As I surfed the Internet this summer while I was supposed to be working, I came across an article on CBSsportsline.com ranking the schools of the SEC. But the criteria was not any athletic team; it was how pretty the female students are.The No. 1 result was of no shock to me, although it did make my stomach turn. Ole Miss (surprise, surprise) was the No. 1 school for prettiest girls. As I made my way through the list, I got closer and closer to the No. 12 spot and realized that I still had not read about Mississippi State.
There we were. Dead last. The ugliest girls in the SEC. I immediately felt my blood pressure rise and the need to defend all of my friends and myself boiled inside. I began typing the most smart aleck response I could muster. I pointed out the fact that he visited our campus the day after Bulldog Bash and at an 11:30 game in the middle of September.
But the more I typed, the more it became a competition between MSU girls and those at Ole Miss. I wrote, “The girls at State are real girls. Sure, we have ugly ones and fat ones, but so does Ole Miss. If MSU’s girls rank 12th in prettiness, why did America’s Next Top Model come to our campus rather than Ole Miss, which is only about 90 miles away?”
As I typed, the words just flew from my fingers, and I ended my response with this challenge: “We look beautiful not just when we wear our designer sundresses and stiletto heels, but also when we’re wearing a maroon T-shirt and ringing a cowbell. What’s even better, we actually know what’s going on in the game.”
As a result of my letter, Clay Travis, the columnist who placed us in last place, is coming to the 2007 Egg Bowl. Clay is a Vanderbilt graduate and has been to Starkville only once, the day that he evaluated our women as ugly.
In response to my attack, he said, “I visited Ole Miss last year two days after Thanksgiving and their girls were still top notch. So I’m giving State girls a chance to redeem themselves. Don’t disappoint me.”
This is a huge opportunity to show Clay and his readers that we are not the least attractive girls in the SEC.
I know this is shallow. I’m not normally like this. But like any Bulldog that bleeds maroon and white, I take great offense when someone says Ole Miss is better than Mississippi State. So I am absolutely begging everyone, not just girls, to come to the Egg Bowl.
I realize that it is a morning game the day after Thanksgiving, but if a man who has no ties to either school is making the trip, the least we can do for our school is show up. Not to mention the fact that we need to be here to support our Dawgs as they wipe the field with the Rebels.
In addition to coming, please try to look your best. I take pride in the fact that we don’t feel the need to wear ball gowns and tuxedoes to football games, but do we really want to be the ugliest school in the SEC? I’m not saying we shouldn’t wear T-shirts and jeans, but when you’re picking out what maroon shirt to wear, make sure it doesn’t say, “Hey, we’re No. 12 for a reason.”
Casey Bonner is a sophomore majoring in English. She can be contacted at [email protected].