OPINION: It all started with the hike of a leg
As I write this it’s about 5 p.m. central time on Sunday. That means it’s almost time for a replay of the 2019 Egg Bowl to air on the SEC Network. So around 7:45 p.m. tonight, once again, Ole Miss wide receiver Elijah Moore is going to raise his leg, pretend to urinate like a dog and, well, you know the rest of the story.
As we sit here now, some eight months or so since that fateful Thanksgiving night in Starkville when Moore engaged in some good, old-fashioned urination simulation, it’s safe to say that the world just hasn’t been the same since.
Let’s recap. Moore did his thing. The flags flew. Luke Logan missed the long-distance extra point. Mississippi State wins its sixth game to get bowl eligible.
Then-Bulldog head coach Joe Moorhead, whose job was very much on the line at the time, held a postgame press conference where he had a fiery proclamation that he wasn’t leaving his post as MSU’s leader until his Yankee (three-letter bad word for rear end) was dragged out of Starkville. About a month later, it was, following some off-field issues that included a much-publicized fight between teammates.
Oh yeah, only days after Moore’s leg-lift, his own head coach at the time, Matt Luke, was let go too. We’ll never know for sure, but the common belief has been Luke wasn’t fired so much for losing the Egg Bowl as for how the Rebels lost.
So let’s now recap the recap. If Moore doesn’t get on all fours after his touchdown, maybe Ole Miss wins the game and Luke is retained. That would mean MSU doesn’t get bowl eligible, not allowing for the eventual intrasquad fisticuffs to fly that contributed to Moorhead’s dismissal. It’s at least arguable that Luke and Moorhead are still at Ole Miss and MSU respectively right now in such a scenario.
Alas, there’d be no Lane Kiffin in Oxford. There’d be no Mike Leach in Starkville. Instead, two of the most well-known head coaches in all of college football called the state of Mississippi their professional home by January. Bizzaro World had officially come to the Magnolia State.
Wait, what’s that? Oh yeah. Let’s just throw a worldwide pandemic into the mix. Let’s shut down spring practice for both MSU and Ole Miss. Heck, let’s pretty much shut down the country. Shortly after Kiffin and Leach put on their new schools’ colors, the world came to a screeching halt thanks to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). From about March on, little of Kiffin or Leach was seen or heard.
But the weirdness wasn’t done yet. In June, the duo of Magnolia State coaches reemerged – get this – together. They were side by side, at the Mississippi Capitol no less, to campaign to take down the controversial state flag that had flown since 1894. In only about a half-year’s time, Kiffin and Leach went from leading programs at opposite corners of the country, to rubbing shoulders with Mississippi legislators over the state’s flag. Say what you will about the impact Kiffin and Leach had on the proceedings, but the flag was of course indeed brought down. And let’s not forget the Leach mask-snap hello to Kiffin on the capitol steps that day.
Only a couple weeks later now and we’re all staring down the barrel of a 2020 football season that may or may not happen. Even if it does, it’s unlikely to look like any season we’ve ever seen. Maybe it’s just conference games. Maybe there are few, if any, fans in the stands. There’s a chance The Grove and The Junction are empty on gameday Saturdays. It’s all just the latest curveball on this unpredictable ride we’ve all been on – a journey that for the sports fan in Mississippi, all kind of started with the hike of a leg.
