Sin Fanaticos: Third in a Three Part Series

Surely you guys have seen this video. If not, google Micah Ginn. Or put "Are You Ready" into the little box on Youtube, and watch this guy's videos he's put together. I'm fairly certain he was the guy behind the season recap high-light reel that was played before the Egg Bowl. He obviously wins at life.

Anyhow, we mention the video now not as a flame to the RSC guys. Those guys knew they would quintuple (?) our normal Monday traffic with their post about us, and we obviously appreciate that. And we sort of get why some people are turned off by David Huertas. But the mindset bugs us a little, and we're gonna try one last time to flesh that out.

The first time we met David Huertas was at a pre-season photo shoot in November 2006. We had gone in early to get some lighting figured out for a shoot with Todd Abernethy, Bam Doyne and Clay Sanders. When we got in the Tad Pad, the only other soul in the building was Huertas. Doing just what he's doing in that video. Free throws. Three pointers. 18-footers. From the time we got there, until the time we had taken a memory card full of pictures and left. He was doing the same thing every time we went in the Tad Pad (literally) that season, excluding games, obviously. From everything we've heard, he still stays late after practice to work on his shots.

The point is, that video's dialogue probably isn't all that far off from Huertas' work ethic.

But we don't want to get hyperbolic, as our friends tell us we have a tendency to do. We don't want to harp on his work ethic, or the long odds of a kid coming from Puerto Rico to the United States to make it by playing basketball. No, we're not going to cast him in that underdog role. We ask that you refrain from doing the same.

Likewise, refrain from seeing him as the bad teammate. The kid who disrespects his coach. And, rightly or wrongly, yells at his teammates. Disregard the overly dramatic, sometimes borderline queer dives he takes when trying to draw a charge. Forget that he is likely just a Saint of Circumstance, with inflated stats because everyone around him is either terrible or hurt.

At the end of the day, after all, talk is talk and facts are facts.

All we want you to do is to ask yourself, as an Ole Miss fan, why you wouldn't be all for the guy who leads the team in points and assists.

We realize that the Spirit message board mindset is a rose-colored-glasses fantasy land that is easily made fun of. "All our kids are choir boys, all their kids are thugs." We're not asking you to adopt that 'blindly love all things Ole Miss' attitude.

But we do ask you to question why its all of a sudden popular to hate on the best player on your favorite team. Sometimes people fall into these cycles of having to adopt a contrarian point of view to like, prove their fanhood or something similar to that. To prove to people that they're paying close attention, because dammit, they are a serious fan.

Well, not to get too Lietchesque or anything, but sometimes it should just be enough that a player is excellent at his sport and also he plays for your team. Ergo, you are his fan. Its simpler that way. Its more natural. Its not dumb or Spirit boardish. Its just being a fan who enjoys seeing his or her team do well.

We agree with Juco All-American over at the Cup that by this time next year, no one will remember all the David hate, because at that point :knock on wood: we should be heading for the home stretch of one of, if not the best seasons in Ole Miss basketball history. We hope that everyone is on the same page by that point, and in the mean time, we accept this mea culpa* we received via email from everyone's favorite bloggers.

*we kid because we love

Defending Dahveed

There's a fortune inside your head /All you touch turns to lead You think you might just crawl back in bed /The fortune inside your head

You know you're just a mama's boy/ Positively unemployed

So misunderstood

Wilco, Misunderstood

A theoretical: If you moved to, like, New Jersey or some metropolatin exurb up north, would you change the way you dressed or acted? I got a friend who made such a move recently.

Last I talked to this kid, he was having trouble. He couldn't really find the right crowd to run with and kept having girls "scooped right out from underneath" him. The only reasoning he could come up with, and I tended to agree with him, was because he refused to put product in his hair, or wear jewelry or sport the omnipresent backwards fitted flat-billed hat.

