I wonder how this is affecting choices of Derrick Green, others...
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OT - Will Ole Miss Disturbance Affect Football Recruiting?
November 8th, 2012 at 6:18 PM
#1
OT - Will Ole Miss Disturbance Affect Football Recruiting?
November 8th, 2012 at 6:20 PM
#2
One
hopes.
November 8th, 2012 at 6:23 PM
#3
Well considering the number
Well considering the number one recruit in the country will most likely be committing there, no.
November 8th, 2012 at 6:31 PM
#4
He just did commit. Its all
He just did commit. Its all over twitter. Im on my phone so no link.
November 8th, 2012 at 6:50 PM
#5
He did not commit. It is a
He did not commit. It is a fake account.
November 8th, 2012 at 7:20 PM
#6
Someone tell Standifer
his facebook status says Robert commited to Ole Miss. Is it weird I'm still friends with him?
November 8th, 2012 at 7:24 PM
#7
Unless you know his
Unless you know his personally, it is weird that you were friends with him to begin with.
November 9th, 2012 at 12:33 PM
#8
Disagreed
I was going to be at U of M at the same time as the kid, and thought it was a nice show of support. Clearly I'm in the minority here, but I don't think it's strange to welcome a fellow student.
November 9th, 2012 at 12:40 PM
#9
How many potential incoming Michigan students
that you've never met have you friended (or whatever) who don't play football?
November 9th, 2012 at 5:02 PM
#10
Very few
Listen, like many here, Michigan sports are what I care about. Outside of a few family friends, I don't care who goes to Michigan. I trust admissions to let in the best and brightest etc. ect. It is my opinion, and I understand it's not the popular one, that friending players when they commit is a good show of support. If I were to commit to Michigan, I would be thrilled to have 100+ Michigan students, people I plan to soon go to school with, friend me and show their excitement for my decision. If the athlete doesn't like that, they have the ability to decline. Now that I'm a recent graduate, I have stopped this behavior. That being said, I think the argument also applies somewhat to alumni as well. The athlete always has the right to decline a friend request.
People do creepy things with Facebook, I get that. But I think people assume the worst too quickly and ignore the positives a little university support through Facebook can provide.
November 8th, 2012 at 6:27 PM
#11
Their band plays (or atleast
Their band plays (or atleast used to) Dixie Land. If you didn't know what that environment has waiting for you, you didn't do your due diligence. Not that 200 racists is all that many, but that's to be expected there.
November 8th, 2012 at 8:59 PM
#12
Ignorance....
Is not confined to Mississippi or Ole Miss or red states as confirmed by various comments outlined here. Let us not confuse what happened in the 1950's and 1960's with how life is today in the south in the second decade of the 21st century, unless you have actual first hand knowledge. As someone with that first hand knowledge, it is obvious that most of you do not possess it.
Ole Miss is a very beautiful campus and a growing school with a ton of very pretty young women and ambitious and intelligent young men of all races. If you had ever visited the campus, gone to a football game, spent a little time in the grove, discussed Chuckie Mullins with an alumnus, or attended the Texas-Ole Miss football game where they cheered James Meredith at half-time, you might have a clue as to how things are these days as opposed to those days. I suggest you check out the ESPN 30-30 film on Ghosts of Mississippi to educate yourselves a bit more.
It is a place that some young men find to be a good fit for their academic and athletic careers, and we should leave it to them to decide for themselves.
November 8th, 2012 at 9:18 PM
#13
True... the again, no other
True... the again, no other campus in this country had an incident like this yesterday. If I am a black athlete I would have to think very hard (no, not really - why any black athlete would go there is beyond me).
November 8th, 2012 at 10:32 PM
#14
Are we sure they are the only
Are we sure they are the only campus in the country where something like that might have happened, or is it just that Ole Miss is under more media scrutiny because of its past? From what I gather, it sounds like this whole incident blew over in a brief time, and that most of the students there were gawkers, not actual "rioters."
