Rebs take the series against 'Dores

Brian Walker's Elbow will bring you more this evening when the doubleheader is complete, but the Rebs have topped the 'Dores in game one of their Sunday doubleheader by a score of 6-1.

In other news: After a poorly officiated game which magnificently spread the misery around (like Socialism!) the Mississippi State Bulldogs have won the SEC Men's basketball title. The game was characterized by a bunch of wacky threes, generally sloppy ball, and something like four turnovers in one second (literally). All of that aside though, the win was legitimate. Y'all know I'm no State fan but a punched ticket to the dance is nothing to make fun of. Also, Jarvis Varnado is the best defensive player the SEC has seen since Shaq, hands down.

We're never going to hear the end of this. "LMAO We Я dAnCiN' and Ole PISS ain't BITCH!!! RATTLERATTLE!!"

Ole Miss vs. Vandy: Weekend baseball preview

Basketball season is over for the Rebels. Any of you die hard, face painted, wig wearing, AK's Army generals can come on over to Swayze now. Don't get me wrong, I love basketball, but it just wasn't our year.

This weekend the Rebels load up the Callahan charter buses and head to Nashvegas for a weekend series with Vandy. Just looking at Vandy's overall record(10-4) they seem to be a solid baseball squad yet again. Last season they won 41 games and choked miserably during the Tempe Regional losing to OU twice in a few days.

Ole Miss was 4-1 against Vanderbilt last year sweeping the 'Dores in Oxford and then knocking them out of the SEC tournament. I would hate to say there's any animosity between the two teams, because while Vandy knows the meaning of the word animosity and can probably give you a dozen synonyms, they've never given me a John Cohen type of feel. "NICHOLLS STATE, GET OFF YOUR DAMN BUS AND PLAY US! FINE! WE WIN!"

Vandy has only lost one game at home to powerhouse University of Illinois-Chicago. As a team, they are batting .334 and holding opponents just above the Brashear line at .248. Aaron Westlake is batting .500 with a .550 OBP after 52 PA. Just walk him.

Ole Miss has only played one game on the road, losing to South Alabama in extra innings. I would wager that if they get all three games in, this will be the greatest test our team has faced all season. Kevin Mort is batting over .400 with Logan Power and Matt Smith batting .364 with a combined 5 HRs and 28 RBI.

PITCHING MATCHUPS
Friday:
Drew Pomeranz: Soph. LHP
Mike Minor: Jr. LHP

A battle of Southpaws with Minor sporting a 2.21 ERA with a 1-0 record. Pomeranz has an almost identical 2.58 ERA with a 1-0 record. Bianco made the right move taking Aaron Barrett out of the Friday position. He had three mediocre starts and didn't seem to be improving. Pomeranz has pitched in big games before, but this is the biggest stage: SEC Friday night baseball.

Saturday:
Phillip Irwin: Jr. RHP
Caleb Cotham: Soph. RHP

Cotham has a microscopic 1.29 ERA with a 3-0 record whilst Irwin has compiled a 1.72 ERA with a 2-0 record. I don't think their ERAs will continue to stay this low in SEC play. They've both had great seasons thus far, but it's just not possible to get out of conference play with an ERA like this. Up until now, Irwin gave us our best chance to win, and I'm going to stick with that opinion until he proves otherwise.

Sunday:
Aaron Barrett: Jr. RHP
Nick Christiani: Sr. RHP

This should be one of Barrett's last chances to make the weekend rotation. He's got an ERA over 9, and surprisingly Bukvich has been more serviceable this season. Christiani has a 3.71 ERA with a 2-0 record. He's struck out 21 in 17 innings while only walking three. The Rebels should be ready to swing. Fans have been clamoring for THE BITTLER to start, but I'd rather have a 99 percentile bullpen with Bittle. If he starts, who comes in at the end of the game? It's a question Bianco wouldn't have a comfortable answer for.

Predictions:
Friday: Vanderbilt 5 Ole Miss 2
Saturday: Ole Miss 6 Vanderbilt 4
Sunday: Vanderbilt 8 Ole Miss 7

Baseball Schadenfreude

So, you think losing to Mercer, South Alabama, and TCU before cancelling a doubleheader due to weather is bad, huh?

