TEC's College Football Top 10, Week 8

The last four words in the Week 7 report were "Don't doubt the Sooners." Five days later, they lost at home to then-unranked Texas Tech. While an argument can be made against their place in the upper tier, Oklahoma hangs on despite their surprising defeat to the Red Raiders. Yet the Sooners' mettle will be tested in each of the next two weeks, as Kansas State and Texas A&M – both nationally ranked – could push OU, not just further down the national rankings, but out of contention for the Big XII title as well.

Similarly, Wisconsin fall out of the top 10 thanks to a Michigan State "Hail Mary" that produced the most sensational ending all season. Hence the Spartans now hold a place among the national contenders while the Badgers find themselves on the outside looking in for the first time this year.

While Oregon jumped a couple of spots with their progressively improved play, all pales in comparison to the colossal showdown coming on November 5 between the undisputed two best teams in the land. Both the Tigers and the Tide stand to benefit from having this week off, as both squads know the next 12 days will determine the path of both SEC and national superiority.

In the arena of college football, Christmas is about to come a bit early this year.

1. Louisiana State (def. Auburn, 45-10), 8-0, 630 pts.
2. Alabama (def. Tennessee, 37-6), 8-0, 620 pts.
3. Stanford (def. Washington, 65-21), 7-0, 600 pts.
t-4. Boise State (def. Air Force, 37-26), 7-0, 560 pts.
t-4. Oklahoma State (def. Missouri, 45-24), 7-0, 560 pts.
6. Oregon (def. Colorado, 45-2), 6-1, 515 pts.
7. Clemson (def. North Carolina, 59-38), 8-0, 450 pts.
8. Arkansas (def. Ole Miss, 29-24), 6-1, 385 pts.
9. Michigan State (def. Wisconsin, 37-31), 6-1, 350 pts.
10. Oklahoma (lost to Texas Tech, 41-38), 6-1, 330 pts.

c/o MCC

It was of some consolation to hear recently about the new Ole Miss mascot being routinely jeered during home games. Indeed, for a number of years now, the Oxford faithful have made their feelings about the new university representative clear in almost total unison. While school officials are likely to stay the course no matter the opposition, one can expect loyalists who support the Rebels through thick and thin to do the same.

Sunday's Quote: A foreigner at Ole Miss

It's been a year, almost to the day, since I've been back to Ole Miss. Last time, I watched helplessly as Cam Newton and the future (bastardized) national champion Auburn Tigers had their way with the Rebels. So considering that my visits to Oxford are fewer and further in between than preferred, it is nice to stumble upon a story on occasion that fully depicts the attributes of a special place that doesn't always get its just due. And perhaps most importantly, this review in particular is by an outsider who hails from the other side of the Atlantic:

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"I had been dimly aware that the American South is famous for its hospitality, but was unprepared for a level of friendliness that would have been faintly nauseating if it weren't so seductive. Wherever I went, people smiled at me with their gleaming, perfect teeth. . . . The vibe on campus was such that one could easily strike up a conversation with a stranger. At home this atmosphere had just about lasted through freshers' week; here, it lasted throughout the year. . . .

"A laid-back attitude and general reluctance to sweat the small stuff became uppermost in my daily mentality, and I can say with complete confidence that this was a boon in my academic, athletic and social college life. This is not to say that my fellow students were slobs or lazy. Manners are important in Mississippi, and at big social occasions (namely football games) I have never seen so many students in one place all trying to look smart. . . .

"I spent my time at Ole Miss in a constant slight state of disbelief that the 'American College Experience' was living up to the myth – and then some. This brings me to probably the question most asked about my spell there, put bluntly: 'Is it really racist down there?' Hollywood's interpretation of the South is not exactly glowing. While also not incorrect, it does not take the form one would expect.

"There appeared to be little or no antagonism along racial lines, only a sense of 'mutual segregation'. White guys hung out with white guys and vice versa, with little or no interracial dating. Certain uncomfortable words were thrown around drunkenly in company, which I admit I found surprising. But these encounters were fewer and farther between, however, than I had been led to believe and, all in all, I left with nothing but good things to say.