November 9th, 2012 at 4:12 AM
#15
From what the articles say
From the what the articles say, and the videos, it does seem that the majority were just seeing what's going on, but it's far-fetched to say their campus is under more scrutiny about these things. I really don't think news agencies have crews waiting for stuff like this to happen, and if there were racist protests against Obama all over the country, I think that would have gotten attention as opposed to just saying shhh....it's only Ole Miss.
November 9th, 2012 at 7:26 AM
#16
But I think the point is that
But I think the point is that if any kind of racial disturbance happens in a place like Mississippi, that story is more likely to gain media currency nationwide than a comparable event would elsewhere. That is probably true.
The story here apparently is that a few dozen people protested the election result in front of the student union, before a larger crowd developed around them and some racist yelling broke out before campus police broke it up. Is that national news? I don't know.
November 9th, 2012 at 11:59 AM
#17
Well, of course it's news.
Well, of course it's news. Ole Miss -- given its distinctly hateful past, its current tendency to wave Confederate flags, and its arguably small but still quite unashamed band of racists -- has come a long way, but clearly not far enough. You wouldn't see such overt displays of racism at many other large universities. Nor would you see so many student bystanders passively letting it happen. The only other recent example is LSU. But those rednecks weren't students; they were fans.
November 9th, 2012 at 8:31 AM
#18
Actually, nowadays you don't
Actually, nowadays you don't need to send a news crew down to Mississippi to report on this stuff. You can compile a story just by assembling a few Twitter postings (which is essentially what happened here - most of the footage came from various students' cell phones). When I say that Mississippi might be under more scrutiny, I don't mean that it's a media hotbed, but that it could serve as an easy "go-to" place for reporters looking to write a story about racism. The notion of Mississippi as a racist place is already ingrained in the popular imagination.
I just think that Northerners (and I am one) should be cautious about throwing stones when it comes to racism. By a lot of indicators (including residential segregation, income gaps, etc.) the South is actually making better progress than our region is. Today almost all of the most racially-segregated metropolitan areas in the country are in the Midwest.
November 9th, 2012 at 9:30 AM
#19
You must have missed the news
You must have missed the news about Hampden-Sydney then. I'm still reeling from this, as I knew the school very well when I lived in VA. I am not shocked that there are some bigots enrolled there. I AM shocked that they would act like a bunch of thugs, however. Sadly, the racism is less surprising than the profound lack of judgment.
Myron Rolle is one of their trustees; I've been wondering if he will say anything publicly.
Disgraceful.
And if I were a black athlete, I am not sure it would dissuade me since truthfully, I'm probably going to encounter some version of that sh*t no matter where I go. Maybe not from a MOB of people, granted.
November 8th, 2012 at 9:44 PM
#20
Thank goodness we have never had any large scale race riots
in Michigan!
November 8th, 2012 at 6:29 PM
#21
Not to mention
the school has always strongly identified itself with the old south, including using the Confederate Flag as a symbol for many, many years.
I think people know what to expect at Ole Miss, not that its really any different at other places.
November 8th, 2012 at 6:31 PM
#22
They
They just picked up the number one recruit in the country soooooo, no. Not really.
November 8th, 2012 at 6:32 PM
#23
If I were from Mississippi,
If I were from Mississippi, I'd be ashamed. Now what's this about a protest?
November 8th, 2012 at 6:33 PM
#24
Huh?
Weather info?
November 8th, 2012 at 6:33 PM
#25
Apparently it will get more
Apparently it will get more recruits? Robert Nkemdiche just committed.
November 8th, 2012 at 7:06 PM
#26
He decommited from Clemson
He decommited from Clemson that's all so far.
November 8th, 2012 at 6:34 PM
#27
Didn't some Michigan players
Didn't some Michigan players back in the '91 Gator Bowl say how they hated everything the mississippi rebels stood for? I can't remember for the life of me who they were, but that was definitely said.
November 8th, 2012 at 8:21 PM
#28
Yeah, I remember that too.