Well, yeah... it is.

But, don't worry, we're certainly not the only ones who have had to endure early-season baseball embarrassment. Behold, my quickly compiled list of shitty things that have happened to 2009 SEC baseball programs thus far.


Alabama
Dropped 2 of 3 to Southeast Missouri
Two games against Illinois-Chicago cancelled
Lost to Troy

Arkansas
Lost to Kansas
Two games against Western Illinois cancelled

Auburn
Dropped 2 of 3 to Elon
Game against Florida State cancelled

Florida
Swept by in-state rival Miami
Lost to FAU

LSU
Dropped 2 of 3 to Illinois (during the new Box's opening weekend)

Mississippi State
Lost to Northern Illinois
No contest against Nicholls State
Dropped 3 of 4 to Hawaii

South Carolina
Game against Clemson cancelled

Tennessee
Game against Oregon State cancelled
Lost to Austin Peay
Game against FIU cancelled
Lost to USC upstate


There are plenty of losses I've left out, but they're not so much embarrassing (losing to Coastal Carolina, Long Beach State, Oregon State, and other "baseball schools.") Keep it all in perspective, Rebels. Few SEC teams have gone through this still young season without a few "omgwtf's."

Walk it Out

Last night, David Phillips slapped a solo shot walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to notch one for the good guys against Austin Peay 8-7. The move to insert Phillips in the ninth was a strong one by Bianco. He wanted out of that game that inning, and that was the best way to do it.

I'm confused about why a guy with such power is sitting on the bench while Mike Snyder, batting a whopping 0.125 is batting as much as he is (only two more at bats than Phillips, but still). Let's give Phillips a legitimate shot in the order and see what he can do. I like Mike Snyder as much as the next guy, but maybe this year isn't his year.

At this point in the season, headed into SEC play, I want our order to be as follows:

1. Jordan Henry CF
2. Tim Ferguson 2B
3. Matt Smith 1B
4. Logan Power RF
5. David Phillips DH
6. Kevin Mort SS
7. Zach Miller 3B
8. Taylor Hashman LF
9. Brett Basham C

All nine of those batters are batting over 300. I don't see a glaring weakness in the order. What do you all think?

BTW, if any of you are planning on calling me out for the baseball recruiting article I did almost a year ago that mentioned David Phillips would get lost in the shuffle because of Mike Snyder, please don't. Being wrong makes me cry.

This just in....

The new weekend rotation for the Rebel Baseball team will be:

Drew Pomeranz on Friday
Philip Irwin on Saturday
Aaron Barrett on Sunday


The Rebels will take on the Governors of Austin Peay at 6:30 on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Cupper Throws Down with Catamount

How much confidence do the Catamount players have in themselves?  Enough to where one of them met up with some friends of the Cup and TOTGA to get dranked last night.  I won't reveal his name/position, I thought about it, but the guy was actually pretty cool so I don't want to ruin his transfer hopes.

Other than being wowed by the women of Ole Miss, sucking at pitcher pong, drunkenly reiterating how he wants to transfer to Ole Miss, trying to freestyle rap and calling all the girls around us "broads," he was pretty tolerable. 

He had plenty to say about the baseball team too.

First, he wanted to be clear how bad he thought Aaron Barrett was for a Friday night SEC starter.  They were shocked how easy it was to hit off of him and how poor his stuff was.  Those were his quotes, not mine.  I still think AB can contribute and is simply trying to adjust from JUCO baseball.  

The Catamounts didn't think too highly of our fans.  Their back up catcher was told by their coach to go to the bullpen and his response was, "Coach, please don't make me go back out there." The students were hurling dip cans, dip spit, dip, beer cans and insults at whoever was in the Vermont pen.  According to Vinny Vermont, when they were in the bullpen they sat as close to the backside of the wall as they could to avoid the projectiles.  Good job, right field fans.

