Ask Larry – Rivalry Week Questions
By: Larry Burton
Anytime I get a get a lot of emails requesting the answer to the same question, it’s a good time to just publish an article to answer them because I’d bet that there a lot of other people that would like to know to. So here are some questions I’ve been asked more than once in the past few days.
Larry, Why do they call the Mississippi State / Ole Miss game the egg bowl? I don’t get the significance of an egg.
Lanie from Hunstville
Lanie,
It’s not REALLY the egg bowl, as that’s not the official name for it, but like most things, someone called it that and it stuck.
Actually the trophy, (as you saw in the picture) depicts a football from the 30’s when the trophy was started. Back then the footballs that were used don’t resemble the streamlined, pointed nose balls we use today, they were more egg shaped, like today’s rugby balls.
The trophy was actually something that brought into play to keep fans from fighting after the game. Following previous games fans stormed the field and often fights erupted. So to stop that, they had a post game ceremony that gave out the trophy to the winning team. That did in fact stop the fights.
And finally, almost 40 years later, some journalist pegged the game, “The Egg Bowl”, mocking the trophy and it stuck. So since the 70’s, this has been the Egg Bowl and now you know the rest of the story.
Larry, Why does the Iron Bowl not have a trophy to hand out after the game?
Joyce F. from Atmore, Al.
Joyce,
They DO have an iron bowl trophy that is given to the winner, but unlike most football games, it is not handed out after the game, but when the Alabama and Auburn play their first basketball together when it’s played at the winner’s home court. It is a halftime activity there.
The official Foy-ODK Sportsmanship Trophy
Why then?
Some say it was done when heads were cooler, some say it was to promote attendance at basketball games and yet some say it just gives them time to do the appropriate engraving, but whatever, that’s just how it’s done.
What’s it called?
It’s the Foy-ODK Sportsmanship Award, named after James E. Foy, a former Auburn dean of students and Omicron Delta Kappa Honor Society – which was established on both campuses during the 1920s and still exists today. But not only is the trophy transferred, but the losing SGA President who presents the trophy has to sing the winner’s fight song for losing the “bet” between the two schools.
Larry has been published in almost every media outlet for college sports and now primarily writes here for Touchdown Alabama. Follow Larry on Twitter for inside thoughts and game time comments at https://twitter.com/LBSportswriter