Anyhow, I couldn't help thinking about that as I read the Ole Miss message boards yesterday following our 10 point loss to Vanderbilt in Nashville. The problem with Ole Miss's effort yesterday, according to everybody with a keyboard, was David Huertas.

Understand: our problem wasn't that Mac White and DeAundre Cranston got pwned by an Australian guy on the boards all game. It wasn't that Vandy shot 67% from the field in the second half. What it was was that damned David Huertas and his 19 points that only accounted for 30% of our offense.

Before I get too deep into this, I'd like to address the fact that Forward Rebels is just as guilty of Hurt-us-cising Dahveed as anyone else. We've got an "Is David Huertas an Alien?" tag. We're culprits. BUT, there's a big difference in having a cheap laugh at a guy's goofiness and actually believing he's what's wrong with our team. Make no mistake, David Huertas is the MVP of this team, and I'm not so sure that's simply by default by virtue of EP and Warren's injuries.

But its his goofiness that leads to all the negative pub he gets. Or more accurately, its his Puerto Rican-ness that makes him stand out. Just like I wouldn't put product in my hair if I lived in State College, PA, Dahveed is not going to quit scowling when things go wrong on the court in Mississippi.He's not going to quit being abrassive to opposing players and referees.He's not going to quit being overly dramatic when trying to draw a foul.

It's easy to see, after watching the international players in the Olympics this past year, that Huertas' style of play is 100% FIBA, which is to say that morally its a lot closer to soccer than it is to the NBA. The players wear their emotions on their sleeves. They take dives. They generally cut corners that American players wouldn't.

This phenomenon of villifying your star isn't exclusive to Ole Miss. The Yankees do it with A-Rod (and have long before A-Rod's recent troubles). Nevermind the fact that Alex Rodriguez puts up MVP like numbers in New York. Nevermind that he's the best player on their team. He dates movie stars and hasn't won the World Series, so he's the problem with the team. He's not a "True Yankee" like Derek Jeter.

Likewise, if Dahveed had gone down with an injury early in the year, leaving Chris Warren to lead a group of freshmen into SEC play, and then Warren had a poor start to the game against Vandy, I don't think anyone would've put our failure to make the NCAA tourney on Warren's shoulders. I saw multiple threads on the Spirit and Rivals boards yesterday doing just that to Huertas. Why? Because Warren is essentially emotionless on the court and hustles his ass off. Huertas grimaces, he scowls, he smiles, he talks shit in Spanish, he isn't totally submissive to the coaches.

But he's also the best thing we've got right now. Terrico's had an excellent three or four game run, but David's still averaging about 20 a game - and that's from the first game on. While his slow start did play a factor into Saturday's loss, it wasn't the reason we lost. It was maybe 9th on the list, and remember that Nos. 1-3 are "knees" and No. 7 is probably "Saddam Hussein".

On Ole Miss vs. MSU

Firts off, if the first thing that came to your mind when you saw the title of this post was "OMG maybe he's got some info on Patterson!!!!", you're in luck. I've got the real lowdown on old PP's whereabouts last night, and what bars and ladies he hit up, and who his player hosts were and what his latest lean is (spoiler alert: the news is good!!!) right here.

Now, on to the basketball game tomorrow at the Hump. I debated for the longest time about how much I was even going to write about basketball this year, but want to go ahead and flesh this game out. The reasoning is that even though all signs point to the Rebs getting blown out at the Hump tomorrow, Forward Rebels has always been of the mindset that you can't just pick and choose when to acknowledge rivalries. You can't say the games don't matter when you're the heavy underdog (although, let's not get carried away gang, because there's really nothing that can happen tomorrow that would make up for 45-0).

And make no mistake, Ole Miss has a few things going for them. Namely, the Whites have found their game - particularly Terrico. This kid, as a freshman, has shown flashes of scary-goodness. His posterization of three Kentucky players on Tuesday night had me spewing wine all over my computer screen. The guy can do a ton of things on offense - slash, mid-range shot, the three ball.