Despite the treatment of the student section, the Catamounts loved the ball park and Oxford. Although they had to stay "at the fucking stank ass Super 8 Motel." 

Couple of notes about the Vermont team:  The reason their short stop sucks so much is because they are using their back up third baseman at the position.  The starter broke his wrist the series before their trip to Oxford.

They also do not mind traveling down to get waxed by SEC teams.  They think it will do help the program as they prepare to go back to the MEAC "and play those fucking high school level teams."

They were very grateful to have not faced The Bittler too, because apparently when you go up against him "it's ovah."

I can also verify that not all people from Vermont enjoy chugging maple syrup.

Vermont Game 2 Recap

I didn't think I could see anything more comical on a baseball diamond than last night's attempted pick off at first base.  In case you weren't there or too inebriated to remember (like most of my friends) the Catamounts attempted to pick off the runner on first, but there was one problem.  No one was covering first base.  So, the ball went on down the right field line and we got two free bases out of the deal.  It was hilarious.

Then there was today's game.  Zach Miller gets caught in a pickle between third and home.  The Vermont catch has the ball and is chasing Miller back towards third.  Miller gets ready to break back towards home as the catcher sends the ball to the third baseman, unfortunately for Vermont the catcher air mailed the third baseman and the ball went out into left field.  He would have air mailed the backup if he had been there too.  That play will probably sum up the rest of Vermont's baseball season.  

I really do not have much more to say about this series/scrimmage.  The final was 15-3 and Vermont had another ungodly amount of errors.  

It was nice to see Matt Smith hit a home run.  It was then even nicer to see him hit another.

Hopefully the rain holds off and we can play the third game, and Vermont can go back to chugging maple syrup and taking road trips to Canada.  

Vermont Game 1 Recap

I'll go ahead and apologize in advance for yet another TOTGA post.  So, Aaron Barrett is not that good.  It started out poorly for AB and he never could his act together as the Catamounts touched him for four runs on seven hits in only three innnings.  He can't expect to be successful when he can only throw fastballs over the plate.  He either needs to fix his offspeed problem, but a better solution is Bianco removing  him as the Friday starter.  

-Vermont or not, the bullpen did a great job the rest of the game.  They held the Catamounts scoreless and only allowed four or five more hits.  Speaking of the bullpen...Rory Mckean has to change his warm up song.  

-I'm officially on the Bittle for Friday bandwagon.  Previously, I was in favor of keeping him in the pen but we desperately need another weekend starter.  Pomeranz and Irwin look to be fine as the other two, but AB and Corrigan are not ready yet.  Bittle must have some more damage to his arm than originally thought, or Bianco is just being very stubborn.  

-Kevin Mort is good?  If he can get some momentum from his performance last night we may need to scrap that tag.  Not only did he have a great night at the plate, but he looked really good at short.  I also thought Zach Miller had a good game at third.

-Jordan Henry got it done at the plate tonight.  His average rose from .211 to around .280 after his game last night.  While the average may not be like in past years, he is still getting on base and making things happen.

-Ole Miss closed the game with 17 unanswered runs.

-Vermont's defense is pathetic.  I couldn't tell if I was watching Oxford Middle or collegiate baseball at times.  They had four errors when I stopped paying attention to the scoreboard.   The squeeze bunt attempt was comical as well. 

-I couldn't figure out their strategy of playing with their outfielders so shallow.  The Rebels had a couple of doubles that should have been outs, but because of the Catamounts defensive alignments some of our bench players slugging percentage rose a few points.  They may have been trying to keep that runner from second from scoring on a single, but when you are down twelve runs you should probably worry about preventing another extra base hit.

RSC Quiz

What's more atrocious than Aaron Barrett's curve ball, Vermont's defense and the idea of Sean Stuyverson returning to man third base?  

The answer is in the comment section.  Let us know if you got it right.

Weekend preview: Ole Miss vs. Vermont

I don't know much about Vermont. They make maple syrup, they usually have one of those "BraCKetBUSter!!!" teams in basketball. I've heard there's a great place to get ballin' lasagna near the university (Bove's...do it).

