Author: Dennis Freeland

It was, I’ve always assumed, an Ole Miss fan who coined the deliciously derisive phrase “Tiger High.” You know, as in “Go to hell, Tiger High!”

I always thought Ole Miss fans were the easiest to dislike of all the schools on the University of Memphis’ official rivalry list. The UT program has always been so many light-years ahead of the Tigers that the only honest emotion a U of M fan can muster for the Big Orange is envy. As for those extreme rednecks from Mississippi State, with their cowbells so obnoxious they were banned by the SEC, they, like a cousin who is a little on the slow side, deserve our pity. But the Ole Miss fan — that’s another story.

When I think of Ole Miss football fans, I see a frat boy in Duckhead pants, a flask in his back pocket, one hand clutching a Rebel flag and the other arm wrapped tightly around a Southern debutante. I hear him screaming, “Go to hell, Tiger High!”

Such a mean-spirited yell. Translated it means: “Hey, you! Couldn’t go to a real school, huh? Had to settle for an urban commuter school. Look at all the fun we’re having.” They’re white, they’re right, and by golly their daddies have more money than ours.

Hotty Toddy!

One of my favorite memories from the Ole Miss-Memphis series came in 1977. Several of us had driven to Jackson, Mississippi, to see the game that would kick off the season for both schools. We were excited because for the first time since the two schools began playing football in 1921, the Tigers had beaten the Rebs three games in a row. We got to the stadium early and found our seats in the Memphis student section, directly across from the Ole Miss students. It wasn’t long before the taunting started.

“Go to hell, Tiger High!” yelled a Reb fan loudly.

“We’re already here, you redneck!” came the reply.

I don’t remember much about that game, just this: There was a disputed call which went against Memphis, the school mascot ripped off his Tiger mask and got into a fistfight with some Ole Miss players along the sideline, and, of course, the Tigers lost 7-3. In other words, a typical Ole Miss-Memphis game.

It’s a tough pill for Tiger fans to swallow, but the series record with its biggest rival is 8-39-2 and one of the best memories in school history falls in that tie category. Ouch. But that’s exactly why this game should be played, as it is this year, at the start of the season, before Tiger fans give up hope.

I would even suggest that the game be played every year in Memphis, with the tickets being split 50-50. That would create the most excitement, game revenue, and post-game party opportunities. Oxford is a great little town, but it just isn’t up to hosting a post-game party attended by 50,000 fans.

And wouldn’t it be nice if this game could be moved back to the evening? Southern football was not meant to be played in early September in the middle of the day. Ole Miss coach Tommy Tuberville can whine all he wants about ticket sales, but the biggest obstacle this year is an 11:30 a.m. kickoff. Here’s the choice for Mid-South football fans: Wade through an Oxford traffic jam, bake in the scorching midday sun for three hours, then do the traffic jam again, or stay home and watch the game free on TV. Hey, it’s not fan apathy holding up ticket sales, it’s college football selling its soul to TV. Again.

This game is more important to Memphis than it is to Ole Miss. That’s a given. The Rebs play in a better conference and have long-established rivalries against teams like Mississippi State, LSU, Alabama, and Arkansas. They don’t need the hassle of playing an out-of-conference neighborhood rival who occasionally has the audacity to win the game. Who could blame Ole Miss officials if they took the Frank Broyles highway and ditched Memphis for Northeast Louisiana?

But Saturday’s game at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium will be the 50th meeting between the two schools. And that is a tradition that is worth keeping, tradition being, after all, the lifeblood of college sports. So what if Memphis rarely wins? So what if the game gets little notice around the United States? It is the traditional kickoff for the Mid-South football season, just as surely as the Mississippi State-Ole Miss game is the conclusion to the football season in this area.

Unlike Texas-Oklahoma, Alabama-Auburn, and Notre Dame-Southern Cal, this rivalry is our little secret. And who can forget Buford McGee scoring the first time he touched the ball in a college game? I can still see him rushing through the Tiger defense. You would have thought he was on his way to pick up the Heisman Trophy. The Rebels won that thrilling game 38-34.

But I can also remember Tiger fans standing and shaking their car keys at Ole Miss fans as they made an early exit from the 1983 game. Rex Dockery’s team was coming off successive 1-10 seasons and a win over the Rebels was a great way to start the season. The Liberty Bowl goal posts came down after that one. They wouldn’t come down again until November 9, 1996.

