Rebel Brothers and Sisters,

 

Who guessed that we’d stand at 9-1 thus far? Not I, for one. In the first ten games, this team has scrapped and scraped their way to victory in more hotly contested games than I can remember over any similar period in the ten years I’ve followed Ole Miss Baseball.

 

Maybe we are trying to bring back some Dan McDonnell luck o’ the Irish with our new coach Kirk McConnell. We have a new strength and conditioning coach as well this season. He came from 2010 SEC home run leader Auburn, so maybe we won’t see as much of a drop in power numbers with the new bats. So far, it would suggest that our numbers won’t drop off too much. However, being that we haven’t been a big time power team in a couple years, maybe it’s still not so great. Either way, I don’t think we could expect to see many instant benefits. Coach Levy specifically mentioned that one of the key aspects about that Auburn team was that they had a bunch of players that had been in the program and working out under his system for three years. As we all know, this is not a luxury that our team shares this coming year. So we have a greater number of new players than returning veterans. Perhaps a good shakeup was what the program needed. Last year, even casual fans could probably see that our lack of solid depth was problematic. I feel better about the program when we play 6 true freshmen in a game, like we did against Austin Peay last night. All that aside, through ten games the Rebels have hit 7 HRs, and the opposition has hit 0.

 

I have been pleasantly surprised at our effective pitching so far. I was unsure what to think of our arms this year, being that relatively few had meaningful game experience. I like what I have seen so far, but I remain cautiously optimistic given our tougher road ahead. Blake Newalu is off to a great start, and I hope he proves to be another excellent JUCO SS pickup by Coach Bianco. Preston Overbey has lived up to his billing. His hitting has been very good, and while he may have some work to do defensively, I am glad to see he is assertive in his fielding efforts. I think we’ve gotten a good one here. I hope Matt Smith doesn’t have to contend with a lingering forearm injury in his senior year. I hate it when bad things happen to Good Rebels. Zach Kirksey’s got a similar build to Brian Pettway. I hope he ends up swinging the same kind of bat at Brian did. I think having Jake Morgan and Brett Huber in our bullpen is going to put a lot of pressure on teams. I’m glad they’re both on our team. Matt Snyder and Tanner Mathis are both off to good starts. It’s fun seeing guys playing in the field and on the mound. Matt Tracy has contributed in both, although I’d like to see his power numbers increase (9 hits, 9 singles), I can’t argue with an OBP of .462 so far.

 

Springtime in Oxford is special. While I love football season, and I loved it even more as a student; I always felt more of a personal affinity for the springtime. The good times I had sharing Rebel victories in Right Field will be among my favorite memories at Ole Miss. It was great to see who showed up for the cold night games in the early part of the season and made it through the end of the year. A lot of them were folks that you may never have really remembered their names, after drunken introductions were made Friday night and forgotten by Sunday afternoon. Not that it really mattered. You wouldn’t even recognize these folks walking to and from class. It’s like you kind of assumed that some of them never actually bothered to wear a shirt in the first place. Like life in Right Field was actually reflective of some form of real life, a place where the keys to triumph and possibility could be found at the bottom of a Budweiser can. How glorious those days were…

 

Here’s to a great start from the 2011 Diamond Rebels. Keep up the good work men.

 

Hotty Toddy Rebels.

Rebel Brothers and Sisters,

 

I stepped back for a bit. I stopped checking olemisssports.com. I stopped checking Red Cup Rebellion. I stopped checking NAFOOM. I considered relinquishing my subscription to Scout. Ghost, et al, I think you guys do a great job, but I was tired. I know some of y’all will sneer at this.

 

“Haha that SardisNudeBeach is such a wimp, he’s only been a fan since he came to school here, and he’s not even thirty years old yet. What’s he got to complain about?”