Vermont is ending their baseball program at the end of this season. It's polar bear ass cold there, so it makes sense. Apparently, the athletic department was going to be operating at a $1.1 million deficit, so they had to cut the programs. Just throwing it out there, do they have a football team that's open for Sept. 12? We'll help you out with that little deficit.

The Catamounts are 0-3 this year after getting slammed by Vandy last weekend(7-2, 14-3, 14-1). Vermont is forced to do what many teams above the Mason-Dixon do: come to where it's moderately warm and play against superior teams. We need the sweep, and we should get it unless temperatures drop and snow becomes imminent. Surely that only happens once a year.

Pitching match-ups:
FRIDAY
Aaron Barrett- Jr. RHP
Joe Serafin- Sr. LHP

Serafin pitched 6.1 innings against Vandy allowing four runs, three earned and ten hits. He induced eight ground outs and seven fly outs. In my opinion, this means Vandy was knocking the ball around pretty good, but just didn't get it to the gaps for extra base hits. Barrett has a great chance to prove some consistency to the bright spots he's shown so far.

SATURDAY
Drew Pomeranz- Soph. LHP
Justin Albert- Sr. RHP

Pomeranz only has action against Arkansas State, so it's hard to say if he has progressed from last season. He got a couple innings in, and even a mediocre effort should keep us in the game. Albert let up six runs, five earned in five innings against Vandy. It looks like he had some control issues with four walks, one wild pitch and one hit batsman. "Throw it in the dirt" chant may not be needed.

SUNDAY
Phillip Irwin- Jr. RHP
Keith Rakus- Sr. RHP

Irwin hasn't walked a batter all season and has nine innings of solid work giving up only two earned runs. If Barrett continues to struggle, Bianco might have to move Pomeranz or Irwin to the big timerz Friday role. On the flip side, Keith Rakus has only 4 outs to his credit this season with an ERA over 20. Wow,

Predictions
Friday: Ole Miss 8 Vermont 4
Saturday: Ole Miss 11 Vermont 5
Sunday: Ole Miss 13 Vermont 3

Final: Ole Miss 11 Arky State 5

Ole Miss scored a very efficient 11 runs on only nine hits on their way to beating Arkansas State Tuesday night.

Drew Pomeranz and Phillip Irwin combined for 6 innings only giving up 2 runs in the victory.

Jeremy Travis hit a three run home run that got the Rebels ahead 6-2, and the Indians didn't mount a rally until late in the game against Nathan Baker.

Jordan Henry didn't start tonight as Taylor Hashman took over in LF. Henry struggled early last year, but after being benched in the middle of the season, he got hot through the SEC tournament. Before Tuesday, Henry was batting an anemic .211 but was sporting a .464 on base percentage. Hashman was batting .333 with a .538 OBP. I don't know if we'll have some sort of platoon OF now, but Bianco could be trying out players in other positions as Travis is a big bat with a mediocre arm.

We should've won by this margin and we did, must like last week's wins against Central Arkansas with 10-2 and 11-3 decisions. The Rebels have now scored 10 or more runs in five of their seven games. Unfortunately, they're 3-2 when scoring 10 or more runs, which means obviously that our pitching can't stop the bleeding or Mike Bianco is too stubborn to change a pitching plan mid-game.

Next up, we've got the Vermont Catamounts for a weekend series then Austin Peay in a two game mid-week series.

In my opinion, we need to win all of these games to get back on track and meet the expectations of the fan base. Ripping off five wins here in preparation for conference play would put our team at 9-3 with 12 non-conference games and 30 conference games to play. There doesn't seem to be any plan to make up the two games canceled with TCU, so we've got 54 games for the year now.

We'll have a preview of the Vermont series on Friday once we know who the weekend starters will be, but seriously, Mike Bianco probably won't make any changes. This team needs to get on a roll and build up some confidence after a rocky start.

