By Josh Kendall, FoxSportsSouth.com
June 5, 2010
The musical instrument only Christopher Walken could love is no longer contraband in the Southeastern Conference.
The league's athletics directors and presidents voted to rescind a 36-year-long ban on cowbells, the clanging symbols of Mississippi State' athletic program. It's a happy day in Starkville, Miss., and a win for the little guy, said Mississippi State alum Heath Hopkins.
'We take pride that we are a small school," said Hopkins, 34, of Memphis, Tenn. "We do not want to have a stadium of 100,000 people. We like the fact that everybody knows everybody. But, with that being said, we can?t make the noise like they do at The Swamp or at Sanford Stadium or up on Rocky Top. The bell kind of adds to it."
While Walken and Will Ferrell made "More Cowbell" a catch phrase with an iconic Saturday Night Live sketch in 2000, Mississippi State fans have clung to their clangers for far longer. The bells have been a fixture on campus since at least the 1950s, and the most popular story of their origin dates back to the turn of the century and a victory over archrival Ole Miss in which a cow wandered onto the field, stopping play and swinging momentum to Mississippi State.
The cow became the school's unofficial mascot and when it died, eager students decided its bell would have to do.
"They are very sacred," said Hopkins, who hasn?t missed a Bulldogs home game since his freshman year at the school in 1994. ?We do hand them down as heirlooms. The cowbells are extremely dear to us."The decision to lift the ban and officially allow the cowbells into Scott Field (they have been toted in by the thousands for years despite the ban) was made in Destin, Fla., on the final day of the
conference?s annual spring meetings.
"College football is such a popular sport in part because of its rich traditions. There is not a more unique example of that tradition than the cowbell at Mississippi State," MSU president Mark Keenum said in a statement following the vote.
"I appreciate the willingness of the SEC's athletic directors and presidents to work with us to find a way to preserve a great tradition and still remain within the framework of SEC rules and regulations."
Keenum received his first official cowbell at the age of 9 and was given a chrome one to commemorate his hiring as the school's president.
"I related to my colleagues the passion those cowbells evoked for me and shared that MSU fans across the nation felt the same emotions," he said in his statement. "I made the point that I was not speaking simply as the institutional executive officer at Mississippi State, But also as a lifelong Bulldog with deeply held feelings about this
issue."
The lifting of the ban is a one-year trial run and the new rule states the bells can only be rung during appropriate times, such as before the game, at halftime, during quarter breaks and after scores and possession changes. The Bulldogs could be flagged or even fined if game officials determine the bell privileges are being approved.
Mississippi State fans don't ring the bells during plays but do ring them up until the snap of the ball, and if that breaks the new rule, too bad, Hopkins said.
"Absolutely not," he said, when asked if the MSU crowd could contain its bell ringing. ?They can throw the flag. They can fine us. I know my business is down a little bit in this economy, but I would be more than willing to put a little toward that fine each and every week, and I know plenty of other people would too. You can fine us all day long."
"We have work ahead to educate our fans and alumni about the new arrangement,? Keenum acknowledged, ?but this is great news for Mississippi State."
First-year MSU athletics director Scott Stricklin has a background in media relations, and he certainly pulled off a publicity coup by having his first act be the de-stigmatizing of the bells.
"We are extremely pleased about what Scott has done with kind of turning the table on this," Hopkins said.
There had been talk this year, as there often is, that MSU's opponents were going to ask the league to be stricter about enforcing its cowbell ban, but the Bulldogs went on the offensive instead.
"No one ever complains about our cowbells until we start wining," Hopkins said. "Everybody was ringing cowbells during the (Sylvester) Croom years when we weren?t beating anybody and nobody cared. As soon as we start flirting with winning or we do start wining, then people start complaining about cowbells."
The Bulldogs went 5-7 last season under first-year head coach Dan Mullen. Auburn coaching legend Shug Jordan was the first coach that started this. "Some people say it was Bear Bryant, but it wasn?t Bear, it was Shug Jordan. I'm sure Shug Jordan lost a game in Starkville when he wasn?t supposed to and he started complaining about the cowbells."
Mississippi State fans, who have been allowed to bring their cowbells to games for decades as long as no part of the bell was visible when they walked through the gates, can now walk through with heads and bells held high. And what?' wrong with that, Hopkins wonders.
"Why do you want to hold a team down?? he asked. "Why do you want to hold passion back?"
Why do you want to hold love back??