"I arrived back in an unchanged Edinburgh with a load of work to do, a Southern accent than can best many a New Yorker, a year that I will remember for ever [sic] and dozens of friends I'll stay in touch with. It's good to be home, but I can’t wait to get back."
– from "My year at the University of Mississippi" by Benjamin Cumming, published in The Telegraph; October 20, 2011

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In addition, here's a video tribute (w/ Kings of Leon providing the soundtrack) by a German fellow who also spent a year at Ole Miss. Have a look:

TEC's College Football Top 10, Week 4

With one-third of the regular season already complete, the crème de la crème are wasting no time in staking their claim as the ones to beat. While top-ranked Oklahoma labored more than anticipated to get past a burgeoning Missouri squad, both Alabama and Louisiana State demonstrated once again (and with relative ease) why five consecutive BCS national champions have represented the same conference.

LSU is the new #1 in the Associated Press poll. Undoubtedly a legitimate argument on their behalf could be made. Yet jumping both the Sooners and the Crimson Tide seems marginally premature for now. Nevertheless a better appraisal of the Tigers' depth will be established by the time they face #2 Alabama on November 5 – at which point the #1 ranking could very well belong to the Bayou Bengals.

In lieu of their one-point loss to fellow contenders Oklahoma State, formerly sixth-ranked Texas A&M drops to #10, while Florida State falls out the rankings altogether thanks to a five-point defeat at nationally ranked Clemson. Resulting from Saturday's games, Oklahoma State jumps Wisconsin and Louisiana State jumps Boise State.

Virginia Tech received top 10 consideration, but playing arguably the least challenging schedule among the upper tier FBS schools makes it difficult to overlook undefeated South Carolina – not to mention resurgent Oregon. Next Saturday, expect the Gamecocks to be tested against Auburn and Alabama to be pushed by perennial contender, Florida. Outside of the nation's top conference, expect a cage match to develop at Camp Randall between #7 Wisconsin and #8 Nebraska. The coming weeks are what college football is all about.

1. Oklahoma (def. Missouri, 38-28), 3-0, 640 pts.
2. Alabama (def. Arkansas, 38-14), 4-0, 635 pts.
3. Louisiana State (def. West Virginia, 47-21), 4-0, 630 pts.
4. Boise State (def. Tulsa, 41-21), 3-0, 560 pts.
5. Stanford (Bye), 3-0, 510 pts.
6. Oklahoma State (def. Texas A&M, 30-29), 4-0, 480 pts.
7. Wisconsin (def. South Dakota, 59-10), 4-0, 445 pts.
8. Nebraska (def. Wyoming, 38-14), 4-0, 420 pts.
9. South Carolina (def. Vanderbilt, 21-3), 4-0, 365 pts.
10. Texas A&M (lost to Oklahoma State, 30-29), 2-1, 315 pts.

c/o SixPackSpeak

Ole Miss Rebels, as an identity, is gone. They're the Mississippi Bears now. Not the Black Bears – as officially recognized by the university – or the Brown Bears, the Sun Bears, the Panda Bears, the Polar Bears, the Bear Bryants, the Teddy Bears or the Theodore Roosevelts. And no, the new mascot was not chosen in lieu of William Faulkner's "short novel," The Bear.

Colonel Rebel is gone (but not forgotten) because of oversensitive garbage commingled with an apparent refusal to understand a remote campus which, for decades, featured substandard facilities by the lofty standards of the Southeastern Conference will always trump the depiction of any mascot.

Just Thinking Out Loud: Regarding one college mascot in particular...

Years before Ole Miss finally "settled" on the average Bear -- more specifically, the smallest and most common omnivore on our continent -- the original options to replace Colonel Reb also raised a considerable ire among the Rebel faithful.  Upon further review, however, perhaps an updated version of the Colonel on steroids (left) wasn't so bad after all.

Sunday's Quote: Return to Oxford

Galvanized by the prospect of drawing awareness to the University of Mississippi's self-inflicted mascot debacle, I wedged myself out of bed Saturday morning after another grueling shift at the Hub and visited Ole Miss for the first time since last March to join a contingency of like-minded individuals bent on keeping the memory of Colonel Reb alive.