Baseball Moved to Oxford

Tuesday's game against the Arkansas State Whoosey-Whatsits has been moved to Oxford and scheduled for a 6 p.m. start. The game was relocated because Jonesboro is a terrible town where the best place to pick up chicks is Cici's Pizza the combined number of the Ole Miss coaching staff outnumbered expected attendance at Whoosey-Whatsit Stadium, even when divided by three Houston Nutt hates Arkansas Ryan Mallett ran his car into the bullpen at Whoosey-Whatsit Stadium on Saturday night inclement weather was predicted.

That means tomorrow will be a blistery, but unusually full, midweek day of Rebel sports in Oxford. Begin your day with a drink. Then, take in the Rebel Netters first outdoor match against Memphis at 2 p.m. The Tigers have all the flair you might expect from an inner-city tennis team, so Billy Chadwick's bunch will have dispatched their opponents with plenty of time for you to run over to Sterling, chug a few beers, and grab a Baconator to go on your way to Oxford-University Stadium without missing the first pitch, which will probably be disappointing for the Rebs, anyway.

Ole Miss vs. TCU Baseball preview

After a disappointing 1-2 start in Mobile last weekend, the Rebels played with a vengeance against Central Arkansas slugging their way back to an above .500 record.

This weekend looms huge for an impressive start before entering conference play in a couple weeks. Texas Christian rolls in with a 4-1 record after taking 2 of 3 at Cal State Fullerton and dominating Dallas Baptist and Texas State in Fort Worth.

Texas Christian has a horrible mascot and an even worse hand signal to accompany it. They rock purple and white, which is strike two in my opinion. Third off, they are rumored to have blown off our athletic department during scheduling a football game, opting for Clemson instead of Ole Miss.

Friday:
Aaron Barrett(R) vs. Tyler Lockwood(R)
Barrett had a decent first start against Liberty making one big mistake in allowing a three run home run. Barrett showed the ability to mix speeds and reliably hit spots wherever Basham asked him to do it. Lockwood comes in with a 3.60 ERA after starting one game going five innings, striking out two and walking one. Lockwood broke into the starting rotation last year after coming out of the bullpen for the Frogs at the beginning of the year. In his 11 starts, TCU was 9-2, so he should give the Rebels some issues unless we can get his pitch count high and work into their bullpen.

Saturday:
Drew Pomeranz(L) vs. Sean Holscher(R)
Pomeranz will see his first action of the season as he was suspended last weekend due to an offseason DUI. Everyone has set the bar high for the sophomore as his first season was pretty successful as he worked his way into the weekend rotation and struck out batters in bunches. Holscher has the highest ERA on the team after six innings where he allowed five runs while striking out eight. He seems like a hard throwing pitcher and when he makes mistakes they end up being extra base hits developing into big innings. This game seems to be the best chance on paper for the Rebels to win.

Sunday:
Phillip Irwin(R) vs Kyle Winkler(R)
Irwin was ballin' outta control against USA firming up his spot in the weekend rotation for the time being. I thought he looked really sharp and could be a consistent contributor for the Rebels. While he may not run with such a low ERA for the season, he doesn't seem like the kind of pitcher that lets games get out of control. Winkler is a freshman and who gave up six runs, only one of which was earned, in 3.2 innings this season. The Rebels need to get on the board and give Irwin some room to work against TCU.

Our hitting has been stymied once against USA, but Tim Ferguson showed a spark against Central Arkansas this week. Logan Power and Matt Smith should continue to carry the heavy loads while everyone else tries to set the table for them. Pitching has been touch and go thus far, but if they grow from last weekend, TCU and Ole Miss will have a fantastic series.

I'll predict on the worries that our starting pitching is not as good as billed.

Friday: TCU 5 Ole Miss 3
Saturday: TCU 3 Ole Miss 6
Sunday: TCU 7 Ole Miss 4

Coca-Cola Classic: A short photographic journey

We finally got our camera hooked up and photos edited from this past weekend in Mobile when the Rebels stumbled out of the gates with a 1-2 record.

Here's a few photos from our escapades:

Brett Bukvich comes in to protect the lead against Mercer...great move Mike

A rally cap moment during the UM vs USA game

PUN INTENDED!!!! LOLZZZZ!!