And Malcolm, for the first time I can recall in his year and a half at Ole Miss, was finally the beast that he was initially made out to be. He fought and won rebounds. He showed some aptitude with his back to the basket. Most importantly, he showed some controlled, technical offensive capability - meaning that he broke the Jermey Parnell mode of "make one Sportcenter highlight reel play, then finish the game with four points and three boards." To avoid that Parnell pigeonhole, he went so far as to not make the SC Top 10, unlike Terrico and Murphy Holloway. Showoffs.

Skyoos meee.

Anyhow, if those two show up again, and if E.T.Veed can put up 25, we oughta stand a fighter's chance. Except that the game's at the Hump. And for whatever reason, SEC basketball road-home splits are ridiculously slanted in favor of the home team. Somebody smarter than me should reallly try to figure out why collegiate basketball splits are that way, as opposed to other college sports or professional basketball. It really is curious, but I digress.



Varnado will be too much for Big Mac when we have the ball, and we can't expect to shoot lights out from the outside every game. Also, as much as I hate to say it, I don't think we need to read too much into the win over Kentucky. Essentially we found their "Harangody factor." Remember when Notre Dame was all bad ass at basketball a few weeks back, and then like Seton Hall or someone figured out if you box and one on Harangody they can't score, and then Notre Dame hasn't won a game since? Well Kennedy was the first one to figure that out about Jodie Meeks. Don't be surprised to see UK go .500 or worse from here on out.



Anyway, as stated before, we're on the road in a very hostile environment with a very young team. That's the difference, in the end.



My prediction: Dogs 76, Ole Miss 64



Just for shiggles, if you're going to be drinking with friends while watching the game, take a shot everytime DeAundre Cranston falls down, sucker punches someone or commits a goofy foul. Then have someone put you in a cold shower.

Rebs (and traitorous former Rebs) on the Wire

Its been a rough week at the office this week, and thus I apologize for disappointing all three of you who expect a daily post here at Forward Rebels. What makes this lack of posting / laziness all the more inexcusable is that there is much to talk about, Reb fans. I mean, two of our rivals fired their coaches, AK and crew were on TV against West Va last night, Peria and Mike got snubbed by the Conerly Trophy people, we still don't know where we'll spend New Year's and the Swamp People discovered Youtube just in time to blast a friend of Forward Rebs.

But before we get started looking into all this, I'd like to be the first to thank the writers of the Office, not only for being the funniest show on television, but also for allowing Ken Tremendous to make a cameo in tonight's episode. The show was obviously paying tribute to Fire Joe Morgan's exit from the bloggosphere when it decided to bring back Mose Schrute, Dwight's scary-backwoods, axemurdery, character-from-Deliverance, beet-farming cousin. In his most recent appearance, Mose pegged Andy in the head with a basketball. It literally made me spew the Dr. Pepper I was drinking.

Good shot, Mose!

Ok, without further ado:

• 
  
  As you've no doubt heard, Tommy Tubz stepped aside this week at Auburn. To summarize, I'm at once confused, excited, pleased in a jilted lover type of way, and curious. Obviously, all Ole Miss people should be a little pleased with a guy who fled Oxford under the cover of night to go to Auburn getting canned after a horrible season. Its kinda like watching your whorish ex-wife get a divorce from the guy she left you for. But in all honesty, why would Auburn do this? Who do they think they're gonna pull in? Whose got the cajones to place themselves in a situation where if you don't beat Nick Saban every year, you'll probably be gone after three seasons? Also, good for Ole Miss. I mean, between Aubs and State re-tooling for the foreseeable future, and with LSU down, and with Arkansas likely still re-building and learning next year...dare I say it...from the outset we look to have decent odds at a trip to Atlanta. Seriously. We swap Florida for Tennessee from the East next year. We can and should beat Vandy and South Carolina. All that's in the way is an Alabama squad who beat us by 4 this year. And we get them at home. Hmmmmm... but anywho, the more I learn about Tubs' recent track record, the less I can villainize Auburn. I mean, the guy hadn't exactly been tearing up the recruiting trails lately. From Jay Coulter, an Alabama sports journalist:
  
