memorials and museums. Damn, I go to a football game to get away from history class!

Did you just insinuate that the Washington Redskins are a subsidiary of the U.S. government? Excuse me, but what in the motherfuck are you talking about?

Please leave our school. Seriously. Go find another school.

To what? You forgot to ask yourself that question. You should be ashamed to comment on commitment, honor and duty without understanding what it is that you are committing to, honoring and serving.

YOU are in fact the liberal, leftwing postmodernist trying to twist the Truth. YOU would stand up for anything just because it is “rebelious.” That’s sad, and the class of 1863 is certainly sad to be represented by someone like you. To think that what they are known for is being rebelious instead of standing up for what they thought was right is disgraceful. People like YOU bring that upon them.

I’m committed to the state of Mississippi and the way it is represented by the rest of the country (the country your ancestors fought for). I want to see the state honored and bring honor to it. I have a duty to make this state better in my every action, word and deed so long as I represent it (forever is the answer to that, by the way, thanks to the education provided by the University of Mississippi). Keeping a mascot achieves none of that, and the people who fought hard to actually achieve those things would agree because they stood up for something BIGGER than being a rebel.

Get some backbone, stand up for something substantive!

and dutily honoring ones commitment like starting a rebellion.

“Rebels” and “change” mean NOTHING. They are empty words.

There are Rebels that have overthrown attempts at democracy in South America (and other places). There are countries in the Middle East that changed from being prodominantly Christian nations to those which harbor terrorists – people who threaten the right to the “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

That doesn’t make Rebels or change bad…but it does mean that they cannot be good either. You cannot “stand up” for those words/ideas. They mean nothing.

So I ask again: What do you stand for? What do your brothers stand for? Answer that question, please.

If its so important for you to honor confederate soldiers through school tradition and athletics I have a suggestion: become a VMI fan. That school is chock full of confederate/Lost Cause bullshit (and always has a tiny black student population…coincidence?) and since it is not close to being the most important and thus visible school in Virginia’s education system they can get away with that shit. See, Ole Miss is a FLAGSHIP institution, hence the name The University of Mississippi. Our mission is not to nurture traditions (although our many remaining traditions are fantastic). The mission of the university is to be the best institute of higher learning possible and, through our academic and athletic programs, be a positive advertisement for the state of Mississippi.
As a veteran of America’s little adventure in Iraq, I honor the class of 1863 in the same way I honor all men who have died in the name of political arrogance: through the shared knowledge of the hell of war and the bravery of those who fight. I know that Lost Cause mythology has tainted the perceptions of many people as to the motivations of the men who fought in the Civil War. The fact remains that those Ole Miss students went to war for the same reason most young men go to war during a time of national hysteria: because their friends are going, the desire for adventure, and not wanting to be thought a pussy.
As for the “If Ole Miss doesn’t have a tradition other than spoiled little rich kids getting drunk and falling down stairs and out of trees, then so be it” quip, who exactly do you think the the class of 1863 were? Serious blue-collar/middle-class idealists they were not.

Claws n fangs

and I think I have spent more time with it than she has. Excellent bits of tid in there. I recommend the encylcopedia to away who really cares about southern culture.

any other armed conflicts you want to reveal your ignorance about?

How dare you compare a mascot issue to war. Fuck you.

Afterall, while sitting with Robert Khayat once he told me, “Have you ever really changed someone’s mind of something they believed in?” My answer was “no, but I’ll still try.” (You probably hate Chancellor Khayat anyway.)

Well, here I go:

My brothers and I have been committed to protecting your rights, have honored our country and state with our exemplary service and dutiful in our charge.

So did you do all of that for the sake of “rights” and “service?” Why was it important to protect our rights? Why did you want to bring honor to the country? Why were you dutiful? These are the difficult, fundamental questions for which you need an answer. I ask you again: in what do you believe?

What is our tradition at Ole Miss? Are we committed to anything? Obviously no one is willing to die to defend anything about it

Ole Miss is committed to being the flagship university and providing an opportunity for high-level education – as someone has already said above. We have a fantastic tradition of providing that opportunity to our state’s leaders – and even leaders for the world (see: our Rhodes Scholars). No one has to die to defend a university today; that’s part of the beauty of education and what people have already shed their blood to protect.

If you aren’t going to stand for what you have, you probably won’t stand for much at all.

That’s the point. You are not standing for much at all because what you don’t realize is that Ole Miss did not provide you with the nickname of Rebel, it provided you with a period of growth. Why don’t you stand up for that?

Finally, no, I don’t give a rat’s anus pimple about being a REBEL. I just want to see people get an education and maybe see the University of Mississippi win a couple of damn football games against Alabama, make the NCAA tourney and see our baseball team in Omaha!

but you also seem to have issues with beer, French pastries, coffee, and fried chicken. Why, sir?

to attend or something?

former centerfielder, current third base coach, and, I believe, recruiting coordinator

There is no war to win here, fella. I’m a college student. I thought I was supposed to drink and go to football games and attend class on occasion when the mood sets me. I’m glad you put on your Internet Scholar hat and dropped by the Cup to inform me that I should be a soldier fighting for our TRADISHUNZ$! Thank you for setting me straight, as you certainly seem to be a noted authority on southern culture. I’m gonna go write a letter to my congressman (whom I go to church with, btw) to tell him that we need to get behind Johnny Reb as our mascot and that we need to change The University of Mississippi to Ole Miss Confederate College. Then I’m gonna go punch the first black person I see. Woo hoo! TRADISHUNZ!!!! HERITAGE!!!$$ THE OLD SOUTH!!!

But seriously, fuck you, you backwoods douche. Why don’t you and others like you go start your own little redneck monastery and stop holding the rest of us back.

i think your time would be better spent trying to get the school to drop blue as it’s color. i mean, it was the main color associated with the union army in the civil war. that the team continues to wear a blue jersey is an affront to all the men who gave their lives in the conflict.

The problem is that MS doesn’t produce very many and the ones that do are so dad-gummed good that they go relatively highly in the draft out of high school.

And I did graduate. And I do have a real job. And I hate it, which is why I spend time here offering poorly scripted tales and Microsoft Paint drawings.

Jimel Judon, Matt Mossberg.

It’s funny that you tell us to graduate and get real jobs. We all have jobs, and the only person who writes for the Cup and is still in school is receiving a Juris Doctorate.

What is your master profession, praytell?

I knew it was just a matter of time before we had 24 lines worth of rhyming couplets in our comments thread.

Yeah, I rec’d because I really want people to see (how ridiculous) this (is).

Stop with the whole “treason” thing.

If you believe our stance is that we should attack our ancestors, you’re wrong.

We just aren’t fixated on honoring them with a large, foam-headed suit.

even more reason to call ourselves Rebels while having a Frenchman ride around on a bicycle with a baguette in the basket.

Because references to good literature will always be rec’d by this guy.

why not

That Ole Miss Blind Side movie, y’all!

I know you were evoking that scene in “A Time To Kill” where Ellen’s getting tortured by the KKK, but… that comment wasn’t funny, just fucking wrong.