Gameday in Oxford is a special experience.  Especially in October.  Loyalists by the tens of thousands have pilgrimaged to The Grove for generations, almost without regard to the Rebels' historically inconsistent gridiron performance, in the interest of assembling with their fellow Southerners to extol the insular attributes of all that sets Ole Miss enthusiasts apart from everyone else.  Heck, they revel in it.

Who the hell are we? ... Ole Miss, by damn!

The campus atmosphere is infectious from the moment you arrive.  And this, in part, is central to why many object to the banishment of their mascot -- a symbol that both embodies a regional vibe and externalizes certain idiosyncrasies that go far in transcending the obstinance of the past.  In essence Colonel Reb, over a period of decades, became the principal emblem of what draws so many thousands to Ole Miss in the first place.

Some people take issue with that.  Some say that the depiction of what appears to be a plantation owner -- that was never official, by the way -- has no place in the 21st century.  Indeed considerable efforts have been made to either rewrite, or erase the past altogether by redefining that which makes Southerners who they are.  Evidently those opponents are unaware of how that favor, as it were, could be returned at least threefold.  But I digress.

Because the Colonel has been dismissed by the very individuals who should have been front and center to defend him, the forced acceptance of inessential change amid this era of hypersensitivity has left many to consider the cultural wax and wane, unwanted by most, that assuredly lays ahead.

The future, of course, is unknown.  And while the uncertainty is pervasive, it never takes away from the moment.  Not at Ole Miss.  Last Saturday, amid the inviting scenery and perfect weather, a near-record crowd marched in unison out of The Grove, through Whiskey Alley, and onto Vaught-Hemingway Stadium to watch the Rebels battle the top-ranked Auburn Tigers.  And for just a little while, everything was alright -- even after Ole Miss fell, 51-31.

The rally I was told about, for the record, never came to fruition.  But that was irrelevant because I was in Oxford, and simply being there was enough.  The ambiance, all by itself, makes the 75-mile trip worthwhile.  As a wise man once said, Ole Miss is mood, emotion and personality. ... The University is respected, but Ole Miss is loved.

That, too, could be said for its retired Colonel.

"...in Oxford lies, as promised, the most magical place on all of God's green, football-playing Earth: the Grove.  A school of red and white and blue tents swimming in a shaded 10-acre forest of oak trees, floating in an ocean of good will and even better manners ... Yes, they drink bourbon and eat boiled peanuts and finger sandwiches from sterling-silver platters and serving dishes arranged by caterers and frantic moms on elaborate tabletops.  They partake in front of flat-screen TVs with DirecTV, underneath chandeliers and amongst intricate candelabras and ornate flower arrangements. ... Because that's what the Grove really is: a place for adults.  A secret place run, governed and funded by grown-ups.  Sure, the students drink their booze and scarf their food.  But they also lug the tents in at 4 a.m. (often for $100 or more).  It's as if the Ole Miss'ians have swindled their Li'l Miss'ians into attending only so they themselves have an excuse to come back."

-- Sports Illustrated; September 27, 2004

Sundays' Quote: 140-character maximum, pt. 2

Having initially questioned Twitter's usefulness, I now understand both its purpose and appeal.  Continuing a post from last June, the following is a list of my favorites from the past four months, 75 in all, that go far to convey in a limited amount of words that which I sometimes have difficulty expressing in lengthy diatribes:

1) "Clearly we have forgotten those who painstakingly dug the wells from which we still draw water.  Look to God & the Founders, America!"
-- August 14
 

2) "Hey Islam: Lan astaslem."
-- June 30
 

3) "It's better to be a hard-line Conservative than a no-line Liberal."
-- August 24
 

4) "I don't always need to induce vomiting.  But when I do, I prefer MSNBC.  Stay thirsty my friends."
-- September 1
 

5) "What is hypocrisy?  Howard Stern calling Rush Limbaugh 'vile'."
-- June 9
 

6) "Some of us aren't surprised by Helen Thomas because some of us are aware that Liberals frequently cultivate ridiculous nonsense."
-- June 6
 

7) "California: where marijuana is acceptable and cigarettes are ethically reprehensible."
-- October 10
 

