Les Miles the scholar

Les Miles was wrong. He is never known throughout the media circles as a Rhodes Scholar. To be honest, you may insert common fans opinions as well. Les Miles brought his undefeated LSU Tiger Football team to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium last fall and proceeded to open his mouth again. The words to the Ole Miss followers were, “Ole Miss is just another game to us and we do not consider them a rival school.” I have an idea. With the multi-million dollar contract Miles signed, he should have enough money to buy a clue. The Michigan native has been in the South only a few years and has no idea of the storied history between the two neighboring schools. The underlying factor is the LSU fans must have missed what he said or just chalked it up as another radical statement. Anyone who was in Hoover, Ala. this weekend would have seen just how wrong he was.

This past Sunday, Ole Miss and LSU met for the right to be crowned champions of the 2008 Southeastern Conference Baseball Tournament. The Tigers rode in with a 19-game winning streak, while the Rebels were the first eight seed to advance to the finale. The nemesis of untimely hitting and pitching woes reared its ugly head for the first time at Regions Park. The Rebels would eventually fall to LSU, 8-2.

Before the game began, the crowd was at a euphoric level. As the pleasantries were exchanged with fans, it was quite evident the distain each school has for one another. The banter between the two rival schools were explicit at times, as the fans were separated behind home plate as if it were the Red Sea had been parted. This was the epitome of college baseball at its finest.

This title game would shape up much different that the one’s of recent past. Ole Miss, which won the tournament in 2006, made their third appearance in the title game in four years. There were no Brian Pettway’s or Stephen Head’s for the Rebels. This year’s squad housed a number of junior college transfers and true freshman starting in the lineup. The Rebels ran into a buzzsaw on this Sunday, but the body of work the Rebs had already solidified in the 2008 tournament earned them and invitation for NCAA Regional play. The Rebels had previously beaten Georgia, Kentucky and Vanderbilt in the tournament to advance to the championship game. It was announced Monday the Rebels will travel and be paired with the overall #1 seed Miami Hurricanes at Mark Light Field in Coral Gables, FL. The Rebels are the #3 seed along with #2 Missouri and #4 Bethune Cookman. Ole Miss will face Missouri on Friday at noon.

As Ole Miss departed from Regions Park, fans from both sides exited as well. Many of the LSU fans had a few choice words for the Rebel faithful. Whether Les Miles chooses to believe it or not, the Rebels and the Tigers are bitter enemies. Last I checked, it sounds like rivals to me.