 

You’re right. I haven’t been a fan nearly as long as most of us here. I didn’t grow up hearing and talking about Ole Miss. I grew up in town in Alabama where you get two choices of college: Auburn or Alabama. I didn’t grow up going to college games. My parents didn’t go to SEC schools, so they didn’t have any allegiance to one school over another. We went to NFL games. My father, a New Orleans Saints fan; my mother, an Atlanta Falcons fan (what the hell? seriously?). I don’t yet have the emotional scars of the older, life-long fans. I haven’t experienced the decades-long suffering. I have yet to have the last tendrils of optimism strangled from me. I have yet to utter the words, “We are Ole Miss”, followed by a long, defeated sigh. It is not yet the winter of my discontent.

 

But believe me when I say that I truly am sorry that I never went to Oxford, MS until I was 18 years old. As soon as my parents and I rolled onto campus, I felt something that I had never had before. And it hasn’t happened since. It was a powerful feeling akin to the prodigal son returning home. I had come home. Historic shops and family-owned businesses perfectly complemented creative restaurants, trendy boutiques, seedy bars, and art galleries. We had music, southern cuisine, a strong literary tradition, cheap beer, and legions of beautiful women. Surely, I had stumbled upon El Dorado.

 

I hope to live in Oxford again. I one day hope to return to a place that takes on a ever greater mythical status the longer I am away. When that day comes, I’ll be sure to look around at the-then current crop of students and shake my head disapprovingly at their misguided sense of tradition and apparent lack of acculturation. However, I swear on sacred things that I won’t be the guy telling people to sit down at the stadium. I might be sitting down, but it’s only because I’ll be too drunk to stand at that point in time. Give me a few minutes and I’ll be okay. I look forward to the lazy afternoons among good Rebel fans out in left field. I look forward to robust literary discussions on the balcony of the Burgundy Room or City Grocery while hoisting a glass of fine spirits to our continued health and prosperity. I look forward to taking my future children to the Grove to appreciate the beautiful differences in the way that their presumptive mother’s school tailgates for football Saturdays. I look forward to coming back to the South. I long to return home.

 

I sat on a version of this spiel for about a month. I initially prepared a long, meandering post of the state of our football team. And then I inadvertently killed my pen drive. Awesome. But it was still on my list of things to do, “write 2010 season wrap-up”. So after waiting another few weeks, I thought about it this morning. And although I sat down with the intention of still addressing our football season, I cannot stomach the thought any longer. I am flushing it. Bad seasons happen sometimes.

 

Hopefully we can end the recruiting season with a flourish and make this past season an aberration in an otherwise strong football program. Go get ‘em Coach Nutt.

 

In the meantime, I’ll be cheering (as much good as it will do in Washington, DC) for our basketball squad to make the NCAA tournament this year. The loss last night hurt. And then baseball is starting in a little more than a month. If my general luck continues to hold, this will be the year that the Diamond Rebels make it to Omaha since I am spending my big trip funds going to South America this Spring.

 

In the end, it is difficult to come to grips with what I have signed up for. Will it be a lifetime of misery, always just coming up short? Doomed to never feel exultation and triumph vicariously through the young men and women who are the superlative scholar-athletes at our University? Will we have our day? Who can know? But even after opening the Pandora’s Box that is being a fan of Ole Miss athletics; through all the disappointments, near-misses and pyrrhic victories, there is still room enough for hope. The expectation that our fortunes will change based on the virtues of Oxford and our beloved Alma Mater gives us strength to carry the standard for another season. Until then, we have no choice but to dwell chiefly upon the good, do what we can about the bad, and cheer our asses off for our Rebels.

 

Have a great weekend.

 

Hotty Toddy Rebels.

 

Rebel Brothers and Sisters,

It has been a difficult season for an unabashed eternal optimist. I, like many here, tended to dismiss our youth and inexperience at some key spots once we learned that Jeremiah Masoli was cleared to play this season. I jubilantly and naively tucked away the memories of Coach Nutt saying time and again that he and his staff had circled this year as potentially the most difficult of their coaching careers. I figured that it would be a cinch to come into the midseason sitting at 5-1, a single victory away from bowl eligibility. I suspected that all of our starters would avoid injury, allowing us to build depth in more preferential ways. I was riding high, and I really believed that the season would play out to prove that Ole Miss Football was here to stay in the immediate future. Some may suggest that I wasn’t even bothering to mix the Kool-Aid, preferring instead to snort giant lines of the stuff through crazy straws and wooden flutes.

