So. New Year. We were at the Liberty Bowl with my wife’s fam’ly and friends from her Alma Mater. As the other team was from Texas- home of the Truly Insane High School and College Football Fans, and the fact that Mississippi State trounced them, I have no doubt that by now, the Rice team will have been ceremonially barbecued and their spirits cast upon the wind to appease whatever obscure and arcane god they choose to believe in, being from a state where cheerleaders’ mothers will kill one another in order to secure their daughters opportunities to be impregnated by someone or some bunch of ones who have played football for a reputable school.
That being said, the Mississippi fans, many of whom had little real command of the English language outside of its expletives (Yes, I’m talking about you, Cooter, in the bleacher behind me, and the two guys wrapped in official MSU Snugglies in front…), showed that lack of skill at the tops of their lungs, as they had to do so over the sound of nearly fifty thousand cowbells. Fifty Thousand. You heard me. I, of course, can’t hear a damned thing this morning. I normally express myself in the grossest of hyperbole. But in this instance, I have video. Fifty thousand.
If any of the above references anger you (the modern ‘go’ position of most internet users being that of apoplectic outrage) I encourage you to re-read the paragraphs with 1) a complete and reverential tone of sarcasm and 2) the manic sort of English accent that only members of Monty Python or, currently, John Oliver are capable of.
Have a Happy and Fruitful New Year. Really. Everyone have a fantastic 2014 all year long. No Kiddin’.
50,000? You can never have enough cowbell. More cowbell!
LoL
Greg Greg Greg … HAPPY NEW YEAR.
Happy New Year. May Hubris continue on for many, many more strips!
At least you’re not too badly hung over?
More Cowbell! *even my first college way up north had those stupid things*
Next time take some DB30 hearing protectors, geesh, can’t help it if you don’t prepare!
Love the bandaid on Hubris’ knee as a fashion accessory….
I recommend some Spinal Tap and AC/DC played at “11” to try to get your hearing back. After you’ve recovered, then crank it back down to Rob Zombie and Marilyn Manson. Finish off with some decent food, then kick back and watch the Paste drop.
Happy New Year!
Truly Insane High School Football Fans come from Texas.
Truly Insane College Football Fans come from Alabama.
Check out YouTube for the Crimson Tide woman who jumped two rows to fight a Sooner fan at the Sugar Bowl.
As for the cowbells, you have my sympathies. We in the SEC have loathed those cowbells for many years.
I hear what you’re saying. I have a nephew who broke into tears when Auburn made that incredible run against Alabama over Thanksgiving. He’s eleven. The loss hurt his feelings deeply. Me, not being a football fan one way or the other, I was a little bemused.
I make fun of the cowbells because, let’s face it… who wouldn’t. But the fact is that they’re a very distinctive thing for MSU. And a lot of the bells rung at games are decades old, and their owners are very proud of ’em. My wife’s bell is over thirty years old, and it certainly wasn’t the oldest or proudest one being rung at that game- not by a longshot.
I didn’t see any fights at the Liberty Bowl… or any woman I thought might jump two rows to start one. That might’ve been entertaining… or alarming… or both.
Just to put my comments in context- Here’s a thing I do: I wear Ohio State stuff. I’ve been driving to Ohio State for their Festival of Cartoon Art for the last 24 years. And I finally got a nice rugby shirt, a hoodie and a hat. People ask me, naturally, if I attended school there. I say, “No, I’m just a fan. Not of their sports programs, though.” The baffled looks I get are hilarious. When questioned about it, I ask the questioner who “his school” is and who the head coach is. Always a ready answer. Then I ask them who the head of the physics department is. Dumbfounded looks “Never mind, that was a silly question. Who’s the head of the English department? No? Uhhh… any current teacher there at all? Anybody?” Then I assert that this is a problem in our school system.
Discuss.
Or, if they want to be COMPETITIVE, how their school did on the last William Lowell Putnam Prize COMPETITION. (Google it for kicks. I scored.)
As to current teachers from my school(s) — I don’t know. I know several emeriti. I don’t know if they just have offices or if they actually teach classes. I know the names of some of the star researchers, but in fields like economics or finance, not math or physics or engineering. (Stuff “the media” covers.)