8) "It's interesting to see Perez Hilton take part in the no bullying campaign when his career was built on ripping people to shreds."
-- October 7
 

9) "Being a Feminist originally meant that you demanded equality.  Now it simply means that a man hasn't asked you out for a date in 10 years."
-- August 23
 

10) "Once we were a thinking people.  Now we are an emotional people.  The difference is profound."
-- June 5
 

11) "God will only allow us the leaders we deserve.  The further from Him we get, the worse our leadership will become."
-- July 14
 

12) "Ronald Reagan defeated Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale by a combined electoral tally of 1014-62.  How?  By being Conservative."
-- September 8
 

13) "I understand that he's 'historic', but please understand: Obama's not 'The Chosen One'.  He's just another politician."
-- June 24
 

14) "Al Sharpton's most recent rant, which entailed comparing Obama to Jesus, is pretty much par for the course at this point."
-- August 12
 

15) "For the record, when Obama says that his salvation relies upon our collective salvation as a society, that is NOT Biblical."
-- August 3
 

16) "It seems we lend too much legitimacy to the perspective of 'commentators' whose paycheck depends upon whether or not they make us laugh."
-- June 18
 

17) "Say what you want about Glenn Beck, you freaking liberals, but he's only guilty of loving this country more than you do."
-- September 1
 

18) "And remember kids, it's only okay for Democrats to have money."
-- June 13
 

19) "Of the 10 wealthiest politicians in Congress, seven are Democrats, which proves that it's only okay for the Left to have lots of money."
-- September 2
 

20) "Terms like 'frenemy', 'chillax', & 'bromance are being added to the Oxford Dictionary of English.  The end is definitely near."
-- August 22
 

21) "George Steinbrenner tried to fire God earlier today, to which the Almighty replied, 'Go to Hell'."
-- July 13
 

22) "Charles Krauthammer's comment about the Left's 'social engineering hubris' was spot-on.  He's hardcore."
-- June 25
 

23) "I'd prefer to be born wealthy instead of devastatingly handsome.  Being really, really, ridiculously good looking isn't all that great."
-- October 1
 

24) "Unemployed with a pending felony charge to boot, Alvin Greene won S.C.'s Democratic Senate primary w/o running a full campaign.  Silly Dems."
-- June 9
 

25) "Ozzy Osbourne is Rolling Stone's new health columnist.  I'm guessing Amy Winehouse wasn't available."
-- July 4
 

26) "The older I get, the more I appreciate Van Halen's first six albums."
-- October 16
 

27) "Venezuelan tyrant Hugo Chavez has threatened to cut his oil supply to the U.S.  I'm sure Oliver Stone is thrilled."
-- July 29
 

28) "Oliver Stone called George Bush a 'devil', but he places Hugo Chavez and Raul Castro on a pedestal.  Only Liberals praise our enemies."
-- July 22 ("Stephen Marche's piece about Oliver Stone in the most recent edition of Esquire is a must-read." -- September 23)
 

29) "Chris Matthews says new anti-illegal immigration plan is '...just pandering to angry White people'.  Hey Matthews, f--k off."
-- July 1
 

30) "Gallup shows Independents swinging strongly toward GOP because Dems have become 'too liberal'.  Thanks Obama, Matthews, Olbermann, et al."
-- July 1
 

31) "Liberals are good at being cool.  That's their m.o.  Conservatives must get better at being right.  That's our calling."
-- September 9
 

32) "When everyone else sees a belligerent aggressor, liberals only see a potential voter."
-- August 20
 

33) "A Google search on Samir Shabazz turns up practically no mainstream sources.  Ah, but if a 'cracker' dared to spew such rhetoric..."
-- July 11
 

34) "Those who 'hate' on Christopher Columbus exhibit some degree of naiveté.  If not the Spanish, explorers would have come from elsewhere."
-- October 11
 

35) "Whether it's 'Cordoba House' or 'Park51', the proposed mosque at Ground Zero is a 13-story monument to Islam's desire to dominate America."
-- July 15
 

36) "I will build a big Christian church near Mecca & preach about tolerance.  I'm sure Muslims would have no problem with that whatsoever."
-- September 13
 

