Sometimes, it’s hard being an Ole Miss fan

I was recently asked to make a pledge for the production of an Ole Miss license plate for the state of Georgia.

Those types of license plates have become popular in recent years.  There are special plates for all in-state universities, NASCAR, dogs and cats, the military – you name it.  Auburn, Florida and Tennessee logos on Georgia tags are extremely popular also. Now, if  a school, not in Georgia, wishes to have its own license plate available for alumni, it has to pony up $25,000.  Roughly translated, if 1,000 people pay $25 in advance (the standard cost for any special license plate in Georgia), then the $25,000 initial production fee is raised and state convicts go to work printing an Ole Miss license plate that would be very similar to those seen in Mississippi and Tennessee.

Despite the best efforts of the local alumni, Ole Miss can’t get 1,000 people to sign up.  That’s been the situation for the last two years.  Thus, I was asked to make a pledge, you know, as despite having written my check for $25 two years ago, throw out another $100 or $500 or whatever to cover for some sorry excuse that won’t pay his share.  Sorry, I’m not doing that.  It’s not about money, it’s about principal.

There are 5,000 Ole Miss alumns in the metro area.  And I’m being told we can’t get 1,000 to sign up for the license plate.  My first reaction is they are a bunch of penny-pinching grubs out there who won’t pay $25.  While that may be true with a tiny fraction, I think the bigger issue is they don’t want an Ole Miss license plate on their car.  Let’s be honest here – it’s not easy being an Ole Miss fan – why advertise.  Yes, we alumns take pride in things like the movie “The Blind Side”, not so much because it was a feel good movie, but because it shows the world that it’s still not the 1960s in Oxford.  Yes, we have something to prove in that regard – most Ole Miss fans feel obligated to show they are not racist.  And, in Atlanta, I’m not so sure that bantering around anything Ole Miss doesn’t automatically result in some stereotyping. But back to the tag (tag if you grew up in north Mississippi, license plate if you are a northern transplant).  Do Ole Miss fans really want one on their car?  I drive around 350 miles to work each week to down town Atlanta and I can’t remember the last time I saw an Ole Miss emblem of any sort anywhere.  They should give an indication that maybe Ole Miss and tags might not be such a good idea to begin with.

When it comes to showing off a school’s colors, it’s easy if you are Alabama.  I mean they can go 0-12 next year and they still have more national championship banners (and several not 50 years old) than you can count on two hands and you can bet those will be brought to your  attention regardless of any current record.  It’s easy if you are Kentucky, they have basketball.  LSU has baseball.  Tennessee has women’s basketball.  What does Ole Miss have?  Tennis.  Sorry, don’t care for that and they always disappoint in the end anyway. If anyone tells me we have the Grove, I think I’ll throw up – it may be the biggest distraction in Ole Miss football – too much emphasis on partying instead of team support and winning, but that’s a discussion for another day.

When it gets down to it, I don’t really care one way or another if I have an Ole Miss license plate on my car.  After last football season, that feeling is re-enforced.  If I had an Ole Miss tag on my car after the Jacksonville State fiasco last year, I probably would have garaged it for a couple of weeks.

The truth is, Ole Miss wants to play like the big boys when it comes to deals like this tag.  But Ole Miss hasn’t played like the big boys on the field of competition to realize that type of support.  I hope that changes one day.  I hope we make it to Atlanta, not to play, to win, and I’m not talking about the Peach Bowl.  I hope we make it to a BCS bowl. I hope we give Andy Kennedy a new facility and the seats are more than 12 inches wide and leg room more than 18 inches and he does something with it.  I hope Mike Bianco hires some worthy assistants and allows them to coach all the way to Omaha.

But, today, I just hope we can beat Mississippi State next fall, South Carolina today and Lipscomb this weekend and right now, all three seem like big challenges. That’s why it’s hard being an Ole Miss fan and why selling license plates may not be such a great idea, at least for now.

Post by Colreb in Rebel Ramblngs