After years of leading the charge to get cowbells banned, it appears as though a few Auburn fans are planning to practice the old saying "if you can't beat them, join them" on Saturday.
If you're taking a cowbell with you to Starkville, tweet us a pic http://t.co/cQTflMD3CG ... pic.twitter.com/C8dypcNXKQ
— AUFAMILY (@AUFAMILY) October 8, 2014
#CLANGA #BeatState pic.twitter.com/k9zkpxVyp8
— AUFAMILY (@AUFAMILY) October 9, 2014
It's unclear how many orange and blue cowbells will actually be making the trip to Davis Wade, but it seems as though we will have a few mixed in with the sea of maroon and white ones on Saturday. I say bring them on; the more the merrier. Frankly I'm surprised a school has not done this before. I am curious if Auburn will try to ring them constantly while MSU is on offense, and if so, how many will be in the stands (and what effect will they have).
While we're talking about cowbells, I think it's more important to talk about our own issues for a few minutes ahead of a huge nationally televised game rather than a few Auburn cowbells that may or may not be coming. Scott Stricklin did a great job addressing this today, and I think it's vitally important that everyone heed his message from the Bulldog Update. Here's the majority of it:
One of the not-so-cool parts of last Saturday was the 25 or so percent of fans who continue to ignore the rules on cowbell etiquette. This totally perplexes me. Dak Prescott doesn't need fans ringing when they shouldn't to make a dazzling play for our State. Bernardrick McKinney doesn't need fans ringing when they shouldn't in order to deliver a crushing tackle.
Why anyone who professes love for this university would ring their cowbell when they've been told not to do so is beyond me. It's selfish and disrespectful, two things Mississippi State does NOT represent. When you ring at times not allowed, you are telling Mark Keenum, Dan Mullen, myself and thousands of Bulldogs who have worked hard to legitimize this great tradition at our games that you don't appreciate their efforts, and that you're willing to risk having cowbells removed from Davis Wade Stadium altogether in the future.
A vast majority of our fans follow the rules governing artificial noisemakers (which says they can be rung except when the center is over the football). To those of you who do so, thanks. If you see someone disregarding the rules, do me a favor and ask them to stop. If we continue having this issue, security will be deployed to either remove offending cowbells, or the individuals who are ringing irresponsibly, from the stadium.
Remember, we are allowed to bring cowbells into Davis Wade Stadium because the other 13 SEC schools voted to allow it. If we continue to have problems following the rules, then they may decide to rescind that privilege. The last thing any of us want is to have to install metal detectors at the gates.
I appreciate everyone's diligence with this important issue.
Scott is absolutely right, and while I do think we have improved from years past, we still aren't where we need to be. I was at the game last weekend, and I did witness a small (less than 50%) but still loud percentage of the fanbase ringing their cowbells once the center was over the ball for Texas A&M. It really became more noticeable as the game went on, and for those who are claiming so, NO, it is not only the student section.
Come on guys; it's not that hard. And to those who ALWAYS respond with "I'll ring my cowbell when I want", stop being selfish. Your selfishness will ultimately cost us the ability to bring cowbells altogether, so you need to think long and hard about that the next time you go to clang it on a big third down. The cowbell is a beloved tradition of ours, but our ability to bring them to games is a privilege, not a right. I can't force any of you to start ringing responsibly, but as one adult to another, please don't screw this up for the rest of us.
Hail State