Is Mercer sponsored by Tony Stewart? WTF is up wit dem numbaz?

A paparazzi moment with Mike Snyder? Matt Snyder? One of them

The infamous Sweats McJaguar cheering during UM vs USA game

Up next: A two game series with Central Arkansas, and a weekend series versus TCU. At best, we're expecting a 5-3 record by this time next week. More on those games later.

Rebels stunned by USA in extra frames

Well, a huge waste of human sat behind us at today's baseball game between our Rebels and the South Alabama Jaguars.

This guy complained about EVERY SINGLE PITCH that went against his team. He accused Ole Miss of every travesty imaginable including buying the game away from his beloved Jags, cheating against Mercer(a game we lost) and the JFK assassination. I'm sure you have had a similar experience, possibly even at an Ole Miss game. Lives and dies with every call by an umpire.

He was one of the most miserable people I have ever had to sit near during a baseball game. Sitting by himself in a faded USA t-shirt, sporting grey sweatpants and velcro Rockport sneakers, I can only imagine his portly physique playing baseball at some level in his life. 

His annoying personality drove everyone in his life away as he was sitting by himself but had no reservations about eavesdropping on our conversations. We spoke to those around us about Scott Bittle's great pitching ability, and he mocked us with our own words as USA drove a run across in the tenth to seal the Rebel loss.

He quickly waddled down the steps after the game's ending realizing he was in the same section as many Ole Miss player's parents who were giving him the stink eye throughout the afternoon. We luckily snapped a few photos of this brute and will be posting them as soon as possible.

The loss was embarrassing, because our pitching staff was really on point against the Jaguars while our bats were incredibly useless. We ground into three double plays while stranding over half a dozen. It was flat-out frustrating, and I hope this team does some soul searching before Texas Christian comes to town.

Mobile wasn't all bad. Most of the USA fans were reasonable, but we got the Christmas gift of sitting by Sweats McJaguar. 

A few quick notes:

- Liberty ended up winning the Coca-Cola Classic with a 2-1 record with the loss coming to Ole Miss. 

- Evan Button looked like he pulled or strained a hamstring running out a ground ball during the USA game. It was very tough to see as he was coming back from a season ending injury last year. 

- Mike Snyder got his first action as a Rebel at 3B.

Day 2 of Coca Cola Classic: Ole Miss vs Mercer

Yesterday's victory should have been a good confidence builder for our team. We played good small ball with a sacrifice fly to bring in the go-ahead run but also had the big three run bomb from Logan Power early on to show the line-up has some pop in their bats. 

Pitching was a little touch and go with Aaron Barrett. He made a couple mistakes, and Liberty made him pay. Lesson learned, hopefully. Our bullpen gave four solid innings in relief, and if it is any foreshadowing, I feel comfortable giving them a lead this season.

Mercer got lit up by USA last night 9-2. We could've gone to the game with our all day tickets, but we decided to eat massive amounts of hot wings and drink beer instead. The entertainment value was roughly the same. 

We're not expecting Mercer to come from behind like the Flames did yesterday if the Rebels jump out to a lead. I and Brian Walker's Elbow fully expect a thrashing today. 

Chris Corrigan will be taking the mound for Ole Miss at a striking physique of 6'3'' 157 lbs. according to our AD website. If this is true, his body is basically a bullwhip flinging a ball towards home plate. He's got game, though, as Toronto drafted him in the 18th round out of Juco.

There were approximately 12 scouts with radar guns at the game yesterday for Barrett's appearance, so we'll see how many turn out for today.

Kevin Mort didn't have a great game against Liberty, so we're wondering if he'll get another chance today. Bianco may consider moving Button to SS and getting a Snyder or Logan Williams to play 3B. Obviously, it's a little early to write off a player, but while it's early, this is when you have to experiment with the line-up before you get into SEC play. 

Rebels too close for comfort against Liberty

We're just getting nestled in to the luxurious Holiday Inn off of I-65 in Mobile. We got a real tight view of the Arby's across the street. Rollin' in style.

