Some of the most fun we've had with this blog came last fall when the Nutt "era's" first fall practices began. Most of us were in Oxford either between jobs or semesters during those late Summer months and enjoyed nothing more than releiving our agonizing football withdrawls by watching our Rebels prepare for the upcoming season with the setting Mississippi sun as the backdrop.
Not only were these practice reports fun to prepare and discuss, but they also earned us many of our current, dedicated readers who perhaps saw us as a (free) change of pace from the more conventional, cut-and-dry, and overly-optimistic Ole Miss sports sources.
While none of us, save for One Man to Beat, are professional journalists nor athletes with any experience playing football at a collegiate level, we certainly demonstrated our knowledge of the game and ability as evaluators with those reports. We predicted a big year for Dexter McCluster and Marshay Green; theorized that Jerrell Powe and Patrick Trahan would, despite being highly recruited and touted, likely see the field only as backups; and lauded our depth at wideout and halfback.
Does that make us geniuses? Certainly not. Does it make us credible? Somewhat, and that's all we're striving for here.
Well, that, and the entertainment factor. While being serious with our reports, we tried to stir up a bit of laughter. We admiringly called Dexter McCluster a "tough little bastard" (which posters of a certain message board didn't think was too funny); jokingly accused an amateur RC airplane operator of clandestine aereal photography (which was legit, but not nefarious); and made certain to document the varous bouts of shit talkin' we encountered amongst the players.
Check out the links below to re-visit our old fall practice reports. Feel free to comment and critique if you'd like.
Here's one, and another, and another, and another, aaaaaaaaand one more.