Why me? Why State?

WHY ME? WHY STATE?

A time-honored expression of Mississippi State (henceforth known as State or MSU) Bulldog fans has been "wait till next year!"  We've -- and I'll take the liberty of using first person when referring to things Miss. State because I'm a 2 time MSU graduate, a retired employee who worked at State for 25 yrs., have a veritable plethora of family connections to MSU, and have been a Bulldog football fan for 60 yrs. -- so, yes, we've been an eternally hopeful, often downtrodden, faithfully resilient, doggedly patient, and generally appreciative lot.  In my lifetime there have been more lows than highs for the football team and its fans, but that means that our highs are higher and sweeter than those of ... say, the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa (UAT) Crimson Pachyderms, who almost always win (and whose fans expect them to omit that almost) .. and we have learned how to handle losses, as we've developed emotional callouses.  State fans are like Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke when he boxed "Big Drag" and was knocked down repeatedly, but just kept getting back up and facing his Goliath-like adversary.  If you'll allow me the pretense of mixing psychology and football, psychologists have found that one of the key principles of operant conditioning is that intermittent reinforcement increases persistence.  In our case, those who get to enjoy the occasional win are more inclined to keep coming back to enjoy more than those who are rewarded every time out of the box.  Wins for State fans ... well, to borrow the SEC Network's phrase ... they "just mean more."  We feel no entitlement; just sheer joy.  I know; I've lived it.  I came to State as a freshman just after the "Catch Us If You Can" year, saw Marcus Rhoden run back the opening kickoff of the first game against Southern and said, "Okay! Here we go!" then saw us hang on to win by a point ... and only win one more game that season ... and win only 6 (to go with 2 ties) in my 4 yrs. as an undergrad.  I was at the Astrodome when Houston eked out a 74-0 win in a game my buddies and I traveled to because we honestly expected to win!  I've seen us blow games against UAT when we had soundly whipped them.  I saw the "Immaculate Rejection."  But ... I've seen us beat Texas, Tennessee with Peyton, Florida, Miami, FSU, Auburn, LSU under the portable lights, UAT three times in a row, Sirmones still open at the 20, the 'Dogs beat UK at their homecoming so bad that their fans had left by the half, leaving Bulldog fans to cheer their queen and court (which we graciously did), play for the SEC championship in Atlanta, and I've been to a whole bunch of bowl games under Jackie and Dan ... even one with Sly.  It's all been great fun.  Because, you see, the 'Dogs are MY team.

On Nov. 2, 1957, just a few weeks shy of my 9th birthday, I became a lifelong Miss. State Bulldog fan ... actually we were more often called the Maroons back then.  I was raised cheering for the hometown Jones County Junior College Bobcats, a juco powerhouse that played in the Jr. Rose Bowl in 1955 and which ironically had given State arguably its biggest star until the arrival of Dak Prescott well over a half century later.  My dad, who was a graduate of West Tennessee State Teacher's College (now the University of Memphis) but had a master's from Miss. State, used to read me the exploits of football teams and players of all Mississippi college teams and players.  One player of note was Paige Cothren, an outstanding kicker for [gulp] Ole Miss.  I was so enamored with his exploits that I'd whine, "Daddy, I just have to go and see Paige Cothren kick a football!"  Without my knowledge (and perhaps my mom's either -- you see, my folks were poor Miss. school people, and my mom was an even tighter Depression-era spender than my dad) Daddy procured tickets to a Nov. 2 doubleheader in old Hinds Memorial Stadium in Jackson, MS between Miss. State and Tulane that afternoon and the immortal Paige Cothren and Ole Miss taking on Houston that night.  (Hinds Memorial Stadium was the smaller, wooden bleacher predecessor of Mississippi Memorial Stadium , which became known still later as Veterans Memorial Stadium, host to the vast majority of "home" games for both State and Ole Miss from the early '60's until the early '90's.)  Somehow on that 60 mile trip to Jackson I managed to avoid wetting my pants with excitement!  Paige Cothren!!  First up though the Maroons with an impressive quarterback named Billy Stacy took on then SEC foe Tulane Green Wave, quarterbacked by Richie Petitbon and led by halfback Claude "Boo" Mason.  (Both Stacy and Petitbon went on to become stars in the NFL as defensive backs -- nor surprising since college players in those days played both offense and defense.)  As the Famous Maroon Band belted out "Hail State" and the cowbells rang, State manhandled the Greenies 27-6.  Stacy intercepted a pass lying flat on his back.  There was a brief fight among players; State won it too.  I was hooked!  I took the program home and learned "Hail State," made my dad promise to buy me a cowbell and to take me to another State game.  Oh, Paige Cothren and Ole Miss?  After a big day of cheering the Maroons and running around on the Millsaps Golf Course, which became our traditional parking spot for Jackson games in the new stadium, I fell asleep in my daddy's lap early in the first quarter of the Ole Miss vs. Houston game ... and have yet to see Paige Cothren kick a football.  I awoke the next morning in my bed a committed Mississippi State fan and have never looked back.