Indulge, briefly, as we make fun of something.
Since 2006, various departments at Ole Miss have sponsored an event creatively titled, "Rebel Run," an opportunity to "introduce" the Ole Miss family to the incoming freshmen class and vice-versa. Click here for a promo link regarding the 2008 Rebel Run.
Whenever a new gameday "tradition" is dreamed up by some administration official, I am immediately skeptical. When that gameday tradition was blatantly stolen from Vanderbilt, which must have been attempting to get freshman or, well, anybody to come to its games, my skepticism meter jumps from the "are you sure about this" level to an off-the-charts "this makes me laugh and cry inside."
You might have thought the initial Rebel Run would have served as an omen. You remember the game. 2006. Wake Forest. Postponed by tornadoes. We got our pooper pounded so hard that the lump in Ed Orgeron's throat was actually the double-burrito he ate the day before. That game.
I remember the Rebel Run itself. Because the elements themselves cried our for Ole Miss not to steal its traditions from Vanderbilt with lightning threatening to smite participants, the run was canceled for the Wake Forest game. Wait. No. Not cancelled. Postponed to Vanderbilt and Homecoming, where somewhere around 100 screaming freshmen jogged awkwardly across the turf with their collars sticking out of red t-shirts before they went right back to their drunk-getting.
Anyway, this is all going to happen again this weekend. If you make it to the game early - and you should - you'll be met 12 or 13 minutes before kick-off by this travesty that will feature few participants and, which, you now will know we stole from Vanderbilt. Let me repeat - we do something because it was soooo successful at Vanderbilt.
This concludes our special snark. We now return you to your regularly scheduled "coverage."