I can remember junior linebacker Damon Young making those dramatic hits on third and fourth down at the Tiger goal line in 1987, preserving a 16-10 win. The Tigers were starting the season after yet another 1-10 campaign and the heart-stopping victory was the perfect sendoff for a Charlie Bailey team that would finish the season 5-5-1.

I love it when Memphis plays Ole Miss, loved it even more before officials at the University of Mississippi did away with some of the Old South trappings the school had wrapped itself in for so many years. When the Rebel football team ran onto the field to the sounds of Dixie and thousands of fans rose as one waving the Confederate flag — well, I’ll be honest with you, I’ve never felt such righteous indignation in my life. For me, that wasn’t a football feeling, it was political, pure and simple.

But that was then. Today, Ole Miss is still the biggest rival on the Memphis schedule, but somehow it’s not quite as much fun to hate them as it used to be.

This column originally appeared September 9, 1998.

November 14th

“In my next life I want to come back as a sports writer.” –Richard M. Nixon

Just so you don t think my life is full of drudgery, last month I went to a University of Memphis football game and even got mentioned the next day in the Commercial Appeal sports section. Here, with permission of Scripps Howard, is a reprint of the blurb (okay, I didn’t get permission).

• [‘Former Memphis Flyer editor DENNIS FREELAND attended a Tiger game for the first time this season and sat in the press box where he has been a fixture for years. Freeland, of course, has had surgery for an incurable brain tumor and said that he felt strong enough to make it to the Liberty Bowl on Saturday.

  ‘When greeted by a friend who said he had heard rumors that he might make the game, Freeland responded, “Yeah I heard those rumors, too. I heard them before I even decided to come. That is why I am here.”‘ — Phil Stukenborg and Gary Parrish]

I have missed the camaraderie of the press box all these days. It was great to be back. One reporter suggested my wife must have dressed me because my colors matched and I even had socks on! He was right.

Thanks to Bob Winn and his staff for making me feel welcome. Thanks, also, to my Polish transportation team, Larry Kuzniewski and Chris Przybyszewski.

So, for the first time in my life I agree with Tricky Dick. I think I, too, would like to come back as a sportswriter.

All the best,

Dennis

From his days at Central High School in the 1950s, through his years with
the University of Alabama baseball team, through the period in which he was a
respected umpire on the pro tennis circuit, Herb Kosten has been someone that
Memphians could look to with pride.

I know all of that. But somehow in a story about Kosten’s
involvement with the ABA Memphis Pros last week in the Flyer, I got his
name mixed up (see correction on page 3). To say that I misspelled it would be
giving me the benefit of the doubt. I screwed up. Royally.

People often talk about something or other being the First Rule
of Journalism. Well, if there is such a thing as the First Rule of Journalism
it should be this: Spell the names right.

There is something permanent about the printed word, even in a
free alternative weekly. If you make a mistake on radio or TV, you correct it
and go on. Or it is forgotten in time. In the weekly-newspaper biz we have to
live with our mistakes for at least a week.

I called Kosten to apologize as soon as I realized my mistake. He
was gracious and kind. I think it might have been easier for me if he had been
angry, but that would not have been Herb Kosten’s style.

Kosten was a multi-sport star at Central High School. A hard-
hitting shortstop and second baseman, he made the all-city team three times
and twice led Memphis high schools in batting. He was also all-city in
basketball two years, leading the Warriors to a runner-up spot in the state
tournament. He won a baseball scholarship to Alabama, where he was twice voted
to the all-SEC team as a third baseman. Later he was selected to the All-
Century Alabama baseball team. He calls it his “greatest honor in
athletics.”

Kosten has also been among the top amateur tennis players in the
region. His daughters, Julie and Lori, were both ranked junior players. And
today Kosten owns Little Miss Tennis, one of the top makers of children’s
tennis wear in the country.

Those accomplishments alone would be enough to enshrine Kosten in
the Memphis sports hall of fame, but it was his involvement with the Memphis
ABA team in the early ’70s that drew my interest last week. As one of several
businessmen who kept the Pros (later the TAMs and Sounds) in Memphis for five
years, Kosten played a major role in the development of pro sports in this
city. With all the talk of the NBA in the past month, I thought it would be
good to hear from a Memphian who had actually had a hand in operating a
professional basketball team.

Kosten is a hoop fan as well. A long-time University of Memphis
basketball supporter, he has owned season tickets for 39 consecutive years —
dating back to the days at the Fieldhouse. Kosten wonders how Memphis
basketball fans will handle the adjustment to the pro game.