The first game against Liberty started off really promising as Aaron Barrett was pitching lights out striking out three of the first four batters as we jumped out to 4-0 behind a three run HR by Logan Power.

Then, we bumbled and fumbled our way to a 6-5 win by manufacturing runs and stealing a few bases. Our bullpen effort of Morgan, Goforth and the Bittler was incredibly effective as they should be against a team whose mascot, "the Flames," is in stark contrast to the conservative nature of the Christian school formerly headed by Jerry Falwell(maybe his ghost is still there, we don't know).

The Liberty fans were good natured and made fun of the deficiencies of the stadium, such as the "jumbo-tron" that was one third blacked out or the in-game promotion that offered a free box of popcorn for a foul ball returned to the concession stand. Times are tough. 

We were convinced the error button was broken on their scoreboard because we counted roughly 4 or 5 errors in the first five innings before one was actually tallied on the board. 

Kevin Mort and Evan Button weren't overly impressive on the left side of the infield letting a few balls through and booting a couple as well. Matt Smith played a good defensive game along with Brett Basham behind the plate. 

Logan Power completely bombed the home run in the first inning. Just crushed it. The home run by Liberty was somewhat of an enigma, because we never saw it go over the wall. We're pretty sure it hit the top of the wall and came back into play, but the ump ruled it a three run homer. Who knows? We still won, so not really incredibly important.

Stanky Field does sell beer...in cans. I don't know what else to say, but it was pretty comforting to see beer cans littering the stadium as we departed for some strange reason.

Mobile is traffic ridden due to Mardi Gras festivities, but we're going to hit up a few unsavory joints tonight to get some local flavor. There's no doubt some drunk coon asses that we'll be running into as the sun goes down. We'll check back in later. 

Rebel Roundup: Weekend Preview, Uncouth Jokes, DVD's

Baseball Season Begins - I'm getting all warm inside just thinking about it. I've got "The Summer of '69" stuck in my head, the imaginary scent of overcooked hotdogs wafting into my nostrils, and visions of homerun balls dinging unobservant women in the head. It's going to be tough being so far from Swayze for the first time ever, but hopefully the Cup will give me a legitimate way to vicariously enjoy this team's success. As has been blogged, our baseball correspondents, One Man to Beat and Brian Walker's Elbow, will be heading down to Mobile to indulge in fresh oysters, Mardi Gras, and the Coca Cola Classic. Hopefully their coverage of this weekend will give you an idea of the baseball coverage you can expect from the Cup this season. Oh, and if anybody is curious as to what our ad revenue goes towards, it's tickets to these kinds of things. Thanks e-Rebels and Fayetteville public library patrons!

Speaking of Baseball - Baseball America has a kickass piece on the facility upgrades going on all accross the NCAA baseball world. It's definitely worth your time. The slideshows and quotes from the coaches make it pretty evident that college baseball is slowly but surely becoming more and more important to the various university athletic programs. Our upgrades are pretty damned impressive as are Michigan's, Texas', LSU's, and South Carolina's.

"Celebrating" 100 Years of Rebel Basketball - This Saturday against the Georgia Bulldogs, the Rebels will be celebrating the centennial of our *ahem* storied basketball program. If you're in or near Oxford, be there. You're not too good to watch Basketball, especially when the closest thing to a guaranteed win in the SEC rolls into town.

"One Heartbeat" DVD on Sale Now - Only Ole Miss would make a highlight DVD of a 9-4 season. Ok, now that I've got that snarky stuff out of the way, it would be nice to own a single DVD with the Florida game, LSU game, Egg Bowl, and Cotton Bowl on it so this DVD isn't that bad of a deal.

Reader Submissions are all in Good Humor - Hunter sent this one in:

If you've got issues with this, I understand, but allow me to quote a line from the award-winning Broadway show "Avenue Q:"

Ethnic jokes might be uncouth,
But you laugh because
They're based on truth.
Don't take them as
Personal attacks.
Everyone enjoys them -
So relax!

If a puppet from the Lower East Side gets it, then why can't you, huh? Thanks again to the ever diligent Hunter for his reader submission.

