Farewell to Colonel Reb, Hello Sissy Bear

Poor Ole Miss.  It looks as if they have taken leave of their collective senses.  I knew it would happen as soon as I learned they were conducting a "study" and an "election" to replace the venerable "Colonel Reb" mascot -- the very embodiment of landed, Southern gentry who were capable both of great gentility and defending their own.  Too many people apparently made a strained connection among the Colonel, Segregation, and Slavery.

So, PC finally won, but in the process, it has raised a couple of unintended consequences:  Their new mascot, "The Rebel Black Bear," is overtly racist.  I mean, really -- why does it have to be a black bear?!?!  Why not a brown bear or a grizzly bear or a Polar Bear?!!?  There are statues of snowball-throwing Polar Bears all over northern Mississippi!  Remember?:

Even if the Rebel Bear isn't actually racist, it definitely has "issues."  It's at best a Metrosexual bear -- I mean, how many college mascots do you know that have a Betsy McCall-ish Paper Doll poster with different outfits for different occasions?  The ferocity factor of the Rebs just headed south in a steep dive, in my estimation.

What's next?  Will the "Hotty Toddy!" cheer devolve into, "Grrr!  Grrr!  Hotty Tee Hee?!?!"

They have a Rebel and now a Bear, two things which have no connectivity that I can discern.  I've never read about a pack of rebellious black bears tearing around the countryside on motorcycles or protesting en masse at a government building, have you?  Ole Miss is now challenging Auburn for the most confused mascot situation in the SEC.

Ferocious Fightin' Razorbacks v. Haute Couture Rebel Bears, October 23rd at 11:30.  At least our girl mascot is supposed to look like a girl.  Be there.

Tomorrow:  Hogs take on the Auburn Indecisive-Mascots (what do Tigers, Plainsmen, and War Eagle have to do with one another anyway?!?) at 2:30 on CBS.  Wooo Pig Soooiiieeee!!!!!!!!!!  Hogs have no identity crisis -- a Hog is a Hawg!