Masoli part of wild ride

Before you decide to declare yourself a fan, you must acknowledge that Ole Miss Athletics are like a ride in an amusement park – it goes up and down; it’s very loud. 

The highs are as high as the lows are low. 

You follow the team throughout the offseason and then you buy your tickets and wait in line as soon as the gates open in the fall.

This summer things seemed to be trending upward. Although Raymond Cotton transferred out, Jeremiah Masoli transferred in.

He practiced for a couple of weeks and took care of all of the paperwork his transfer required. 

However, he was initially denied when the NCAA asserted that his request went against the “intent of the rule.”

This decision was appealed, I’m sure, by Houston Nutt pleading that Masoli has done everything asked of him and been a model citizen since arriving in Oxford. 

His words resonated in the cold, hardened hearts of the subcommittee causing them to sway – then the committee approved Jeremiah and wept.

But I doubt the NCAA cares whether or not Jeremiah Masoli plays or not – it just wanted the free PR received from denying Masoli in front of God and everyone, further proving itself as the legislative and judicial branch of college athletics.

The NCAA then sent Masoli’s case off to be approved by a subcommittee one day before the college football season starts knowing just how quickly it would disappear from our consciousness.

The NCAA took water and washed its hands in front of the crowd and said, “It is your responsibility.” 

It was a public relations clinic:

“Go back to bed America – the NCAA has figured it out and is in control – go back to bed. Here, here’s collegiate football; intoxicate yourselves and watch it all day.”

When Labor Day weekend did arrive, Ole Miss fans riding the high of the Masoli approval were in for the part of the ride where you get sick to your stomach – the fall.

This is a lesson many of you freshman learned the hard way at your first football game: just when you think the stars have aligned and the sports gods have smiled on the Ole Miss football team, know that a meteor capable of sending the program back to the Ice Age is out there and ready to stomp a crater into your unsuspecting Rebel heart.

Yes, it was one of those days where Ole Miss committed no penalties and scored 48 points against a team starting a freshman quarterback and still wound up losing to an Football Championship Subdivision team for the first time since 1945. Who saw that one coming?

Paranormal experts will explain away these phenomena with things like curses, aliens, Ghost Colonel Reb, or what have you, but in reality it is just the sports gods – “Parity,” “Luck” and “Momentum” – showing off again.

Michigan lost to Appalachian State in 2007 and beat Florida in the Capital One Bowl as a part of a 9-4 season. 

All may seem lost to you right now, but everything must run its course. 

And for a minute there Nathan Stanley looked like the future, and that’s when I hope to see him – after another year of progressing well. 

Masoli was brought in for this season only – so Stanley shouldn’t take another snap unless we’re playing for the future.

Even if we’re doing that, you might as well enjoy it.

After all, it’s just a ride.