Mississippi State reporter blasts Egg Bowl rivalry column
Over the weekend, Hugh Kellenberger, a columnist for The Clarion-Ledger, wrote a column about how he thinks the Egg Bowl rivalry between Ole Miss and Mississippi State has gotten too nasty.
Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze agreed, but it appears Mississippi State reporter David Murray of Scout doesn’t share the coach’s opinion.
Harris didn’t pull any punches when discussing Kellenberger’s column on the “Head to Head” radio show on Tuesday:
“It was a worthless piece of summer writing by somebody uninformed, but who needed a topic and some space to fill.”
Though Kellenberger points to the rise of the two football programs as the culprit behind the increased hatred, Murray said the dislike has always been there, but it’s never been easier for fans to share their thoughts:
“Is it any more bitter or intense now than it was then? No. The simple difference is (fans) have more access to talk about it (on social media and talk radio). When I was getting into the business the only people you had time to hear vent about the rivalry were the people you knew. There was very little sports talk radio, there was only so much room in the paper for letters to the editor. You knew the rivalry was there, but you didn’t have it expressed every day, every hour, every minute. There’s more access to the feelings and emotions and (the media) fanned it.”
Ole Miss and Mississippi State will play the annual Egg Bowl game in Oxford on Saturday, Nov. 26.