Yeah, I remember that too. Several of the players, including Howard, said that they could never play for Ole Miss after seeing all those rebel flags. The flag was very prevelant back then at Ole Miss games.
November 8th, 2012 at 6:43 PM
#29
Not much I'd say
Derrick Green is NOT going to Mississippi and never was. Michigan, Auburn, and Va. Tech are the main players.
November 8th, 2012 at 7:09 PM
#30
Nice straw man....Its
Nice straw man....Its Treadwell that is the issue when it comes to Ole Miss
November 8th, 2012 at 7:22 PM
#31
What about the fact that
What about the fact that Derrick Green is scheduled to take a visit to Ole Miss on Nov. 24?
November 8th, 2012 at 7:23 PM
#32
Va Tech has never been listed
Va Tech has never been listed in his top 5. Even Miami is being mentioned before Va Tech right now.
November 8th, 2012 at 7:04 PM
#33
Sounds like a very embarrassing incident
I realize the sensitivities, but I think it would be interesting for readers to know what racial epithets were used, and a little bit more about what actually happened with this rally, etc.
Regardless, such attitudes hurt recruiting of all players.
November 8th, 2012 at 7:13 PM
#34
I would bet a lot...
that none of the students involved care what this does to recruiting in football, basketball, faculty, administration, fellow students or anything else.
November 8th, 2012 at 7:16 PM
#35
^^
indeed
November 8th, 2012 at 7:27 PM
#36
Combine youthful idiocy, racial bias, crushed political hopes
and then add liberal amounts of alcohol, and you're gonna get something like this. Thank god gunpowder wasn't part of the mix.
November 8th, 2012 at 8:28 PM
#37
hehe...
Liberal amounts of alcohol.... I see what you did there...
November 8th, 2012 at 7:38 PM
#38
I doubt this will affect
I doubt this will affect recruiting, idiodic people like that are everywhere in the country. I am pretty sure that if Romney would have won some of the same things would have happened...just with different racial epithets.
November 8th, 2012 at 7:49 PM
#39
I feel like Ole Miss is on another level
If some students at Wazzu or Nebraska or Maryland did that, people would be downright shocked. At Ole Miss, I feel more like "Well this continues to be embarassing"
November 8th, 2012 at 11:37 PM
#40
At Nebraska, I'd be just as
At Nebraska, I'd be just as shocked if they didn't ask a person of any race to sit down and join them at the tailgate. Those are flat out good people in Lincoln.
November 9th, 2012 at 2:07 PM
#41
I once broke down in
North Platte (NE) on my way back from skiing in CO. I made it to the off-ramp and that was the end of the '82 Plymouth. Before I could open the hood, 3 motorists stopped to offer help. Damn fine folks out there.
November 8th, 2012 at 8:57 PM
#42
I love Twitchy.
Twitchy is just the best at debunking stuff like this. Twitchy even makes me like Twitter.
Twitchy debunks Ole Miss "riot" kerfuffle.
So, sorry to interrupt the proceedings here, but is this whole story, from top to bottom, a whole lot of overblown bullshit? Because anytime I hear about CBS News, or a New York reporter, talking about someplace like Ole Miss, my initial instinct is, "Oh they are going to butcher that story." And so, apparently, they have. Naturally, the political correctness forces at Ole Miss are now conducting a Kumbaya vigil, by candlelight of course. So they can all come together, right now, one terrible night after one person was arrested for public intoxication and one other person was arrested for failing to respond to a policeman's order. Hell, there are worse riots in East Lansing for a volleyball win. Harvard has has much worse riots; among the Harvard faculty, that is.
If anybody comes up with any eyewitness accounts or video of something that could remotely qualify as a "racial disturbance," please do share it with all of us. Because so far, as far as I can tell, hardly anyone who like gets paid to report the news has bothered with anything so troublesome as that. Witnesses, proof, confirmation. That sort of thing. It is such a compelling story, without that other stuff.
November 9th, 2012 at 11:57 AM
#43
Update: Complete bullshit? Or just nearly-complete bullshit?
