Jackson Free Press

Sometime during the early part of my senior year in high school back home in Memphis, Tenn., I walked into my alma mater's band room to find an unusual sight near the back. At the time, I was serving under my second year as captain of the drumline, a rag-tag boys club where we liked to pretend that our aggressive approach to percussive instrumentation made us a lot closer to the jocks we all admired than say the flute or clarinet section. It was in this environment that numerous discussions turned into rough housing and obnoxious shouting matches.

On that day, I saw my friend Brenden, a small, cheerful Asian boy in his sophomore season with the marching band, draped in full Ole Miss football fan regalia. I grabbed him by his replica jersey and said, "Brenden, don't you know that school is racist? Don't ever wear that stuff around me, man!"

He responded, "Man, this is my school. I always wanted to go there."

Brenden is now a sophomore at the University of Memphis. I am a senior, expecting my degree from the University of Mississippi in May.

To understand how my perception of Ole Miss could shift so drastically within my search for schools would require one to understand why many people come to Ole Miss. During a visit to Oxford to visit a family friend in the hospital, my mother went behind my back and signed me up for a tour of the university. Never had I seen individuals so happy to share their college experience with others. The guides, the faculty and students all expressed so much joy for the institution.

My subsequent trip to Starkville to see "That School Down South" as it was referred to during my visits to Ole Miss, only cemented my choice. Even though State would've been more affordable for me, cowbells just couldn't tickle my fancy.

I was all about Grove attire, the legacy of civil rights activist James Meredith and the spirit of the South that almost reeks on every stranger in town.

Midway into this year's football season, the entire college football world had its eyes fixed on Mississippi, bringing to everyone one of football's most heated rivalries: Ole Miss and Mississippi State.

However, Rebel football and Bulldog football is a part of an age-old feud bigger than sports itself: the difference between "culture" and "agriculture."

So, I don't even really want to talk football. Our players and coaching staff have prepared all year, understanding what one football star believed back in the second week of the season, "The SEC could come down to who wins the Egg Bowl."

My job as a student, fan and soon-to-be alumnus is to have fun. There's no adage more popular at Ole Miss than, "Even if we don't win the game, we will undoubtedly win the party."

But we will win the game. I mean, seriously, the three games we lost were flukes. Let's just be honest.

Hotty Toddy, y'all!