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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Rebel Gridiron Goes Global
9/5/2001 | Football
Sept. 5, 2001
By Tobie Baker
University Communications
OXFORD, Miss. - College football has just begun, but some Mississippi National Guard troops deployed to Bosnia are already gearing up for the 2001 Egg Bowl.
Officials at The University of Mississippi (UM) are videotaping each of the 2001 Rebel football games. The video tapes will be sent weekly to various military troops across the globe, including Bosnia.
Staff Sgt. Jason Langston, National Guard career counselor, Oxford, contacted university officials to request the football videotapes after learning that 500 Mississippians would be stationed in Bosnia for Operation Joint Forge.
"The Egg Bowl (Ole Miss - Mississippi State) is a big in-state rivalry, and the team that wins this year will have their flag flown over Bosnia," Langston said. "This is just a way for our troops to keep in touch with home."
Langston's request soon led to other solicitations from military personnel around the globe. The football videos also will be sent to Lt. Andrew Moore, a UM alum, who is serving a six-month deployment aboard the USS Enterprise, and Staff Sgt. Damien Pettway, who is with the US Marine Corps in Pearl Harbor.
"I have loved the Ole Miss Rebels since I was old enough to know what a football was," said Pettway. "As my young marines tell me, 'Staff sergeant, you are just ate up with Ole Miss, aren't you?'"
Pettway said he knows of 20 marines stationed in Hawaii that are eager to see the video tapes. Without a satellite provider, Pettway was forced to listen to the Rebels season opener against Murray State via an internet broadcast.
"Listening to the game only made me wish I could have been there," Pettway said. "I'm looking forward to actually seeing Eli Manning's record-breaking debut."
Manning set two new school records, completing 18 consecutive passes and tossing five touchdown passes in a 49-14 win over Murray State.
This marks the first time officials at Ole Miss have engaged in such an endeavor, said J. Stern, assistant director of the UM Teleproductions Resource Center. Ole Miss was granted special permission by the rights holders of the broadcasts to distribute the tapes to the Armed Forces.
"Since these troops are serving and protecting the USA and our way of life, we felt like this was the least we could do," Stern said.