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Rebel brothers and sisters,

 

It is difficult to contain my excitement. As dawn breaks on another year of Rebels football, I am at odds with myself. Some may think that I keep myself up at night, plagued by bad dreams concerning bull rushes right through the middle of our offensive line. Others may believe that an inexperienced secondary or slim numbers at receiver cause me discomfort. These fears, while not unfounded, are not the crux of my message today.

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With a little more than half of the 2010 calendar year elapsed, it’s time to take a look at the year that has been thus far. I generally take stock of only my own progression through this crazy thing called life, but I figured that I could take a look at the athletic state of the University that forged some of the fondest memories I have.

To be absolutely sure, this is the most important year of the Houston Nutt era so far at Ole Miss. This is the pivotal season. This is where we find some things out. Will we answer the question that everyone has on their minds? Personally, I don’t know if a successful football season will propel us to Omaha, but I’d like to think that somewhere, somehow, things have a way of working themselves out accordingly in the universe. Hope springs eternal.

 

Anyway, back to football. Let us begin where much of football starts, in the trenches. Our front seven are starting to get the giggity type of feeling that our whole team got last year in the preseason, being ranked among the top ten in the universe in general badassery. While I think we will have an awesome defense, I must temper my excitement to a degree. One side of our defensive line is inexperienced in SEC play. I think there is tremendous talent and potential there, but until I see it, I will not buy in completely. Our offensive line on the other hand, will be replacing the entire middle, which scares the Natural Light out of me. However, we don’t see an SEC defensive line until the third game, and it is Vanderbilt, so there is some time to learn on the fly. I am not dogging Vanderbilt either, but if you had to choose one SEC defensive line to take on in the early season with a young, inexperienced offensive line, Vandy would be in the conversation.

 

This is the year to make ‘em believe, Coach Nutt. Big time recruiting going on. What if we can go 8-4 again, win our bowl game, reel in a top 10 recruiting class? Would it, could it, snowball from there? Or will we take some lumps this year, and lose momentum. I don’t like to think about it much, but it certainly could happen also. So while this class may be the best I have ere seen here, temperance people, please. It is only July and we are a long, long way from NSD.

 

Here’s my thinking. A top 10 recruiting class is not all it takes to win the SEC West. 3 other teams in our division will take in top ten classes every spring in the immediate future. Several top ranked classes in a row will still need a whole lot else going on to win the SEC West. I am extremely sorry that winning championships is so difficult, but that is the nature of the beast. If we are to play the SEC “solidarity” card only when it serves our purpose, then we are fooling ourselves. Don’t get me wrong, I have a fair amount of regional pride about growing up in the South, but it doesn’t extend into football the way that it used to. Maybe it has softened some since living in Washington, DC for the last 4 years, but I can’t suffer to root for another SEC team simply because they are in the same conference. We do get a recruiting bump for being in the SEC, but since we are mostly competing with other SEC schools for top recruits, there is little benefit to our rivals winning big games and championships. Nonetheless, these feelings have been difficult to suppress.

 

 

So, lots of folks read the end-of-the-season article that Jeff gave after his meeting with Coach Mike Bianco. Considering nothing happened immediately after the season ended, I can’t say that I am surprised at his decision to not make changes to the status quo. This man wins games. I think he will be fine and get the Diamond Rebels to where they need to be. I did not say get the Diamond Rebels back to where they need to be. We haven’t been there since 1972.

 

It looks like we will have some major parts of our baseball recruiting class end up here in Oxford. It’s a shame that the two Tommy John’d pitchers will not be joining them, that would have been sweet. I think next year’s squad will have a completely different feel.

 

Congratulations to all those who were drafted, especially Drew Pomeranz. I have several friends here who are huge Indians fans, and all of them texted/emailed/called within a couple days to ask about him.

 

Congrats also to Brett Huber. Always comforting to see Freshman All-Americans coming through the program.