Rebels face Liberty, Mercer and USA

Brian Walker's Elbow and I will be bringing you updates from the Coca Cola Classic, photos of rednecks at Mobile Mardi Gras and maybe even some videos of white people dancing at the bars.

We're about to jump in the One Man to Beat-mobile shortly and make the harrowing journey down to Mobile. 

I confirmed with the USA athletic office that beer is sold at Stanky Field, so we will have a Caligula-like feast of hot dogs and brews all weekend. 

Quick predictions:

Ole Miss 11 Liberty 2

Ole Miss 9 Mercer 1

Ole Miss 6 USA 4

Leave your predictions, comments, etc. as Rebel baseball is finally here. Does it feel like Christmas morning to anyone else?

Obama's speech to team- preseason

Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mike Bianco. You make us all proud.

On behalf of the great state of Mississippi, Home of the Blues, let me express my deepest gratitude for the privilege of addressing this team.

I stand here today, grateful for the accomplishments of Mike Bianco, aware of the futility of Ole Miss Baseball since the departure of Tom Swayze. I stand here knowing that Swayze's story is part of the larger American story, that we, as Ole Miss fans, a debt to all of those who came before us, and that, in no other school on earth, is this story even possible.

Tonight, we gather to affirm the greatness of our university -- not because of the height of our jumbotron, or the power of our landshark guided defense, or the size of Oxford-University Stadium. Our pride is based on a very simple premise, summed up in a declaration made over seventy years ago:

"The University is respected, but Ole Miss is loved. The University gives a diploma and regretfully terminates tenure, but one never graduates from Ole Miss"

That is the true genius of Ole Miss, a faith -- a faith in simple dreams, an insistence on small miracles; that we can put Matt Smith in in the ninth inning and know that they he will hit the walk off home run; that Mike can say what he thinks about Pete Boone, without hearing a sudden knock on the door; that we can have an idea and change our defense without paying a bribe; that, unlike Starkville, we can attend baseball games without fear of catching disease.

This year, in this season we are called to reaffirm our values and our commitments, to hold them against a hard reality and see how we're measuring up to the legacy of our forbearers and the promise of future generations.

And fellow Rebels, Democrats, Republicans, Independents, I say to you tonight: We have more work to do -- more work to do for the Rebel fans in Rolling Fork, MS who are sick of State fans saying they've been to Omaha recently and we haven't; more to do for the father that I met who was losing his job and choking back the tears, wondering how he would pay 500 dollars a ticket for the seats his son needs so he can be at Swayze every Sunday afternoon after church; more to do for the young woman in Bay St. Louis, and thousands more like her, who has the grades, has the drive, has the will, but doesn’t have the money to make it to Swayze every weekend.

Now, don’t get me wrong. The people I meet -- in small towns and big cities, in diners and office parks -- they don’t expect Mike Bianco to solve all their problems. They know they have to work hard to get ahead, and they want to. Go into the collar counties around Oxford, and people will tell you they don’t want their ticket money wasted, by an underachieving team. Go in -- Go into any inner city neighborhood, and folks will tell you that Mike alone can’t teach our kids to plate discipline; they know that fans have to cheer, that players can’t achieve unless we raise their expectations and turn off the television sets and eradicate the slander that says a Rebel team can't make it Omaha. They know they can.

They know we can do better. And they want that choice.

In this season, we offer that choice. Our university has chosen a man to lead us who embodies the best this country has to offer. And that man is Mike Bianco.

Mike Bianco understands the ideals of community, faith, and service because they’ve defined his life. From his heroic service to McNeese State, through eight years as coach of the Ole Miss Rebels. Again and again, we’ve seen him make tough choices when easier ones were available.

Can we get that clutch hit? When Jordan Henry steps into the box, we'll respond: Yes, we can. Can we make that play from short-stop? When the ball is hit Evan Button's way, we'll respond: Yes, we can.

Can the Rebels win the western division? Yes, we can. Can the Rebels win the SEC? Yes, we can. Can the Rebels make it to Omaha? Yes, we can. Yes, we can. Yes, we can.