37) "I am officially calling for Islamic Shari'a law to become more Constitutionally compliant."
-- August 29
 

38) "The guy who plans to burn a bunch of Qurans on 9/11 is going a bit overboard.  But the worldwide slaughter of Christians by Muslims is okay."
-- September 8
 

39) "I came to do two things: kill terrorists and drink beer.  Looks like we're out of beer."
-- September 11
 

40) "Perhaps Tom Brady is taking too much grief for his hair.  If Gisele Bundchen is your wife and she tells you to let your hair grow, you do it."
-- September 22
 

41) "Who the (expletive) is Justin Bieber to make fun of Tom Brady's hair?"
-- October 15
 

42) "Joe Montana endorsing Skechers feels wrong."
-- June 8
 

43) "Should it bother me that my football hero, four-time Super Bowl champ Joseph Clifford Montana, endorses Skechers?  Because it does."
-- August 26
 

44) "Hey atheists, save your comments about the 60-foot Jesus statue burning in Ohio.  Just like the real thing, it will rise again."
-- June 15
 

45) "Secularists of any sort have accomplished nothing without standing on the shoulders of Christian giants."
-- July 3
 

46) "LeBron's manufactured drama might backfire."
-- July 7
 

47) "So which is it LeBron: Team Edward or Team Jacob?"
-- July 8
 

48) "Revis wants $160 million.  The Jets are offering $120 million.  Personally, I'd be glad to take the Jets offer.  But that's just me."
-- August 11
 

49) "Pay-Rod just smacked his 600th home run, and yet I find myself wondering if Snookie would consider him a 'gorilla juice head'."
-- August 4
 

50) "China's Deng Feng 21D missile is being called an aircraft carrier 'killer'.  But we still have Chuck Norris.  Advantage: USA."
-- August 6
 

51) "China might challenge America on the economic front, but they have nine-day traffic jams that stretch for over 60 miles.  Advantage: USA."
-- August 24
 

52) "So Orlando Bloom is engaged to my girl Miranda Kerr.  Who cares?  I'm not jealous.  Nope.  Not me.  No sir.  Not one little bit."
-- June 21
 

53) "So, some hockey dude married my future wife, Carrie Underwood.  Perhaps a vicious body check into the boards would teach him a lesson, ay?"
-- July 12
 

54) "It seems Marc Lamont Hill has the unique ability to speak very fast without saying anything at all."
-- September 27
 

55) "The biggest reason people watch Bill O'Reilly?  They know something will be shown from the Left that will cause their jaw to hit the floor."
-- September 29
 

56) "Newsmax ('The Great Right Hope') could buy Newsweek.  Karma.  Lane Kiffin ditching the Vols & landing at USC amid scandal.  Also karma."
-- June 10
 

57) "Oh wow, someone else called Sarah Palin a racist because they disagree with her.  How shocking and original."
-- July 20
 

58) "The new Ole Miss mascot finalists are a lion, bear, horse, land shark, & something called 'Hotty & Toddy'.  And they're all fraudulent."
-- July 24
 

59) "Clearly the Ole Miss loss to Jacksonville St. is attributable to God's disapproval of Colonel Reb's absence."
-- September 4
 

60) "No matter what the U. of Mississippi administration says or does, Colonel Rebel will always, always, always be THE Ole Miss mascot."
-- September 30
 

61) "Come to think of it, the 'Rebel Bruiser' option to replace Colonel Reb at Ole Miss wasn't so bad after all."
-- October 10
 

62) "The new Ole Miss mascot will be recognized by the administration only.  Everyone else knows who the real face of the Rebels will always be."
-- October 14
 

63) "Conan O'Brien wants Ole Miss to return his masturbating bear."
-- October 14
 

64) "Continuing the jokes I've been hearing, "Parker/Spitzer" sounds like something for which a salacious individual would pay a lot of money."
-- October 4
 

65) "Earlier today Goldberg & Behar demonstrated, quite perfectly, how the truth hurts the Left (hypersensitive hacks)."
-- October 14
 

66) "The only thing worse than The View is Kathy Griffin on The View."
-- June 17
 

67) "Somehow I'm actually offended that Justin Bieber's 'Baby' has garnered 253,368,895 hits on YouTube.  It just isn't right."
-- July 21 (Note: As of October 17, the number of hits the aforementioned video has received now exceeds 359 million.)
 