 

It’s good that the basketball IPF is finished. It may not be the biggest and the best of its kind, but it give us a puncher’s chance in recruiting. And that’s probably all AK needs, as I think he is a great recruiter considering what he is working with. As with baseball, I believe we will have a very different kind of feel to this team outside of Chris Warren handling the ball. I think we will also make the NCAA tournament this year, but I thought that last year as well…

 

I like reading that Demarco Cox is showing out. I always like reading about athletes and students that come to school prepared to achieve.

 

I’m also glad to see that Terrico is doing well in the NBA summer league. I hope he has a great season, gets signed, and gets paid.

 

Both of our tennis teams finished with good seasons, our track team is becoming better and better each year, and our golf teams are also on the up and up. Pretty good times for Ole Miss sports. Many of our programs are enjoying some positive momentum right now.

 

Went to DC’s last alumni club meeting, and I am truly embarrassed to say it was my first meeting since I have been here. I met lots of fine Rebels that night, and it’s always great to talk about good times at our University with people who understand the places and things you are describing. I am making sure to attend in the future, and I implore all of those who have the time to become active in your respective areas.

 

Hotty Toddy Rebels.

I wrote this earlier today when I was feeling optimistic. Feeling like a sucker now, but posting anyway.

 

It’s blatantly obvious what the problem with this baseball team is.

 

Diamond Girl recruiting has fallen off in recent years. We have one of the best facilities in the nation, and we are still not getting the crème-de-la-crème of the available talent. I am pretty sure this is a result of several major factors.

 

If you're bored or got a minute, take the jump to read on...

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*I originally posted this to Scout, but figured I would see if you guys thought enough of it to be worth contributing.

I was a student from 2001-2006 (victory lap) and was out in right field for almost every game except for part of the 2003 season when they didn’t allow coolers out there. As I usually took full advantage of the atmosphere in right field, my own interpretations are questionable at best. So I looked up statistics from Coach Bianco’s tenure here. We all know how ridiculously easy it is to use stats to “prove” just about anything you want, so I tried to come up with a way to show the overall trend in our program. I looked at overall record, SEC record, team ERA, team batting average, extra base hits, team on-base percentage, team fielding percentage, runs per game, attendance, and star power. The last one may be a bit nebulous, but I think there is an advantage when there are unquestioned team leaders either pitching or swinging the bat (or both in a couple instances). I thought about including a goat of the year category, but it wouldn’t really serve any purpose and besides, some of our former players read this board and there is no reason to pick on them. I don’t know if Coach Bianco will ever take his club to Omaha, but looking at how far this program has come in the last ten years, I suspect that it is really only a matter of time. I will put the composite chart first and then year-by-year afterwards turning back to clock to 2000 to begin with.

 

Composite Chart

Year     Record SEC Rec.   ERA   Team BA   Team OB%   T Field %     EBH     RPG

2009    44-20     20-10       4.06         .310            .398            .970           194     7.34

2008    39-26     15-15       4.06         .295            .372            .966           206     6.55

2007    40-25     16-14       3.58         .308            .376            .976           171     6.29

2006    44-22     17-13       4.73         .309            .379           .974            223     7.32

2005    48-20     18-12       3.67         .321            .398            .974           239     7.37

2004    39-21     18-12       3.66         .296            .365            .972           181     6.13

2003    35-27     17-13        3.45         .284            .358            .960           173     5.29

2002    37-19     14-16        4.52         .318            .394            .955           165     7.02

2001    39-23-1   17-13       4.64        .300            .386            .962           186     6.97

2000    30-25     12-17        4.93         .285            .356            .961           156     6.00

 

 

Year     Record SEC Rec.   ERA   Team BA   Team OB%   T Field %     EBH   RPG

2000    30-25     12-17        4.93     .285            .356            .961            156     6.00

 

Notes: In Coach Pat Harrison’s final season at the helm of Ole Miss Baseball, he would turn in a disappointing season. The Rebels would fail to reach both the SEC tournament and NCAA play.

