Time to let “TSUN” Rest in Peace

Nov 16, 2013; Oxford, MS, USA; Mississippi Rebels head coach Hugh Freeze leads his team onto the field before the game against Troy Trojans at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Justin Ford-USA TODAY Sports

Last weekend during the Missouri series, The Lodge, one of the best places to find Mississippi State gear in Starkville, sent out a Tweet showcasing one of their new shirts. The shirt highlights some of our record breaking crowds that we have had at Dudy Noble Field. It’s not the best list, but my biggest beef is where it has TSUN. You can see the shirt here.

I know this isn’t a popular opinion amongst State fans, but we need to let TSUN die. I still like that Dan Mullen does it. I think he should continue to do it every time he refers to Ole Miss as the coach of our football program. I just think we need to let it go as a fan base.

What’s the Difference

The difference is simple. If you think Dan Mullen had any animosity for Ole Miss before he became the head coach at Mississippi State, you’d be wrong. He grew up in the northeast, and he spent most of his coaching career outside the SEC footprint before he coached at Florida. The only job he had in the SEC footprint before that was his time at Bowling Green. The one thing he had a great appreciation for though was fierce, intense rivalries. He decided to immerse himself head first into the rivalry. He understands the head games that come with any sport, and he wants to do everything he can to get the minds of Ole Miss players off the field, and focused on him. If the Ole Miss players feel disrespected by referring to them as The School Up North, then they are less likely, even if it is just marginally so, to focus fully on the task at hand. It’s a matter of gamesmanship for Dan.

There are Better Options

I know why people do it. Mississippi State fans do it to annoy Ole Miss fans. I also know it works. My brother is one of the biggest Ole Miss fans I know, and if you refer to them as TSUN, then he stops talking to you about whatever you were discussing at the time. I’m all for annoying Ole Miss fans, but resorting to TSUN is an elementary level of doing it. You can talk about the antics of Robert and Denzel Nkemdiche. You can mock them for claiming National Championships the NCAA doesn’t recognize. The only one the NCAA recognizes is in 1960. They shared it with Minnesota. You can tell them that Chris Jones is better than Robert Nkemdiche.

Do Away with All Name Calling

I think both fan bases should do away with all of the names we call each other simply to annoy one another. If you’re a State fan, just call them Ole Miss or the Rebels. Ole Piss, Webels, Teddy Bears, all of it. If you’re an Ole Miss fan, just call us Mississippi State or Bulldogs. Mistake, Puppies, Leghumpers, purge them all from your vocabulary. Think about it, this is the same tactic that 3rd graders use to annoy each other. It reminds me of the Cosby Show episode where Rudy gets upset because the people at her school are calling her Rudy Huckleberry. Her dad says that it shouldn’t bother her because that means that there is nothing wrong with her, and the worst thing they could do was call her a different name than Huxtable. That’s what we are doing when we resort to these tactics. We can’t think of something legitimate to annoy the other fan bases, so we change their name just to make them mad. Maybe you are okay with acting like a third grader, but I am not.

It may be difficult, and it might require you to get more creative in annoying the Ole Miss fans in your life. It will be well worth your time if you do.