DOES THE GHOST OF COLONEL REB HAUNT OLE MISS?

I started being an Ole Miss (That's the University of Mississippi) fan as a youngster, have followed them ever since . . . and that's a long time.  I still like seeing them win, but it's been a while since they've had a top quality football team.  This year has been a little different - new coach, new program, new players, and new success.  They lost their second game of the season tonight to Auburn, a game they should've won.  Bad luck cost them the game, and the same was true last week when they lost a close one to LSU.  I wrote a blog back in 2010 when Ole Miss dropped their long time mascot, Colonel Reb in favor of some stupid bear.  Yeah, a bear called Rebel Black Bear, or something dumb like that.  Colonel Reb faded into history, and I predicted in my somewhat angry blog that his ghost would haunt Ole Miss.  I said it mostly in jest, of course, but now I'm starting to wonder if I wasn't right.

What irked me about dropping Colonel Reb was the criticism of him as being a symbol of racism. That's just plain and simple bullshit, and I'm not the only former fan who lost some interest in them.  That's what I said - former fan.  I was a fan of the Ole Miss Rebels, a team with a mascot that well represented the state.  But a bear?  Mississippi isn't home to bears of any kind, but it is home to a proud tradition that's partly based on lots of brave soldiers who died in the Civil War.  Nobody remembers that war, not from a first hand experience of having lived through it, but it's history, dammit, and you can't ignore that.  My great, great grandfather fought and died in the Civil War, and he fought for the south as a native of Mississippi.

One well known Mississippi historian says that the former mascot, Colonel Reb, was based on a black man, not some hotshot confederate officer.  Even if he wasn't, he still shouldn't have been scrapped because some people who'd rather not remember Mississippi's proud history didn't like him. But times change, and so do universities, and the bear replaced Colonel Reb.  The Ole Miss loss tonight put an end to any chance of them making the finals, the playoffs for national champion.  It also puts an end to any hopes they had of being SEC champs.  With a demanding schedule remaining, they could lose two more games.  Arkansas almost beat Miss. State tonight, and Ole Miss must play them . . . and they play State the final game of the year.  They could, of course, win both games, finish the season 10-2, and end up in a respectable bowl game.  But I'd be willing to bet that they don't win out.  As I watched the seconds tick down in tonight's 35-31 loss to Auburn, I could almost swear I heard the rattle of sabers and distant cannon fire.  The ghost of Colonel Reb is alive and well . . . and my guess is, he's pissed off.  Good luck, Black Bear.  You're gonna need it.