It is remarkable to read through this thread, and watch the collective freakout, not to mention some of the ignorant arrogance from Michigan, about what happened in Oxford on election night.
Just above, I questioned whether the story was complete bullshit. Judging by the original post linking to a true freakout of a "sports" story by Paul Myerberg* of USAToday, it would be easy to say that yes indeed the story that the nation, and prospective scholarship athletic recruits ought to think twice about Ole Miss, was complete bullshit. Personally, I still like Twitchy's approach to the story. Pretty much "complete bullshit."
But narrowing the story down as much as possible from afar, it may be possible to say that the story is only "near-complete bullshit." A reasonably thoughtful report from an Atlanta Journal-Constitution blogger boils the whole thing down to perhaps someone (unidentified) hearing some (unspecified, in terms of nature and number) racial epithets used, in a crowd of a couple of hundred alcohol-fueled undergraduates.
So is that the glimmer, the single grain, of truth that allows this story to avoid categorization as wholly made-up bullshit?
I love the comment, somwhere in this thread, feaking out about the Ole Miss band playing Variations on Dixie by classical composer (and member of the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra) Frank Proto. Proto is a composer who specializes in American folk thems. His works include a spoken-word composition much like Aaron Copland's A Lincoln Portrait -- which was also debuted by the Cincinnati Symphony -- called Casey at the Bat, as well as a tribute to George Gershwin called A Portrait of George.
*Paul Myerberg was, I gather, the originating force behind "Pre-Snap Read." Would somebody care to get ahold of Paul by Twitter or email or otherwise, and ask him if he thinks that his original sotry, questioning the future of Ole Miss recruting, and perhaps the future of its football program, was a worthy national inquiry, based on the real facts coming out of Oxford?
November 9th, 2012 at 12:30 PM
#44
I haven't really gotten into whether the story
Is worth the kerfluffle, but what does a classical composer have to do with whether playing the song is still right or not? Birth of the Nation and the Jazz Singer are historic for their groundbreaking natures....but I'm not sure anyone wants to see a remake of either of them.
The song started in minstrel shows with people in blackface longing to return to the South. And after the verses that everyone knows, the lyrics don't get better. With strong connotations because it was picked up as an anthem for the South continuing to rebel. I don't think this composer was trying to say "the South will rise again" when he arranged it, but at some point you have to ask "is this still a good idea?" And if that time comes after he's done it, it's not on him but those who decide to continue it's legacy.
November 8th, 2012 at 8:21 PM
#45
It was at Southern Miss that
It was at Southern Miss that they had the "where's your green card" incident and now this at Ole Miss, just disgracful.
November 8th, 2012 at 8:27 PM
#46
I
I thought his final three was Michigan, Tennessee, and Auburn.
November 8th, 2012 at 8:34 PM
#47
Serious question
Is Ole Miss the most racist university in the country?
I'm honestly asking.
November 8th, 2012 at 9:32 PM
#48
Well
There's Moorehouse... just saying.
November 8th, 2012 at 10:08 PM
#49
FWIW, Ole Miss has one of the
FWIW, Ole Miss has one of the highest percentages of African-American students of any flagship state university (in the neighborhood of 15-20%). Tarnishing the entire school because of what sounds like the actions of a few bad apples is not fair.
November 9th, 2012 at 8:10 AM
#50
But didn't Ole Miss have to
But didn't Ole Miss have to change both their mascot and their fight song recently (under much public protest, as well, as I recall) because they were racist? I'm not reacting to just this incident. Ole Miss has a very ugly and very recent history, as far as racial issues are concerned.
Also, having gone to the University of Texas for grad school, I can honestly say that having a high percentage of black students doesn't automatically make a school not racist. UT has a dubious relationship and history with race, but also has a sizable black population.
November 9th, 2012 at 8:42 AM
#51
No...
There's an entire league of racist universities but since they aren't all white it's ok. And no, I'm not kidding...