 

 

Year     Record    SEC Rec.   ERA   Team BA   Team OB%   T Field %    EBH   RPG

2001    39-23-1   17-13        4.64      .300            .386            .962            186     6.97

 

Notes: In Coach Bianco’s first year, Rebel fans were delighted to have an improved campaign. The Rebels made the SEC tournament and won two games, but were eliminated by two losses to LSU. The Rebels then traveled to New Orleans for the NCAA tournament, won one game against Southern, but were eliminated in two losses to Oklahoma State. Berney Hutchinson and Josh Christian led the team at the plate, with Pete Montrenes and Adam Yates delivering strong seasons from the mound. This would also be the final year for two of our current assistant coaches, Carl Lafferty and Matt Mossberg. In CMB’s first season, we averaged less than 1800 fans per home game.

 

 

Year     Record SEC Rec.   ERA   Team BA   Team OB%   T Field %     EBH   RPG

2002    37-19     14-16       4.52         .318         .394            .955            165     7.02

 

Notes: What a joy it was to find out that Ole Miss students had a haven for their raucous cheers and derogatory curses slung at opposing right fielders. As a high school baseball player without the requisite skills to continue, I was delighted to find that right field was both reserved for student debauchery, and free. It wasn’t a great year by today’s albeit much higher standards, and the Rebels failed to make both the SEC and NCAA tournaments. Seth Smith did hit over .400 though, earning distinction for SEC Freshman of the Year. Pete Montrenes and J.R. Pickens both pitched well. Alan Horne got all the hype though, and he pitched moderately well before hurting himself and transferring to Florida…At this point we were averaging about 2400 folks per home game.

 

 

Year     Record SEC Rec.   ERA   Team BA   Team OB%   T Field %     EBH   RPG

2003    35-27     17-13       3.45         .284          .358            .960            173     5.29

 

Notes: In the weakest offensive year under Coach Bianco, the Rebels still managed to win 17 SEC games. They beat Arkansas, but lost twice to State in the SEC tourney, and had to travel to Houston, TX for NCAA regional play against Rice. The odd thing is that they never played Rice however, and lost twice to the Wichita State Shockers, eliminating them from tournament play. There were some other bright spots however, as T.J. Beam would pitch well this year, and Stephen Head would follow Seth Smith to be the second SEC Freshman of the Year. Averaged about 2100 per home game.

 

 

Year     Record SEC Rec.   ERA   Team BA   Team OB%   T Field %     EBH   RPG

2004    39-21     18-12       3.66       .296           .365            .972            181     6.13

 

Notes: Noteworthy here is the hot start that the team got off to by winning 18 of their first 19 games. However this team was unable to sustain their torrid pace even though they swept Vanderbilt, Tennessee, and Florida that season. They then lost two quick games in the SEC tourney, and then lost their first two in the Oxford Regional, eliminating them from the NCAA tournament. This team set the stage for the 2005 campaign, returning the core of players for the 2005 season. This would be Seth Smith’s final year, and the Rebs also said goodbye to Brae Wright, Charlie Babineaux, and the originator of the bleach blond shortstop in Matt Tolbert. Big jump in attendance this year with almost 3500 fans per home date.

 

 

Year     Record SEC Rec.   ERA   Team BA   Team OB%   T Field %     EBH   RPG

2005    48-20     18-12       3.67         .321          .398           .974            239     7.37

 

Notes: This Spring was probably the most fun I had as a student. The Rebels boasted great pitching and great hitting that season. This team played to the finals of the SEC tournament before losing to Mississippi State. They then took care of business in the Oxford Regional, while the Maine Black Bears became fan favorites of the visiting squads that weekend. Then Texas came to town, drawing record breaking crowds to Oxford in what would be one of the most watched Super Regional series that year. This team started the precedent of winning the first game of the series to only lose the next two, foiling our dreams of cheering on the Rebs in Rosenblatt Stadium. Brian Pettway swung a mean bat that year, and Stephen Head had a great year, both on the mound and at the plate. A great quartet of Rebel pitchers in Mark Holliman, Eric Fowler, Anthony Cupps, and Matt Moloney set the pace on the hill that year. This was probably the most raw talent we have seen on one team. If there were any year that we should have put it all together, this is the one that stacks up the best statistically in more categories than any other. Attendance up this year to 4350 fans per home game.

