Let’s Talk Seriously about Cowbells

The cowbell is one of Mississippi State’s most sacred, most resounding, and certainly most unique traditions. We love our cowbells!

Here’s how it all started. (Okay, this may not be exactly how and when it started, but it’s my expounding upon the popular legend. If this ain’t when and how it happened, it should be. As Carleton Young said to Jimmy Stewart at the end of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.”)

It was November 21, 1936, and our beloved boys in maroon were hosting those University boys from up north. In the last 10 meetings, State College was 0-9-1 against umiss. The game was a defensive grudge match with neither team seeming to be able to score on the other. The outcome was still in doubt when a Jersey cow wandered onto the field, as can only happen at an agricultural college. The cow was escorted off the field, and the game resumed, but the momentum seemed to have shifted, and the Maroons started rolling off unanswered points, and they ended up victorious, 26-6!

State College students immediately adopted the cow as a symbol of good luck and triumph and continued to bring the cow to the next few football games until the practice of bringing a cow to every game proved to be far too impractical. So… The cow’s bell was brought instead. This tradition continued to grow thru the “golden age” of Mississippi State football in the early 1940’s until cowbells were quite common at games in the 1950’s. In the early 1960s two MSU professors, Earl W. Terrell and Ralph L. Reeves, started welding handles onto the bells so they could be rung more conveniently and with more authority. This was the birth of the Mississippi State cowbell as we know it.

I absolutely love this bit, and especially the mention of cowbells, by the late, great Jerry Clower who played football for Mississippi State in the late 1940’s.

In 1974, the SEC adopted a rule against “artificial noisemakers” by a vote of 9-1. You can probably guess which school represented that one vote. This rule made it illegal to ring cowbells at SEC games. Sure, students and fans did their best to creatively sneak them in, but they were subject to confiscation or ejection. This lasted all the way up thru 2009. These were dark days for the Mississippi State cowbells.

Thankfully, the SEC saw fit to honor our beloved tradition by allowing them, on a trial basis at first, conditionally at games at Davis Wade. After 35 years of cowbells being banned as an “artificial noisemaker,” Bulldog fans could finally bring and ring their bell openly to Davis Wade. Mississippi State, of course, had to pay a couple fines for our fanbase’s inability or unwillingness to follow the rules at first, but it seems we’ve gotten better year by year. It is a blessing for which we should be thankful to the SEC that this year the rules have been further relaxed and we may now ring our cowbells at Davis Wade at any time other than when the opposing center is over the ball before the play snap.

I keep using the word “ring,” but as we all know, cowbells don’t actually ring, they clang! There are now more types of cowbells commercially available than I could name, but some good places to check out are:

• The Lodge – The Lodge seemed to be the only place one could find cowbells readily available for purchase prior to their being legalized in 2010.
• Campus Bookmart – Home of the Bully Store
• Cowbell Central – a family-owned business that produces cowbells in any color
• Chalet Arts – Home of the Double Ringer – If you haven’t tried a double ringer, they’re NICE! Comfortable tennis racquet handle to eliminate “cowbell blisters,” twice the noise, and the counterweight reduces arm fatigue.
• The BELLissimo Project – Home of some of the most beautiful bells I’ve ever seen
• Reaves Ringers – Beautiful, hand-painted cowbells
• Burnett Art, Cowbells, & Calligraphy – More stunning, hand-painted cowbells
• Battlebells – The loudest, sturdiest, most lovely-sounding cowbells I’ve ever encountered. Their clang is almost an actual ring. Gorgeous tone to them, and LOUD as heck! They come with earplugs for a reason!

Last Saturday, there was a young man sitting across the aisle from me at the Texas A&M game with a beautiful chrome cowbell. This young man thoroughly and completely annoyed the ever-living stew out of me for the entire game. Allow me to explain why. He rang his cowbell for the entire game. No “respecting the bell.” No “ringing responsibly.” Not even ringing smart.

This young man rang his bell when Mississippi State’s offense was on the field. Folks, please don’t do that. One of the reasons we ring our bells is to disrupt communication for the offense on the field — the opposing team’s offense! When Dak is trying to communicate reads and plays to the linemen, they need to be able to hear. This is not the time to be clanging your bell. After he hands it off to J-Rob, and the Bowling Ball breaks thru and is headed downfield for 40 or 50 yards, jump up and ring that sucker! Just don’t do it prior to the play!

He rang his bell when the opposing center was over the ball. Really? They play the video every game. It’s just one simple rule. Don’t ring your bell when the opposing center is over the ball. That’s the stipulation under which we, as Mississippi State fans, get to continue legally carrying our cowbells into and ringing them at games. That’s why it’s called “Respecting the Bell.” Do that, and it won’t be a matter of fines. We can absorb some fines. If it were simply a matter of fines, we could have every one of the 60,000 State fans at the game throw $1 into a bucket on the way out.

The fact is that if we don’t follow this one simple rule, opposing coaches are going to start whining about their offenses not being able to communicate. One would think that what happened after the LSU game would be enough for us to realize what happens to Mississippi State when opposing coaches start whining about something. We will lose our cowbells. If their offense cannot communicate because all 60,000 State fans in the stands are yelling their lungs out, fine! In fact, Great! That’s what we want! That’s why they say, “Put down the bell; just yell!” That many people, especially now that one end of Davis Wade is bowled in to contain more noise, can be just as loud, if not louder, than our cowbells. Please, save the bell; and please, YELL!

