MWN Mailbag: Snowed In Edition

Jan 24, 2015; Columbus, OH, USA; A youngster loses his hat as he goes down the snow slide before the 2015 NHL All Star Game skills competition at Nationwide Arena. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

In North Mississippi, we received over a half inch of sleet and freezing rain on Monday. It didn’t start to go away until Tuesday afternoon. Tuesday night, We got about an inch of snow on the black ice right before midnight. That means no school and no getting out of the house. I’m going crazy just sitting here, so a mailbag post seems like a good idea. Time to jump on in.

Probably so. The Bulldogs have a really good chance of winning their final three games of the season, and even if those were the only games Mississippi State won the rest of the season, that would put the Bulldogs at 8-10 in SEC play. That would be a pretty substantial improvement over the first two years. If it weren’t for the losses to Arkansas State, USC-Upstate, and McNeese State, year three would be going almost exactly the way you would expect it to. Those three losses do hang over the program like a dreary storm cloud. Is Rick Ray the answer to rebuilding this program? I lean toward no, but he deserves some credit for getting his players to not give up on the season after some really bad losses.

I doubt it has been changed permanently yet, but I am sure they are working on it. The last thing they want is to be in a situation where they have an incident like last Saturday and it come to light that the school was unaware of financial problems an airline has had. I don’t think they stop using a travel agency, but I do think they will research the airline the travel agency books for them a little more. Finding a reputable company can be difficult because these companies pack up so often. I’d look for a new policy to be drawn up in the not too distant future.

It was okay for State fans to gloat last year, and it is okay for Ole Miss fans to gloat this year. The one thing to remember about fandom and trash talk is that logic goes out the window and hypocrisy reigns supreme. For example, State fans were ticked off at Shepard last year when he flipped on signing day, and Ole Miss fans were rubbing it in the face of Bulldog fans. This year, Ole Miss fans were ticked off the Leo Lewis flipped to State on signing day, and Bulldog fans were rubbing it in the faces of Ole Miss fans. Fans of the team that win the Egg Bowl will overvalue its importance and fans of the team that lose the Egg Bowl will undervalue its importance. It’s just part of the rivalry. This is why I don’t participate in too much trash talk. If you’re going to trash talk, you have to engage in it with the understanding that there are flaws in every bit of trash talk you throw out and turn a blind eye to it. Both Mississippi State and Ole Miss can present arguments why they believe their team’s year was more successful. Which one you think is more relevant will be determined by the shade of the glasses you look at life through.