How would you like to be a member of the Southern Mississippi football team on the first day of fall practice back some four months ago?
Coach Jeff Bowers gives your team a pep talk - you know, the old Knute Rockne hype - before the season begins.
In a nutshell, Bowers sets as the two main goals for the Golden Eagle squad: 1) to win the Conference-USA championship (which has become old hat by now); and 2) to play in a postseason bowl game as a just reward for a great effort and outstanding season.
Nearly four months later, your efforts for a conference championship falter at the tailend of the season, but the consolation is that your Golden Eagle football team finishes with a winning record and "earns" a bowl bid.
But here's the rub.
Your bowl foe is none other than everybody's patsy down South, Arkansas State.
For most teams, including USM, the Indians every year are no more than somebody's homecoming opponent. Or worse than that, ASU is put on the schedule as a "Band Day" or "Legislative Day" foe. In other words, they are such a lousy draw, that a gimmick has to be neatly disguised as a promotion for fans just to attend the game. It's one of those games that every band goes to in the state or every Cub Scout pack attends.
Arkansas State is the 2005 bowl opponent for the Golden Eagles from Hardy Street. It just doesn't get any worse than that for a postseason "reward" - or does it?
It does.
And here's the kicker:
The two teams - ASU and USM - are slated to meet in the New Orleans Bowl. At least that sounds like a fun trip to the Crescent City for the Southern Miss fans.
Not so!
Remember a few months ago...think back to those late summer/early fall days of Hurricane Katrina.
That's the little storm that ravaged New Orleans and the entire Mississippi Gulf Coast. As a matter of fact, the Superdome in New Orleans - the site of USM's bowl game - is still in a state of utter disrepair as we speak.
Not only are the fans now forced to go watch their beloved Golden Eagles play Arkansas State at astronomical bowl ticket prices, but the contest has been moved up the road to Lafayette.
Now Lafayette is a nice town, but New Orleans, it's not.
Pat O'Brien is a stockbroker in Lafayette, not a funfilled watering hole for your average football fan.
Breakfast at Brennen's is now pancakes at IHOP.
The French Creole cuisine at Antoine's has been subsituted withan oversized Big Mac and a shake while Acme Oyster House has been replaced by out-of-season crawfish stands on the side of the road.
The closest thing to Commander's Palace in New Orleans' famed Garden District is a boiled peanut stand on a gravel road outside Bastrop that sells Vidalia onions at a bargain.
Folks, Southern Mississippi would have come out better losing its last game, finishing with a subpar .500 season, and enjoying a long Christmas holiday.
The only disastrous thing that can now happen to the black and gold would be for them to lose the game to Arkansas State. And that's a real possibility.
As they say around the pool hall, "bowl games just ain't what they used to be."
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A huge and sincere apology goes out to city school superintendent Wilma Wade for misquoting her concerning the school board meeting late last week that took up Dr. Bob Ellard's and Donnell Harrell' constructive criticism of the dance team at Clarksdale High School.
I took her quote verbatim from the article "School board agrees dance moves are too suggestive."
The only problem was that the paragraph above Dr. Wade's comment was concerning the possibility of direct deposit for its employees.
Her comment that she is currently looking to other districts' examples before making a recommendation was in reference to direct deposits and had nothing to do with the dance team at Clarksdale High.
It was an easy mistake to make, but also a careless one.
I apologize to Dr. Wade and the loyal readers that read it and for the trouble and misunderstanding the comment caused.
To my knowledge, Dr. Wade did not comment about the CHS dance team one way or the other.
Again, I'm very sorry for the confusion, but I'm also mighty happy I was wrong about Dr. Wade.
Deer pictures coming
We've got a slight backlog of photographs of kids and adults that have killed deer recently. Be patient. They will all be in the paper. I am trying not to just saturate the newspaper with the dead deer pictures because there are actually some readers that don't particularly get turned on by these hunting "trophy" pictures.
All photos will appear in black and white to keep the gory effects of the deer blood to a minimum.
Grizzlies, Tigers for real
While Memphis has a reputation of not supporting its teams, the Bluff City residents are currently torn between their beloved Memphis (State) Tigers and the NBA's Grizzlies.
Both teams are doing great.
The Tigers have but one loss -- a controversial 3-point defeat at the hands of the No. 1 Duke Blue Devils while the Grizzlies have just won their sixth straight game with an 89-73 thumping of the New Orleans Hornets.
Pal Gasol scored 29 points and pulled down 15 rebounds in the win.The Grizzlies are in second in their division - a game-and-a-half behind always-powerful San Antonio.
