Since the student body stirred up mascot debate in the Spring right up through yesterday's announcement of "mascot concepts" from the student-led Mascot Selection Committee, the lion's share (<not an endorsement*) of talk about Ole Miss has revolved around our process to replace Colonel Reb. When we haven't out-right discouraged talk about the mascot, we have been pretty cynical about the likelihood that this is all going to turn out somewhere north of "an excruciating embarrassment." However, as it seems to be moving toward an imminent conclusion, it is in our fandom's best interests (if not Cup traffic's; this thing being a train wreck would send our hits through the roof) to provide helpful feedback. Like many of you, the Cup has friends on the exclusive committee, whom we admonish for including multiple references to "muppet-like characters" while excluding the eminently rebellious mule.
So, we want to provide our friends with snarky, unfiltered feedback that goes beyond "[undesirable option] is ghey." Thus, here's the "bad idea" part: we want you to make fanposts. After thinking through the positives about your favorite concept and the identifiable negatives about your least favorite concepts, write 250 words or so. The fanpost that most persuasively and hilariously makes its case will win for its author this nominal award: my vote.
It ain't much. But we recognize that a great deal of our readership is composed of young professionals that might not even live in Mississippi, so season tickets or alumni dues might be impractical. When I graduated Ole Miss my parents bought me the coveted Lifetime Membership to the Alumni Association (utility be damned; it's a nice gift), so I get a vote. And if you make your good case for Mojo ... then, I'll probably refuse to drink with you, but I'll exercise my vote as if it is yours.
We have no idea when voting closes, but we will temporarily set the close of this competition as Sunday at Midnight Eastern Time. That'll give you a chance to get drunk enough on Independence Day to make you decide you give a damn about all this.
Consider the Marketplace of Ideas open.