68) "It's amazing how entertained we are by complete crap."
-- July 5
 

69) "Who needs that iPhone 4 anyway?  I'm still rockin' the rotary, yo."
-- June 24
 

70) "I think too much is made of Tom Cruise's couch jumping on Oprah.  Cult member or not, it really isn't that big of a deal."
-- July 3
 

71) "Inexplicably, Baskin-Robbins is retiring its French Vanilla flavor of ice cream. COMMUNISTS!!!"
-- July 18
 

72) "CNN's Sanjay Gupta and LiveScience.com say Darth Vader exhibited criteria for borderline personality disorder.  So do half the people I know."
-- June 12
 

73) "Our last four Presidents have been embarrassments, our economy sucks, & the Gulf is filled with oil.  A World Cup win today would be nice."
-- June 23
 

74) "I'm afraid Miley Cyrus is well on her way to becoming just like Britney.  Let's hope she resists the temptation to shave her head."
-- October 12
 

75) "It seems that I'm naturally inclined to hate both the player and the game."
-- September 17

Just Thinking Out Loud: Never really gone (a story in pictures)

You will always be the only mascot that matters, Colonel.

Iconic Shot: The 1959 Ole Miss Rebels

(click to enlarge)

Led by All-America selections Marvin Terrell and Charlie Flowers, the '59 Ole Miss Rebels allowed a scant 21 points all season and finished the year with a 10-1 record.  The only mark on the Rebels' schedule, a 7-3 defeat in Baton Rouge against the defending national champion Louisiana State Tigers, was avenged at the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans with a dominating 21-0 victory on New Year's Day.

Although both the Associated Press and the UPI ranked Syracuse #1 at season's end, the Rebels were crowned national champions -- the first of three for legendary head coach John Vaught -- by Berryman, Billingsley, Dunkel and Sagarin.  Jeff Sagarin, an MIT graduate whose method of ranking sports teams has been featured in USA Today for a quarter-century, also rated this squad as the third-best college football team from 1956-1995.

Sunday's Quote: Ole Miss & The South

Because matters centering upon race have remained prevalent in large metropolitan areas such as New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Baltimore, Detroit and Los Angeles, I have often wondered why the South is hit with the inclusive liability of all racial issues while practically all others are given a pass.

The considerable majority of arguments, when broken down to their most common denominator, harken back to the days of slavery -- something of which the South was the last in the western hemisphere to partake.  Interestingly those driven to demonize present-day Southerners who reject the weight of an institution that has existed on virtually every corner of the planet for nearly 4,000 years exhibit an unusual amount of artificiality when celebrating a heritage of their own that, to this day, is absolutely rife with all the elements they claim to despise.  But I digress.

Nobody dismisses the malignancy of the past, but it does not define who we are.  So to answer the critics, today's quote is from yet another northerner who was pleasantly surprised to discover what the South is all about:

"...Hiram Eastland, James O. Eastlands nephew said, you know, a lot of people have ideas about Mississippi based on things that happened 50 years.  And all of that stuff, as Hiram put it to me, is in our rear-view mirror.  And I was a visitor, but I was really surprised by the nature of race relations in Mississippi.

"I live just outside of Washington, D.C. and there's a mayoral race going on right now in Washington, and its all about race.  You don't see any of that in Mississippi.  People are friendly.  You see blacks and white socializing together in a way you don't here in Washington at all.  It really, really was stunning to me, actually, to see this.

"...for people who don't come from the South or don't spend any time in the South, it might come as a big surprise that people do get along as well as they do.  They are not just over - not get along over football, only, but just the way people are friendly.  The communal spirit there is just amazing."
-- from an NPR interview with writer Bill Thomas; September 13, 2010.  The full piece about his trip, "The sounds and the fury -- down home with Ole Miss, beauty queens and literary greatness in Oxford, Mississippi" was featured in The Washington Post the day before.  It's an excellent read.

