First time Mississippi has warranted a Vindibudd creation! Next edition of Whipped Puppy is WAY overdue.
What is the joke with not naming the mascot? Are they not still the Rebels? I know Colonel Reb got retired, but I was not aware they had changed from the Rebels.
Over the past 20 years or so with the heightened political sensitivity over racism and slavery (especially the Confederate Battle flag viewed as a symbol of racism by a very vocal segment of the population), Ole Miss has struggled with that identity and finding a suitable replacement mascot. Since Mississippi isn't really known for anything specifically they have been grasping at straws for anything else. They went with Black Bears for a minute because they are native to Mississippi but like, everyone knows black bears are just nuisance bears and not scary at all. They tried to get Disney to let them use Admiral Akbar like the rebels in Star Wars but Disney told them to go off. Then because Kiffin had some comment about Katy Perry and she had the weird sharks in her Super Bowl show, they tried to go with Land Sharks. All of these ideas are basically stupid so they don't actually have an official mascot at the moment. Most people just call them the Rebels anyway. Hence the joke in this image.
Just did a little research. As far as I can tell, their mascot remains the Rebels, but they have been trying to rebrand the term away from the Confederate sense and more to a, like, “disruptor” sense.