  

"I’ve been given access to the recruitment of a five star athlete (class of
2010) that is being recruited by most every school in the Southeast and really across the country. This kid has Auburn at the very top of his list. He’s been
to three games on campus this year as an unofficial visitor. Again, this is a
five star recruit. He’s visited with Nick Saban, Urban Meyer, Mark Richt, Rich Brooks and Bobby Johnson during unofficial visits this year. He’s gotten alone time with each of them before games.
Hugh Nall is recruiting this kid and has been pretty good. Do you know how many times he’s spoken with Tuberville? Zero.
Nada. Not once has Tuberville introduced himself prior to the game. Nall wants to sign him badly. But yet Tubs has not made one effort in the process.
In contrast (this will make you sick), Nick Saban faxes this kid prior to each game on Friday with a handwritten note. He then follows up with a handwritten note mailed to him on Monday congratulating him on the prior week’s performance. How many notes has he received from Tuberville? Zero."

The point is this: Tubby is burned out. The Starkville rumors don't bother me one bit. He doesn't have the fire to seriously compete in the SEC any more, especially not at a school like Auburn where one 5 win season means you're jobless. That said, if the Tigers get Mike Leach, that could spell trouble in the long run. But I haven't ever been a longrunner. I'm looking at 2009 - 2010 as the Rebels' window of opportunity for Atlanta. And a daytripping, Pirate shipping, just plain weird Mike Leach at Auburn won't factor into those two years anyway you slice it. Also, FWIW, the homer blogs say the Pirate Captain ain't a-goin nowhere.

• 
  
  
  Well, the basketball squad gave the game away in the waning moments last night against West Virginia, although in all honesty, I didn't expect us to hang around for that long in the first place. Granted, West Va's got very, very good rebounders on their squad, but it became apparent last night, if it wasn't already, that we are seriously hurting at the forward position. Barring somebody on our frontline making a miraculous turnaround, we look to be NIT bound again. That said, the SEC is purty durn turrible on the whole this year, so we might sneak into the Big Dance thanks to a weak conference slate. Also, its become painfully obvious that Dahveed is far and away our best player. And he's legitimately good. But he's also legitimately spastic. There's an alien exploration post coming to Forward Rebs soon.

Yeah. This guy.

• 
  
  Football Awards are Gay:Mike Oher is one of the three best offensive linemen in the nation. Cool. But wait, Mike Oher is not a better football player than a D-III quarteback, and therefore not the best football player in the state of Mississippi. *letting it sink in* Yep. Would I trade my empty can of Diet Tab for the Conerly Trophy? No. No I would not.

• 
  
  On a related note: Peria Jerry leads Terrence Cody in every defensive statistic they keep track of, and the two played half their games against the same offensive linemen. I've stated before that I wouldn't trade the Truth for 3 Mt. Codys. And yet, because Cody goes to Bammer, he gets the recognition. Seriously - and I could go on for days about this, but I'll try to be succinct - collegiate football awards are entirely subjective and thus are horse shit. From the Conerly Trophy on up to the Heisman, nay, on up to the AP Poll, all collegiate awards and rankings are horse shit. The Heisman trophy should go as a package prize to the number one overall pick in the NFL Draft. Eat shit if you disagree.

• 
  
  On the bowl watch, it really seems to me that the Cap One is a pipe-dream. I mean, why would the Cap One take an 8-4 team from 20 hours away over a 9-3 team from like (totally guessing) 5 hours away. Isn't the objective to reward good teams and also sell as many tickets as you can? That said, the Hotty Toddy Blog provides the most logical argument for us to go to Orlando yet in the whole debate. Still, methinks we're grasping for straws. Get your hotel in Dallas already.