“In the college game, you come out to root for your team
every game,” says Kosten, who frequently attends NBA games out of town.
“With the pros, you come out to watch the best players in the world and
root for the home team. There is a difference.”

And he still laments the fact that he and his partners were
unable to come up with a local owner for the ABA team. If they had, Kosten
believes, Memphis might have made it into the NBA when the two leagues merged
in 1977.

But they didn’t and now Memphis stands at the threshold of the
big leagues. Kosten thinks we have already been there. “I contend that
the ABA franchise was the only major-league team we have had here because that
league merged with the NBA,” he says, pointing out that 11 of the 20
players who participated in the first NBA all-star game after the merger came
from the ABA.

Who will argue the point? Certainly not me. I’m not feeling very
argumentative after the big mistake I made last week.

You can e-mail Dennis Freeland at freeland@memphisflyer.com.

“The days of redshirting freshmen are over,” Tommy West announced at the press conference unveiling his first recruiting class. The emphasis at the University of Memphis today is getting the best players on the playing field. Sadly, this was not the case when Idrees Bashir arrived in 1997.

Bashir, chosen by the Indianapolis Colts in the second round with the 37th pick of the recent NFL draft, was redshirted as a freshman. Memphis went 4-7 that year, losing three games by a total of nine points. Could Bashir, who played both safety and wide receiver in high school (catching 11 touchdown passes his senior year), have made a difference right out of high school? Should one of the fastest players at the U of M in the past 10 years have wasted a season sitting on the bench? You be the judge.

When Lane Rawlins hired Rip Scherer to be the head football coach in January 1995, the former president wanted to send a message, to put his stamp on the football program. Memphis would no longer recruit junior-college players. Instead they would recruit high school seniors and redshirt them, develop them slowly, hope that they would play by the time they were redshirt-sophomores.

This was a radical departure from the way things were done in the past. Rawlins knew that it would take more time, but he believed it was the right way to go. In part, this explains why Rawlins was so patient with Scherer, extending the length of his contract twice during the six years he was at the university — including after the seventh game of the 1999 season.

Rawlins left for Washington State the next year and Scherer was fired after finishing his sixth consecutive losing season. The experiment had failed.

It is incorrect to say that Bashir left school early for the NFL draft. He attended the University of Memphis four years. That the school chose not to take advantage of his athletic skills for only three of those years was not his fault. He had the size, speed, and skill to make plays — something that has been sorely missing on the Tiger football team recently.

Who can find fault with his decision to bypass his final year of eligibility at the U of M. Today he is about to become a millionaire. And the new head coach has said that anybody with Idrees Bashir’s skills will not be held out of action in the future.

