A Friend of the Cup who I'll call "Charles" dropped something into our inbox a couple of days ago which contained a link to an Arkansas message board thread concerning yet another flying banner issue.
Yes, "yet another." Have you forgotten the banner flown over Razorback Stadium during Nutt's final season which said something along the lines of "we're all insane and, on an unrelated note, Fire Nutt?" Or perhaps you forgot about the proposed banner to be flown over Razorback stadium last year? That one involved a few of us Rebels getting money together to really stick it to 'em with a banner to say something like "hey Arkansas we are terrible with money and thanks for the coach." Thankfully, that was scrapped last minute.
Anyway, Charles' email contained the text of a post on a Razorback sports forum. Here, read it:
From 10 am - 10:30 am, we will have a plane flying over the Grove with the banner "Thank you Coach Petrino for Saving Arkansas Football." We're hoping to coincide this with the Ole Miss team walkthrough.
Many thanks to Air Venture of Olive Branch, MS, and the Memphis Razorback Club for helping pull this together so quickly.
If you'll recall, the Cup officially did not endorse the last proposed flyover banner on several grounds. A few of our grumblings were based on Rebel-specific reasons, but those which could realistically apply here are below and tweaked to make them appropriate for this specific situation:
-[Arkansas is 3-3]. You don't talk shit when you're [3-3], [especially when] it is to [a 4-2] team.
-The money raised for this little "project" could do plenty of better things. For example, you could donate to the [worthy Arkansan cause, like brain surgery]. You could donate to the University's general scholarship fund. You could feed your fat fucking children. The list goes on.
-I think it's safe to say that [a] majority of [Razorback] fans are NOT in support of this.
The last point is fairly valid. If you click the link to the forum, most folks there (at least as much as I could tell from skimming the first page--so I didn't read the whole thing, get over it) seem to find the idea as embarrassing as you'd hope a sensible person to. I also doubt the guys at Arkansas Expats are exactly thrilled with the idea. Any sensible person realizes how juvenile and negatively-reflecting these stupid plane banners really are.
All of that aside though, I think that we can all agree that out of the three plane banner scenarios, this one is the dumbest. And it ain't even close. The other two involved the plane being flown above the stadium either during or around the time of the game. That is a scenario in which potentially 70,000+ people could have see whatever message the banner would have borne. This proposed (I say "proposed", but this looks like it's really going to happen) banner is going to fly over the Grove at ten in the morning. Most folks in the Grove, both Hogs and Rebels, won't be sentient enough at that time to pay attention to a bi-plane towing a painted piece of tarp--especially if hung over from a Friday night on the square. Hell, most people won't even be in the Grove then. Folks will fill it after the game, but the place will be half-dead beforehand. Moreover, a grove, by the very definition of the term, is covered in trees. If you're trying to get a message across to a large group of people in any grove, it'd be best to avoid placing that message in the sky because--get this--the fucking trees will get in the way.
Idiots. Have fun dumping your money into this "worthy" cause, Memphis Area Challenger League All-Stars Razorback Club.