Mississippi State University - Reveille Yearbook (Starkville, MS)

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Football It ' s More Than a Game far right: Bully enjoys entertaining little Bulldog fans during pep rallies and football games, right: Lines were incredibly long for students who bought football tickets during ticket week in early September, when students may purchase tick- ets for all the games at once, below: Students turn out in large numbers at the Florida State pep rally. The cheerleaders, band members and Bully are featured in each pep rally. 5 • 4 Ak ; r mm vU ' ■ ? J3. I

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I hey only come out at night goes the popular song by that name. The line perfectly fits those students notorious for partying all night, missing morning classes, and continuing the cycle the next night, if the hangover ' s been cured. I go to class in the morning and study all Mayhe afternoon. By night I ' m ready to have some ! f ' t fun, said an Evans Hall engineering major, bridge. No one can be happy with no social life at beneati all. Many similar reasons are offered for the meetin popularity of beer joints, bars and private |£® r parties — partying serves as a release, a freqw change of pace, and it ' s a way to make new f n b p riV a friends and socialize with old buddies. is iiiec True enough, the commode huggers will a [ tell you. But try explaining that to Dad and m Mom when grades come in the mail. ™?Jl?o r

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' A round the bowl and down the e. Roll, Tide, Roll! L.S.U. is dog meat! d to Hell, Ole Miss! The sound of the vbell is heard, pulses quicken to the ;ient war cries, and 12,000 hearts beat 3 to Hail State. uring the football season, it makes no :ter how widely recognized are MSU ' s olastic achievements, research and par- . The entire glory and reputation of the ool is borne on the shoulders of a small up of maroon-clad warriors fighting their ep rallies must be held, tickets must be purchased, transportation to the game site must be arranged, and a parking place must be found before one can see the game, though. I waited in line almost three hours to get my tickets during ticket week, sighed one coed. One Sigma Chi man arrives at the stadium an hour early to get a good park- ing place and a good seat. Post-game partying is a tradition adhered to whether the game is lost or won. What dif- ference does it make if we lose? Almost none, the tried-and-true football fans will answer. We ' ll win next time. In the mean- time — cheers! left: Most MSU women who attended the home games were intensely interested in what hap- pened on the football field, despite the popular myth that women are more interested in their dates than football, below: MSU cowbells are usually decorated to the taste of their owners. A bicycling fan is probably the proud owner of this cowbell. I ley, peas, beans, squash! A M cow-pullers! Yes, by gosh! This cheer, cited by Dr. John Bettersworth in his book, People ' s Col- lege, was Mississippi A M ' s answer to taunts of cow college at ath- letic events in the 19th century. Since then, the cowbell has become MSU ' s symbol of fierce pride in her agricultural heritage. But in March 1975 the Southeastern Conference voted to ban artifi- cial noisemakers — including cowbells — from all games played between SEC teams. This action was triggered by Auburn ' s Coach Ralph (Shug) Jordan, who claimed his players could not hear the quar- terback ' s signals over the clanging of MSU ' s bells. The storm of protests by MSU fans was overwhelming. Senator John Paul Moore of Starkville even introduced a bill to the Mississippi legisla- ture making it illegal to prohibit artificial noisemakers at any sports event in Mississippi despite any silly rules to the contrary. Moore ' s bill won unanimous approval in the Senate, but died in a subcommittee in the House after being called the most ridiculous piece of legislation . . . before the house in eight years. The Bulldog fans remained undaunted however — the SA launched a drive to find a substitute for the cowbell. The Bookstore ' s 96 remaining bells were taken off the shelves, welded, polished, plated with gold, put under glass domes, and sold as collector ' s items. But the greatest evi- dence that the cowbell ban didn ' t dampen MSU ' s spirit can be seen at football games. SEC game or not, cowbells clang as loudly as ever on the Bulldog side of the stadium. Football Weekends 1 9