• 
  
  Finally, some Swamp Folk discovered the webz. And then they proceeded to post a video of our good friend Ern on the web. Turns out if you kneel it out on the one-yard-line, LSU fans stop making out with eachother and start filming the celebration around them. Honestly, I would otherwise care less about this quasi-funny youtube video, but Ern is a friend of ours. And while he's clearly inebriated in the video, he doesn't deserve to be ridiculed by some swamp person with webbed feet. From what I've heard, Ern's having fun with the video, and probably soaking up the sympathy he's received at becoming the latest youtube sensation. Sympathy like this little post I'm writing right now. And for the record, Ern is more hetero than Peppy Le Pew. Like, painfully hetero. Oh well, nobody messes with my little buddy. It's my duty to protect him.

Me and Ern. To scale.

Post scriptum: Whenever you hear other, maybe more popular Ole Miss blogs just now catching on to the shark thing, please remember that you first heard about the Land Sharks at Forward Rebs. After all, if you were paying attention, you would've noticed Powe doing the dorsal fin at the Vandy game, like we did.

Thank goodness for Downtown Dahveed

Call me another name, you nerdy ass blog bitch. I dare you.

Umk so maybe we should lay off the Dahveed bashing. I don't like making fun of Rebels. BUT, after hearing how Forward Rebs libeled him at halftime, Dahveed caught fire early in the second half Friday night. And without his 24 points, our otherwise "meh" 65-53 win turns into a "holy shit we're in trouble" 45ish - 53 loss to Arkansas State. So I'm gonna keep taunting you, E.T.veed. Apparently it pissed you off.

The weekend went about as good as anyone could've expected all around. More analysis tomorrow. For now, well done Rebels. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

7:00 p.m. Tip-off for AK & Co.

Now wait a minute, Beck...

Lest we forget, tonight is also opening night for AK and the hardcourt Rebs. Arkansas State visits us and tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. From everything I gather the Rebs will be short on experience but long on talent/potential this year. We lost Parnell, Curtis and the Beard from last year's squad, who collectively played 99.99999% of our frontcourt minutes last year. That's the bad news. The good news is that from everything I gather, our new bigs are much more compatable with AK's system.

Seriously I don't know much about this year's squad, other than Kennedy is telling people that they'll be surprised by how much Chris Warren is improved - which is comforting considering the guy was one of our best players last year and was a first team Freshman All-SEC guy.

When I was covering the Rebs two years ago Kennedy told people to watch out for Bam Doyne - who until that point had been an utterly un-noteworthy player. Then he exploded and led the SEC in scoring for half the season. Kennedy said the same thing about Polyniece last year, who blossomed into our best defender and transition scorer. So if AK wants to sing Warren's praises, I'll take his word for it.

I'll make no predictions about his squad's end of the year record, as we are VERY young and will likely stumble early and often in the first half of this season. Don't bet on us doing our typical burst out of the gate with a 13-0 record - though I'd love nothing more than to be surprised. Do look for the Rebs to be vastly improved at the end of the season. For us to have any type of success, we'll be leaning heavily on Polyniece and ET/David Huertas. Malcolm White's our only big with any type of experience, and the few times I saw him last year he looked like Shaq at the beginning of Blue Chips. Just raw, nasty skills, but in need of fine tuning. If that happens, look out. I see him turning into a player with Jermey Parnell's nasty streak - only with the ability to put up consistently decent offensive numbers.

Finally, a plea to anyone reading this in Oxford or near there: Please go watch AK and the Rebels. Its a home football weekend, so there's no excuse for us not to have at least 5,000 people there, even if it is Ark. State. Kennedy is too good of a coach for us to ignore, and you're fooling yourself if you don't think his name comes up every time a traditional big-time basketball school has an opening. Give the man the support he deserves. If you don't, he's likely to give you a melvin or a swirlie or something. Fer realz.

Again, for much better Rebel basketball coverage, do yourself a favor a go hyah: http://crepepaper.blogspot.com/