As the college football season approaches...

"Thirty thousand fans don't pack into The Grove at Ole Miss to spend time under the oak trees as individuals.  Rather, we go there to take part in something greater..."

Golf Digest editor Matt Ginella toured The Grove during a rainy, but otherwise pleasant day at Ole Miss in October 2009.  Ignore the first 35 seconds of his six minute piece and have a look at what this visitor from New York was surprised to find in Oxford, Mississippi:

She saw it coming

There's been a great deal of debate about our national health care dilemma, so check this out --

By chance, about a year ago, I landed on Katie Couric's YouTube page when I came across her encounter with a group of Ole Miss Tri-Delts just prior to the first McCain-Obama debate, which was held at the Ford Center on the University of Mississippi campus (September 26, 2008).

The point of interest to watch for is a 15-second portion from 1:30-1:45 in which a pharmacy major declares why she had already decided to vote for John McCain.  Her words, thus far, have proven most prophetic.

If I could only get there

I visited the Ole Miss campus in Oxford, MS earlier this afternoon.  Having arrived too late to catch the last portion of the Oxford Conference for the Book (John Grisham spoke Friday), I decided to make the most of my southward journey by exploring the campus and surrounding area.

Depending on where you're coming from, Oxford is one of the few places by which the quickest way there requires perhaps the most asymmetrical path.  Common sense for the average Memphian insists that a straight shot down I-55 South would be easier than taking the back roads of US-78.  But that, of course, is wrong by upwards of 20 miles (no matter what Google Maps discloses), and I should know better.

Time spent on campus during football seasons past has afforded a firsthand knowledge of the alluring intangibles that make Ole Miss both comfortable and exceptional, whereupon I was pleasantly reminded as I parked in front of Farley Hall and the Overby Center for Journalism and Southern Politics, which stand adjacent to a 10-acre patch of sweet Mississippi goodness known simply as "The Grove."

Last Monday's unexpected passing of renowned author and Ole Miss MFA program director Barry Hannah almost brought the conference to a halt before it was scheduled to start.  Organizers ultimately moved forward in Hannah's honor, and though I had intended to hear at least a few of the lectures -- especially the ones centering upon writing about politics and racial identity -- I suppose my intrinsic longing to get back to Oxford after a longer-than-expected hiatus fueled my return as much as anything else.

I gleamed with a possibly misplaced sense of delight amid my campus stroll, almost placing myself in the shoes of an alumnus, as I observed the new and in-progress buildings that compliment signature establishments such as The Lyceum, Ventress Hall, the Barnard Observatory, and Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.  I'm assuming the nonchalance I have always felt at Ole Miss inspires an affinity that wouldn't otherwise be present.

I eventually made my way off-campus to The Square not long after an exchange at the student union with a delightful Southern beauty, the kind which a guy such as myself aspires to one day bring home to mom.  The vestiges of winter began to linger as the sun descended while I casually floated from Square Books, to Off Square Books, to Oxford city hall where I finally came across that statue of William Faulkner sitting on a park bench that, for some reason, had eluded me for so long.  And somehow, that was the ideal way to end my brief time in Lafayette County.

Having read this far, you are likely wondering why I place the Ole Miss establishment on such a high pedestal.  Some of the reasons have been explained in the preceding paragraphs, but there also exists an academic angle of which I've rarely spoken.

I have a degree from Southern Illinois University ('04) hanging in front of me as I write this, which I look upon with some level of contempt because it serves as a reminder of mistakes and misfortune that cost me a fulfilling "college experience."  In short my best college memories have little to do with the University of Memphis (where I did most of my undergrad work), and they have nothing to do with Southern Illinois -- a campus I've never visited.  Believe me, it's a long story.

Even as a lifelong devotee to the University of Tennessee (the flagship school of my home State), I can say unreservedly that to do it all over again -- as if that were possible -- would have me battle against any obstacle to get myself down to Oxford to make the most of what the University of Mississippi has to offer.  I can only ponder what might have been, and while there are infinitely worse tragedies in this world, this is one instance for which the only reality, despite my daydreaming, is regret.