Ole Miss selects Rebel Black Bear as new mascot

[pianoknight]

I'm not sure if anyone has posted this already, but Ole Miss announced their new mascot today.

Ole Miss Announcement

[CS85]

At least it's not Hotty Toddy or the ridiculous landshark. It was a terrible, and unnecessary group of choices to begin with. Oh well.

[PSUdraw]

Damn General Ackbar didn't win.

[Quillz]

Why were people hoping Admiral Ackbar would be chosen when LucasFilm never gave the school the rights to use the trademark?

[PSUdraw]

Why were people hoping Admiral Ackbar would be chosen when LucasFilm never gave the school the rights to use the trademark?

Sarcasm my friend. Sarcasm.

I do think the Black Bear is a good choice. Though the other 2 choices were pretty horrible looking so it was probably a landslide in votes. Land Shark? I know Bull Sharks have been seen up the Mississippi River but still really far fetched.

[pianoknight]

Yeah, I don't typically think of Mississippi as bear country. Although to be fair, a lot of the vicious native wildlife has already been taken by other teams. Gators, Razorbacks, Wildcats, etc.

And apparently there is an infestation of Bulldogs and Tigers in the south, because those mascots are claimed by two SEC teams each! (LSU/Aub, MSU/UGA)

[AJM]

meh...average mascot. Best of the options though.

[Brave-Bird 08]

so, are Black Bears indigenous to Mississippi? just wondering.

[Cujo]

Smokey Bear over Hotty Toddy? Poor decision, Missy.

Best of luck to Toddy. Hopefully he can find work elsewhere.

[Brian in Boston]

so, are Black Bears indigenous to Mississippi? just wondering.

They are. The state is home to two subspecies of black bear: American black bears are found in northern portions of the state, while the Louisiana black bear inhabits southern Mississippi. That said, biologists with Mississippi's Department of Wildlife estimate that there are only between 60 to 70 black bears in the entire state today.

Incidentally, the "Rebel Black Bear" is thought to be - at least partially - a nod to Ole Miss alum William Faulkner's The Bear, a short story dealing with the coming-of-age of a young boy named Ike McCaslin.

[TFoA]

Huh, figured they'd go with Hotty Toddy (w/ the expectation that Hotty Toddy would morph back into Colonel Reb, but maybe I wasn't giving em enough credit. ). I guess they did their homework like BiB did. At least they didn't choose the Land Shark & turn a passing fad amongst their defense into a entire-school tradition.

I will say this, though. It's gonna be weird seeing a team nicknamed the Rebels with a Bear as a mascot. Oh well, the more ridiculous it is, the more satisfaction I can take in when they lose the Egg Bowl.

EDIT: Here's the official concept drawing.

[bigwalk]

Why were people hoping Admiral Ackbar would be chosen when LucasFilm never gave the school the rights to use the trademark?

Sarcasm my friend. Sarcasm.

I do think the Black Bear is a good choice. Though the other 2 choices were pretty horrible looking so it was probably a landslide in votes. Land Shark? I know Bull Sharks have been seen up the Mississippi River but still really far fetched.

Landsharks is the local (self-applied) nickname for the football team's defensive unit. It's caught on and expanded. Personally, I was hoping for LandBears. Why the hell not?

[NEW.ERA]

Fun well it lasted.

[Mingjai]

so, are Black Bears indigenous to Mississippi? just wondering.

If Tennessee has bears, I assume Mississippi has them. Of course, my knowledge of bears in Tennessee comes from the "Ballad of Davy Crockett."

FACT: Despite the ramblings of their spokesbear, Smokey, brown bears are 38% more likely to NOT prevent forest fires than other bear species.

[oddball]

The only people who advocated Admiral Ackbar as the school mascots were kids that never go to sporting events and sit and watch Star Wars and know ever friggin' line of the movie and have never even been on a date with a female. No, online dating isn't considered dating. And heck, let's be realistic here, it's not like Ackbar was the most brilliant person in the universe. He needed help from a smuggler and a kid who was hearing voices. Ackbar reminds me a lot of Wade Phillips or even Nick "Friggin' Lucky" Saban. You know, the guy who you sit there year in and year out and ask, "How does this moron still have a job?" I really doubt Ackbar got the job based on performance, somehow I think he just got promoted to the job because everyone kept getting killed in battle. I think I heard he had a book out about his life called, "From Janitor to Admiral: How one fish did nothing and made it to Admiral."

[pianoknight]

I suppose if bears are indigenous to the region it probably works alright. Given that Jeremiah Masoli was busted on marijuana possession here in Oregon, I'm going to have to start calling him Smokey Bear from now on.

Also - total side note here, but I have a funny bear-related story to tell you guys.

My buddy and I were in a gun shop and this hiker comes in looking at revolvers. He looks at the store clerk and says, "I'm out in the woods a lot, you know- hiking and camping, and well... I'm wondering if this revolver would be a good choice to protect me against grizzly bears."

My friend walks over and says, "Actually, you could probably get a double barreled version of that gun; then remove the sights- just take 'em off completely. After that you could shave down the hammer spurs, and if you want to get really serious, you could also saw off the ends of the barrels."

The guy looks quizzically at my friend and asks, "Ummm.... will that make the gun more powerful? Or more accurate or something?"

"No," my friend says sarcastically, "it will make it hurt less when the bear rams it up your ass."

"If you want a bear gun, look at the rifles."

[MTWillie]

Blatant ripoff of the University of Montana's mascot, which is trademarked.

[RyanMcD29]

Blatant ripoff of the University of Montana's mascot, which is trademarked.

You know, at first I thought it looked a lot similar to Cornell's mascot Scratch that, no resemblance upon further review

Also, what oddball said about Admiral Ackbar

[Cujo]

Blatant ripoff of the University of Montana's mascot, which is trademarked.

While it's a nice try, I'm thinking not.

[YELDARBfield]

so, are Black Bears indigenous to Mississippi? just wondering.

If Tennessee has bears, I assume Mississippi has them. Of course, my knowledge of bears in Tennessee comes from the "Ballad of Davy Crockett."

Considering the bears in Tennessee are in East Tennessee, and Mississippi is south of West Tennessee, then this assumption is flawed. That being said, bears did roam this area in the past, but I understand they were hunted to local extinction.