100% effective way to change the flag...

[11thEagleFan]

If State, Ole Miss, and USM athletics were to announce press conferences at 9 AM, 9:30 AM, and 10 AM this coming Monday. Each football team should elect a representative to speak. The head coaches should be standing beside that player. Have every representative inform the press that the team took a vote, and nobody will play a down of football until the flag is changed. I bet it would get voted on in the legislature within 2 weeks.

 

[CoastTrash]

Yep. Also it would help if people pressure upcoming R candidates like Cindy Hyde-smith and Michael Guest on the issue even though there positions have little to do with the state flag.

 

[AnonymousUser]

To play devils advocate here, and I say this after having talked to a lot of people that are not as hard core about supporting State, Ole Miss, or Southern as we are.... I think you’re overestimating the amount of public support for college athletics here. We communicate in an echo chamber because we all support it and are passionate about it, but there are more Mississippians that are either casual observers or simply don’t care about college football and would rather not be pressured into any decisions, regardless of what it is, by what they perceive to be a “bunch of self righteous or spoiled kids.”

I’m not saying it’s right or wrong, but it is what it is. And I think for some of the people that are so opposed to changing the flag, it’s not so much about being racists or being a supporter of the CSA, but more about them not liking being told how to act, and by keeping the flag they can still continue to give the middle finger to the powers that be.

 

[rynodawg]

You could be right. 72% of Mississippi population is registered to vote, which means there are 1,600,000 voters. I estimate about 100K of die hard sports voters attend football regularly (50,000 State + 50,000 UM + 12 USM). Will guess out of thin air that twice that are casual fans that watch at home, so 300K total. So around 20% of total voters would be impacted by a football boycott. 80% might not care at all.

 

[dorndawg]

I'd love to think you are right. However, we are talking about a state that within living memory of many folks (1969-70), suspended and then upended the entire education system. To think their heirs wouldn't go to similar lengths requires a degree of magical thinking.

 

[thatsbaseball]

Your heart is in the right place but you wouldn't get anywhere near 100% of support from even the alumni of those three schools. The flag will get changed but I don't believe it will through threatening people.

 

[WilCoDawg]

You get it. The South, and especially Mississippians, I have found to be very pigheaded and stubborn. Tell them to do one thing and they’ll do the opposite out of spite and pride of not being controlled by someone else. I honestly don’t think but maybe 30% of the flag supporters are racists. They just aren’t going to be told what to do by some outside group. That’s why I cringed when it was said CAIR decided to jump into the push to change the flag. It’s almost like the flag-change group don’t really want it changed.

 

[Hankp22]

Anyone have a source on these numbers?

What is the direct economic sport impact MSU, UM, and USM have on both their local communities and the state?

And what is the indirect economic impact all MS universities have on the state and how much of that impact does university sports have?

Those are going to be some large numbers and somewhat loaded questions (but important ones). Losing our sport status would crush this state. That's essentially the risk here over a piece of cloth hate groups now claim as their own. Its amazing this is even a debate.

My .02

 

[was21]

All it simply requires is for Tater to walk outside and have his sycophants take the son of a ***** down at the capitol in front of God and everybody else...end of issue. But he doesn't have the balls to do it.

 

[11thEagleFan]

If you think that 80% of Mississippians wouldn’t care about the big three canceling football, I’d have to say that you’re dead wrong.

 

[Willow Grove Dawg]

We need public support for a new flag from some ex statewide government officials that don't have to run for re-election again, but still have a lot of political clout/capital like Haley Barbour, Phil Bryant, & Trent Lott maybe even William Winter.

 

[horshack.sixpack]

I'd love to think you are right. However, we are talking about a state that within living memory of many folks (1969-70), suspended and then upended the entire education system. To think their heirs wouldn't go to similar lengths requires a degree of magical thinking.

IKR, and then we have a presidential candidate from that generation in Biden who was afraid desegregation would lead to his kids growing up in a "racial jungle" and recently told blacks they weren't black if they didn't vote for him. Sad...

ETA: I can only assume the down votes are folks who think that is unbelievable as well, because it is true. Our political parties have handed us Hillary v Trump and now Biden v Trump. What a pile of crap. I think it says something about the unwillingness/inability of people with integrity to pursue higher office.

 

[rynodawg]

Don’t know exact number, just that the other poster makes a good point that this board is a bubble of college educated people interested in sports. I hope universities have the sway to change the flag, but the number of Mississippians who who would miss college sports is less then we think.

If any alumni are going to have impact, it will need to be the big money variety. They will need to cut off political contributions to any and all politicians who refuse to have the legislature change the flag. MSU, UM, USM could actively organize and encourage this.

 

[Palos verdes]

Most Mississippians don't care about any of the instate institutions or their athletics. There is a large demographic of Mississippians that don't care about Mississippi.

 

[Bulldog from Birth]

Our stubbornness, which is real, is why the legislature must act here. So that the issue is dealt with on a basis of morality, economics, and cost/benefit analysis instead of on emotion.

You get it. The South, and especially Mississippians, I have found to be very pigheaded and stubborn. Tell them to do one thing and they’ll do the opposite out of spite and pride of not being controlled by someone else. I honestly don’t think but maybe 30% of the flag supporters are racists. They just aren’t going to be told what to do by some outside group. That’s why I cringed when it was said CAIR decided to jump into the push to change the flag. It’s almost like the flag-change group don’t really want it changed.