 

 

Year     Record SEC Rec.   ERA   Team BA   Team OB%   T Field %     EBH   RPG

2006    44-22     17-13       4.73         .309         .379            .974            223     7.32

 

Notes: Another near miss this year. The Rebels raped and pillaged their way through the SEC tournament, handled their business in a relatively tough Oxford Regional field, and drew Miami in Oxford Super Regional play. After winning the first game, the Rebels once again came tantalizingly close to a trip to Omaha, dropping the final two games to the Hurricanes. This was one of the best offensive seasons we’ve had in the last ten, which is good since our pitching was not up to usual standards. Mark Wright provided the power on the season and came oh-so close to that magical season RBI number of 80. Zack Cozart had a great season as well, and the Rebs ran well on the base paths, going 95-117 in stolen bases. Averaged about 4850 fans per home game.

 

 

Year     Record SEC Rec.   ERA   Team BA   Team OB%   T Field %     EBH   RPG

2007    40-25     16-14        3.58       .308            .376          .976            171     6.29

 

Notes: A good overall season. The Rebels won two in the SEC tourney, and went on to lose consecutive games to Vanderbilt. This team breezed through the Oxford Regional and then got shafted by having to travel to Tempe to take on number 5 overall seed Arizona State in Super Regional play. They lost. They may not have scored as many runs as other years, but one thing about this team was that they pitched well and played good team defense. The Henry brothers provided most of the spark to the offense, which is good since our HR numbers were pretty low (51). Averaged 4950 fans per home game.

 

 

Year     Record SEC Rec.   ERA   Team BA   Team OB%   T Field %     EBH   RPG

2008    39-26     15-15        4.06       .295           .372           .966            206     6.55

 

Notes: This team reached the championship game of the SEC tournament, but lost to LSU. They then had to travel to Coral Gables for the NCAA regional and failed to advance past Miami. Overall team hitting was down, but home run numbers were up (74). There were two 9 game winning streaks this season. Cody Overbeck was our leading hitter, going yard 17 times. Matt Smith also broke Seth Smith’s freshman HR record with 14 bombs. Our pitching was expected to be exceptionally strong with Lance Lynn, Cody Satterwhite, and a healthy Scott Bittle coming in from the bullpen. And who can forget Michael Guerrero’s walk-off HR against Kentucky in the SEC tourney to beat that guy that now coaches at State. We hit our limits in pre-upgraded stadium capacity as we again averaged about 4950 fans per home game.

 

 

Year     Record SEC Rec.   ERA   Team BA   Team OB%   T Field %     EBH   RPG

2009    44-20     20-10       4.06         .310           .398          .970            194     7.34

 

Notes: A win away from Omaha, the common perception of this team was that they overachieved. They tied LSU for the regular season SEC Championship, but bowed out of the tournament with 2 quick losses. The Rebels then had a tough Oxford regional draw, with hot-hitting Western Kentucky providing some drama. Virginia then came to town as the two seed from the Long Beach regional. The Rebels dropped the series in heart-breaking fashion after winning the first game of the Super Regional. This board held many debates whether our team was effective at small ball, but the facts are that we hit pretty well for power overall based on our extra base hits (EBH). This team also boasted the highest on base percentage (OB%) and a very high runs per game average (RPG). What also jumps out this team are the exceptionally high numbers in stolen bases (92-118). Drew Pomeranz provided the star power as our Friday night pitcher, starting every Friday night all season long. He also delivered two of the finest pitching performances I’ve seen in the Oxford Regional. The Rebels remained in the Top 25 for the entire season, rising as high as 7th. As a testament the growth and dedication the fan base that Coach Bianco has built, his first season we averaged less than 1800 per home game. We are now bringing in more than 7,000 per home game, and Ole Miss now ranks third in the NATION in home attendance.