NEWS AND NOTES

Wondering why the NBA questions have to be answered in such a hurry? Most NBA teams report to preseason camps the first week of October — only five months away. The 2001-02 season is expected to start the last week in October. Here is a shortlist of what the team will have to do between now and then in order to open the season in Memphis: hire a front office staff, negotiate local TV and radio deals, schedule home games at The Pyramid around Tiger basketball and other previously contracted events in the arena, print tickets, sell tickets, sell sponsorships, publish programs and media guides, conduct the 2001 player draft, move the players and existing office staff, find the land and start constructing a new arena, find a practice facility, determine the team’s name and colors, upgrade The Pyramid, and design the new uniforms. We hear that the Spike Lee/Jack Nicholson courtside seats at The Pyramid will go for as much as $500,000 a year! Did you see the cover of Sports Illustrated last week? It featured a shirtless Allen Iverson wearing a large chain around his neck, some low-riding shorts, and what looks like a dozen tattoos. Not exactly the poster boy NBA Now would choose to portray the league they are attempting to bring to the Bible Belt. The three U of M players who were picked in the draft (defensive back Michael Stone was picked in the second round by Arizona with the 54th pick overall and nose tackle Marcus Bell was chosen in the fourth round also by Arizona, 123rd overall), gave Memphis one of its best draft classes in decades. Bell and Bashir are the first players recruited by Scherer to be drafted in the NFL. Stone walked on at Memphis after transferring from Central State University. Arkansas State wide receiver Robert Kilow, mentioned in last week’s cover story, signed a two-year deal with Tampa Bay as a free agent. The contract is not guaranteed but did include a signing bonus. If Kilow makes the team he will get the league minimum (just over $200,000). Kilow caught 158 passes for 2,446 yards in his career at ASU. He set the school record last fall with 72 receptions for 1,002 yards. He is the only ASU player to record 1,000 receiving yards in a season. Mike DeCourcy of The Sporting News reports that Charlotte has made head coach Bobby Lutz a contract offer which should keep him from going to Wake Forest. Lutz is one of the most underrated coaches in college basketball. In three seasons at Charlotte he has won the C-USA tournament twice and made two NCAA appearances. Richmond Flowers, the son of the University of Tennessee great football and track star, was drafted in the seventh round by Jacksonville. The wide receiver, who played at Chattanooga, signed with Mid-South Sports Management, the Memphis-based agency, on Sunday, just hours after he was drafted. Speaking of the Grizzlies, you might want to check out the Web site www.hunttheowner.com. It presents the Vancouver perspective on Michael Heisley in an interesting and sometimes humorous light. … Rivals.com is the latest Internet company to fold. The network of sports sites ceased operations last week (you can still access their main site, but it is not being updated). The local affiliate of rivals.com was Tigerillustrated.com, a site devoted to University of Memphis athletics. The message boards are frequented by many hard-core Tiger fans, who will be happy to learn that Brian Parker (who runs the site) intends to keep Tigerillustrated.com running. Parker says he is looking into affiliating with another network or keeping the site independent. The news from Cleveland that Randy Whitman has been fired by the Cavs is good news for Cedric Henderson, the former East High and U of M star. Henderson’s minutes fell drastically this year under the first-year coach. Ced’s claim to fame is defense, and Whitman was evidently not willing to overlook his lack of offense.

You can e-mail Dennis Freeland at freeland@memphisflyer.com.

“Emily, Emily Bays!”

I stepped forward. “Are you going to try to improve your time?” It was quite obvious to me that this woman was either insane or eternally hopeful. I was sure that the first 40-yard sprint had done permanent damage. And she was asking if I wanted to do it again?

The day was Saturday, April 7th; the place was East High football field, and the time was 11 a.m. I had spent the past hour and would spend the next hour trying out for the Memphis Maulers, the Independent Women’s Football League (IWFL) team. I was hung over, still wearing a hospital-style “alcohol is ok” bracelet from the party that had ended only hours before, and trying desperately to find the intrinsic value in running forward, sideways, and backward around cones.

But at least I was getting some exercise, (however much pain it would cause me the next day.) And the concept — NFL-rules football for women — fascinated me. Despite having always considered football as a dumb game, when I read about football for women, I knew I had to at least experience tryouts.

I hung back with my potential teammates, as each one of us endured time trials and various drills designed to assess our skills and abilities. The pool of applicants consisted of approximately 30 women, high school to mid-thirties. Representatives from the Austin Outlaws, the first IWFL team, and their coaching staff were running the tryouts. We went through all the usual drills, from neck stretches to a drill that reminded me of the two-person wheelbarrow, during which we lumbered across the field on hands and feet.

Maulers organizer Tiffany Ross explained what it would mean to be on the team– practices 3-6 hours per week, weekend travel to games, fund-raisers, community service, and the initial investment for our pads, helmets, and uniforms.

At one point we were asked what position we were interested in playing, at this moment I realized that despite my having attended at least a hundred football games in my lifetime, I had no idea what a fullback was and what they did.

But cheerfully pushing these pitfalls aside, I persevered. After all, I was there not only for the tryouts, but for the story also. The temperature started to climb, and the TV crews asked to talk with someone with a “girly” job. One woman– a kindergarten teacher– was deemed the perfect candidate, but she declined– she didn’t want to risk intimidating her young students.

While waiting for my turn for yet another running drill, I chatted with the other women. “I’m not here to run– I want to be a linebacker,” one college student remarked. Though I wasn’t exactly sure what a linebacker was, if it didn’t involve running then I was up for it.

I got the impression that, especially this first season, every woman meeting the physical requirements and willing to make the commitment to the team would have a place with the Memphis Maulers. We’re holding a fund-raiser this Wednesday, something entitled “Pass the Helmet.” I guess I’ll have to get a helmet, to add to my biking, climbing, and roller-blading helmets.

Our first game is scheduled for the middle of May, against the infinitely more organized Austin Outlaws, who have been practicing since last summer. The last chasm to the man’s world will soon be bridged. But do I really want to cross that bridge?