Now… At this moment, this season, this is more important than ever before. You want to send other SEC coaches looking for something to whine about? Beat them. Folks, we are actually winning now! A highly successful football season may be the most dangerous threat ever to our right to our cowbells at games. As long as we stayed a mid-tier mediocre football team, opposing coaches and players would say in press conferences and interviews, “It’s not that big of a deal. It’s a minor annoyance. It’s just what they do.” Now that we’re winning, it’s going to be “those danged bells!” that beat them. Even if they know it’s not, they’re going to seek to punish us for beating them. Were either of the LSU players who were stepped on seriously injured? No. But Les Miles’ pride was. Now that we’re winning, we all have to “put down the bell and just yell.” I won’t sit thru another game with people around me blatantly breaking the “one simple rule” without saying something to them. You should, too. Let’s all remind our fellow Mississippi State family members to Respect the Bell.

Wouldn’t this photo make Shug Jordan stand straight up in his grave?!?

This Saturday, it appears even Auburn fans want More Cowbell! I say welcome them to bring their own cowbells into Davis Wade and thank them for honoring and seeking to share in our tradition. Do they really think our players will be affected negatively by cowbells? However, with them there watching us and trying to figure out how to cowbell correctly, it will be of the utmost importance that we show them how to  properly follow the accepted cowbell etiquette and respect the bell and ring responsibly. The ultimate irony, I think, is that Auburn fans now want to join us by participating in our venerated tradition when it was Auburn coach Shug Jordan that originated the complaint to the SEC that resulted in our cowbells being outlawed for over three decades.

It is worth noting, however, that Auburn University shares some history with our own beloved university. In 1872, Auburn became Alabama’s first public land-grant university and was named the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama. They, too, have a strong veterinary school. Alabama coaching legend Paul “Bear” Bryant used to refer to Auburn, almost exclusively, as “that damned cow college.” Is it that far-fetched to think that they, too, want to honor their agricultural roots as we do by ringing cowbells?

Yeah. I thought so, too.

If, as some have speculated, the Auburn fans have designs on purposefully ringing their cowbells at inappropriate times to make it appear that we, the traditional Mississippi State clangers, are violating the SEC rules in an effort to get us fined or to make a case for again banning the cowbells, they’ve been way too above board and transparent with this sinister conspiracy. Everyone with access to social media can see what they’re doing, and that includes Mississippi State administration and the SEC. Even Saturday Down South has covered it! That being said, this makes an even stronger case for the maroon-clad masses in the stands to ensure that we cannot even appear to be the ones ringing when the time comes to put down the bell and just yell.

Apparently, Athletic Director Scott Stricklin had similar thoughts. The morning after I wrote the majority of this article, I saw his Wednesday Bulldog Update in which he said:

"One of the not-so-cool parts of last Saturday was the 25 or so percent of fans who continue to ignore the rules on cowbell etiquette. This totally perplexes me. Dak Prescott doesn’t need fans ringing when they shouldn’t to make a dazzling play for our State. Bernardrick McKinney doesn’t need fans ringing when they shouldn’t in order to deliver a crushing tackle.Why anyone who professes love for this university would ring their cowbell when they’ve been told not to do so is beyond me. It’s selfish and disrespectful, two things Mississippi State does NOT represent. When you ring at times not allowed, you are telling Mark Keenum, Dan Mullen, myself and thousands of Bulldogs who have worked hard to legitimize this great tradition at our games that you don’t appreciate their efforts, and that you’re willing to risk having cowbells removed from Davis Wade Stadium altogether in the future.A vast majority of our fans follow the rules governing artificial noisemakers (which says they can be rung except when the center is over the football). To those of you who do so, thanks. If you see someone disregarding the rules, do me a favor and ask them to stop. If we continue having this issue, security will be deployed to either remove offending cowbells, or the individuals who are ringing irresponsibly, from the stadium.Remember, we are allowed to bring cowbells into Davis Wade Stadium because the other 13 SEC schools voted to allow it. If we continue to have problems following the rules, then they may decide to rescind that privilege."

Thanks to Mr. Stricklin for his response to the gravity of this issue.

Now, back to the young man across the aisle… The other thing that annoyed me to no end about this young man and his beautiful chrome cowbell was the sound it made. As I mentioned earlier, cowbells are supposed to CLANG. His beautiful chrome cowbell did not clang; it clacked. Seriously. Just the most pitiful, tiny, tinny, little annoying noise. If there was any consolation it was that if he insisted on ringing at inappropriate times, as least not many people would hear it.

By all means, if you have a bell, no matter how gorgeous it looks, that sounds like that, put it on a shelf to look at, and get you another bell! I know I’ve mentioned that in my experience, the Battlebell has the absolute best tone to its clang. It really is almost a true “ring.” If a Battlebell is not for you, though, and they’re certainly not for everyone, get one that actually does have a nice clang to it.

Apparently the government of Switzerland is considering a cowbell ban of their own, and on bells worn by actual cows! A recent study found that they bells were apparently at the same decibel level as a chainsaw! The concern is that they will damage the cows’ hearing.

I don’t know about you, but I’m thinking I might need me a Swiss cowbell! Whether that is or is not for you, whatever you do, don’t be up in the stands clacking away and wracking my danged nerves.

And, by all means, RESPECT THE BELL. RING RESPONSIBLY!

Hail State!